Junk Telecaster

[crazydoc]

Last year (2009) I lost my job, and being at loose ends and without income, I entered a $100 Telecaster challenge on the MIMF website http://www.mimf.com/cgi-bin/WebX?14@97.r0oyaFP7DCv.0@/ . In honor of my unemployment, I decided to challenge myself to make it with no cash outlay, using only materials I already had on hand. (Of course, I am a huge pack rat.)

The basic materials were wood scavenged from cabinet shop cutoffs I'd gathered on my work commute, and an old copy machine given to me by a nephew.

Here's the wood - two pieces of alder on the right, and lyptus on the left (enough for four necks eventually.)

 

[crazydoc]

First, the body of alder. The long pieces were cut to length.

 

[crazydoc]

Ripped to thickness, and glued up.

 

[crazydoc]

Sanded to thickness and flatness. (I found the belt sander to be one of my most useful tools.)

 

[crazydoc]

I downloaded and printed a template.

 

[crazydoc]

Cutting out the body was a huge PITA. The 30 year old jigsaw wore out, so I had to use the table saw, a rotozip tool, and rasp the do it.

 

[crazydoc]

Rotary rasp.

 

[crazydoc]

More shaping/sanding.

 

[crazydoc]

Neck pocket. This pic and subsequent ones were taken later, after the neck and hardware had been made.

 

[crazydoc]

The body with all cavities drilled/routed, edges rounded, and ready for finishing.

More later.

 

[dintymoore]

Good stuff - thanx for posting that.

I had a B&D jigsaw like that - with the 6" power cable... I don't miss that feature!

 

[JG96]

This is really cool, what are you planning to finish the guitar with?

 

[dintymoore]

Sound wise, and lots will disagree (but not many violin makers will) you might consider using Titebond Hide Glue instead of the white glue. The white glue acts like plastic separators between the wood pieces. The hide glue is organic and much closer to wood. It helps the separate pieces "become one" and you should get stronger fundamentals and more resonance.

 

[Washburn100]

Good for you and it looks excellent so far!

A few years ago, I got the "build my own guitar" bug so I bought one of those Saga kits. Not near as much work as you have put in, but it was fun and gave me a much better appreciation of a fine guitar.

Keep us posted!

 

[Sirnothingness]

Damn, you guys are way more resourceful than I am. I couldn't imagine even trying to build my own guitar, although I would love to do so. The closest I come is to hopefully someday buy some pos foreign job and repaint it, drop new pus in it. That's about it for me.

nice job!

 

[crazydoc]

On to the neck. I ripped a slab off the lyptus board. I downloaded a neck and fret template and traced it out, making sure I'd printed it to the correct 25 1/2" scale length.

 

[crazydoc]

I cut it out with table saw, rotozip, and belt sander. I made a jig (basically a sliding miter box) to cut the fret slots.

 

[crazydoc]

Rough cut and shaped neck.

 

[crazydoc]

I made another jig to cut the truss rod slot. The truss rod has to be bowed slightly in the neck to work properly, so the slot has to have a curved bottom.

 

[crazydoc]

More later.