Members MesaMonster Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 I have a friend that has given me some Mahogany and Spalted Maple. My plan is to use the Mahogany for the body and the maple as a cap. I had heard that the spalted maple can be heavy. Does anyone here have a template for cutting and routing the body. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members billybilly Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 Try this site, lots of information, I mean, lots, lots. http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 28, 2015 Members Share Posted January 28, 2015 Before you go any farther, order a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's book Make Your Own Electric Guitar. He describes building three different style guitars - a bolt on (Tele), set neck (Gibson) and a thru neck. The tele instructions are quite good - you see how to build a Fender style neck with the simple curved truss rod and he does build a capped topped guitar so you can see this. He also has great chapters on tools, woods, designing your guitar, finish and electronics. Next, go to the link that Billy gave you and the first stuck thread below the announcements. Go to the last page and you can download a D sized set of plans for a tele in either pdf or dwg format. If you have a cadd program you can modify the dwg plans, if not take the pdf files on a thumb drive to an engineering office or someplace like Kinkos. They can plot the plans for you. Get at least three copies because you will be cutting them up. This is another good source of plans - he has several versions of the Tele http://www.guitarplansunlimited.com/ Lastly, you can make your own router templates from the above plans or you can buy them from sources like StewMac. Hiscock give the templates for several different pickup configurations. As far as the spalted maple - do some research before you jump into it. Spalted wood is caused by a fungal rot and the wood can have a tendency to fall apart when you try to work it. Some people stabilize it by flooding it with CA or epoxy - that will certainly add to the weight. If you are really concerned about weight you might consider chambering your guitar (see my thread on the chambered Lester that I just built) Good luck, post pictures and have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MesaMonster Posted January 29, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thank you Guys. This is a lot of great information. This is my first build so I am going to try on some scrap wood first. My worries are the routes for the neck and pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Grumpy Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Stewart-MacDonald sells plexiglass templates for neck and pickup routs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 I've bought StewMac templates and they are fine but you can also make your own. Cut out your plans (or copy pages from Hiscocks' book), stick then to some MDF or plywood or Lucite, drill out with Forstner bits and clean up with your router and sandpaper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 Thank you Guys. This is a lot of great information. This is my first build so I am going to try on some scrap wood first. My worries are the routes for the neck and pickups. Always practice on scrap. And remember that routers are big powerful hungry machines that can turn a nice piece of wood to scrap in an instant. And can do extreme bodily damage. Many builders think that sticking your templates on with double sticky tape is good enough - I try to design mine so I can either add a couple of clamps or put a screw thru it somehow. I also drill out as much waste wood as possible with a Forstner bit. Here is a home made neck pocket template And a StewMac humbucker - I have to move the clamp around which is a pain The router is a small "laminate trimmer" - that's a nice size for most of the routing you will be doing on a solid body guitar. Notice the little bobble near the screw hole by the horn - I wasn't careful and it took a little notch out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Grant Harding Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 If it's your first build it might be a good idea to buy the neck and focus your attention on the body and build. Good luck and post pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 29, 2015 Members Share Posted January 29, 2015 This is an excellent series - the guitar is an LP Junior so its flat topped, but still has the Gibson set neck. First segment is building the neck which will be different for yours (by the way, Fender style necks are designed to be easy to build, don't deprive yourself of the fun). This is the part about building the body - yours will be very similar About 3/4 of the way thru he builds a very clever neck routing jig - I'm going to make one before my next build. Also his little trick about fitting the jig to the neck tenon and then adding a couple of pieces of masking tape is golden - that makes the pocket a few thousands smaller than the tenon. You'll remove a tiny bit of that to fit the neck - infinitely better than trying to shim a pocket that is too big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MesaMonster Posted January 30, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 30, 2015 That was my thought too. Build the body, buy the neck. When I am brave enough, I will try a neck project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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