Third build - Natural Tele in Idigbo

PeteC

Well I made a start this week.  2 piece Idigbo body from one of the planks I have.  Nicer grain than the piece I used for the second DC junior build - looks much more like a Korina blank.   This plank is denser so I am thinking of having a shot at a full Idigbo neck using this section. Will probably rip and laminate at least a couple of pieces.  Nice dense long grain.   Bloody printer will only do A4 multiples so I have a bit of a jigsaw puzzle to Carefully piece together to size before I can make the body template 

it’s a start .....  

PeteC

Been looking for maple neck blanks but after having looked closely at Fenders Korina Tele I thought I'd check whether any of the Idigbo planks I have have suitable grain to use as a neck - well whaddaya know - looks like a contender !

So plan is definitely to try using the Idigbo first before doing a maple neck.  
It will be Idigbo neck with Rosewood board. 

As always ...a question to the experienced here.......is there anywhere in UK/EU that I can buy a complete set of Tele hardware which is loosely vintage style , even if new parts ? 

cheers..

PeteC

Hi everyone. 

I am making my own templates for my Tele build. Body template done. 

Can anyone help with The neck dimensions for a 50 style Tele ?  

I have some printable Neck plans but my printer won’t print to scale consistently enough for me to stick and glue together an accurate next plan.  Tried a few times and won’t do it. 

Any help much appreciated. 

Pete 

MattNovak

Which dimensions do you need Pete? I probably have rough ones noted down somewhere but they may be really basic..

PeteC

Thanks.  Nut and heel dimensions and total length from face of nut to the heel ideally ,  I think I can work everything else out from there.  Just need to ensure I get the fretboard length right too so that I include the nut slot and end of the fingerboard where it’s curved into the neck 

anything much appreciated. 

cheers 
Pete 

Roland

Pete. Have a look here https://www.gitarrebassbau.de. The Telecaster plans are about halfway down

PeteC

Bit of progress
body blank glued and ready
Body template done ( needs edges sanding ) 
Neck blank cut and handplaned
Mahogany veneer cut and ready for wood Body binding 

might halve the neck blank and reglue to laminate it for stability. 

Most hardware parts turned up now so should make some decent progress this next couple of weeks. 

Stay safe everyone.  

 

BigMonka

Some lovely bits of timber there and I love following a build from scratch, this is going to be great.

greggreg66

Looking forward to seeing this develop Pete! If it's anything like your juniors this should be a great looking tele!

PeteC

Cheers guys - I hope it turns out ok ! 

Thanks @Roland ;

  I think I might have some of these but will check.   I think the ones I downloaded for the Tele necks don’t have any dimensions noted on them .  Ok if you can print to 100% scale, but that’s a problem for me at the moment.  

I will take a look.   I do have my richie kotzen Tele to measure , but the neck is huge and I want a Neck more like a vintage Tele on this build. 

Cheers all.  

SteveRobinson

Install Inkscape on your PC. You can then load a PDF and use the tape measure tool to read dimensions.

PeteC

Aha !  Thanks @SteveRobinson   I’ll try that later today.   

MattNovak

Nice set of wood there - also jealous of your new bandsaw if that made the veneer cut? I was almost wrestling with mine last time I used it....(I think we have the same cheapo one)

PeteC

Yes the veneer was the first test cut I did with it. Early days but pretty impressed with it so far @MattNovak   

Corvus

Looks nice Pete, that body's lovely. Looks like the new bandsaw cuts nicely too.

PeteC

Cheers @Corvus , 

made a little bit more progress this pm after an awful trip to the local tip - where no-one seems to understand what 2 metres is -  - getting rid of many bags of accumulated garden rubbish generated by "Her indoors" , err.... well "her outdoors" mainly tbh, )

Anyway.... used the shiny new bandsaw to make some more mahogany binding strips - this time managing to get them down to 0.6mm thick - actually too thin to use so I'll be doing some about 1mm+ tomorrow.  Didi a resaw of my neck blank for laminating, followed by hand planing to flat it off.

Also made some plastic binding 1.5mm thick from some old squares section PVC window trim we've had kicking around by the garage for years.  Needs staining to make it off white - but seems very useable and very flexible so I may try use it on this build somehow. 


I loved @Andyjr1515 use of pinstripe veneer on his recent SG build so while I was resawing and laminating the 2 piece Idigbo neck I decided to incorporate a pin stripe down the centre for interest. 

Neck laminates glue up tomorrow morning before work, and then the body template to finish off tomorrow night I think. 

a couple of pics as ever...

TJT1979

I like the pinstripe - I was also thinking of doing the same on the next neck I build!

PeteC

SteveRobinson said:

Install Inkscape on your PC. You can then load a PDF and use the tape measure tool to read dimensions.

Did exactly that today and hence now have my own accurately dimensioned plans.  Easy when you blow up the scale to something ridiculous like 350% in Inkscape then use the measuring tool.  Haven't quite worked out how to lock the ruler to the dead centre of lines and tuner holes yet etc but accurate enough I think given the scaling option. Thanks again Steve ! 

PeteC

Got the Tele body bandsawed and spindle sanded to almost finished shape.   Need to router plane off about 3mm though which I meant to do before bandsawing but forgot !!  Anyway less material  to plane off I suppose. Pleased with the natural look so far.   Ran out of time tonight (street clapping and chatting to the neighbors  etc ) so hoping to glue up the neck laminations tomorrow morning. 

Easy bits done at least ! 

greggreg66

Yeah man!! What bloody lovely grain that is too. No offence, but I didn't quite see it when it was blocked up timber, but now it's in tele-form it looks reeeeeally nice. 

WezV

The grain fits the shape really well!