Junk Telecaster

[guitar junkie]

This has been interesting! I am wondering where you found the plans for the neck as that seems to be the only thing I can't find right now.

 

[muttley600]

This has been interesting! I am wondering where you found the plans for the neck as that seems to be the only thing I can't find right now.

If you know the dimensions of the neck pocket and the width of the nut. All you need is the outline for the headstock. PM me in any case..

 

[crazydoc]

This has been interesting! I am wondering where you found the plans for the neck as that seems to be the only thing I can't find right now.

Here's a neck pdf - it's the one I used.

http://www.drivingblind.org/NECK.pdf

Make sure you print it the right size so the scale length is 25 1/2" (you'll have to print it on several sheets of paper and tape them together.) If you print it so the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is 12 3/4", this should give you the correct size.

 

[crazydoc]

For the truss rod I used 3/16 diameter roller shafts from the copier. One wasn't long enough, so I welded two together.

 

[crazydoc]

I built up a weld on one end and shaped it to a hook, so it wouldn't rotate or move longitudinally.

 

[crazydoc]

This would fit into a recess in the heel end of the slot.

 

[crazydoc]

I threaded the other end, and drilled through from the headstock to the truss rod slot. (I had to make a long drill bit from another roller shaft.)

 

[crazydoc]

I installed the rod and made a plug from a scrap of walnut, which was glued in and cut/sanded down.

 

[crazydoc]

A nut made from a 3/8" roller shaft was threaded on the headstock end for truss rod adjustment.

 

[Nakatira]

awsome pics man.

very cool

 

[purerad]

I love builds like this.........anyone with alot of cash can build anything they want. But it takes some real brain power to put something together with little cash that's nice too boot. Great work!

 

[crazydoc]

Glad you're enjoying this - I had a great time building it.

Here's a pic of the copier, after a hugely enjoyable day of tearing it down. (If there's anything I like better than building something, it's tearing something apart.) And this doesn't even show the two bins of sheet metal and plastic parts.

 

[crazydoc]

Next, the fretboard. I took a scrap of walnut left over from the truss rod plug, and turned a dowel using a hand drill and belt sander.

 

[crazydoc]

This was cut into sections, and these were glued into 1/4" holes.

 

[crazydoc]

The dowel was turned smaller for the side markers, then similarly fit into holes.

 

[crazydoc]

This is a jig making a 12" radiused sanding block to sand the fretboard. The router swings back and forth, and the block is raised a little with each pass to make a new cut. The block was about 10" long, and sandpaper was glued to the radiused portion with contact cement. (I don't have a pic of the finished block.)

 

[crazydoc]

What to make frets out of? I was thinking of HO gauge model train track, but I couldn't find my boxes of train crap. But there was a bunch of fence wire out on the property.

 

[crazydoc]

I beat it with a hammer on an anvil to flatten it.

 

[crazydoc]

Meanwhile, the back of the neck was shaped with the belt sander, the fretboard radiused, and the fret slots recut to correct depth and width. Here is a piece of the fretwire cut down to measure the correct depth of the slots.

 

[crazydoc]

The neck taped off to avoid glue spillage.