Fat body Tele project

[Blazer]

As you all can recall I started the build of two matching Pine body Telecasters with which I intended to use up a pile of spare parts I had lying around. That plan has changed because I decided to make the necks myself and buy new bridges for those two guitars.

Be that as it may, I still have that pile of spare parts which includes a stunning Birds eye maple neck and it would be a shame NOT to use that neck so I decided to make a third tele body so I could use that neck and I also decided to go for that tried and tested wood combination that makes a rock guitar: Mahogany and maple.


Book match baby, you can see the join but it's not really that bad.


Side view: you can see that I used two routing bits, a smaller one to do the top and a bigger one for the rest of the body, this was because hard rock maple can splinter when routed and this way I avoided chipping. This picture also shows the thickness of the body. It's thicker than a standard tele body but that will translate in sustain.


The back: as you can see, a big "Eye" where a branch sat is prominent at the bass side. But I don't mind, I think it gives the guitar something of it's own. My Boss already nicknamed it "The Jupiter's storm guitar" because of this figure in the wood.


And a little composition with some stuff I had lying around, including the birds eye maple neck I intend to use. I'm not really sure about giving it a traditional Tele pickup set up though, I'm more of a humbucker guy but the options are still open.

I already got in contact with the guy who painted my Red explorer to finish the body in translucent red for me. This will be a stunner.

[shadowcastaz]

You will love it. I made a tele baritone several years back. The top is thulia(sp) burl. Its difficult to work with. I bought the sexy  engraved parts to top it off.

[shadowcastaz]

You will love it. I made a tele baritone several years back. The top is thulia(sp) burl. Its difficult to work with. I bought the sexy  engraved parts to top it off.

when i played the othernight ,the guitar player was talking about pine tele's. i never heard of it until  you posted  a few weeks back. What does the tone compare to?

[Blazer]

when i played the othernight ,the guitar player was talking about pine tele's. i never heard of it until  you posted  a few weeks back. What does the tone compare to?

Kinda difficult to explain. I have used Pine in several builds before including a bass. They all had a very "Toppy" high kind of sound, kinda like those seventies Fender Ash bodied Jazz basses (think Marcus Miller). Not really that bad a sound really.

I used that pine body fretless on several recordings but this one has the clearest sound.



The back of "Fido" my self built SG/Tele hybrid which has a sandwich body of Oak and Pine.

[shadowcastaz]

So it will reinforce the tele twang!. Regular pine or southern yellow with the straight grain?

[Chris P.]

I said it in Blazers other thread: I believe the First Telecasters (Broadcasters/Nocasters) were made out of pine. And there's a pine Squier now.

[Blazer]

A little update, I filled the "Eye" in the back of the body with two component filler. The transparent stuff also gives a little preview on what the mahogany will look like when finished.



And this is the thing I used, dependable stuff.


A little water on the top esposes that pretty texture of the maple here. I already decided that this will be a twin humbucker, rear-routed guitar, no pickguard because I feel it would be a crime to cover up such a pretty piece of Maple: it needs to be seen in full.

Tomorrow I'll start working on routing the cavities and rounding off the body edges, my camera will come along with me so there's eye candy coming up too.

[shadowcastaz]

Nice and thanx for not doing the PG. That is a nice piece of maple. Your leaving it natural?

[Blazer]

Nice and thanx for not doing the PG. That is a nice piece of maple. Your leaving it natural?

Nope, I'm planning to have it finished in the same way as my explorer.

[drbassman]

That really is a nice looking body with the pine and mahogany.  A trans finish should be pretty cool!

[shadowcastaz]

 If you want the tiger to jump out in that top, stain it black or dark brown and sand it back  with 180 grit  until its mostly blond again. Then when you do the red the grain/ figure will pop twice as much.

[Blazer]

Well I did a lot of work today.


I routed the neck pocket, the body rounding, the pickup cavity and...


...The back cavity.


It's starting to look like a tele, Although I'm not sure yet if that will be the bridge I'm gonna use here.

[drbassman]

I like the rounded top edge.  Very nice!

[shadowcastaz]

Looks comfey!!!

[Blazer]

Okay you guys, tomorrow will be the day that I finish the routing and drilling work on my tele body. After that it will be sanding and finishing.  I have two options on where to go with this tele.


Either with or without pickup rings, what would you guys say is the best option of the two.

As for color I'm still biased to do in in translucent red.

The body after I used two component filler on several places to fill in cracks and shallow dents in the wood where the top got chipped during planing.


What I need to do now is sand the body smooth again and drill it for a Fender Non trem Strat bridge, string canals and string ferrules.

On the back I'm planning to rout a recessed heel pocket similar to the one on this Ibanez guitar.


I need to do this because of the neck bolts not being long enough to bolt it secure in place and it also make it easier to play high up the neck.

As always I'll keep you guys informed.