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I love your binding jig idea! I will try that on my next build. I have been hesitant to try multi piece bindings, but I think that would make it much much easier!
Hello, great build! I was looking at your files, and was wondering why some of the carves were oriented sideways or upside down, while the rest were all in an ‘upright’ position?
The one sideways SVG is for the string ferrules on the back of the body. I had 2 jointed edges at the x,y zero of my body blank, so to use one of those straight edges I had to flip and rotate 90 degrees to use my bump stop. Granted if I had a bump stop on the right side of my machine, I could have just flipped it. I hope that makes sense.
This required two bits - a 1/16" 2 flute and a 90 deg v bit. All of the holes were “drilled” with the 1/16th and the neck pocket outline was as well. The outline and screw holes were reamed using the 90 deg v bit so that the profile of the screw heads would seat nicely.
Trouble! I have a grounding issue with my wiring and I’m not sure where. I wired up everything using a schematic from Seymour Duncan, but it has a very loud ground hum when it’s plugged into an amp, and even louder when you touch anything metal. I did buy the pots/pickups second hand (supposedly pulled from a new tele), so I’m not sure if it’s my wiring or a bad component. Anyone have any ideas how to troubleshoot this effectively?
Check to see if you have the jack wires reversed. Did you put a ground wire under the bridge and soldered to a pot back? Check the wiring diagram from Guitarelectronics.com. I"m not sure why it is described as 3 singles because it is in the 2 pickup section :-).
I wondered what bit you used to cut the perimeter of the instrument? Trying to find the best bit to cut that deep. Also, did you use the same bit to do the neck pocket and pickup cavity?
I used a Whiteside 1/4" 2 Flute Upcut. I was not able to use my dust boot due to the depth. I set my feed rate at 30 or 40ipm because the bit was extended so far. Just go shallow and slow.
Two steps back… I made two neck blanks and proceeded to destroy both. First I broke a belt on the x axis. It’s been awhile since I changed it and it developed a flat spot with a fray. I hate these belts sometimes. Second one I got my boot caught on a clamp and moved the gantry ever so slightly.
So… it looks like I’m doing a maple neck now. As soon as I find a piece that is.
Did you resolve your grounding issue? Pickup manufactures use different wire colors for different things. A white wire from one maker might be south finish while another may use it as north start.
I have not had a chance, but I ordered a new cap just in case that’s the problem. Is there any way to test the polarity of the pickups? I’m pretty ignorant on guitar electronics but at least I’m trying to learn.
The cap wont be the problem. You need to find out what the winding is for the pickups. Do you know the manufacturer? If so, look it up on internet. Otherwise, search pickup polarity to figure out how to determine poles. There are so many reasons for this problem. If you can post a picture of the backside of the pickguard, showing all the wiring, then we could probably tell you by looking at it.
Magnetic polarity is checked with a compass or another magnet with a known polarity. Winding direction is either clockwise or counter clockwise. The stewmac instructions may help you understand this
I haven’t had a chance to troubleshoot the electronics yet, but I did move on to the neck. I picked up a pretty decent piece of maple from my local big box store. These pics obviously skip a few steps. I cut the neck profile and truss rod channel and cut the fret slots and dots on the fingerboard. I don’t have a bandsaw to cut the curve behind the nut on the headstock, so I carefully sanded it with the edge of a belt sander. Not ideal…very slow, but it did work fine.
After getting the neck glued up, I used a rasp, spokeshave, and 80 grit to get the neck profile. Then I moved on to the fretboard - a 9.5" radius block out of some scrap maple. The block was super easy to make and use. It worked great - almost too well. I made a mistake when I cut the inlay pockets. They should have been about 0.5mm deeper because I sanded through one on the 12" fret! If it plays ok, I’ll replace it, but for a first build I’m ok with it.
I decided to make a fret press, which worked really well. I made this with a 20x20x0.5" piece of birch ply I had laying around. If I made one again, I’d use 3/4" and hardwood cauls.
I had my pivot points loose at first and the caul would slip off if I really put pressure on it. As you can see from the picture, I tightened up the bolts so they don’t slip. I do like having the pivots though because you can adjust them.
It pressed them in pretty well. I started one side so the tang indexed w/ the slot. Then pressed them using enough pressure until I felt some flex in the press. That flex is why I’d go w/ 3/4" ply next time. Also the cauls being made out of ply also had pretty good indentations. I have some corian I thought about trying, but the caul lasted long enough for 21 fets. I did have to hammer in some of the fret edges. I’ve done flat boards on ukes, but not on a radius fretboard, so I’m still learning
Cut the caul out of brass or aluminum. I’d also suggest thick leather as the padding between the neck and the base. That way you don’t risk “denting” the back of the neck. I think its a great design. I wonder about cutting it out of aluminum. My son has access to a maker shop at his school, so I’m going to send him the file and see if he can cut it on the waterjet. Although I enjoy hammering frets, my wife doesn’t because I tend to do it late at night. I have been using my drill press with a caul in it. This would be a nice tool.
I’ve got the old stewmac arbor press and accessories and it really made a difference in my necks from hammering. I’ve heard about guys making their own drill press fret cauls and they put a strip of brass in there with good results I guess.
I finished the build a few months ago and forgot to post pictures! I had a lot of buzzing at first and ended up taking another 1/16th from the neck pocket. The action is still a little bit high, but it does play pretty well. I also ended up purchasing prewired pots/switch. I had mine wired the same way, so something was faulty. The only thing I’m going to do now is replace the saddles with old school brass barrel types that aren’t as long. The modern saddles would be good on a 25” scale, but at 25.5” I’ve got them almost tight to the back of the bridge to intonate. All around I’m pretty happy with it as a first build. I learned a lot that’s is going to make #2 a whole lot easier to build and the quality even better!
Looks good. Vintage tele bridges are shorter than the modern ones, so you may have to drill new holes or buy a bridge and replace them on the current one…if they are long enough.
Lighter strings require more intonation. If you went with a little heavier set of strings then you can move those saddles forward. The problem with changing saddles is that the slots on a barrel saddle are not centered, so it will shift the strings to one side. That bridge wont accommodate barrel saddles. You will need to get a new bridge to account for the off center slots on barrel saddles. The string holes in the body may not line up either. To lower action, put a small shim in the back side of the neck pocket. I typically will use a piece of .010 plastic binding. I have recently switched to putting a 1.5 degree neck angle on all my instruments which gives me a bit more adjustment to fine tune them. You might be able to use the Mustang saddles with that bridge but I’m not sure.
I bought a whole new bridge and the schematic shows the body holes lining up. We’ll see. I put 10’s on, so I can try 11’s. 12 is pretty thick for my taste.
