Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey everyone. I've been lurking here for about 4 or 5 years now, so I feel like I know all of you. And a few of you have seen me post a couple of times, well now it's time for me to take the leap and actually do something to become a part of this place. I've been talking about building a guitar for several years, and I've been gassing for a tele for a while as well, so I'm going to kill 2 birds with a single stone and build myself a tele from scratch. I have a guitar player friend who also happens to have a nice wood shop, and I have another friend with a few lutherie tools, so I should have everything I need in that respect. My goal is to build one for under $100. I've got some wood ready to go (I have some questions about that later) and am gathering the necessary hardware from other friends who do a lot of modding to their guitars. I'm hoping to start the build in about 2 weeks.

Now for the first question-- My wood working guitar buddy has some red oak and some beech. The strips are actually strips of hardwood flooring. Now I understand the different thoughts on body wood on an electric, but again, I'm trying to do this as inexpensively as possible, so my question is, would you laminate the strips and have the face grain on the top, or use the side grain? My plan is to do a relic job, so I won't be after a smooth,flawless finish. My next question is, would beech be ok for a neck? I would plan on laminating it with the edge grain along the face of the neck (figuring that it would resist bow better).

Thoughts, ideas, criticism?

By the way, JohnM, I'll be talking to you about this at lunch on Wednesday.

Thanks!

Laminating all that stuff would be a real pain in the butt, I think - and not render a nice sounding instrument. Plywood isn't known for its great tone, ya know? Can you find something else lobuck, but more appropriate for a guitar?

Next issue - relicing. Really? This is a popular process I find stupifyingly hideous. Take a nice instrument and make it look like hell. How brilliant! I don't care who does it, or for how long, or how much money they made doing it - it's just idiotic - my take. Maybe others here will disagree with me.

Also - it's a lie. Just like doing a patinated finish on a hot rod - it's a lie, and it's stupid. I don't find it cool at all. My 2 cents - buy a Tele body and neck off eBay and trash them up just the way you like it.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Ok Chris, strong opinion on relicing duly noted.
We'll just say that I'm not going for a fresh, factory-finished look on this one.

As far as the lamination goes, the tele builds over at TDPRI consist of everything from pine to plastic, and they all sound pretty darned good. I'm of the opinion on electrics that it's the electronics that really make it. And look at it this way, if it sounds terrible, I've not wasted anything and I've learned some techniques on how to build the next one with better wood.

The electronics may shade or tint the sound of any electric guitar, but at its very root - it's still an acoustic guitar. Play a Les Paul unplugged and it still sounds midrangy and fat. Strats are thin and glassy. Whatever the guitar is made of, or how it is made - if it can't generate strong lows or highs, no pickup will create them. Pickups merely "hear" what's going on, and manipulate the sound within a certain range. Period.

So... good luck with your build. I'm sure you'll learn something.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

If I were you I'd just make it out of ash and maple. Ash is probably around $4 a board foot for 8/4 stock and hard maple is probably more like $8 but you're only making a tele neck. That's why Leo Fender used those woods....they are relatively cheap.

Thanks, Chris. I'm sure I will

I just scored a big chunk of cherry from a neighbor. It's not thick enough for a body, but it should make a pretty sweet neck

After reading Jason's post about how cheap woods are, I headed to Lowe's today to check it out. We don't have a Menards or Home Depot around here, but I'll check out a couple of local lumber yards before making a final decision. Anyway, Lowe's doesn't have any ash or maple. The do have some S4S douglas fir that would be thick enough for a body (it would probably be around 1 5/8 after any sanding). I plan on using the cherry that I have posted above for the neck.

Thoughts on doug fir vs. pine for the body...

I wonder how the guys over at Alembic would feel about having their instruments called plywood... And the sound? Well, they seem to get the job done, no?

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Flooring is 1/4 thick, right? Maybe I assumed incorrectly.
And I've repaired lots of Alembics since the 70's - they are hardly plywood.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Ok, so I may be catching the luthier disease from which you all suffer...

I'm just now getting started on my initial build but have already started planning out #2 and dreaming of what I want to do. On a whim, I stopped by the local lumber yard right by my house just to see if they happened to have any wood that would be good for a guitar build. Well, he had a piece of alder that was 7 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 14' that he sold me for $10! I couldn't resist. It has some knots, but since it's something that I would put a maple cap on anyway, it didn't bother me. There's enough wood to make about 4 or 5 tele bodies. I think I'm sunk. All I can think of now is building guitars

Filippo and Todd, thanks for the encouragement. I don't know if you'd seen my earlier posts or not, but I have in fact departed from the laminate idea. I saw where the early broadcasters were made of pine, so I splurged for some douglas fir. I picked up a board large enough to make 3 guitar bodies, and it cost me a whole $6. Filippo, I will actually be making a tele and have started hanging out at TDPRI to get ideas.

In my above post, you'll see where I also picked up enough alder (very cheap, I might add) to make at least 3 more guitar bodies. I plan to use the doug fir to hopefully learn what I'm doing, and then use the alder to make a nice tele.

I really do appreciate the encouragement. I really don't plan on making an incredible guitar the first time out, but I do plan on making an incredible guitar some time after that

Indeed. Keep us informed....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Thanks for the input on relicing, guys. This is definitely one of the things I enjoy about this place. I've been doing some research (a lot of research actually) and finding examples of what makes a good relic (vs the very poor examples that are all too common). I have an idea in mind of where I'm going, so I'll just need to take my time and do things right. I saw Shad's post on his relic'd tele and planned on using his technique for the hardware. viewtopic.php?f=10123&t=29548

I'm definitely not going to go at it like the one vid I saw on YouTube. I'd post it, but I can't find it at the moment. The guy just started going at his guitar with a screwdriver. He was even using a hammer to pound the screwdriver into the body. The whole time I was asking myself, "at what point during playing my guitar have I ever developed swiss cheese style holes in the body?" It made no sense whatsoever.

Thanks Todd. I've already talked to John Mayes actually. I met him through a mutual friend, and he's already gotten me on my way with some basic advice and has even provided parts for me. He told me I could get with him if I have any questions or issues. He only lives about an hour and 15 minutes away from me, so I'm sure I'll be making a few trips to his shop when things start rolling.

SCORE!! I've been looking for a crucial piece to my guitar build and haven't been able to find one locally anywhere. I live in a VERY small town. On a whim, I stopped by a place that's downtown today. This is the kind of place where the guys from American Pickers would go nuts. I was talking to the owner, and it was his dad's place. His dad was a retired grocer and liked to go to auctions and bring all kinds of stuff back. Before the dad died, the place was packed floor to ceiling with stuff. Now that the son has it, he's trying to get rid of as much as possible. I went in to look around and ended up finding the one crucial piece that had been eluding me...



I plan on making my tele bridge out of the lid, and then using the body to fashion my neck plate, jack plate, pickup ring, and control plate. I finally have all the pieces to the puzzle

So here we go. First thing I gotta do is clear a work space. Shameful, I know


Here you can see the profile. It won't quite work as is because the saddles would anchor right below the mid-line bend in that side flange. I'll remove the rubber gasket and see what I have


After I removed the gasket, I needed to beat down the inner lip that was holding it in place


And now we start the operation. As you can see, Filippo, no burning (except for my arm muscles )


After what feels like many more minutes than it actually was, I get to here. This seemed like a much better idea about 30 minutes ago.


Starting on the 2nd side


Ahh, Success


That's where I left it for today. My friend who is building with me has another friend who works at a local metal sales/fabrication shop. After I draw them out on the ammo box, I'll have him finish making all my other parts... and finish fabricating the bridge as well.

Ok, so I couldn't leave it alone. The family was out for a while, and I had this beautiful day...

I proceeded to work on the neck plate.


I used an angle grinder with a cutting wheel to get it close



Then on to the bench grinder


It's not perfect, but then again, it's not supposed to be. I just need to drill the holes, then it's complete


The idea behind the ammo box is that I want this guitar to look as though it's had several "field fixes".

I've been lurking on this forum long enough to know that you 2 guys in particular have an incredible knowledge base, so I'm not ashamed to say that you've lost me

they sound like they are questioning if you are going to trick out the guitar like you would a gun. but that's my take i guess we will see what they have to say.

Yeah, I figured you guys were referencing something about guns, I just had no idea what hehe. I've been shooting for a long time, but all of my competitions have been in the realm of muzzle loaders.

I did watch the TDPRI build-off, Filippo. There were some absolutely incredible guitars built, that's for sure. I didn't really want to enter the competition, but I did get a lot of ideas and really good info on jigs, processes, etc.

Cool. I've got a .45 cal Kentucky long rifle that was custom built for me about 23 years ago. I was competing in the men's divisions before I was 16.

You wanna talk about smoke screen, get yourself a flintlock

Man, that brings back memories!
I used to love "tickling the butterfly".
Heavy SOB`s, though, if you`re infantry.
Do you have to change the neck before it overheats, and are the bass notes set up as tracers?
How many roadies to pack it around?
Any way, I`ll bet it looks and sounds outstanding mounted on a tripod!
Sorry, Roger.
I`m not trying to hijack your post.
I used to hate those boxes, but I`m starting to change my opinions these days...
Coe Franklin

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

No problem, Coe. I'm glad my build is being looked at favorably by guys like you. I've never served in the military (have been diabetic since I was 7), but I've got family and good friends who've served/are still serving. I grew up always having a lot of respect for our armed forces and wanted to do something small to show that I support what our troops do and the sacrifices they make.

Started work on a few more pieces tonight.

Wanted to experiment with the bridge some, so I spent some time with a vice and hammer. I folded over the outside flange, and it looks like it's going to work well. I still need to take it to my friend's friend's metal fab shop to finish it off though.


Next I thought I'd work on the control plate. First I had to figure out a good position for it and then trace my template.


Next, I had to figure out the best tool for the job. I picked up one of my dad's old tool boxes last year when my mom and I were going through his things. He happened to have had some tin snips, so I figured what the heck



Be careful when working with sharp metal. That'll leave a damper on my playing for a few days


A little time spent with the bench grinder, and here we go. I still need to drill my holes and cut my switch slot. I'll clean it up a little with some files, but overall, it looks like a control plate


I should be gluing body blanks and making template tomorrow