Made my neck taper - used my track saw as I haven’t got a planer - the cut edge is straight and smooth......

Thinking about wood - was going to go for a cap -  just so wondering about chambering and hole - the Rickenbacker curved triangle type of ‘not f’ hole - how near to the body edge and the pickup routs could I take the chambers?

TITAN to the rescue! How do they do it?

Yes my Titan Track Saw is very good and was cheap - even with the stock blade the cut is brilliant.

I have a Titan bandsaw and have just swapped the blade to one from Tuff Saws - that has improved the quality of cut.

Think the Titan stuff is brilliant for light use by a careful owner........

Possible 'not f hole' idea picture stolen from somewhere.......

Bought a nasty Encore ‘Fender’ neck on eBay for £5 to practice fret mashing - will get a chance to  try out some tools....

Jigging along here in Frocester - bits of wood cut for headstock thickness and headstock angle jigs...........

Back to the guitar.....

https://flic.kr/p/2hd6uLW

15mm from the outer edge to the cavity - is that enough?

6mm cap or thicker?

The lower chamber is just an extension of the control cavity - thinking of connecting the chambers.

The ‘not f’ hole could be bigger?

Any thoughts?

I built a Thinline Tele with Mark (and several later at home...) which I routed to about 8-10 mm from the edge, just keep enough meat in the area's where you're going to screw in your strap buttons. The cap on this guitar is about 4 mm, enough to hold the potmeters and switch. Total thickness is 45 mm, so my body blank was 41 mm. The centre piece of the guitar (where the bridge and pickup's are located) is solid, the hollow section goes all around from the top half, behind the bridge and down to the lower horn.

Good luck!

Oh.... and be carefull with a belly carve.............

I built a Telecaster Thinline on my workshop course in June.

Thanks for the help with this - will mark out a template for the chambering  at the weekend.

How thick was the back of the guitar in the chambered bits?

Looks great!

I usually recommend 12mm (1/2") around the edge but you can push it a bit further if you are brave

As @e-den-hertog pointed out - be VERY careful about the belly carve...

Especially with my belly..............

What is the best way of cutting the 'not f' hole that shape - I assume that I should make a template - how sharp can the sharp point be?

Hollowing out a guitar body is also messy, noisy and time-consuming....... And make sure you've got an extra large router base. But it is worth the trouble, thinlines sound great.........

Posted by: @frocesterbill

What is the best way of cutting the 'not f' hole that shape - I assume that I should make a template - how sharp can the sharp point be?

I would normally mark it out accurately and cut the f-hole before gluing the cap...hollow out the body and then make sure to glue it on accurately.

If you are using a template then the point (corners) can only be as sharp as the diameter of your smallest router cutter - unless you treat them after by hand with a file or similar - in that case it would be up to you (but harder).

Thanks Mark!

Cap thickness - is 6mm OK - would be using normal (Gibson) pickup switch and probably CTS pots....

I spent an enjoyable Saturday building jigs - have completed the headstock thickness, headstock angle and neck angle jigs - had already done the neck taper one.  Fretboard caul still to do.

Will order a Bandsman Kit this week so that I can start the build early in October hopefully - really looking forward to it.

The three times a day video clips from the workshop courses are brilliant and are really inspiring!

@frocesterbill

I will get Carol to send me some pics of caps.....