| Project by propcarver | posted 156 days ago | 1196 views | 5 times favorited | 14 comments |  |
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One day my son dropped by with an old neck from a Fender guitar and asked me if I could fix up the neck and build the missing parts of the guitar. Kind of like the old ”look what followed me home” thing.
I’ve never built or repaired a guitar. Took some time to research the info and build the jigs and fixtures. The actual building process was a lot of fun. Not much margin for error. Truly a measure three times and cut once type of project.
My son and I got to spend time together as we built the guitar. I completed a lot of the grunt work during the week so we could concentrate on the detail work on the weekends.
I made a coil winder and we made the pickups to match the early style Fender single coils. I don’t have any plans for the coil winder but could post some rough dimensions and photos if anyone wants to give it a try.
The body finish is black lacquer.
The guitar setup went very well, the intonation was spot on and everyone who played it loves it.
Regards,
14 comments so far
bowyer
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342 posts in 290 days
posted 156 days ago
Beautiful guitar!! and vette’!!
-- If at first you don't succeed...Don't try skydiving
CharlieM1958
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7632 posts in 1113 days
posted 156 days ago
Wonderful job!
-- Charlie M. "Woodworking - patience = firewood"
a1Jim
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16776 posts in 471 days
posted 156 days ago
Fantastic Job very good work and beautifu results.
-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop Southern Oregon
John Ormsby
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503 posts in 631 days
posted 156 days ago
Nice job on the guitar. Is that your 66 vette? I had a 63 roadster for many years.
-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca
stefang
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1647 posts in 229 days
posted 156 days ago
It looks like your son sure went to the right person to get the job done. That guitar looks great! Nice work.
-- Mike, American in Norway
SCOTSMAN
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2239 posts in 480 days
posted 156 days ago
nice job well done.Alistair
-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease
bent
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posted 156 days ago
i can’t believe you made the pickups. first time i’ve heard of that being done…very ambitious/impressive. how do they sound?
Skarp
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178 posts in 220 days
posted 155 days ago
Sweet tele, it’d be great if you posted the coil winder. I have had coil winding on the backlog of projects myself. This may have pushed it up in priority! What wood did you use for the body? I believe telecasters were originally maple neck and ash/cypress body. Been a while since I worked at a music store :) Great job on the guitar.
-- Ooo, er.
propcarver
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50 posts in 724 days
posted 155 days ago
Thanks for the comments ..... Great for the ego ….
John,
The Vett is a 66 L72. Used to be mine and now lives at my son’s house. Old cars and Old Guitars need to be together. BTW I live in the Antelope area … Not very far from your location.
Bent,
The pickups sound great. There is a ton of info out there regarding the number of wraps and coil resistance to duplicate the pickups in the vintage guitars. The coil winder cost about 20 bucks to build. Primarily because I couldn’t find a proper counter for cheap. To build the pickup bobbins you can use some pre-fab parts like plates and posts or make your own. I’ll post a photo or two of the winder as soon as I get a chance to take them.
Here is a link or two to some sources for parts and supplies.
Bobbins and other parts
http://www.allparts.com/store/pickup-covers-rings-parts-pickup-parts,Category.asp
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Pickups:_Parts.html
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Pickups:_Kits.html
Regards,
Bill
GaryD
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50 posts in 264 days
posted 153 days ago
Great Job, I also have someone that I am going to build a telecaster for. I also never have built one. My biggest concern is the finish. Again great job
-- Gary, Little River,SC I've Learned that the Lord didn't do it all in one day and neither can I
jim1953
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1601 posts in 736 days
posted 153 days ago
Great Lookin Job
-- Jim, Kentucky
Beginningwoodworker
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4163 posts in 567 days
posted 153 days ago
Thats a Beautiful Guitar.
-- CJIII Future cabinetmaker
Hunterastin
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44 posts in 185 days
posted 153 days ago
great guitar, i just got a template to start workin on my soon to be telecaster
propcarver
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50 posts in 724 days
posted 152 days ago
garyd,
I used Deft lacquer tinted black and it worked great. Here is a link to a forum with a ton of info regarding the application of a guitar finish.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/finely-finished/
There are excellent tutorials for everything from building a guitar to winding the pickups. As an example, Terry Downs published a full drawing of the telecaster body with all of the routing info included. I made my templates using his excellent drawings.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/74504-generated-d-size-tele-body-blueprint.html
Give it a go ….
Regards,