Thats indeed the issue, the shaft of the ferules is one thing, but for me, what screws it up is that little lip that you need to cut out, to make the ferrules sit flush with the body. for me it is undoable with hand drill and a brad point.
If you were able to use a step drill you could drill the 8mm and 10mm at the same time and guarantee concentricity. The step drills I've got have 3 flats on the shank to fit the drill chuck, so not sure if they would fit into a router collet though .
unfortunately top loading tele bridges are relatively rare (I haven't found one that also has individual saddles) so through stringing may be impossible to avoid.
@jonhodgson This one is both, you can use it as a toploader. 👍
https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/vintage-telecaster-ash-tray-guitar-bridge/
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
f you were able to use a step drill you could drill the 8mm and 10mm at the same time and guarantee concentricity.
@Robin I also thought of using stepdrills, and I have some of those laying around. The only issue I have with them , is that they I am not able to do it perfectly and still have tear out. I would not trust them on my router even if they fit :-), If I could put them on my drill press, they would do the job I think, but that is the whole issue to begin with.
This morning I ve made a pickguard template and an almost perfect fitting pickguard, using a jigsaw for the rough cutting, routed the rest and used a file to make tiny adjustments here and there. It fits perfectly. Very satisfying result. I used a piece of leftover pickguard material from another project, just to test if my template was good enough. But now i think I m going to keep it as it is
Hard to see from the pics ... are the edges of the scratchplate straight or bevelled?
@tv101 They are bevelled, but not enough to my liking, I think I should have used a 45º routerbit instead of a 30º one 🤔
I'll try to make a better picture.
Excellent @koendb! Looks like this one is done!
Almost @Mattbeels! Almost, still need to do the roundoff , fix the dings, and finish it. I just finished experimenting with mixing wood filler and stain to solve the ugly area around the string ferrules. Seems I found a good solution!
I just finished experimenting with mixing wood filler
@koendb what’s your plan with the ferrules then, settled on that yet? Not sure what your plan was with the filler but wanted to let you know I’d tried to use filler in the past and if you try to drill near out the drill tends to go off course into the file bit. Pretty sure I’d seen your use dowels so probably not an issue.
Also found that filler with stain on top looks odd, I’ve in the past used a dowel cutter in a drill and taken a dowel from a similar grained piece of wood and use d that so there is minimal filler needed anywhere. Interested to see what you do though here.
I need to make a replacement Tele pick guard too, anything I need to be careful of with routing the stuff? I’d planned too rough cut it and then tape it to a pattern then use a trimmer bit. Did the router speed make a difference too?
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
what’s your plan with the ferrules then, settled on that yet? Not sure what your plan was with the filler but wanted to let you know I’d tried to use filler in the past and if you try to drill near out the drill tends to go off course into the file bit.
@Tej I decided to leave the ferrules as they are and make the back as tidy as possible with filler, mixed with the stain I will use. This seems to work out just fine ( thats what I tested yesterday evening), as long as you don't expect the mishaps to be invisible. So I will keep the mistakes visible and go for a stain finish.
Did the router speed make a difference too?
I did not set my speed specifically on my router. The router cuts like butter. I used a bit with the bearing on the underside of the cutter and placed my template upside down. Just make sure you have enough room between your pickguard plate and the table/bench
Today was a good day! Sanded the complete body with 100, 150 and 240.
Call me crazy but I actually like sanding a guitarbody .. I enjoyed it so much, that I decided not to do the contour roundovers with a router, but instead, I did it with sanding paper 🙂
I fixed a bit the sloppyness in the back around the ferrules with 2 component wood filler, mixed with amber stain.
Some more sanding and grain filled ( mixed with yellow stain ) the sides of the body.
Raised the grain with a damp cloth after cleaning with naphta and sanded the whole body with 320. And applied yellow stain.
This is the result:
All the repairs and mishaps still visible, but I think it is ok for a first scratch build 🙂
I could not resist and did a quick mock up and I must say..
This is very close to what I had in mind before I started this build.
I am really happy with how this is coming together. Pitty for the few mistakes, but hey that s the way we learn.
Tomorrow I 'll put a few coats of shellac on it and assemble it again
Superb @koendb and I’m glad you like sanding. It’s one of those painters jobs that you have to get used to and just accept the tediousness of it. It’s all in the prep work, that’s what makes a good finish. The more you do it, the more you realise that doing a lot of it by hand gives you more of a sense of what the project needs to be. You get connected to it more than if you did everything with power tools. These days I remove a lot of the bulk with power tools, my sander especially but I always like to finish the prep work by hand.
It’s another great build from you Koen, keep going. 🤘😁🤘🎸
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸