Building a telecaster styled guitar: Finally!! the Butternut-Maple tele is complete

Soooo . . . a little more than two years after commencing a project to build two telecaster styled guitars, the second one is complete. The first one rolled out last year (birch neck, past blog posts). This second one has a maple neck. Both have butternut bodies. Throughout the project, the intent was to experiment and learn on the birch model, and to apply lessons learned to the maple one. As it turns out, both crossed the finish line as quality instruments, although the maple one is slightly more refined and my overall preference. Both are highly playable.

Butternut-Maple tele       2018, March 30

Butternut-Maple tele. The wide furrel spacing eliminates the the crowding that occurs when the string holes are drilled straight through the bode to the bridge. These holes were angled slightly to align wuth the narrower spacings on the bridge.

Building a Telecaster styled guitar: The Setup . . . the Long, Tedious, Painstaking Setup . . .

I think I finally have it where I want it, or at least it's very close. I've probably strung it and restrung it a dozen times in the last couple of months. First the neck angle had to be adjusted, then the height of the nut . . . then the neck angle . . . then the height of the nut . . . all the while adjusting the saddle heights. As it hangs right now, it has a low action all the way up the neck and NO BUZZ!! I am very careful to maintain 42% RH in the music room. The next test will be to see if it remains stable over time (and season change).

Btw, I'm very pleased with the Slick pups. Nice tone through the Tweed Deluxe, but then everything has nice tone through the Tweed Deluxe.

Building a Telecaster styled guitar: Finally got my headstock decals

My headstock waterslide decals arrived in January from MPS Guitar Decals & Parts in the UK
I did the initial sketch and Martyn fixed it up all purdy for the decal. I am really pleased with the decals and I highly recommend MPS.

ps. I've used this caricature for years, but not on a headstock. I think I like it!

https://www.mpsguitardecals.com/

Building a Telecaster styled guitar: The 1st of the Final Products

Wow, I just noticed that I haven't posted on this blog since March 21. I guess it's been a few months since I've been in the guitar shop, which is usually the way things go once spring arrives. Designing and building in the shop, close to the wood furnace, is one of my winter comforts. I bought enough hardware and electrics to complete my #2 Tele. As you may recall, we had each made two necks and two bodies, the thought being that we would use our lesser quality neck and body blanks to perfect our method and work out the bugs, and then move on to our #1 blanks for the final product. Seemed to make sense, as many of the processes are very painstaking, and are rife with places to screw-up. It turns out that for the most part, all four have turned out not half bad, and the one I completed this week is my #2.

Vintage '59 Tele re-creation. Butternut body w/ yellow birch neck. The distressed look used on the top was created with the sparing application and removal of dark blue latex stain.

Where this is my #2, I didn't go whole-hog on the hardware. I opted for good quality, medium grade, mostly from Stewart-MacDonald. I am very pleased with the Slick pup's from guitarfetish.com. They are recreations of the origional "Fullerton" alnico pickups used by Fender. I used a Japanese (gasp) Gotoh "Wilkinson" compensated bridge, and very nice Klusen tuners.

Vintage '59 Tele re-creation, showing the figuring of the butternut on the back and the flush ferrules.

Building a Telecaster styled guitar: Fret Press

Fret Press

Hot off the bench, a Fret Press. The 7 1/4" radiused maple block has a piece of aluminum (soffit) attached (with two sided tape) to the bearing surface. The opposing concave surface is lined with a piece of leather to avoid marring the back of the neck. The two 4" pressure-wheels are made from 3/4" baltic birch plywood. The two 3/8" nuts are pressed and glued (gorilla glue) into recessed holes in the top surface of the pressure-wheels.

Building a Telecaster styled guitar: getting closer to the finishing shop

 . . . . and Roger, what have you been doing to keep out of trouble this lovely New Brunswick winter. Well . . . .

Quad Tele's

Quad Tele's again

My two are on the right (top pic) or at the top (lower pic). The other two are Paul's. Notice the reversed neck on the bottom one (lower pic). Jimi would be proud of us. All are top notch! Things have gone well (so far). Some fretting to do, then out to the finishing shop. Getting anxious.
ps - Not that I am bragging, but the necks fit so precisely in the neck pockets on all four that we can (carefully) pick them up relying only on the friction of the fit to hold them together.

Building a Telecaster styled guitar neck: Completed Yellow Birch Neck

Yellow Birch Telecaster neck complete with frets and dots