Offset tele semi-scratch build

As I said earlier this was started back at Christmas time, so there is a bit of progress to show.

Next came the part I was dreading most. The neck pocket.

Watched some YouTube clips for some inspiration and went to work. Made a template in MDF by clamping some straight boards right either side of the neck, and another inbetween them at the end of the neck and using that as the initial template.

Routed that out of the MDF, and that have a pretty good fit.

Access the template into the body (screws into the soon to be pickup cavities) and routed away with the pattern bit.
Couldn't get the full depth with the template on, so had to take it off and use the initial rout as the template.

Not quite as tight a joint as I'd like, but not bad for my first effort.

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

well done Fortho looks great. How many pieces of pine is that ? hard to see any joins

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Yep single piece.

nice job on the neck pocket Ken. I agree its the most nervous part of a scratch body. That's common practice to route a cavity to the depth with the template then use the cavity edge to route it deeper.

Nice work Fortho! If thou are really worried about the pocket fit, sand the sides level and insert a thin shim to whichever side needs adjustment then sand that back to get a good fit for your neck. Make sure you've got a good clear centre line and reference marks on it to get you neck alignment right and you should be sweet.

Love the body shape BTW.

Next up was the pickup routs.

Again, made some templates out of MDF with the jigsaw / spindle sander. Traced them onto the body and hogged out some wood with forstner bits.

Neck rout is a little wonky, but will be covered with a chrome pickup ring.
The bridge rout was almost perfect. Couldn't be happier with it.

After that the control cavity. Had to rout it to various depths as the 4 way switch I'm using needed to be far shallower than the pots. Infact bottomed out my routers depth adjustment, and was almost perfect.

Cut the slot for the selector switch wit a dremel with a small carving bit, running it along a straight edge and going maybe half a mm depth each run. Then sandpaper doubled over to round the edges.

Looks a little like a judging face at the bottom of the guitar when it is un-populated.

Next was some drilling with some extra long drill bits. One straight from the neck-pocket through the neck pickup rout and into the bridge pickup rout.
And another from bridge rout to control cavity.

Then a spade bit to drill the hole for the electrosocket jack.

nice work Fortho, I presume these stages have happened over the last few months ? Good to see you are wearing the standard aussie safety boots. You should look at building a workbench so you don't have to pick up tools from the floor !

Next was the string through holes.

Made sure everything was lined up, and marked the spots where I was going to drill the holes.

Drilled the outside two holes all the way through from the top of the body, and the four middle holes about half way.
Used the dremel drill press on top of the body and drilled through the bottom plate of it.
Flipped the body over, marked the four middle holes in a straight line between the two outer holes drilled through, and this time gave them a bit of a dent with a nail/punch to start them in the correct position (something I didn't do on the top) and ended up not only almost perfect, but also met the holes in the top perfectly.

Next was to enlarge the holes in the back to fit the string ferrules, for this I used my hand drill in a drill guide. Did the job remarkably well.

Top of the body is not quite straight, but will be covered by the bridge plate. Back of the body is as near perfect as I'm going to get without a drill press. (Would love a drill press and a band saw for Christmas this year, but just don't have the space)


Then shaping the headstock.
Reasonably straight forward. Trace on my design, jigsaw and neaten on the spindle sander. I'm quite happy with my new design, went fairly traditional with my strat kit.

Unfortunately haven't taken any pictures showing the string through holes yet. But here's some with the hardware test fitted.

All of that progress was just over a couple of weeks in the Christmas holidays. It has sat pretty much untouched until last week when I've finally put a bit more progress into it.
I would love a workbench, but don't really have room in the shed for one.

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Originally Posted by forthoseofus

(Would love a drill press and a band saw for Christmas this year, but just don't have the space)

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Well hell yes! I'm trying to work that angle for a birthday present, not going so good.

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Originally Posted by forthoseofus

All of that progress was just over a couple of weeks in the Christmas holidays. It has sat pretty much untouched until last week when I've finally put a bit more progress into it.
I would love a workbench, but don't really have room in the shed for one.

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Mate there's nothing wrong with having to keep it simple and minimal. If you refer to any of robin's builds, he does pretty much the same, and all with manual hand tools. A lot of these builds are done on kitchen tables, study desks or apartment balconies and there are some wonderful results.
You seem to be doing great despite the lack of space😁👏