Telecaster
My very Own (Home/Hand Made) Telecaster
It all started from a large piece or Alder and templates, in the [very fine] shop of luthier Richard Baudry, near Lille in France. I signed for a guitar building class, not something that will make a luthier out of me, but enough to build a simple guitar, and get the basics right, such as make (rather than buy) a proper guitar neck, and get the support of a pro in the field when questions arise.
The overall guitar build process took a little more than 35 hours (about 10 afternoons of 3 to 4 hours), and involved serious hand work. OK with me. The shop is equipped with great machinery (some dangerous too) and the big tasks of cutting and planning the large pieces of Alder have been managed that way, leading to precise work. This is also true for the neck, a nice piece of eyed Maple, and the fret board made of Brazilian Rosewood.
All woods were already available at the shop, and have been aged for several years to provide stability. The neck is nearly 20 years old!
A band saw was used to shape the body, and a router helped set it to final shape and dimensions (before sanding). Same for the neck. More templates provided the right cavities for electronics and pickups.
A double action truss rod is set in the neck (more routing) to provide rigidity and straightness to the neck.
Quickly, and surprisingly enough, I got to something that already looked like a guitar, but that's before working on the fret board, shaping the neck, adjusting everything and a lot of sanding... but as long as you don't know, you think things are not that hard... :)
Richard Baudry has a simple yet very effective setup for duplicating fret slot positions on the fret board. This ended up a simple task, but you have to have the right tools and setup, ensuring the slots are cut at their correct and precise position and depth. With frets slots prepared it was time to glue the fret board on the neck . This requires a few clamps (see below)!
After shaping the fret board and fitting the frets (using a simple hammer), I was good for a lot of rasp work, shaping the neck, more routing and sanding
And then clipping the excess of frets, leveling them, polishing them, all this using a jig that ensures one works on a straight neck. Below, you can see the neck to body assembly before sanding, and more sanding, and some more sanding...
I also assembled the simple electronics, using Kent ArmStrong pickups, while Richard managed the sand sealer coats, me doing more sanding in between, prior to the final satin finish for a natural wood guitar look.
As to the final instrument...
I'm very happy with the result and the overall work. Great help and support from Richard, and a stunning guitar, especially for a first shot at building my own!
I can only recommend the experience to any guitar player. There's no better way for getting your specs in a guitar. Your very own guitar.
