New (newbie).

[EsquireEsque]

Hi,

Started off probably with too big a bite to chew...

I've bought a kit (telecaster) but with a 24.75" neck and no body - I'm making the body from an old Douglas Fir post (at least - we think it's Douglas Fir).

[Trevor Davies]

Hi and welcome EsquireEsque.

That sounds like a great plan. I did some scratchy telecasters a while back, check out the link https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post218936.

We recommend you start a "Build Diary" thread and post queries if you need assistance.

Good luck.

[EsquireEsque]

Thanks - your early scratchy "pinecaster" is along the lines of what I want to build... but I won't be having a pick guard or a neck pickup and I'm moving he output jack to the control panel (not having a switch - just "Gibson Junior" type volume and tone wiring) and a slightly different tiny-bit offset shape.

I've been thinking of doing it in three "slices" top, bottom and a middle with the "chambers/routing" - but I think I'll just stick to doing a bit of routing this time around.

I like the thinline as well - good decision to do the "sound holes like that - saves the frustration of trying to do the "f" hole accurately and also crating a point of difference/interest.

I see my initial problems in:
determining whether to re-position the neck socket or move the bridge and pickup route forward just a tad....
working out the distance for the scale length

I'm working off plans downloaded from "the Electric Herald" that I've made a couple of adjustments to. These are for the normal 25.5" scale length - whereas I'm going for 24.75".
Not going to make templates though - I might decide the shape is not "best" - so I'll paste the plans to the blank and then bandsaw/spindle sand.



From this angle - it looks like that headstock is angled - wish I could find one!

[Trevor Davies]

"From this angle - it looks like that headstock is angled - wish I could find one!"

They are both flat headstocks, both Pitbull Tele!

[fender3x]

I see my initial problems in:
determining whether to re-position the neck socket or move the bridge and pickup route forward just a tad....
working out the distance for the scale length

I'm working off plans downloaded from "the Electric Herald" that I've made a couple of adjustments to. These are for the normal 25.5" scale length - whereas I'm going for 24.75".
Not going to make templates though - I might decide the shape is not "best" - so I'll paste the plans to the blank and then bandsaw/spindle sand.

Just a couple of thoughts. I had the opposite problem putting a Jazz-style 34" scale bass neck on a ES-style body. (Most semi-hollows are short scale)... I made a neck pocket a little deeper to put the bridge pickup in p-bass location, and to help avoid neck dive. What you lose when you do this is a little bit of accessibility to upper frets. No biggie on a bass, I figured.

On a guitar, if you keep the pocket the conventional size you'll loose a little access since the frets are more compressed on that scale. I don't think it'll be a big deal, but moving it 3/4" would eat up enen one or two more frets-worth of access.

I'd be more inclined to move the bridge nut-ward, since you won't lose any fret access that way and since you haven't routed for the pickup yet.

OK so much for what I hope are reasonable suggestions...but since you have me thinking about what you could do with a G-scale neck on an Esquire body...please feel free to disregard the rest of this post.

Since you are thinking about variations on a Tele shape, I wonder if you might want to see what the body looks like if you shorten it by 3/4". You have a shorter neck...why not a shorter Tele body as well ;-)

[EsquireEsque]

Hi Fender3x,

Thanks for the suggestions - I'd been thinking around this also.

I'm increasing the cutout (and decreasing the "lower horn") anyway - so I figure this will still give access to the upper frets (not that I'd need this given my very poor playing "skills").

I've got the kit now so I'm mocking up the thing to try to work out the measurements and bridge placings etc... to see which might be more appropriate (moving the bridge or extending he neck socket). I think I'm reaching the same conclusion as you - moving the bridge just a little. Mind you - the "heel of the neck appears to be rather long - So I might decide to "mov it up" a bit - not really feeling confident about re-shaping that heel.....

In hindsight - I think it's a better idea to rout the neck socket and then cut out the body shape - to give as much "room" for the router than I have now.... I'll have to try that Idea out to see if it's practicable.

I've noticed that the Gibson guitars tend to have a larger body than the Fenders..... and in the mock ups I rather like the look.

I'm taking it slowly though - giving myslef time to come back to see if any idea I have makes less "sense" with time.....

This is it so far (the lower horn will get shaved a just a little more (you might see the pencil mark)

[fender3x]

I like the idea of shaving the lower horn.

I have just done my first "reshaping" of a neck. Not hard if you have the right tools. If you don't play all that far up the neck, cutting the pocket a little deeper won't hurt...although on the high frets you may have more of the joint area under your hand...but not a problem if your hand is not up there! I have a thinline where the cutaway only gives access to about the 14th fret, and it's never been a problem for me ;-)

[EsquireEsque]

I've decided to keep the original neck socket position (just shaped for a "strat" neck) it turns out I'll only need to move the bridge/pickup positions about 7 mm forward.

[fender3x]

That sounds about right to me. The difference between your neck and a standard scale F neck should be about 19mm. Half of that is the nut closer to the body, so the bridge would only need to be ~9.5mm closer to the neck pocket with a standard rout. A difference of 2.5mm should be well within the saddle travel of a Tele bridge.

One piece of advice that I have gained through hard experience: Don't do the final placement of the bridge until you have (a) routed the neck pocket, and (b) dry fitted the neck. You want to make sure that the strings line up properly along the neck and over the pickup. And you will want the saddle for the high E string to be 24.75" from the nut. Of the two measures I generally find getting the strings lined up over the fingerboard and pickup to be the more challenging of the two. There's usually enough adjustment to move the saddle forward or back a little, but there's no easy way to adjust the bridge laterally once you've drilled.

TD has a lot of experience with this, and I have only cut a new one once. But I have the neck pocket a hair or two off axis a couple of times. It is much easier to move the bridge a little than it is to compensate for a route that is slightly off. In turn, I try to get the neck, bridge and pickups to line up first. Then the pickguard, then the control plate to get things to line up as well as possible.

[EsquireEsque]

Thanks,

I been reading through the forums and yes - always "do the neck" first.

I seems that in the first instance - the centre line is there to guide the neck to the best position - but once the neck is in place - it determines what the final centreline is.