iluvteles Posted December 9, 2012 Report Share Posted December 9, 2012 I normally only build 1 guitar per year and only build from about Easter to Haloween to avoid wood warpage due to the cold but I'm having to start early as I have 3 teles to build in 2013. Two of them will be simple Sapele bodies the third may be all sapele but with a Yew drop top. All will be chambered and thats all the specs I have so far. So..to get a headstart I've bookmatched 3 bodies and 3 drop tops all in Sapele. As it is winter I'm letting the bookmatched wood rest and move before I sand flush, joint and glue up. Any advice for UK winter guitar building would be helpful. Photos so far of the Sapele straight off the saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted January 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2013 I decided to make a start. Still not sure what the specs are but cant wait forever. Today I've sanded the body blanks flat and equal thickness, sqared the sides, glued and clamped. I've got one body done but will do the other two over the next few days. I'm real happy how square the glue edges have turned out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted January 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 17, 2013 Glued up the second body today. No photos as its just the same. If I had put the same photo up would anybody have noticed anyway? All I've done today is get the templates ready. I was going to cut out the template for the chambers but started to play air guitar to classic Queen. Things wike Brighton Rock and Stone Cold Crazy so did not get it done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted January 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2013 Not done much on this build as I've been a bit unwell for the last week but did get the chamber template done and skimmed the body blanks flat and equal. The body blank on the far left has now been rejected because of the figure defects and will be used as a spare. I still do not have a clear plan on what the teles will come out like. I'm just going to build and see what happens. The body blanks are now 35mm thick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted January 31, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2013 I've been unclear on what to do with these teles. I just wanted to build something. However I'm now decided. Its only going to be 2 tele the 3 is spare incase I mess something up. The left hander is for my brother as the last one I made hime had a 16 radius neck, laminated neck and painted black. he does not like the 16" radius or the laminate neck and the black finish is not 100%. so its being stripped of its hard ware and I'm making him a replacement as cheap as possible. I.e. Sapele body with a maple neck and maple 12" fretboard. All the good hardware will be transfered over. The 2nd is for me and will be made as cheap as possible. It will be "beside the sofa" guitar to pick up while I'm watching the news or some other related bore. Its frets will be marked with all the major notes as I dont know them and I'm a pap player so I'm hoping by seeing and playing the notes I'll learn. Its will be the same as the lefty but cheap hardware. I'll try for £100 max. Progress to today: Chambering done. Its not as neat as I wanted but its just weight reduction so I'm not really bothered. I know its not the attitude to have but they are going to be cheap guitars. Weight reduction is just under 800g. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 All I've got done in the last week is glue the drop tops on. I've put a black laminate of dyed Sycamore inbetween the body and top just to jazz it up a bit otherwise these two teles would be just a bit too plain. Just one more strange fact. Each body has taken one full bottle of 118ml glue :-\ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelvock Posted February 10, 2013 Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 Looking good so far Lee. Where did you get the black sycamore from? I've only ever found some on ebay and I've used it all now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 Hi Shelvock, I got this batch from Anita Marquerty but I think they have closed down. I have one bit left so I'll be looking for a new supplier when its gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelvock Posted February 10, 2013 Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 Yea I think your right about them closing down. Well you'll have to let me know if you find some and vice versa, I really like the black pinstripe you get. I've thought of dying my own but not really looked into it yet, unsure about drying it afterward and wether you would need to use a vacuum to dye it properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 10, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2013 Yes it vacuum dyed. When I bought this batch I had a long talk to some bloke from Anita and he told me it has to be vacuum dyed to get the colour all the way through. Also its filmsy stuff so I think to make it yourself would be a bit hard. Have a look at Marquerty web sites. there must be more of the stuff around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2013 I once told a new builder to study what you are about to do before you do it so you ensure you are doing it right. Only work on guitar building when you have enough time to do it. Use the right tools. Dont try to "make do". Did I do any of this? NO and nowI have paid the price like I alway seem to do. I could not be bothered to make a tele shape out of MDF to spred the clamp pressure when I clamped the top on. Now I have depressions. I could not be bothered to get the router table out to profile the bodies so I used a hand held router. How I have a router dig at the horn. I could not be bothered to sand the ties that the laser leaves then its cutting the templates out. Now I have little bumps. I could not be bothered to tidy up the body sides before I rounded over. Now the roudover has followed the bumps and dig. All my fault because I was in a hurry. Now I have to tidy both bodies up to get them right. At least the black laminate turned out nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 I feel you. Been there, done that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 But I should know better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted February 14, 2013 Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 We've all been there. Isn't it strange how few times knowing better actually stops us from trying to take that short cut? **I know I can pull it off this time.......CRAP!** Sometimes it takes me quite a few craps to get over the urge. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2013 I've done it before and I'll probably do it again. Will I ever learn? Probably not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 26, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 26, 2013 I've roughed out the bulk of the material for the pickup cavities and nexk pocket but I cant do the final route until I have the neck made. Reason being is that the template I use has the neck and pickups all in line so I need to do them in one go. As I dont know the final neck thickness I cant work out the neck pocket depth so it will just have to wait a few months until I get the neck complete. As I was drilling the jack socket hole on the left hander the body wall split. I've sqeezed a bit glue in but I dont know now much went in. Maybe I should have used super glue and injected it in but its done now. If its no good I have a spare body blank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted February 27, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 Started the righ and left necks today. Once again I rushed things and forgot to put a stopline on the left hand neck and routed the truss rod channel right through the end of the neck. I should start a new neck but I have this thing about making do with what I have and just go with it that I later regret. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted February 27, 2013 Report Share Posted February 27, 2013 I need to build a Tele. It seems like a fun thing to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted March 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2013 I like building teles. I never liked them until I started to build guitars and now I like them for the simple classic design. AND they are good guitars to start off with for beginners. I've decided to scrap the left hand neck. I just was not happy with it. New one in progress. Photos soon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted March 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 2, 2013 This is where I'm upto. The left neck has been redone and all thats left before I glue the fretboard on is to drill the holes for the trussrod at the heel. I route my necks by using a template and route them on a router table. I have to say I hate this part of building a neck. I just dont feel safe using a router table or even hand held routers for that matter. Its done now so back to enjoying the building process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted March 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 3, 2013 Drilled the holes for the truss rod today and it turned out to be a right pigs ear. Not happy with them but I have what I have so onwards I will go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted March 7, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2013 All the cavities now router out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted March 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 All the holes drilled for the abalone dots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 8, 2013 Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 Maple boards? I love abalone dots. Such fire when polished, they look like opals. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iluvteles Posted March 8, 2013 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2013 ScottR. Yes I like them. I bought a bag of 50 and they were not that expensive so have used them on all the guitars I have made so far. 5 in total. I'll superglue the dots in when I have shaped the headstock as I may mess things up so dont want to waste the dots. Starting to look like a left and right teles now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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