Telecaster build thread

[Tadpui]

I've enrolled in a class offered by a local luthier shop to build a telecaster style guitar from scratch. I have zero experience in the tools and techniques of building a guitar or really anything, so I'm going in as a total noob. Unless watching Ted Woodford and a little bit of Stewart MacDonald on YouTube counts as experience.

Sorry no pics of anything yet, but I had my initial meeting with the guys at the guitar shop and nailed down some basics about what they're offering and what I want.

I've got an ideal in my head of what I want, so at least a lot of my decisions are already made. But there are a couple of initial disappointments but no deal breakers. The first is that the finish isn't part of the deal, other than a stain and a satin nitro finish. They'll do the butterscotch blonde gloss finish that I want for an extra $500, but this is ultimately a building class and not a finishing class. I understand. . I'll have to decide if it's worth it. I genuinely dislike natural finishes on an electric guitar, but I did see an example guitar of theirsin the natural nitro that looked better than I'd have imagined. And I saw another that's as bad as I would imagine.

The other disappointment is that they're only offering rosewood or ebony fretboards. I want maple. But the style of neck they're building isn't the fender skunk stripe kind of maple slab that I'd expect in a telecaster. The guy did pull out a maple fretboard but it didn't match well with the roasted maple neck wood that they offer. They do have non-roasted/torrified maple neck wood but I'm a little afraid of it settling weird as it ages. I dunno. I might do that anyways because it's the look I'm after.

Anyways, I did select my body wood today. A nice chunk of ash from Minnesota that I think has some interesting character to it. Some wide striations and some narrow ones. It's 2 quartersawn pieces glued together (as were all their options in ash, alder, and basswood) but not bookmatched. I think it'll make a fine guitar body.

So yeah, not a super interesting start to the thread, but I'll try to remember to take some progress photos as the 6-week project gets started next Saturday. Despite the couple of expectation adjustments, I'm still super psyched about making a (hopefully) functional guitar from a few planks of wood!

[Lt. Bob]

[Armistice]

Good good. I have a soft spot for maple necks on Fender style guitars, although my Tele has ivory. Rosewood can be hugely variable - I pick up some guitars and it's the feel of the fretboard that puts me off. But a lacquered maple neck is a lacquered maple neck - you know what you're getting.

At this stage, I think a pic of you looking both slightly disappointed and eager would do for documentation...

[JD01]

my Tele has ivory.

Fucking hell, did you have a pick guard made from an actual tortoise shell too?

[muttley]

Nice one.

My best advice would be to follow the guys plan as it is your first build and stay as close to it as you can comfortably do. What they propose from the sound of it is the easiest way to build by hand or in a small shop. The fender skunk strip is doable but not easy and an entirely different set up to a standard truss rod. Rosewood is the easiest for a fb and will be fine. Finishing is an art in itself and with a maple fingerboard you also have a bunch of stuff to consider in that department. Of all the timbers for the body you list, Ash is the hardest on tools and will present some added challenges over alder or basswood both of which are more typically used for painted bodies. Ash would be heavier too.

Good luck and shout if you need any help or just reassurance.

[Armistice]

my Tele has ivory.

Fucking hell, did you have a pick guard made from an actual tortoise shell too?

LOL... ebony. It was early...

[Greg_L]

Fucking hell, did you have a pick guard made from an actual tortoise shell too?

I see dead turtles all the time. Are we allowed to use them if they're already deceased?

[Greg_L]

I've enrolled in a class offered by a local luthier shop to build a telecaster style guitar from scratch. I have zero experience in the tools and techniques of building a guitar or really anything, so I'm going in as a total noob. Unless watching Ted Woodford and a little bit of Stewart MacDonald on YouTube counts as experience.

Sorry no pics of anything yet, but I had my initial meeting with the guys at the guitar shop and nailed down some basics about what they're offering and what I want.

I've got an ideal in my head of what I want, so at least a lot of my decisions are already made. But there are a couple of initial disappointments but no deal breakers. The first is that the finish isn't part of the deal, other than a stain and a satin nitro finish. They'll do the butterscotch blonde gloss finish that I want for an extra $500, but this is ultimately a building class and not a finishing class. I understand. . I'll have to decide if it's worth it. I genuinely dislike natural finishes on an electric guitar, but I did see an example guitar of theirsin the natural nitro that looked better than I'd have imagined. And I saw another that's as bad as I would imagine.

The other disappointment is that they're only offering rosewood or ebony fretboards. I want maple. But the style of neck they're building isn't the fender skunk stripe kind of maple slab that I'd expect in a telecaster. The guy did pull out a maple fretboard but it didn't match well with the roasted maple neck wood that they offer. They do have non-roasted/torrified maple neck wood but I'm a little afraid of it settling weird as it ages. I dunno. I might do that anyways because it's the look I'm after.

Anyways, I did select my body wood today. A nice chunk of ash from Minnesota that I think has some interesting character to it. Some wide striations and some narrow ones. It's 2 quartersawn pieces glued together (as were all their options in ash, alder, and basswood) but not bookmatched. I think it'll make a fine guitar body.

So yeah, not a super interesting start to the thread, but I'll try to remember to take some progress photos as the 6-week project gets started next Saturday. Despite the couple of expectation adjustments, I'm still super psyched about making a (hopefully) functional guitar from a few planks of wood!

Is this through Texas Toast?

[Tadpui]

Is this through Texas Toast?

As far as I know it's just through the local guitar/builder shop. I haven't seen any other entities' names attached to the class, at least.

Oh and thanks a bunch @muttley , I'll keep your advice in mind! Agreed that they're keeping it beginner friendly and I just want a specific tele that doesn't quite line up with what they're doing. I'll get over it and I'll end up with a cool guitar out of the deal.

@Armistice haha I'll work on expressing the precise emotion

[Greg_L]

As far as I know it's just through the local guitar/builder shop. I haven't seen any other entities' names attached to the class, at least.

Okay cool. Do you know who Texas Toast is? They're a guitar company pretty much in your area and they do classes. I just thought it might be through them.

[JD01]

Fucking hell, did you have a pick guard made from an actual tortoise shell too?

I see dead turtles all the time. Are we allowed to use them if they're already deceased?

Yeah, that's just recycling . Green as fuck.

[Tadpui]

Okay cool. Do you know who Texas Toast is? They're a guitar company pretty much in your area and they do classes. I just thought it might be through them.

I hadn't heard of them, but I looked them up and it looks like they've got some cool events. I think it's great that they're doing that!

[Tadpui]

Today was officially week one for the tele. I only snapped pics after routing the body out of the slab of ash, since the rest of the day it had templates fastened to the front or back. Next week the template comes off and I can see how it looks with all of the body cavities and screw holes in it.

PXL_20230722_183430145.jpg

PXL_20230722_183417866.jpg

PXL_20230722_183351924.jpg

So today we positioned our outline template and routed the body shape. Then we fastened the back template and drilled the string ferrule holes and neck screw holes. Removed the back template and put on the top template. Routed the neck and bridge pickup cavities, the control cavity, and the neck pocket. It was a lot of routing. Then we drilled the string holes to meet up with the ferrule holes on back. Happy to say that all 6 of my string thru holes met up exactly from front to back!

All in all it was about 7 hours for all 4 students and the instructor to make it this far. First the instructor demonstrates, then the two pairs of us buddy up and take turns either routing or minding the cord and vacuum hose for the other guy.

I'm already looking forward to next week and more progress!

[Armistice]

Definitely looks like a tele. Seems a nice chunk of wood too - be interested to see what sort of finish you end up with. Personally I'm not a fan of the blond natural tele look, but they can look pretty smart with a darker stain on them.

[Greg_L]

[WhiskeyJack]

Oh man i can feel the weight of that thing. that looks awesome TAD!!! I am super stoked for you man this is so exciting.

So you guys did use a manual router to do this and not some CNC robotic bullshit hey? That is very cool. Sounds liek the guys are well organized too. Like that!

[muttley]

Oh man i can feel the weight of that thing. that looks awesome TAD!!! I am super stoked for you man this is so exciting.

So you guys did use a manual router to do this and not some CNC robotic bullshit hey? That is very cool. Sounds liek the guys are well organized too. Like that!

It's easy to do with a hand held router. The trick is getting the templates cock on and not futzing them with a slip of the router. Flush cut bit and time setting it out and you are good to go. CNC whilst enormously time consuming to programme would take all the joy and skill out of it. Also you wouldn't need a template for CNC work. The outline cuts do look like they are off a deep plunge CNC though...? The give away would be the pin holes used for locating the templates so unless they were added post CNC my guess would be off a hand router and various templates.

[muttley]

You can also see a few track lines in the first pic where the router has been plunged which would indicate it has been cut off a hand router as they are of various depths. A CNC would leave a cleaner track line. Tad will confirm either way.

[rayc]

Looks HEAVY.

[Tadpui]

@muttley good eye! Yes @WhiskeyJack it was cut by a hand router (plunge router, I believe they call it) by tracing a template several times at increasing depths. After eyeballing the other guys' cutouts, I have to say that mine came out pretty good. So hopefully I won't have quite as much sanding to do as the other guys.

From what I understand, next week we'll drill the remaining few holes (I think all that's left is the bridge mounting screw holes) and maybe run a roundover bit around the edges to keep them from being deadly. I'm really not sure where we go from there, other than to start 5 weeks worth of sanding

I'm a little afraid of doing the neck. Apparently we're doing it all by hand, although the fretboard might already be attached to a pre-cut square neck blank. So it might already be cut to length/scale, I'm not sure. The shaping of the neck profile will be up to us, and that's what I'm a little worried about. I'm sure they'll guide us through it all, it just seems like such an arbitrary process to shape a neck for the first time.