S/N 21.003
Mahogany Telecaster
Specifications
25.5” scale length
2 piece mahogany body finished with Tru-Oil
Lightly flamed maple neck finished with Tru-Oil
Cherry fingerboard with minimal fret dots on the 12th fret (side markers are still present)
Hardware
This was the most satisfying guitar build so far. I think it was because it was the first time I build the fingerboard from scratch, instead of using a pre-thicknessed and slotted one (nothing wrong with these, they’re fantastic).
Just after S/N 21.002 was completed, I got ahold of a fret slotting miter box. Without this, I’m not quite sure I would have ever been able to slot the frets myself, make the accurate measurements, etc. I decided to use some left over cherry to make the fingerboard. I figured it would be a good material to test the new miter box with, and I’m pretty happy with the result! In the future I’ll use some nicer woods with more figure (think flamed maple, rosewood, etc.).
I also came across this router base for a Dremel that allows you to use a Dremel as a miniature router with incredibly small bits. I was eager to try it out, so I tried to freehand a logo into the headstock. In retrospect, straight lines are very hard to replicate with the router freehand, and the placement wasn’t great once I put the string tree in. That being said, this is a cool tool to have. I may end up trying some more inlay work for fret markers in the future.
I decided it was a good time to try out rear control cavities with magnetic plates. I did this by creating an MDF template of the shape, routing it out on the body, then making a negative of it plus the lip for the plate. For the first time, I’m decently happy with how this came out. That being said, I need to find a better way to make a template and an exact negative as the current fit isn’t great. Once I’ve got good templates, this will be easy in the future. For what ever reason I couldn’t wait to try some red dye that I have for a future build, so the control plates ended up red (natural color of the gummy cherry looks better and works better here).
This was also the first time using Tru-Oil to finish the wood. The result of this is a neck that feels fantastic. I think it really makes the grain pop, and leaves a glossy, yet smooth finish that glides easily in the hand. I have a feeling that most of my necks going forward will use this finish. I also ended up using this finish on the body, I think it worked well and was easier to apply than spraying lacquer.
Overall, this guitar doesn’t look the best nor does it have the most cohesive design, but the playability of it is much better than previous attempts and the takeaways from it will pay off in the future. It was also very satisfying not needing to rely on pre-slotted fingerboards!
