Building my Tele

[pwfirst]

I have been wanting a Tele for a while now but have not seen one that cought my eye. So I started to build one. I started with a mighty Mite body, 11 coats of finish on these boday and it was great, Ash with quilted Maple top.


The cost was $165 on Ebay and worth every penny.
Next I started looking for a neck and found an amazing neck on Ebay. Highly figured birds eye maple.

[pwfirst]

The neck was very nice. I was able to order it with the Fender C neck shape and I ordered the standard Tele shape.


This is not a final finished neck. It has one coat of NitroCellulose on it. The fret side is perfect but the back of the neck is slightly rough in a few spots as I expected. The plan is to fine sand the neck and head and apply a sanding sealer, sand some more, then a final coat or two of satin Nitrocellulose and then buff the whole thing.
I chose jumbo frets since I will be using this boy in Church where I play mainly lead parts. The neck was about $200 on Ebay.
so I am up to $365 for the build.
My next step is to fit the neck to the body. This is probable the most important part of the build. If the neck is not tight and straight , it will never play correctly. I start out removing the finish from the neck cavity on the sides since the neck was too tight. I did this with my dremil tool with a sanding drum on it. It worked great and fast. Still to tight to get it to match. I then drew out the out line of the body pocket on the neck and block sanded the finish off this area. After about 4 attempts it finially fit down in the pocket with no room to spare. This fit needs to be tight not sloppy. All of the joints need to equal and tight for it to look professional. Mine came out perfect.

[pwfirst]

Here is the picture of the sanding and grinding I did on the body.



This had a coating of finish material that I removed .
This is the most important part, so take it slow and make it right.
At the back if the opening I ground out alittle material so I would be able to adjust the neck truss rod later. I will make it a little bigger since it is covered by the pick guard anyway. I will go a head and drill the neck mounting screws next. I will use my drill press for this, just to make sure the are at the correct angles. I have done it with a just a drill and it work fine too. The drill press will drill them straight and to the correct depth.

[pwfirst]

Here is the fit of the neck and the body together. I think it is just the way it should be.



I need to expand the opening around the truss rod for easier adjustments and then drill the holes for the neck screws.
I have a Custom gold engraved neck plate for the back that I think will look cool.
After the neck is in it's final position I will mount the Gold vintage Fender tuners with pearl heads and the gold with black adjustment screws on the bridge plate. Then I will mount the pick guard in it's final position. I will then do a rough neck adjustment and string height setting. After that is done I will remove the neck and finish the neck's final finishing process.
I am hoping that the Custom pickups arrive this week so I can install them while I am finishing the neck. I will spend more time on the fit and finish of the neck than any other part of the guitar. If you think about it it is our main contact point with your instrument and even the smallest imperfection will be noticed every time you pick it up. So that is it for now. Comments are welcome on any design suggestions.
So far the scotch has helped me with many of my indecisions. I am also looking for suggestion for some designs on the head.
I have water decals that I can make and put on the head piece.

[469roadking]

Cool build. I really want to do that as well and on a Tele as well.
I saw some really great waterslides on the Tele forum.
One was in Fender 60s style lettering. It said "Praiseworthy" and under it in small block letters it said " the Way.........the Truth........the Life. Thought it was really cool esp for a church dedicated axe. Good luck with the rest of the build. Keep those pics coming.

[pwfirst]

Thanks road king, I'll give it a look.

[WhiskeyHotel]

Very slick! I wish I had the skillz....

[nashvegas]

Everyone starts as an amateur! Just f'ing do it--if you want to.

[gasman]

Apr 27, 2010 19:03:47 GMT -5 nashvegas said:

Everyone starts as an amateur! Just f'ing do it--if you want to.

I don't want to!... ;D No, seriously, I am a CLUTZ!!!! I would BUTCHER anything like this!!! My hat is off to you Phil (and anyone else that does this type of stuff)! Can't wait to see the finished product. Thanks for going into detail on the procedure!

[pwfirst]

Well the neck and body are one.



This is the back plate I talked about. I saw it and had to have it.
So far the construction has been very easy. A dremal and a drill and a scew driver is all I have used so far.

The neck is on tight and straight so on to the pick guard.

[pwfirst]

And the front.

[pwfirst]

Starting to look like a Tele. I think it is growing on me.



I am hoping my pickups come tomorrow. As you can tell I am going for more of an upscale look instead of the basic rocker.
Plus the shades of the wood stain remind me of my beloved scotch..

[pwfirst]

The tuners are 1990 gold classic Fender. I did have to re-drill
the holes because they were a little small. Again the drill press made the job fast and easy. I also had to use the dremal to grind on the edges of the tuners so they would fit. The dremal has been very important to the build. I have used it for grinding and drilling the small screw holes. many times. This thing is going to gether very quickly. The nut is an Earvana which I need to glew in after the final finishing of the neck.

[pwfirst]

So what is the total.
body

[pwfirst]

So what is the cost.
body $165
Neck $ 200
neck plate $ 26
Vintage tuners $ 19
Earvana Nut $ 29
Torres pick-ups $200
Screws $ 10
Total $649.00

Not bad for a top of the line Tele for under $700 and a few hours work. When I get the pick ups and wiring harness I will show all of that.
I will also go through step by step finishing process of the neck.