Telecaster Build - Part 1 - Neck Layout and Routing
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 31 июл 2024
- This Telecaster build video series is intended for my lutherie students at a Denver area college where I teach electric guitar construction. I decided to make these videos public…hoping that other people all around the world can benefit from them. My students are first time builders and are required to build a variation of a Telecaster or a Stratocaster. I believe that learning Fender construction techniques is foundational to a well-rounded guitar building education. I am building a Tele in this video series…and I will be building a Strat live at the school. With this foundation, I hope most of the students will continue their education by taking the advanced electric guitar construction course next semester.
Feel free to post a comment should there be any questions…and try to reply to questions as soon as time will allow. Let me know if this serious helps anyone…and any topics that you hope that I will cover in future episodes of this build series.
If you enjoy the intro music on this video, go to ericjasonbrock.bandcamp.com to check out more of his songs. Eric is a very talented musician out of Cincinnati Ohio, and I know he would greatly appreciate your support by purchasing some of his music.
The very nice motion design incorporated into the Intro, Outro, and the subtitles as created by Summer Simpson, a professional video editor in the Denver area. Go check out her lengthy resume at www.summerbsimpson.com, and shoot her an email if you need some help with video production.
Make sure you subscribe to the Maximum Guitar Works RUclips channel so that you don’t miss out on future videos. Feel from to post comments and/or questions below. You can also contact me directly at steve@MaximumGuitarWorks.com.
Thanks Steve, great information. I am following you and watching these in order. I really appreciate your content and humor.
Thanks Steve.
Thank you for providing this information freely.
The best I've seen anywhere .
Good video
Awesome, thank you.
Thank you, very useful for my first build.
Great video Steve, looking forward to your series amigo
Thanks Matt...we need to get together again soon.
Left over carbon pieces can be used for reinforcement repair of headstock breaks.
I like this guy.
This guy? Me? You are too kind Ryan. Funny...a positive comment including the words "this guy" is so much more satisfying that someone saying "this guy has no talent".
So weird that you have a link to Eric Brock. In a cool way I mean. I've ordered a couple of Sire guitars and he reviewed a blue T7FM which is on my list. Now I've decided I should build my own but funds unrefundable. Lefties,
Really enjoying your videos
Thanks Kirk...I appreciate that.
Amazing, another build! Please Steve, more!
Thanks Amit. I seriously appreciate the encouragement. Lack of time is my enemy...but for the sake of my 17 students...I really want to keep up with the videos for this build. The semester is only 15 weeks long...so it will require many late nights to keep up with video production!
@@maximumguitarworks Have you thought of coopreating with other youtubers to get more viewers to the channel? It will get more traffic to the channel.
Also, can you make a video about choosing the basic tools when you start building, and what you should be looking for in tools? Routers, joiners, the most basics stuff
Amit, thanks for the comment. I have not specifically worked with any other folks to gain more viewers. Probably a very good idea although I'm sure how to approach that. I'm not super concerned about growing too fast...I can barely keep up with the guitar build projects I have right now...and the video process takes me about 10 hours for every 30 min instructional video I create. Plus, the more followers one has...the harder it is to please everyone!
That is a good idea to talk about starting tools. Man...where to start on that one. I'm a tool and jig junkie. Right when I think I have all the tools I need...I find more to help me with certain aspects guitar making. Although it will not be all in one video, this series I will be using basic tools to perform the guitar making tasks. No CNC's in this series.
❤
Thank you so much 🤝
You are welcome...thanks for watching and commenting.
Jigs are Cool! I smell a t-shirt.
Hell yeah Steve, you rock dude
Thank you Patrick...but it's more like I help others Rock!!! ;-)
@@maximumguitarworks ha haaa, I like that, keep doing your thing man!
Hello! thank you so much for this video. I'm a high schooler myself attempting to build my first telecaster. I have a couple questions, the truss rod that I ordered on StewMac was the version all the way on the left (Allen wrench version I believe). you had mentioned that it is reccomended to insert though the headstock... is it a bad idea if I insert it the same way you did through the heel? Also, if I do insert through the headstock, would I follow the same procedure? Thanks again and I'm excited to finish this series!
Is there a link to download or purchase the design templates used for this build?
Hey Steve would it be possible to access the video on the router fence again? Thanks for your great videos.
It's back up Matt...thanks for asking.
this is really excellent. Thanks.
I am wondering why you do the fretboard individually...I thought you'd probably route the whole neck and fretboard together after the fretboard was glued on?
Hi Paul...thanks for you comment. Like I always say...there are many different ways to get to the same place.
For me, it is all about order of operations. I always need to have alignment references. You have to think of sequences that allow for referenced alignment as far as it will take you. The way I use reference holes under my fretboard in the slot cutting process...assures the slots stay perfect aligned. The same reference alignment holes are used on the neck template...which ensures the neck is straight relative to the truss rod.
These two components come together for a pretty much perfect match. If I glue those together before routing the final shape...I risk the alignment being off because I have no true reference...only eyeballing a template to the top or back. If I rout the fretboard using a template on the bottom with alignment pins...it is perfect. At that point, the fretboard itself becomes my reference when routing out the neck shape.
Hopefully that makes sense. It is still early...so I could be talking nonsense. The key is to maintain mechanical reference for as much as the process as possible.
Do you have to make a Gibson Les Paul before?
Verrrry late to this series, but just what I’m looking for *right now*.
My ‘plan’ is for a 3x3 tuner layout but on an F-type headstock “angle” (ie, zero angle but ‘dropped’ to give string break angle at the nut.
What I wonder is if the worksheet you mention at the start giving the order of operations is available for download anywhere? My memory is such that I forget operations here and there, and mess things up - so a step by step ‘operating manual’ would be very useful.
Cheers - I envy your pupils! Nothing like this when I went to school in the UK in the mid 1970s!
Sorry for the late response. I get so far behind...and hard to keep up with everything. Did you ever get the answer? Doc's are only available through emailing me. It is less of a manual...and more of checklists and outline of all major steps with room to take notes for future builds.
terrific 1st video as I will be building my first guitar shortly, any videos on making templates for this guitar or do you sell the templates?
After several years of people asking...I just started selling templates last month. Look at my more recent video for information about templates. Thanks for your comment.
I love your videos! I also love the attention to details.
Question. Do you think those double action rods damp the vibration of the neck wood? Just curions what your thoughts are.
Thanks
Erik
Hey Erik...thanks for your comment. I have never personally done a side by side comparison...therefore I cannot answer that question with absolute authority. In general, I don't get wrapped up in discussion about which method produces better tone. After being blown away by the tone that Jack White got out of a plastic guitar...I don't worry so much about the little things. I do believe in the details...and doing the best you can with the time, talents, and resources that you have. Leo did a lot of amazing things...but in the end he was using whatever he had readily available (or the ability to produce). Many of his creations just worked great...he was a genius. But that doesn't mean that we should stop trying to improve upon what was developed in the past. Back the the truss rod...I believe that the flexibility of a two way truss rod is more important that any tone difference that I cannot objectively validate. Therefore, I only use two way truss rods...but ones of high quality in stainless steel or titanium. My opinions are a snapshot in time. Next year I might feel differently...you never know.
@@maximumguitarworks Hi Again, I’m sorry to bother you. I’m trying to find the video where you talk about the thickness of the Reverend guitar neck. I want to make a pretty thick neck and I remember the Reverend Guitar neck you mentioned and gave dimensions on. Is it possible to give me those dimensions?
Thanks
Erik
Thoughts on the other types of truss rods? Are the headstock adjustment ones harder? Do you have a video on that process?
I have not done a video on that. I have shown it live in my class. I will add that to my list of things to cover in the future.
@@maximumguitarworks Awesome, thanks.
Are those CF offcuts anywhere near nut blank size?
They are 1/4" x 1/4". Not a bad thought...although what I realized I forgot to reveal is that I am currently using hollow CF bars. I switched because I felt like the solid bars were way overkill for my neck designs.
But thanks for your comment.
Hello.. Please make a telecaster neck with rosewood fingerboard and skunkstripe, no one has made a video yet.
I very, very much appreciate these videos for their expertise, however, anybody contemplating their very first guitar build would likely never set foot on that path having watched this series. Sometimes, you just have to have at it, and be damned with all the jigs. You just have to give it a go and learn from your mistakes.
You could always use the extra carbon fiber to make either a mini Telecaster or Stratocaster.
Hi Steve, why are you using 2 carbon fiber rods, besides the truss rod ? It's maple, so.. if it's dry, it's stable enough and those carbon rods aren't exactly cheap. And don't they prevent the truss rod to work in a save normal way, so they could break when tightening ? I can understand if you you woud use this on a big 6 string bass neck with double truss rods, but here ? I would loose up the strings a bit and clamp the neck to "help" the truss rod when turning it, to be safe. Greets from Belgium.! BTW.. good initiative !
Bruno, you present many interesting discussion points. Let's see if I can hit them all.
1. Why? In short, because I can. Seriously, I like the neck to be ultra stable...wood is wood...it might be stable here...then I ship it to a more humid area. I feel like the carbon fiber I use sheds a little weight...which I like too.
2. I don't feel like I pay too much buying in bulk for a specialty carbon fiber supplier.
3. I have been using hollow carbon fiber rods recently. Not as rigid as solid ones...but still has the spring back qualities. I have had no issues with too much tension to adjust the truss rod with this configuration. Unlike a quartersawn maple neck I made a few years ago that had two titanium bars in it...I had to pre-bend that neck to adjust the truss rod. Plus it was heavier.
As I also say...there are many ways to get the job done...and I certainly have not tried or know everything. I can only show what I think is the best practice as of today. A month from now I might have a new way that I think is better.
However, I really do appreciate your questions and discussion points...keep them coming my friend.
@@maximumguitarworks Thanks for the reply Steve ! Like your answers too. Makes total sense to me. Can't wait for part two.. i subscribed and hit the bell. Greets from Belgium.
Better safe than sorry
Was looking for a guide on measuring and marking the bottom of the neck and the top of the neck so the nut, pickup poles and bridge saddles all line up, but that didn’t happen. :/
You were looking at the wrong video. Look for part 12.
ruclips.net/video/E-wjzF4YKAk/видео.html
If that doesn't answer your question...try emailing me with your specific question.
How thick is the timber when you first got it
Neck blanks normally start off around 7/8” to 15/16”. However, when squaring up the blank...the final pre-routing dimension is dependent upon your expected thickness of the fretboard. The total thickness of the neck and fretboard should be 1” (25.40mm).
Use short pieces for Ukelele or mandolin neck.
So the truss rod has to fight the carbon fiber reinforcement ?
Stiff is stable...stable is good. Watch my newer video on neck reinforcement. ruclips.net/video/_8nk7Ce9R68/видео.html
I’m late to the party, but provided those carbon rods are solid, why don’t you use them as guitar nuts? Is t that basically the same as Graphtec? ESP used carbon fiber nuts on their guitars, and PRS uses something similar (or the same but don’t admit it) as graphtec.
I'm going to try that. For some reason I never thought about that. Might take more shaping...and that dust is pretty nasty...but I'll try most anything once.
How do I order your templates
Hey Katilyn. Email me at info@maximumguitarworks.com
Let me know what you are interested in...and I will send you a PayPal invoice. If you still have questions...that is still the best way to get in touch with me. Thanks.
Gibson headstock reinforcement with the extra carbon fiber
Good call.
On a quarter sawn neck piece it always tears out on the headstock
For you? There are some woods that are trickier than others...and some techniques that can help. One technique I was showing my students tonight...was how to use very short and targeted problem areas and use a climb cut technique. This is dangerous if trying to rout too much wood...but effective if used correctly.
@@maximumguitarworks I saw where you said spritz the wood with that magical tone adding spray ;) and I’m gonna give that a go
Water is fine. 😉 And that trick works good on some woods...other not so much. There is no substitute for good and sharp bits...and proper router techniques.
@@maximumguitarworks currently working with wild cherry, hard and kinda chips like white walnut
In any process,,,, make haste,,,,,, SLOWLY!!!!
Tru!
Hey really cool video.. maybe subs should be there without the red banner 👍👍
Tortis and the hare ? What’s a tortis ? Do you mean tortoise ?
True you solve your sins and a curse from the cross Jesus was the priest. If you believe in Jesus you legally be freed and children of God, forever in the law of sin and death. Always will be with you is the Holy Spirit. Faith in Jesus and greet. He is the light of life and God the Creator.