August 2015

Always enjoyed playing Tele-style guitars. Ever since the purchase of my first real guitar ('75 sunburst Fender Telecaster Custom) back in High School. I just liked the Tele's simplicity and solid tone. Through the years I've looked for just the right Tele, -one that better fits my playing style and with somewhat unique appearance. Some models came close, but none had all of the features I needed. It was at that point that I realized my perfect guitar didn't exist. So I decided to build my own.

I chose to order a "V"-shaped (Clapton) custom Warmoth neck with 6130 frets (I would've preferred stainless, but they weren't offered in this size), and married it to a custom Warmoth Tele-style body with a contoured heel, belly and forearm reliefs. I also ordered Fender Noiseless pickups, a standard 3-way Tele switch, Bourns pots, etc. Everything arrived about 5 weeks after the project start. I was now ready to begin.

Because I like really low string action (as well as string saddles that don't point to the sky), I decided to route about 2mm out of the body's neck-pocket area. Although I was pretty nervous with this operation, I took my time and used a 1/2" straight router bit mounted in my drill press. I carefully maneuvered the body through the entire neck-pocket area making sure I didn't chip the finish around the edges, etc. I crossed my fingers as I inserted the neck into the pocket and was very relieved to see that it was a perfect fit!

After drilling the alignment holes for the locking tuners (using Stewart-MacDonald's cool self-aligning tool), I installed the tuners, bolted the neck to the body and strung the guitar. A quick adjustment to the truss-rod and string saddles got me to the point of trying out my new toy. I was amazed at the guitar's initial playability! After that, I completed the fine-tuning of everything and the project was complete.

Here's the result...

Warmoth body specs:   Back of body detail:   Close-up of "as received" neck pocket:   Painted neck-pickup pocket:   String ferrules installed:   Bridge and pickup assembly (Gotoh GTC201 bridge, Fender noisless pickups):   Bridge installation close-up:   Controls installation close-up:   Body completed:

Front:   Profile:   Drilling holes for strap buttons:   Strap button installation:   Sting ferrules installation:   Bottom view of bridge assy:   Bridge installation:   Controls installation (Bournes 500k pots):   Final routing of the neck pocket area (to bring the neck closer to the body). Used a 1/2" dia. x 1" straight router bit secured in a drillpress chuck to perform this operation:

1 11/16" wide Roasted Maple V-Shaped (Clapton) Neck with Pao Ferro fretboard:

Drilling the tuner peg holes:   Fender locking tuner installation:

Another view of peg hole drilling:   Completed Guitar!!!: