I had the honor of playing this guitar for a few minutes on Sunday and I can tell you it was awesome! Super smooth action and it sounded great. Chris knows how to build a players guitar.
Very cool. Man, there are so many points in this process where I would totally screw up and have to start from the beginning. Impressive that you didn’t!
Wonderful job. My only recommendations would be to add a small chamfer to the pick guard perimeter and a well deserved custom waterslide decal to the headstock.
Excellent. LOVE watching someone being creative! Question. What is the stuff you are using to dye/stain(?) the body with around the 12:00 mark? Thanking you in advance.
Wow excellent job man, black guard teles for the win!! From start to finish how long did the build take you? I was going to take this project on as well, but do not have half the tools you have. Cheers
I appreciate it man! I didn’t buy everything all at once and did a lot of research before each part so it ended up taking me 6 months. I think that if I had everything I needed and knew what I was doing at each step, I can easily build one in a couple of months (or less since a Tele is about as basic as you can get). Good luck!
Wow Chris. Really beautiful precise work. Did you chamfer the pick guard? Also, did you put a block to backup the drilling so it doesn't blow through? Is that ash w maple fret? What's next, a hollow body tele? Archtop? Nice to see kids in the workshop too.
Thank you! I did not chamfer the pick guard. I realized it after I had it installed. I still need to tweak a couple if spots on the pickguard, so I am planning to chamfer it as well next time I take it off. It is swamp ash with a maple neck and fretboard. I am planning on doing most likely a les paul guitar so that I can learn how to do a set neck guitar. I appreciate the comment!
Nice job bud. Sweet tele! Maybe I'll make a normal one one day lol Did you wax your screws? I always do, makes them go in easier and less chance of snapping. Other thing, I don't think you need a bridge ground on a tele, think it grounds through the pickup.
Thanks for the comment! I did wax any screws going into the maple. The swamp ash was so soft, I was thinking I didn’t need to wax those. I’ve had a couple of people say the bridge didn’t need a ground wire, but I already had it in there. I guess mine is just super grounded now, lol. I appreciate the time you took to comment, man. I love your stuff. Working through the copper tele series currently. Cool stuff!
The scratch part is the wooden parts of the guitar not being made out of anything premade. A lot of people make the body, but then buy a premade neck or something like that, for example. The template to me is kinda like a bundt pan or a cupcake pan or something. Someone can make a cake or cupcakes from scratch and you wouldn’t discount them for using a bundt pan to shape a cake or a cupcake tin to shape the batter into a cupcake shape. At least that’s how I see it. When I started looking into building electric guitars, I found that templates are just a way of life for most electric guitar makers, even pros. Same for acoustic guitars. I make them as well and you have to use a mold to keep the bent shape of the sides. I have used a premade mold and I have also built my own, but the guitars I make with them both are still all considered handmade guitars built from scratch in my mind. I appreciate your viewpoint, however, and I’m glad you left a comment. Thanks for watching!
Question, where;d you get that guide on your router for the truss rod slot? I've made all mine out of scrap but they, you know... look like they are made out of scrap lol
That is the guide that actually came with the router. Although, it is a little dinky thing. A third party or DIY one would probably work better, actually, lol
What pickups & pots did you use in this mate?? I could never in my wildest imagination build a guitar from scratch , I have a super good low end Tele made of swamp ash & maple already and think modding pups and pots is within my capabilities. Nice build though.
@@CMRWoodworks I've looked on Amazon & evilbay so many "Non-name" brands , the thing is I liked the sound the ones you picked have and unfortunately just picking one set willy nilly without being able to hear them first is a bit strange to me....maybe a link to them would help me out if that's possible. I'm in Australia so that $50 soon becomes a lot more with exchange rates being what they are.
I used honey amber TransTint dye on the body. Then I used Tru Oil on top of that which gave it a darker amber look, or butterscotch, I suppose. For the neck, I only used Tru Oil. I did probably 8 or 9 coats of Tru Oil on both the neck and the body.
@@CMRWoodworksThanks. I have all the bits ready for my Tele build. Alder body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Going to try a black dye, sand back so it just accentuates the grain and then then cherry dye. I would prefer an oil finish for the feel of it. Looking forward to the build
Yes. The thing I was using to cut the frets has a pin that you slide in and out which aligns with some slots on a template. So you just lock it down, cut the fret, the slide the pin out, slide the fretboard down until the pin locks into the next slot and then just keep going.
To take some work off of the router bit. Basically makes the routing take a lot less time and saves your bits. Plus using a router just feels sketchy, so the less I have to route, the better. I appreciate the comment. Not a bad question!
@@CMRWoodworks That makes sense. I looked into it after I seen you do that and the answer I got was the same, but was curious and asked anyway. I did some luthiery a long time ago and watching folks build guitars is one of my pastimes, your build turned out great and it's much better than the chop, cut, rebuild I did to a Squier Bullet.
If I could afford an authentic Fender Tele I think I'd rather commission an authentic CMRWoodworks one because that would be rarer than rocking horse poo and just as good I recon.
Kids, see how the master is the student? "Solder looks like crap, absolute crap." And then he wields it for R n R. Ain't that America. Bravo craftman! My GF brags how I manage to put parts together from eBay...with loaded pick guards...smh:-)
I had the honor of playing this guitar for a few minutes on Sunday and I can tell you it was awesome! Super smooth action and it sounded great. Chris knows how to build a players guitar.
Thanks for the comment, dude!
The fact that this guitar can be hand built with minimal tools is the genius of Leo Fender.
Nice job! Telecasters are the greatest. I love the router table.
Thanks for watching! One day, I’ll own a real router table, lol.
A superb video Chris. Hardly a word spoken, yet a million words worth of information and a beautiful result.
Many thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I really appreciate the encouragement right now. Needed it. Thanks again!
Oh boy I'm obsessed with this Telecaster!!! WOW!
Thanks a lot!
Oh...so that's how that's done?
Bravo! I hope the wife and kids appreciate! (I hope they're playing these upstairs!)
Nice recap. It turned out amazing which I knew it would. I enjoyed this series.
Thanks a lot!
Beautiful build, I am about to assemble a partscaster. At some point I want to build a tele from scratch!
It is a fun project. Go for it!
Better than a Fender!!! complimenti!
Very cool. Man, there are so many points in this process where I would totally screw up and have to start from the beginning. Impressive that you didn’t!
I'm sure I screwed up a bunch, but thankfully none of them were big enough to require a restart!
Great job man. Don't ever underestimate the power of a Tele 😁 It's one of my favorites to build and to play! Set neck next?✌️&💙
That's the plan! I am planning a les paul build. I figure that’ll make me learn both doing a set neck and carving on the top.
Turned out great
Thanks!
Wonderful job. My only recommendations would be to add a small chamfer to the pick guard perimeter and a well deserved custom waterslide decal to the headstock.
I do want to do the decal. I need to get an official logo! I appreciate the comment!
Wow…… that is stunning!!!! I have a natural ash strat with the same coloring. I’d love to have a tele to match. Beautiful man. 👍
Thanks a lot!
This was a fun one! I'm still waiting on getting electric in my new shop, but one day my hope is to build a cigar box guitar. Great work, Chris!
I appreciate it, dude!
Beautiful, well done.
Thanks!
Really nice job, looks great.
Thanks for watching!
Wow, it went a lot quicker this time! Still love it Chris!
Thanks Dane!
It looks great! 👏
Thanks a lot!
That's lovely that
good job.
Appreciate it!
Excellent. LOVE watching someone being creative! Question. What is the stuff you are using to dye/stain(?) the body with around the 12:00 mark? Thanking you in advance.
Wow excellent job man, black guard teles for the win!! From start to finish how long did the build take you? I was going to take this project on as well, but do not have half the tools you have. Cheers
I appreciate it man! I didn’t buy everything all at once and did a lot of research before each part so it ended up taking me 6 months. I think that if I had everything I needed and knew what I was doing at each step, I can easily build one in a couple of months (or less since a Tele is about as basic as you can get). Good luck!
Wow Chris. Really beautiful precise work. Did you chamfer the pick guard? Also, did you put a block to backup the drilling so it doesn't blow through? Is that ash w maple fret? What's next, a hollow body tele? Archtop? Nice to see kids in the workshop too.
Thank you! I did not chamfer the pick guard. I realized it after I had it installed. I still need to tweak a couple if spots on the pickguard, so I am planning to chamfer it as well next time I take it off. It is swamp ash with a maple neck and fretboard. I am planning on doing most likely a les paul guitar so that I can learn how to do a set neck guitar. I appreciate the comment!
@CMRWoodworks looking forward to it.
Nice job bud. Sweet tele! Maybe I'll make a normal one one day lol
Did you wax your screws? I always do, makes them go in easier and less chance of snapping.
Other thing, I don't think you need a bridge ground on a tele, think it grounds through the pickup.
Thanks for the comment! I did wax any screws going into the maple. The swamp ash was so soft, I was thinking I didn’t need to wax those. I’ve had a couple of people say the bridge didn’t need a ground wire, but I already had it in there. I guess mine is just super grounded now, lol. I appreciate the time you took to comment, man. I love your stuff. Working through the copper tele series currently. Cool stuff!
@CMRWoodworks that copper tele is proper shielded and grounded. Also completely bonkers 🤣
Great work.. but was that a template? I thought it was built from scratch..
The scratch part is the wooden parts of the guitar not being made out of anything premade. A lot of people make the body, but then buy a premade neck or something like that, for example. The template to me is kinda like a bundt pan or a cupcake pan or something. Someone can make a cake or cupcakes from scratch and you wouldn’t discount them for using a bundt pan to shape a cake or a cupcake tin to shape the batter into a cupcake shape. At least that’s how I see it. When I started looking into building electric guitars, I found that templates are just a way of life for most electric guitar makers, even pros. Same for acoustic guitars. I make them as well and you have to use a mold to keep the bent shape of the sides. I have used a premade mold and I have also built my own, but the guitars I make with them both are still all considered handmade guitars built from scratch in my mind. I appreciate your viewpoint, however, and I’m glad you left a comment. Thanks for watching!
Question, where;d you get that guide on your router for the truss rod slot? I've made all mine out of scrap but they, you know... look like they are made out of scrap lol
That is the guide that actually came with the router. Although, it is a little dinky thing. A third party or DIY one would probably work better, actually, lol
Great build! What wood did you use for the body?
Thanks! I used swamp ash for the body.
What pickups & pots did you use in this mate?? I could never in my wildest imagination build a guitar from scratch , I have a super good low end Tele made of swamp ash & maple already and think modding pups and pots is within my capabilities. Nice build though.
I used some non-name brand ones. It was about $50 for both pickups and a control plate with all pots included. Got off of Amazon. Thanks for watching!
@@CMRWoodworks I've looked on Amazon & evilbay so many "Non-name" brands , the thing is I liked the sound the ones you picked have and unfortunately just picking one set willy nilly without being able to hear them first is a bit strange to me....maybe a link to them would help me out if that's possible. I'm in Australia so that $50 soon becomes a lot more with exchange rates being what they are.
Sure thing. I found the ones I bought. Not sure if the link will work in a comment, but here it is:
www.amazon.com/dp/B07GV7Y742
@@CMRWoodworks Yeah it did work mate , $85 AU delivered...thanks for that.
Please,
What do you use to finish your neck ?
Thx
Tru oil. Thanks for watching!
Hi. Nice job. What dye did you use on the neck and body?
I used honey amber TransTint dye on the body. Then I used Tru Oil on top of that which gave it a darker amber look, or butterscotch, I suppose. For the neck, I only used Tru Oil. I did probably 8 or 9 coats of Tru Oil on both the neck and the body.
@@CMRWoodworksThanks. I have all the bits ready for my Tele build. Alder body, maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. Going to try a black dye, sand back so it just accentuates the grain and then then cherry dye. I would prefer an oil finish for the feel of it. Looking forward to the build
@@barryflanagan1cool stuff man! Good luck with your build!
How do you get the frets EXACTLY correct?
I use a template.
เท่ห์..
Intrusive thoughts enter at 7:36" He hasn't finished it but he's ready to smash it, LOL!
Lol
Do you buy a pattern?
Yes. The thing I was using to cut the frets has a pin that you slide in and out which aligns with some slots on a template. So you just lock it down, cut the fret, the slide the pin out, slide the fretboard down until the pin locks into the next slot and then just keep going.
민감한 너트를 저렇게...과연 맑은 소리가 날까요?
First
I suppose it'd be the acme of foolishness to inquire why you were using a drill and then a router to cut out the body cavities.
To take some work off of the router bit. Basically makes the routing take a lot less time and saves your bits. Plus using a router just feels sketchy, so the less I have to route, the better. I appreciate the comment. Not a bad question!
@@CMRWoodworks That makes sense. I looked into it after I seen you do that and the answer I got was the same, but was curious and asked anyway. I did some luthiery a long time ago and watching folks build guitars is one of my pastimes, your build turned out great and it's much better than the chop, cut, rebuild I did to a Squier Bullet.
I'm a big fan of Telecaster, so I bought an authentic Fender Telecaster from an authorised dealer.
If I could afford an authentic Fender Tele I think I'd rather commission an authentic CMRWoodworks one because that would be rarer than rocking horse poo and just as good I recon.
Kids, see how the master is the student? "Solder looks like crap, absolute crap."
And then he wields it for R n R. Ain't that America. Bravo craftman!
My GF brags how I manage to put parts together from eBay...with loaded pick guards...smh:-)