Sgt

New project at mock up stage is a hybrid SG/Tele. I have always liked SG's and Telecasters and this is the first 6 string I am attempting to build. The reach to the higher frets looks to be a little compromised due to the mismatched body shape and neck attachment, but that is something I may be able to address at the shaping stage. The pick ups are not finalised yet, but will probably go for both hot rails although I am tempted to put a P90 in the neck position. Switching will be simple telecaster 3 position. I am looking to stain the neck and body with beetroot juice for a natural red before finishing with Danish oil. the overall length is just 37 inches so nice and compact with a 25.5 in. scale. The maple fretboard has been treated with pharmaceutical mineral oil then masked to let it soak. All my components at this time are budget units but seem to be adequate to my needs. Due to the current lockdown, my workshop and power tools are not readily available so it may take some time to get going, will report in due course.

Cool! I like hybrid concept guitars.

I currently have sort of a "Les Tele" or "Tele Paul" thing going at the moment.
Hope yours sees some progress soon!

Great idea. What is the rail pup? I like the idea of the P-90 in the neck position.

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The hot rail is a budget unit from the ‘bay about £8 I believe. I bought a few bits and pieces not really knowing what I was doing! I used one on my telecaster bass and it sounds pretty good so I thought I would use the other one for this project. I am leaning more towards the P90 neck, remembering my old SG custom from years back.(one I shouldn’t have sold!)

I have a friend with a tele-bridge-P90-neck combo that is about perfect.

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Will the beetroot colour be stable? I thought it degraded fairly quickly with light?

I did a beech air rifle stock for my grandson a couple of years back with beetroot as stain, 7 coats of danish oil applied with 0000 wire wool and finished with a red tint beeswax . Whilst I am sure you are right about some level of degradation, the boys airgun still looks good. I prefer my guitars with a natural finish( or maybe IÂ’m afraid to paint them🤪!) and gradual changes overtime are usually quite pleasant IMHO

Well the neck is fitted, Hand tools only, drill, depth gauge, chisel, mallet and sandpaper. Its a nice snug fit and fairly pleased with it. Initial shaping/profiling with rasp, files and sandpaper and again I am fairly ok with it. I have decided to go for a rounded profile rather than flats and to be economic with the removal to retain mass. I have decided to leave the back end slab shaped so its a bit like a tele with a soft shaped SG in the middle. The grain is looking like it might be nice too. I strung some thread through the centre two string slots to check my centre line and temporarily tied to a small screw where the strap button will go. This is simply to confirm my positioning of the neck, so at least in one plane at the moment we are ok. I cut out the control panel slot and jack socket hole (maybe mis-measured where that should be, but I will live with it) So a slow start (maybe not a bad thing, no router jump!) more sanding and possibly deepening the lower cut-out a touch, but I don't want to lose too much of the SG shape. My daughter has renamed it the Sergeant (Sgt.)
edit...
One thing I nearly got very wrong! this body is not as deep as a telecaster and as I predrilled the 4 bolt holes something told me to check the screws, if I had used the ones that came with the plate I would have four spikes in the upper register! Now I know this guitar is a bit awkward (but not impossible) to reach those upper frets but to booby trap it seemed a little too much!

I am going to enjoy following this one. Looks very interesting.

Got a little more done today, after a catastrophe in the workshop. I had some power tools in large plastic bins and there had been a roof leak. Needless to say I found my router, circular saw, car buffer/polisher and power plane underwater and trashed probably, I will dry them out in case I can salvage but that's for another day.
I wanted to cut out my pickup pockets and sustain block rebate, also mount the bridge plate and re-profile the lower horn cut-out a little to ease access to the upper frets. The latter was fairly easy and I have retained the SG look, which is what I wanted, I actually cut back about 3/8" to 1/2".
I worked out a way to cut the rebates by using my Dremel and a spiral saw after knocking up some simple 6mm templates. In some ways it is better than a router as it can be as slow as you wish and it doesn't try to leap out or rip the wood. After going around the outline, I criss-crossed with the tool and then removed the waste with a chisel. I drilled wiring holes from the neck pocket through to the bridge pickup and from the bridge pickup to the control panel. the centre hole in the bridge plate is for a ground post. I drilled the string through holes and lined up my sustain block, a 6mm lump of brass, then drilled the string ferrule holes and 2 mounting holes which I tapped M5. I assembled the bridge/block using brass wood screws on the outer and M5 brass machine screws on the inner holes, which lock the bridge and block together. In the pictures I used baling wire to represent strings. Unfortunately when cutting the screws to length I nicked the block with the cutting disc(doh!) (that'll buff out, I told myself!)
Much sanding and fettling to do but moving onward
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