LP Scratch build

[telentubes]

Tom,
I'm going to finish it with nitro lacquer. Not sure of the color yet.

[CHIP]

Very impressive. Looking forward to your progress. Thanks for all the details.

[stelligan]

Boring out the lion's share of the pickup routs before routing. SMART. Looks great!

[passfan]

It looks deceptively easy , but it's not. What you don't see is the money and the time spent making or buying the jigs which, make a build of this quality possible. Without them, forget it. The pin router jig for the binding is over 300 bucks if you buy it, a cauple days and some parts expense if you build it. nJust realize there is a lot of money on the table in these pics and telentubes hasn't even gotten to the parts and electronice yet.

[rp]

This is terrific. Way better than watching television. I'm gonna loose sleep wondering what pickups you're going to use.

Same bat time, same bat channel.

[lord preset]

It looks deceptively easy , but it's not. .

Maybe I am not easily deceived but it does not look easy at all.

[telentubes]

rp,
I don't know what PUs to use, and am up for suggestions. The J.M. Rolph humbuckers have caught my attention. Not much info on his website.

Here is some more progress...

Fingerboard glued on and sanded to a 12" radius with a sanding block (yet another fabricated tool). I started with 80 grit, then 120, 220, 360, 500 and polished with 1500 grit. When you get to 1500 grit you are really just burnishing the wood with the wood dust that has clogged the sand paper.

I then agonized about which fret wire to use, and ended up with .095 wide X .045 tall. The .100 X .50 was in the running till the bitter end (I bought both and did mock-ups), but I decided on the .095 X .045, which is what was used on the '59s.

[telentubes]

Gotta mention the TDPRI post that Martin brought up again. Here's the link if anyone really wants their mind blown...
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-de ... build.html
The level of detail on this thread is astounding. We're talking casting pickup rings and machining switch knobs and doing the "Murphy" distressing etc. etc. etc. Amazing!!!

Just a few more shots for today. Progress will be slower after this as I've kinda run out of "free time".

[C Moore]

1. Christ.....Wow.!
2. I cannot believe it is that light.
3. Keeping in mind I Do Not play guitar.....When building a guitar with a set neck (maybe same for a through neck), how do you know you have the neck in the pocket the right way.?
There are no strings, no bridge, you cannot play it. How do you know the best place to have the neck, so it will Play/Sound/Intonate the "best".?
Is it "just" a matter of having the neck square to the body, or at a certain Known angle that works well.?

Thank You

[martin manning]

I don't want to step on anyones toes, but alignment of the neck can be done without strings because it is known that they will form straight lines from the nut slots to the saddles. The long axis of the neck is placed in the central plane of the body, and the plane of the fingerboard is set at an angle to the plane of the body (top) such that the strings will come up to the correct height at the bridge. Note that the bridge hasn't been installed yet and the saddle height is adjustable, so there is some room to correct for any imperfections. There is no string tension yet, but the truss rod will counter that effect and allow the resulting curve of the neck to be adjusted. Proper intonation is achieved by locating the saddles at a bit more than the nominal scale length from the nut to compensate for the stretching and increase in bending stiffness of the strings when they are fretted. This can be worked out ahead of time for a given set of strings, and once again the saddle positions are adjustable so that the intonation can be dialed in. Not that any of this is easy, and our friend here possesses some considerable talent and skills!

[C Moore]

Hey Martin -
Thanks for the explanation.
Whether it be clay pots, tying flies, building guitars, etc etc. .....anything made by hand is a true art.
I tip my hat to all you Guys/Gals that have those "old world" skills.

[John_P_WI]

C Moore,

Just as Martin suggested, here are a series of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zabgw_RBC-I

[Reeltarded]

really great looking!

No nibs fretting it after binding though!

[telentubes]

I'm calling it "the nibless wonder"...
A little progress.
Recesses for cover plates on the back routed. The Bartlet worked for the round selector switch cover, but I had to make a template to fit the Allparts cover I bought for the hole with the pots in it.
Also put the 3/16" round on the back and worked on the face a little.

Thanks to Martin for the in depth answers and diagrams.

[martin manning]

How about the second rout for the floor of the pot cavity? Do you have some clever method worked for that?