Building a Telecaster styled guitar neck: the routing jig

Truss rod routing jig assembly.

The (wood) router carriage slides on the (two) arced side rails. The side rails are arced at a 147" radius for a telecaster neck. The convex arc identifies this particular setup as a jig for routing the truss rod from the back of the neck. The back-routed truss rod is used for necks with a non-capped fret board.

This jig assembly is made from a combination of high grade 3/4" baltic birch plywood and miscellaneous 3/4" douglas fir plywood scraps. The baltic birch is used in areas where a flat, straight surface are desirable.
Baltic birch machines better than coarser, lower grade plywoods.
Accuracy is very important, and a minimum of "play" in the components
is a must.

YouTube

telecaster truss rod routing jig video clip

Building a Telecaster styled guitar Phase I : The Neck

This road will ultimately lead to one or two completed Telecaster styled guitars. The first phase of this long and winding road is to craft a selection of necks, taking them all the way from rough-stock blanks to the finished, ready to attach, neck. Three or four will be built in the hopes that one or two will be of usable quality. We have chosen to build a non-capped fret-board style with arced truss rod channeled in from the back side, with adjustment accessibility through the heal. To add a challenging piece of complexity, telecaster uses an arced truss rod channel, curved to a radius of 147". Building top-drawer electric guitar necks and bodies is all about the design, quality, and functionality of the routing jigs. Good jigs . . . good outcome.
Roasted maple will be used for two of the necks. The remainder will be maple. Roasted maple is currently the rage. "Roasting" is a process that torrifies(sp) the wood to stabilize it and to help it transmit better tone. It has been used recently on acoustic guitar tone wood to give the wood the same characteristics as naturally mature tone wood. This is my first experience with neck torrifaction.