Lee_ Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 Hello everybody, Haven't built a single guitar for the last 7 years.. Suddenly I have a little more time on my hands, and this is what happens. I have been posting the build process on another board, but I figured I'll post it here for old times sake. So this one will be a thinline-esque, bookmatched roasted flamed maple top and back, roasted birdseye maple neck and fretboard, Kinman Bridge-Blaster and P90, Graphtech Ghost tunomatic coupled with a Bigsby B16 tailpiece and Hipshot locking tuners. I'm a bit rusty, short in workspace (my balcony will have to do) and in power tools, so this isn't going to be the fastest build ever.. Anyway, here we go: The maple (God bless Canada) Free-hand design on a piece of plywood. It's not a one-for-one telecaster, it's ever so slightly rounder in the lower bout, and the neck joint is obviously different. F-hole design I transferred the f-hole's shape to a thicker piece of MDF, did some final shaping, then routed it to the body template (didn't take pictures of the template making, but it's pretty straight forward) using a 3/8" ball bearing bit, and finishing it off with a 1/4" bit, with the shank riding the MDF as a guide. Same thing for the second f-hole Cut and shaped the pickguard from some creme plastic (I know it seems early for this step, but I wanted to make sure the ideas that seem great in my twisted mind work in reality) And here it is with a sketch of the layout. The f-hole will go through the pickguard. I like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee_ Posted March 1, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 (almost) Finished the neck template today, there's a little router bite at the headstock that needs filling and sanding. Rough cut with a jigsaw, than cut the straight line using a router and a straight edge. The headstock was shaped using rasps, files, a scraper and sandpaper. The neck will have 22 frets, and 5mm abalone dots A little mock-up with the pickguard Just to show the way the pickguard goes along with the Bigsby Now that I'm done with making templates, it's time to make some more expansive sawdust. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted March 1, 2015 Report Share Posted March 1, 2015 This should be fun! Never used roasted maple but a friend brought over some curly neck blanks awhile back that I'm itching to touch. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 2, 2015 Report Share Posted March 2, 2015 I agree, this should be fun. I'm not sure I've seen a Bigsby rigged for a tele before. And I like the headstock and pickguard shapes. And I love the P-90 in then neck position. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Looking forward to see more. Tele + Bigsby is among the best looking guitar IMO. However I prefer the B5 version with the adaptor plate. It brings a little bit less "metal" to the look. BTW were did you get the thermotreated maple from? I have seen neck blanks (actually I have one here waiting for the right build) but never fretboard blanks and tops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee_ Posted March 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 This should be fun! Never used roasted maple but a friend brought over some curly neck blanks awhile back that I'm itching to touch. Chris I agree, this should be fun. I'm not sure I've seen a Bigsby rigged for a tele before. And I like the headstock and pickguard shapes. And I love the P-90 in then neck position. SR Thanks guys, I sure hope it will be fun, it's been great so far.. Looking forward to see more. Tele + Bigsby is among the best looking guitar IMO. However I prefer the B5 version with the adaptor plate. It brings a little bit less "metal" to the look. BTW were did you get the thermotreated maple from? I have seen neck blanks (actually I have one here waiting for the right build) but never fretboard blanks and tops. I bought the maple from "Hades Roasted Maple". It's some great looking wood, the only thing that I had to adjust to is the "roasted" smell.. couldn't realize how was my router burning the neck blank with my careful feed rate.. not to mention hand sanding.. than it came to me that's just how it smells The bigsby really is a hefty chunk of aluminium. I hope it will all come together in the end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee_ Posted March 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2015 It's been a busy week, but I had some time to work today. I thicknessed the fretboard using the router, down to 1/4". Many shallow careful passes, slightly overlapping. Since I'm thicknessing the neck blank the same way, I cut it to shape to save myself some routing. Down to 3/4" On to the body: The body core will be Red Cedar. It's a great tone wood IMO, very light weight and resonant. The only downside is that it's extremely soft, looking at it for too long will end up with a dent. However, since it's sandwiched between maple top and back, that's not a problem. I've got some that really matches the color of the roasted maple: Though it's not quite wide enough to fit the entire body, so I'll add a center block from lighter quartersawn cedar. Cut: Planed: Arranged: And glued: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted March 17, 2015 Report Share Posted March 17, 2015 I bought the maple from "Hades Roasted Maple". It's some great looking wood, the only thing that I had to adjust to is the "roasted" smell.. couldn't realize how was my router burning the neck blank with my careful feed rate.. not to mention hand sanding.. than it came to me that's just how it smells Thanks for the info. I checked their inventory and there wasn't much to show, but I'll keep an eye open. I would love to get my hands on a top like that to match the neck blank I already have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee_ Posted March 24, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2015 I bought the maple from "Hades Roasted Maple". It's some great looking wood, the only thing that I had to adjust to is the "roasted" smell.. couldn't realize how was my router burning the neck blank with my careful feed rate.. not to mention hand sanding.. than it came to me that's just how it smells Thanks for the info. I checked their inventory and there wasn't much to show, but I'll keep an eye open. I would love to get my hands on a top like that to match the neck blank I already have. No problem Peter, You should probably go ahead and email Rene. He's a nice fellow, and I believe he has much more in his stock then he lists. Cleaned, planed and scraped the body blank flat, only to draw the outline 2mm off center.. sanded the entire thing and drew it on again, correctly this time. Free handed the chambers. The bottom has three separate chambers so that I could shield the electronics. You can see the fatter bit for the bellycut at the top bout. Drilled 10mm holes at the tight corners Than played a little "connect the dots" with the jigsaw Cut the outline I'll glue the maple top on before doing any more work on the cedar, as it isn't strong enough in this relatively thin form to deal with the forces a router would introduce. The only thing I must do before that is carving the bellycut's inner slope, I'll use a knife for that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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