2009 Project Tele

[Gordy01]

First of all let me explain. I built this guitar in 2009, taking pictures of the project all the way through. I posted them on the forum while the project was under way; a period of a few months. The thread and all the info was lost in the Great Forum Crash of 09.

I had all the pics saved on my computer, and Animalfarm asked me to re-do the thread so it could be placed in the DIY section of the lounge.

Should you choose to reply, that's OK.

 

So, here goes.

 

I got the new GFS Faded Cherry body, and maple neck delivered today. I'm still waiting for the rest of the parts.

 

 

and the neck

 

[Gordy01]

I got the rest of the parts today, so I'm pretty pumped to get going.

 

The first thing I want to do it mount the neck onto the body.

When I fit the neck into the pocket in the body, it wouldn't go all the way in. You can see the gap at the end of the neck. I've got to take a bit off the lower corners of the neck to make it fit.

 

 

Here is a pic of the neck. You can see the places where I filed the wood off.

I'm measuring the thickness of the neck in this pic also.

 

 

I also measure the pocket thickness to make sure the screws don't go right through the fingerboard.

 

 

Here I've got the neck and body clamped together along with the neck plate. I have to drill the holes, and I'll use the neck plate for a template.

 

 

Now I'll double check the drill bit length against the screw length. I for sure don't want to drill too deep.

 

 

I also make sure the bit is the right thickness. You can just see the threads of the screw behind the bit.

 

 

More later.

[Dennis G]

Gordy,

Awesome stuff. I just started a Tele project, so this is going to help me a lot. I also have a GFS body & neck and the neck fits just like yours did. How did you determine how much to take off, just a little here, little there, refit, repeat or ???? Thx in advance.

[animalfarm]

Gordy - THIS is the one I was thinking of when we talked. It will go perfectly

with the Fret Job thread you did of the same guitar. Was NOT expecting to see this,

Thanks!

Looking forward to more pics as you find the time to add more with commentary...

[Gordy01]

Dennis, you just have to work at it slowly to make sure you're not taking too much off.

Put the neck into the pocket and get it as tight to the back of the pocket as possible.

Make a mark with a pencil at the level of the top of the body. You don't want to take anything off in that area. See the picture above, with the ruler on the end of the neck. You can see the small pencil mark, and where I filed it below the mark.

 

So here's the neck fitting nicely in the pocket.

There is a small chip on the body, but the pickguard will cover it so I'm not too concerned.

 

 

Here's a picture of the back.

 

 

After I got the neck fitting nicely, I fitted the PG and bridge to the guitar.

D@#n. The bridge is too short. It is a GFS bridge too.

 

 

You can see that when the bridge is lined up to the pre-drilled string thru holes, it doesn't cover the pickup rout. Not only that, but the string spacing is off too.

 

The PG is going to need a bit of shaping also as it does not center on the bridge very well.

 

I'll have to contact GFS and see what the problem is. I checked all over the place and most Tele bridges are the same length as this one. I need one a bit longer.

[Gordy01]

To make a long story short, GFS sent me a new bridge. It took about 2 weeks to get it but here it is. It is longer than the ordinary Tele bridge. The bonus is that is is not an ashtray type.

 

 

[Gordy01]

While I was waiting for the bridge to come in, I thought I would reshape the headstock.

Here's the original.

 

 

Set up the bandsaw with a narrow blade, good for cutting the curves.

 

 

Here's the headstock after cutting. I had already started to sand the burn marks off when I took the picture.

 

 

And here it is once the sanding was done.

 

 

 

Here is the re-shaped headstock.

 

 

Because the neck came pre-finished, I had to try and match the finish. It ended up being a combination of orange tint rubbed on, and an amber poly urethane.

 

Here is the finished headstock. If I knew I was going to re-shape another headstock, I would order it unfinished. It took me a lot of time and a lot of different mixes to get the right color, and it is not perfect. Very close though.

 

 

The next post will be about boring the tuner holes out to fit the locking tuners I've got.

[Gordy01]

Here are the tuners. I use locking tuners on all my guitars. I like the increased tuning stability and ease of changing strings.

You can see the 2 mounting pins on the under side. Holes will have to be drilled to accomodate these.

 

 

I had to bore out the holes for the tuners. I got out my drill and a 25/64 bit.

 

WARNING! If you are going to use a drill, you must start the bit on BOTH sides of the hole to avoid chipping out the exit side. The bit will try to grab and pull itself through the wood very quickly if you are not careful. Use a vice, or other method to hold the head solidly. Work slowly.

 

 

After re-boring the holes it is time to start drilling the tuner mounting pin holes.

These tuners use the blind pins for alignment. there is no screw in the back side.

For this I use a Tuner Hole Drilling Jig, from stewmac. This little jig is great. It centers itself in the hole, allowing accurate screw hole drilling for various kinds of tuners.

 

WARNING! Unlike this picture, it is important to use a depth stop on your bit. Remember the head is only 3/4 thick, and the screw/pin only has to go in to a max of 1/2 inch. You do not want to drill right through.

 

 

And here are the tuners on the headstock.

 

Front.

 

 

And Rear

 

 

More to come.

[Gordy01]

After re-working the headstock and installing the tuners, it was time to start placing the hardware on the body for fitting.

In this picture you can see that the new bridge is longer than the old, and is overlapping the PG. The pickguard does not fit well at the neck either.

 

 

I will have to do some re-shaping on the PG. I did not get any pictures of that portion of the work, so I'll briefly tell you how I did it.

 

I took 2 pieces of plywood big enough to sandwich the pickguard between them. I then put the whole thing in a vice, with just the portion of the PG that I want to trim sticking out. I used a Dremel with a small sanding barrel to sand down the edges. I sanded the edge down to the plywood edge, making a nice straight trim. I re-shaped the PG around the neck area also.

 

Here's a pic of the results.

 

 

Unfortunately now the bridge pickup will not fit, as the rout is not big enough. Here I am marking the rout. You can see the toothpicks lining up the bridge in the string thru holes.

 

 

I'll use the Dremel again with an edge routing bit to open up the rout. I've got to be careful so I don't go too far, the edge of the bridge is not far away.

 

 

I put waxed paper over the body to protect while I rout. Don't want to scratch it.

I use low tack tape also.

 

 

Here the bridge and PG fit.

 

 

More later.

[Gordy01]

I want to make this guitar as silent as possible, so I coated all the cavities with Conductive Shielding Paint, used specifically for grounding guitars.

 

 

When I tried to get all the controls into the control cavity, they were too big to go in.

 

I had to rout the cavity a bit to get them in.

I went in under the edge of the rout so I wouldn't open up the edge past where the control plate extends. I used the Dremel with the small sanding barrel for this, as it allowed me to get in under the edge.

 

 

Here's a picture of the control plate with pots, the bridge with pickup, and the pickguard with pickup. All is ready to start drilling holes.

NOTE: The holes are already drilled in this pic. It's the only pic that suited this step.

 

 

 

Before I mark holes, I better be sure the bridge and neck are in exactly the right place.

I use straight edges to line up the neck with the bridge. As the holes are already drilled for the string thru holes, the neck would be the part that might need adjustment.

Use tape to protect the body from scratches.

 

 

With all in place I use a sharp awl to mark the holes.

 

 

Use a small (1/16) bit to drill all the PG, and bridge holes.

 

 

As with everything, measure 3 or 4 times before drilling. OR

 

More later.

[Gordy01]

So far we've fit everything up.

1. Neck

2. PG

3. Pickups

4. Control pots

5. Bridge

6. Install tuners

7. I have no pics of the soldering. Trust me, it works.

8. Oh yeah! We need string ferrules in the back of the body.

9. And an output jack.

10. Also a pair of strap buttons. I use Schaller Locking Strap buttons on all my guitars.

11. Also used one string roller on the headstock.

 

 

The last thing I did was change the nut. The neck came with a cheap plastic nut, and I replaced it with a Tusq nut. Sorry no pics.

 

I did a set up, and it was ready to play.

 

Here's the finished guitar.

 

 

 

Thanks again to Duane v and Epi forums for letting me post this info.

 

If you are interested, have a look at the fret job thread in the DIY section also.

It is the fret leveling job for this guitar.

[Dennis G]

Wow. Many thanks. Most helpful (and great looking Tele btw!)

[animalfarm]

Gord, you've become quite the skilled "thread reconstructor"!

Gorgeous color on the Tele. AND let's not forget about the

"StratoBlaster". That, too, is a "no way to miss it" eye-catcher.

 

Forum Members take note: I understand that you ARE selling these

guitars? Or would they be duplicate copies? The StratBlaster has my eye

as it IS so unique. Just asking....

[Whitmore Willy]

Gordy,

 

Fantastic job on the thread, the pictures, the information and of course...the guitar!

Thank you. I'm sure it will benefit us all now and for many times to come.

 

Willy

[DMC59]

Thanks for all this work Gordy. Very informative and just plain fun to see! I'm curious if you were disappointed that some of the GFS components weren't a better fit or do you think that it is more realistic to not expect close to perfection in that regard?

[Supersonic]

One word: AWESOME!