|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 8:35:54 GMT -5
The cut-in-half Tele body now has paint and clearcoat (click on the pics to enlarge 'em).
and the neck is done
This neck was built by wrnchbndr about 10 years ago and it has been awaiting the ideal project. This is it. The body has been resting about a week, so in a few days I can start assembling. This is the body I sliced in half like a layer cake and drilled out:
More to follow...
|
|
|
Post by Stratluvr on Jan 2, 2020 8:52:54 GMT -5
That thing is going to weigh next to nothing. It must of taken some time to make so many drill holes neatly.
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 9:06:03 GMT -5
Actually, drilling the holes was fast and easy. If you make a punch mark for the center of each hole, a Forstner bit has a little spur in the center, and it 'finds' the punch mark and accurately locates the hole. On a drill press (once the depth stop is set) it's like making cookies with a cookie cutter
|
|
|
Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 2, 2020 11:01:55 GMT -5
That looks sweet Man. You have more spring clamps than I do.
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jan 2, 2020 11:16:16 GMT -5
Now I want cookies...
Seriously, this is a way cool project!
|
|
|
Post by chronicinsomnia on Jan 2, 2020 11:23:36 GMT -5
That is insanely cool. Bravo!!!!
|
|
|
Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 2, 2020 11:41:59 GMT -5
I missed this at the old place. How did you cut the body in half? -- do you have a big bandsaw?
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 12:43:55 GMT -5
No, I have no band saw...So I simply changed the B to an H and used a hand saw I used four 22" 1x2s to act as blade guides, which I clamped to the edges of the body. As I worked downward through the body I had to adjust the positions of the clamps to keep the blade from cutting into them. Looky here...click on the pics to enlarge:
|
|
|
Post by NoSoapRadio on Jan 2, 2020 13:14:13 GMT -5
Nice. The old ways are often the best ways. That looks like Ash -- is it?
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 13:23:12 GMT -5
It is yellow pine, very straight grained with no knots. I built this body about three years ago, completely machined it for neck, pickups and controls, and hung it up in my shop and sort of forgot about it. It was light in weight before I sliced and drilled it, so it will be feather weight when it's all assembled. As I slip farther into geezerhood, I'm really liking guitars that are light in weight. It will probably suffer from neck dive (lots of players complain about that for some reason), but it doesn't bother me because when I play a guitar, I hold onto the handle anyway
|
|
dlxrev
Halfnote
Posts: 60
Formerly Known As: DLXREV
|
Post by dlxrev on Jan 2, 2020 13:58:46 GMT -5
Peegoo, I've got some pine stickered and curing from several trees I had cut a few years ago. Hope to turn one into a Tele. Do you have a template to route the body and cavities or did you just trace it out?
That project looks great.
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 14:41:33 GMT -5
Cheers, dlxrev.
I have a template of a '53 Tele I cut from 1/4" hardboard. These are super easy to make. I first rough cut the slab with a saber saw, and then I screwed the template to the slab and used a router with a top bearing pattern bit to trim to the template.
One of the issues is hardboard and Masonite can easily get chowdered up along the template's edge with repeated use. These little bumps and dings translate into bumps and dings in the edge of your routed guitar body, and that creates a lot of extra work to fix.
The simple solution I discovered is when the hardboard template is cut and sanded smooth to final dimensions, liberally apply water-thin CA all the way around the outside edge (and inside rout/cavity windows too). The thin CA soaks into the fibers and sets up hard. It's about as hard as Plexiglas and lasts virtually forever if you don't bang the template around. The CA does make some of the fibers expand a little, and that roughens up the surface. However, you can touch this up with a sanding block and a dowel with 220-grit paper.
Get the edges as smooth as glass and your guitar bodies will be ready for radiusing with no need to 'fix' problems caused by a wonky template.
|
|
dlxrev
Halfnote
Posts: 60
Formerly Known As: DLXREV
|
Post by dlxrev on Jan 2, 2020 15:51:06 GMT -5
Thanks for the tip! I'm sure mine will be years in the making. I want that pine to be bone dry before I start working with it.
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 18:23:58 GMT -5
Bone dry, you say? Set your oven between 250F and 350F and roast the wood for 2-3 hours. Lower temps for softer woods like pine, and higher temps for hardwoods like maple. When done, turn off the oven and let the wood cool in the oven with the door cracked open just a bit for about an hour before working it.
|
|
|
Post by Quackerjack on Jan 2, 2020 18:34:22 GMT -5
Hole-y telecaster Batman...that is going to be one sweet guitar :-)
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 18:41:39 GMT -5
Quackerjack! Hey brother!
|
|
|
Post by Quackerjack on Jan 2, 2020 18:44:47 GMT -5
Hola, Mr. P-goo.... long time no see ;-).
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2020 19:34:26 GMT -5
That's a killer way to reduce weight and add acoustic resonance to the body. And the top and back betray no knowledge of the routing and no "caps" are required!
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 20:22:26 GMT -5
That was my intention...sort of like a "stealth" chambering. If I had clear-coated this, the seam where the saw cut is would've been hard to see unless you get right up on it. But I wanted this off-white color because I'm using black Bakelite for the pickguard; the panel of the stuff arrived today, so I can get to cutting that out tomorrow.
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 2, 2020 20:23:57 GMT -5
Hola, Mr. P-goo.... long time no see ;-). No kidding! More than what...six years? Seven? MORE?
|
|
|
Post by Tom(2) on Jan 3, 2020 3:59:21 GMT -5
Whoah, that looks very neat. I wonder how the resonance/tone is altered compared to a 'true' solid body? Sawing this body in half with all the cavities would have scared the heck out of me. very well done
|
|
|
Post by jhawkr on Jan 3, 2020 7:36:08 GMT -5
Very nice Peegoo. I have an early 2000's chambered American Tele that was a special item @ MF. Ash body and it is pretty light. I forget what the weight is but you wouldn't be able to pick it out sonically with any other ash bodied Tele with '52 electrics. It has a 60's neck on it with 7.25" radius.
|
|
|
Post by bluzcat on Jan 3, 2020 12:08:35 GMT -5
Very nice Peegoo!
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 3, 2020 13:25:51 GMT -5
Cheers, mates. I've built hollow/chambered Teles before, but those were either sandwiches or they were a hollowed slab with a top or back panel added. This is an experiment just to see how good/bad it sounds. With the string ferrules installed and the finish on, the body weighs 2.65 lbs on my fish scale. I could've gone thinner on the front/back (increase the depth of the lightening holes), but I erred to the side of restraint for this initial try. I've saved all my templates so I can replicate it later on. Like you stated, jhawkr, chambering a guitar body does not necessarily make it sound different from a solidbody so long as everything is properly assembled. I have a 2014 chambered Les Paul R8 that weighs 7.2 lbs and I think it sounds better than my 1996 Les Paul Classic that comes in at just under nine pounds. It certainly is more comfortable to play. The only consideration is maintaining enough rigidity in the body between the neck pocket and the bridge mounting area. The two pickup routs make this slightly complicated because of all that airspace, so I'm limited on how thin I can go on the top and the back. But doing it this way, like a honeycomb, contributes to stiffness through the length of the body. The other reason I honeycombed it is because of the wood; this pine is fairly soft, and if I had routed out chambers it would've created flexible areas on the top and back. Multiple smaller chambers creates an internal 'web' that better supports the top and back. I'm not even done with this one yet and I'm already thinking about the next one. I think I'll try the Danelectro method (wood pieces for the rim and Masonite for the top and back. Another recent chambered build from several months ago:
|
|
|
Post by Tinkerer on Jan 3, 2020 13:45:25 GMT -5
Too cool!!!!
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 3, 2020 13:50:34 GMT -5
Hey man! Good to see you here. I'm looking forward to the wonders that escape from your lab-BOR-ra-tory
|
|
Kwall
Quarternote
Posts: 17
|
Post by Kwall on Jan 3, 2020 22:01:22 GMT -5
Way cool Peegoo!
|
|
|
Post by Jim D. on Jan 6, 2020 13:11:10 GMT -5
Peegoo, your comment about the cut line prompts a question. Since you painted it, did you fill the periphery of the cut line? If so what did you use? I am thinking about doing this and have a woodworking shop but insufficient bandsaw throat depth. Nice solution !
|
|
|
Post by Peegoo 🏁 on Jan 7, 2020 18:01:49 GMT -5
Jim, it was a 1/16" kerf all the way around. After I drilled for the weight relief, I applied glue to both halves with a roller bottle and clamped it together. There was no gap to fill because the wood removed through the entire plane of the slab was equal throughout. Do not sand or plane the cut surfaces because it will make the job worse...and it removes too much wood from the thickness of the body. If you do have some areas where the blade wanders a bit and you have a void or three around the perimeter, you can use several things. Wood filler, epoxy, gel CA and a blast of accelerator, Bondo, JB Weld...there are lots of options that are decent wood fillers that sand smooth and finish great. Don't use wood putty because it does not cure hard; it's a wax-based paste that's designed for filling nail holes in trim carpentry. I had some time to work on this project and got the pickguard cardboard template made up and transferred to a sheet of .080" Bakelite. I like the look of angles in the pickguard shape that mirror the angle of the bridge pickup. This 'guard will fit snugly around the bridge plate and control plate:
|
|
|
Post by Jim D. on Jan 8, 2020 11:29:14 GMT -5
Thanks. I knew the two body pieces are matched by definition even if not cut perfectly square, but was concerned with precisely what you alluded to, which is a bit of saw blade wandering/flexing. This could vary the kerf and affect the match top to bottom, and the outer edges would be the most impacted. Nice and very interesting work that you have shared over the years. Like you I am constantly doing something in my shop. My wife and I have considered downsizing but my idea of that is to have a shop with an attached house, not the other way around.
|
|