Mini-Tele - Part 1

Bigger isn't always better!

Like most people that have both children and guitars - I fight a battle.

I really want my son to be interested in music (and being interested in guitars would be A-Okay with me) but I also want my guitars to survive the experience.  I tried early on to demystify the instruments themselves by having him touch, hold, and play some of the more 'durable' items in my collection.  I figured the cheap and cheery Epiphone mandolin would be a better introduction than the near vintage PRS.  Fingers crossed - it seems to have worked.  He's interested in electrics and careful with the acoustics.  You can't ask for much more than that from a 7-year-old.

So, when my son asked me if I would make him a guitar - I had to pause.

Of course, I want to build him a guitar!  I've been waiting for this moment for over 7 years.  I can't wait until he's 16 and he can tell me exactly what pickups he wants in the thing.  But for now - he's 7 and may very well play it once and never touch it again.  So, how do I proceed...?

The thing about guitars for kids is that – you can’t just put a Les Paul in a 7-year-old’s hand and say, “Good Luck!”  It weighs more than he does and it’s almost as tall as he is.  Usually, guitar stores will sell ¾ sized instruments for kids taking up the 6-string but I did the math on that and it would still be pretty big on him. 

Judge me by my size, do you?

About 6 months prior to this post I saw a short scale neck for sale on GFS' factory blowout page.  It was less than $25 and a short enough scale (20.5 inches) that he might be able to play it.  So, I bought it and showed it to him.  He was excited.   I asked him what color he wanted it.  "Gold!" was his only answer.  ...like for all of it.  Gold body, gold hardware, gold headstock.

Don't stop believin', kid.  Gold it is.

So, here I am building a starter guitar for my son.  I'm going low budget on this one as it may end up being a wall hanger but let's see what kind of mess we can make, eh?

I thought you'd be... bigger...

I started with a Poplar body.  Mainly because I could get a slab of wood in the right size.  If I'm careful with the cuts - I might get four bodies out of this plank - and that'll work out to about $20 a body - not too shabby.  If for no other reason it'll be great for working on prototype body shapes - even if this is the only body that gets turned into a full guitar.  (Editor’s note:  if I do this again – I’ll use Basswood.  Poplar was fantastic to work with but it’s a bit too heavy for little guys).

I found a full-size image online for a Telecaster shape and shrunk it down in Photoshop.  I went with the Tele-style - again to keep it simple and to maybe finish the build before he goes to High School.  Tele's don't need a bunch of shaping like a Strat or a Les Paul.  And since I've already built one - it "should" be easier to build.

We'll see how that goes. (Narrator voice-over: it didn’t go how he planned).

Shrinkage

As you would expect if you've been reading this blog for more than 5 minutes.  There's tracing, cutting, and sanding in my immediate future.

Rough & Not-So-Ready

 As you can see from the full-sized template under it - the Mini-Tele body is probably 25% to 35% percent smaller than a normal telecaster body.  I forgot to note how much I reduced the original image file prior to printing it out.  I also made some free-hand changes to the design to better work with the slab of wood I had (read: I made a mistake with my math and had to fudge it a bit).

Ye Olde Schoole

 I also decided to build this guitar in the same way that I built my first one - with a jig-saw rather than a router.  There was no good reason for this - it just felt like a good idea.

"Say hello to my little friend!"

 To fix all those lovely rough edges I used a belt/disc sander.  Seriously, where was this thing when I did this the first time?  These are super-handy if you are a sloppy builder (like me).

There's a little bit of rock in there.

 And here's where I left off after day #1.  Sadly, I didn't record all the steps so the next posts may jump around a bit.

Strata

How about we put some of these templates to work?

I used some double sided tape and one clamp to attach the first template to the body blank.

Keep in mind this is the deepest cut.  Each successive cut will be shallower and each successive template will be smaller (see pictures below).  Because this cut was so deep (about 1/2 an inch) - I made it using three passes.  Same as when I was routing out the body shape - I used a template tracing bit.

My process for each of these templates/layers was the same - trace the template until I bumped into the clamp with the router base - then turn off the router - move the clamp and then finish the cut around the body with the router.  Because I made three passes on this first one at different depths - I completed all three passes and then moved the clamp.  It just seemed easier.  All of the other templates got one pass because the cuts were so shallow.

Let's be clear.  This process was not without issues and errors.  I ended up going over my work (ostensibly to clean up my cuts) and ended up making bigger messes.  See below for what happens when you tilt the router a little bit.  Those should be fine seeing as I started out with a body blank that is so thick.  But it's adding more clean-up work that I didn't need to do.

Just a little slip of the wrist

Just a little...
...oh bugger...

The below picture is after using five of the templates (only two more to go!).
It was at this point that I realized my math was a little faulty.  Each stratum is supposed to be about 1/16 of an inch.  The first (lowest) one should be a little bigger (maybe 1/8th of an inch).  Mine were all over the place.  I did use a Profile Copy Gauge to measure the heights of each layer - but I didn't start using it until the third stratum - and that made all the difference.  Long story short - I only used six templates for this build instead of seven.  At the end of the day - it shouldn't make too big of a difference - these were just to help me save time.  There was always going to be some serious sanding and scraping in my future - with or without using all seven templates.

Raggedy Man

It looks like I sneezed.
...a lot...

You may have noticed I drilled the holes for the volume pots, tone pots, and pick-up switch.  I did those on a whim.  They are in the right place - but on the next Les Paul I build - I'll wait until after I have finished the top carve before I drill them.  They didn't get in the way - but there was a chance I could have created a tear-out when routing around them.

Just remember - none of this will be here soon.

I'll be honest.  This was a bunch of work - and it didn't look all that stellar.  I walked away from this day feeling a bit down.  I was having a hard time 'seeing the whole board' and was focusing on how poorly this particular move had gone.  It's good to remember - we're working with wood.  Most mistakes are fixable.

That's some quality work right there.

Oh look, more templates!

Pictured: The Topography of Desire

Remember a while back when I said, "My thought process (if we are going to call it that) is that digging holes is probably what should be next." And by digging holes I meant the neck pocket and the pickup cavities.  My reasoning was that a flat guitar body is easier to route than a curved guitar body.  There is a sort of simple (nay, simplistic) logic to it: It's easier to balance on a brick than on a basketball.

If you have been reading along - you probably have guessed that this was not, in fact, what I did next.  As I write this post neither of the body blanks has a neck pocket or pickup cavities carved out.  I blame this development on Scott Wilkinson.

Who is Scott Wilkinson you ask and why am I blaming thim?

When I start any new guitar build - I do a fair amount of research as to the process involved.  I try to identify a few different ways that other people have accomplished things and pick the one that is most closely aligned with my skill set and current tool compliment.  Quite often I borrow a little from several approaches.  But really, I like to see how other people have tackled their projects and in what order (and why).  

Scott (also known as ExNihilo on the MyLesPaul.com forum) outlined a very clear process for how to build a Les Paul based on the classic 1950's version of the guitar.  I decided that since his approach was so well documented and lauded that there might be something to it.  The reasoning is this: it will be difficult to gauge the proper depths and placements for the neck pocket and pickup cavities until the body blank is in a semi-final size/shape.  To be clear - my build differs from Scott's in a few crucial ways but using his experience as a guide -  the next logical step for me is to carve the tops of these body blanks.

Which of course means more frickin' templates... 

Courtesy of Scott Wilkinson (aka ExNihilo)

In addition to posting his build experience online Scott also posted a PDF of the templates that he created to carve the top of his Les Paul using a router.  So, because I was having so much fun making templates I decided, "Why not make seven more?"

Not Pictured: Tons of Fun!

The PDF helps you carve the guitar top by breaking it out into unique strata that you route to different depths.  When I get to the actual routing this will make more sense but for now - each line in the drawing equates to a different template that I will use to rout the body blank.

I chose to print out one of these PDFs and cut out each individual strata.  It seems like most people print out seven PDFs and cut away what they don't need.  Both ways work.  But my way was very 'fussy' when it came to tracing them as the paper strips were pretty flimsy.

If I were to do it again - I probably wouldn't try to save the trees.  I'd spend more time saving my sanity by printing out the seven pages. 

...the tree-hugger in me died a little bit writing that sentence (but then again my hobby requires trees to be cut down so who's fooling who?).  

Regardless of the method you use - the goal is to end up with seven templates of different sizes. I used the jig saw again to cut out the rough shapes and then cleaned them up with the belt/disc sander. - just like I did with the body blank template.  This process kicks up a lot of sawdust.

Post Jig Saw but Pre Belt Sander

Now might be a good time to mention dust management / mitigation. 

You shoulda seen my shoes!

See that?  It's sawdust.  

Lots and lots of sawdust

I'm no doctor but my guess is that a bunch of this crap in your lungs probably isn't good for you.  So, I wore a dust mask while shaping these on the sander.  In fact - I've been wearing eye, ear, and dust protection for most of the steps in this blog. 

The first time you put one on you have to say, "Luke, I am your father!"
It's the law.

Since I don't have a dust collection system or air cleaner in my shop I went overboard with a heavy-duty dust mask.  The one in the above picture is really meant for spraying finishes or other VOCs.  A sanding/painters mask is probably good enough.  I like using it because it works really well at keeping dust out of my lungs and because regular dust masks usually fog up my eye protection and this doesn't.

They are your lungs - so do what you like.  But if you are going to make a habit of this hobby (and you don't have the cash for a real dust collection system) you might want to think about picking one of these up.

Guitars are like onions...
...or is it parfait?

In the end - you sand - you shape - you take your time and try not to lose your mind doing the same thing over and over.  I'll share a secret with you - not one of those templates is exactly like the drawing they are supposed to emulate.  These are just to get you to a starting point with your top.  There is a whole lot of planing, sanding, and scraping that needs to be done after the router and these templates are packed away.  Don't fuss and fret over these.  It's a long road ahead.


You may be wondering what the lines are on the above templates.  They are to help me line up the templates with the body blanks.  I'll draw a similar set of lines on the body blank and use these registration marks to lmatch everything up correctly.

As a final note:  This is just one way to carve a top.  In my research I also found a phenomenally talented (and tattooed) luthier who did this all free-hand with an angle grinder.  Go your own way!

Templates, templates, and more templates

First one who says, "I heart this" gets beaten with a bag of nickels

By this point you should get the gist.  Guitar building takes a lot of templates if you want to make things look decent and make the steps repeatable.  I'll try not to go into excruciating detail on this but here's what's cookin'.  

Almost looks like a film noir Jabba

That black piece of plastic is the control cover for a Paul Reed Smith guitar.  It covers (as you would imagine) the control cavity in the back of the guitar.  That's where all the volume, tone, and switching controls are located.  The cover makes it easy for repair persons to get at everything but also protects the delicate bits from abuse. Remember we're talking about guitarists here - this is the same group of knuckleheads that think it's 'artistic' to smash a headstock through a speaker cab.

Pictured: Close enough!

There are two control covers for the Les Paul and one for the PRS.  I'm planning on making templates for all of them.  Here's the kicker - the control covers are supposed to be flush with the back of the guitar - not sit on top.  Which means I have a decision to make - build two sets of templates for each control cover - or do some creative routing.  I'm undecided right now.

If I decide to make two templates for each control cavity one is slightly smaller than the other.  In essence you dig one big hole for the electronics and a smaller ledge or lip at the edge of the first hole that is slightly larger and only about 1/16 of an inch deep for the cover to sit on.

Which reminds me - at some point I'm going to have to get some plastic and make those covers...

Forstner Bit (aka The Hog)

One note about the above template:  I didn't make 'relief' cuts in this for the jig saw to follow.  I made relief holes at each of the corners.  I used a 1 inch forstner bit for the two rounded areas at the top and a 1/4 inch bit for the point at the bottom.  I was then able to cut from hole to hole using the jig saw and clean everything up by hand with sandpaper and a small file/rasp.  I then repeated the process for one of the Les Paul control covesr (see below).

Ever feel like you're just digging frickin' holes?

If you have slightly more money than time (and you don't have a Les Paul or PRS handy to trace the parts) you can just buy some of these templates instead of making them.  I usually buy them here.
For whatever reason (read laziness) I decided to buy the template I'll be using to route the pickup cavities.

Pictured: impulse buy!

I'll probably use this template to route a thicker template at some point - as this is both thin and small but for now it's one less template that I have to make.  Which is making me happy.

For those playing the home game - this is template #7 for these builds.
If I ever want to do this again - I'm gonna be all set!

So round, so firm, so fully packed

I have yet to make a router template for the Les Paul body blank - so this build is on the back burner for a couple of days.  In the mean time I started working on the other body blank, which will be a PRS shape.

As you can see, I followed the same process for this build as I did with he last one: trace the body shape, make relief cuts all along the trace line, and follow the trace line with the jig saw to get the rough shape of the body.

The good news is that I already had a PRS template from an earlier build.
In brief, you trace a real PRS (or whatever guitar you want to duplicate) onto a workable medium that won't warp easily.  I used MDF wood but plexiglass would also work.  Then you cut it out using a band saw, jig saw, or similar sharp-toothed device.  You can then smooth out the lines/contours with sandpaper - either using a belt sander, drum sander or even just a a bit of sand paper wrapped around a dowel.  Being able to get into the curves is important - so a square block won't take you the whole way.
I used a "drum" sander attachment for my drill press and sandpaper wrapped on a dowel.  It worked well but the template is still made of wood (in my case).  If you are not careful you can damage it - which I did on a previous build with the router.  So my template is not perfect - but it is good enough to work with.

The usual way to use a template like this is to tape it to the body blank using double sided tape.  I probably used too much for this template (about 6 pieces running from the horns to the butt).  It made removing the template a bit harder than I had planned on - but I didn't have to worry about the template coming away from the body!  I ended up using three different router bits with this body blank.  All of them had ball bearings on them to trace the template.  You can buy them at Stew Mac, Rockler, or Woodcraft.  You can also get them at big box stores.  Click on those links to see what the router bit looks like.

The first router bit was 1/2 inch in diameter and a 1/4 inch long.  The second was 1/2 inch diameter and 3/4 inch long, the third was also 1/2 inch diameter and 3/4 inch long but with the ball bearing at the bottom of the bit vs at the top like the other two.  (BTW - I'm talking about a 1/2 inch diameter blade - not the shank/collet - all of these are 1/4 inch shank.)  By switching blades this way I was able to make small passes with each and not take off too much wood on any one pass.  The 3/4 in bit was too big (too long) to start with - so that's why I started with the 1/4 bit.  But the 3/4 but wasn't long enough to finish the cut because the body blank is over 2 inches thick.  If you are using thinner body blanks you should be able to get away with just using the first two bits.

The reason why you want to take your time and make small cuts is threefold:  The router doesn't have to work as hard, the bit doesn't get too hot,  the cut is smoother/better.  Routers and router bits aren't cheap - so making more passes will ensure they have a long life.  Also, if you work the router bit too hard you could break it.  The idea of a sharpened steel blade flying through the air at great velocity gives me the willies.

So, how much is too much?  I try not to cut away more than 1/4 of an inch at a time.  There are plenty of people who would tell you that's too conservative and plenty that will tell you that's too aggressive.   I'm just telling you what works for me.

As you can see in the pictures above and below - the different bits have left their mark on the body blank.  Those fine lines come from three different things: where I switched router bits, where there were imperfections on the template, and when I removed the template and used the body blank).  They are pretty minor and will sand out fairly easily.  Also, as you can see in the picture below - at some point you can remove the template and use the body blank as the template.

I do like the PRS shape and it's pretty comfy to play.

Seeing as this body isn't going to have a pick guard and is going to be carved in some way - I think I'm going to put binding on the body.  It's another step to add but I think it'll make it took pretty tasty when it's done.

So, up next is to make a Les Paul Template so that I can get that body up to speed with this one.  Then I think I'm going to have to make some router jigs to shape these two bodies a little.
Stay tuned!

I do not think that word means what you think it means...

I know what you're thinking...

"What kind of a flim-flam-scam are you running here? That's not a Tele!"

This is true.  The shape drawn on that body blank is not a Telecaster shape.  It is an altogether different animal.  It is, in fact, not even in the correct Genus (Fender).  That is a Gibson Les Paul body shape.

I have turned this blog into a Den of Lies!

Come along with me - let's have some fun...

For those of you coming here for the first time - the original Telecaster build can be found 'below.'

By that I mean - see the older posts from 2008.  For those of you who have not closed your browser window - let's see what's going on here.

First, why am I building a Les Paul?  The easy answer is, "Why not?"  The slightly longer answer is that it is more challenging to build a Les Paul than it is a Tele because of the carved top.  It's also usually harder to build a guitar with a 'set' (e.g. glued-in) neck.  ...but I'm not doing that.

I'm building this with a bolt-on neck (as I'll explain in a later post).

So, because it's not a real Les Paul - I don't have to worry about copyright (or is it trademark) infringement then - now do I?  Fingers crossed!

There's one guy in the peanut gallery shouting, "Why don't you just carve the Telecaster top?"  

I'm ignoring him.  La la la la la la - I can't hear you!  

Enough with the 'why' let's move onto the 'how.'

I own an Epiphone Les Paul - so I used that to trace the shape onto the body blank.  In this post I'm just going over the first pass of creating the body outline.  There are two steps when doing this with regular tools.  I say 'regular' because the major guitar manufacturers have specialized tools that do this process in a few minutes unlike the below process which is measured in hours.

The first pass it to remove 90-95% of the excess wood.  You can do that with a band saw, jig saw, or even a hand saw if you have that kind of time (I do not).  The idea is to get close enough to the final shape that you can easily finish it (smooth it out) on the second pass with a router.

I'm using an inexpensive jig saw to remove all the excess wood.  The process for a band saw is different (but as I don't have a band saw I'm not qualified to tell you how).

My process (stolen from somewhere online) is to make multiple cut-ins so that I'm making a series of small cuts.  See the above picture for what I mean.  I then cut along the trace-line with the jig saw - going from cut-in to cut in.  It makes the process slower but much more accurate.

For the first build I did (the Tele) I just went around the whole body in one go - right up against my traced line.  Let me tell you why that was a bad idea...

It's called flex.  And jig saw blades have it in spades.  If you try to make sharp turns, corners or switchbacks with a jig saw - you end up with ridiculously sloppy cuts because the jig saw blade bends as you cut.  It's very difficult to keep it straight (or square).  On the Tele I was very close to the line on the surface of my cut - but the back (or bottom surface) was 1/4 of an inch bigger or smaller.  Because of that I had to modify the body shape a lot with the router.  So now I do it this way.

What you see there (above) is not the top of the line tool for this job.  It doesn't need to be.  Take it slow and it'll be just fine.  You may be able to see that I didn't go right up to my trace line with the jig saw cuts.  That's because I'm not going to go that close to the line on this first pass.  My goal is to get about 1/4 of an inch from the line and use the router to clean it up.  It would probably be better if I got within an 1/8th of an inch - but I have a better router than jig saw - so that's how roll.

Well, what do you know.  I think there's a guitar in there after all.

Part 4: Power Tools

The wood is glued and the template traced - it's now time to start sawing.

So, for those of you who are not familiar with power tools - a jig saw is not a precision instrument. I had no illusions that it would create a finished edge - I knew there was some sanding in my future but I didn't know that it would be so imprecise. Perhaps closer to the truth is that I am the one who is imprecise and the tool is fine. I'm happy to put the blame on the tool for now and learn from my mistakes.
The "rough draft" of the body was in such bad shape that I was left with no alternative - a router would be necesarry.

For those of you not familiar with a router it can be a precision instrument in the hands of a skilled wood worker. As a guitarist - I've got game. As a wood worker - not so much...

I had not originally planned on using a router to refine the shape of the Tele. I was hoping to avoid routers in general and be able to sand my way to a symetrical guitar after I had cut the rough shape with the jig saw. ...the whole time I would be dodging snowballs in Hell and shooing flying pigs circling around my head...

The only power tool that make me more apprehensive then a router is a table saw. Anything that spins around in thousands of revolutions per minute should be respected. Adding a carbide razor to the tip of said spinning object - with no gaurd in sight - is cause for concern. The body part most likely to be damaged by a table saw or router? The fingers. The body most important to the playing of guitars? The fingers. ...you can see the nature of my concern.

I was going to seek help from friends or family - people with more routing skill than I to help me with this part of the project but my pride (read obstinance) got the better of me. I decided the only way to learn how to swim was to jump in. I went out and bought a Home Despot special - a Ryobi router for $60.

So, for those of playing the home game - that is $120 in tools - so far. That's $35 for the jig saw, $60 for the router and $25 for the router bit. I already had the sander but did need to buy sand paper in the following grits: 36, 60, 100, 150, 220, 320. I still need to buy 400 and 800 grit (and maybe higher for when it comes time to put a finish on this gal). This is just the begining too, so keep your calculators handy.

As I said, I'm not a skilled wood worker but very few people are born that way so I figured I could probably learn. Yeah, one big part of the learning process is having a teacher. As most of us know the other big part of learning is experience. Bad experience being a the more memorable for most of us. I've had three teachers when it comes to wood working: my father, and my buddies Bill and Rudy. In addition to teaching me how to use tools all three of them have tried to teach me the same lesson: Measure twice - cut once.

...did I mention that I'm a slow learner?

This is where Experience comes in. Suffer enough heart-ache and you'll learn eventually. This project has been painless for the most part but there have been numerous times where if I had just measured twice I would be playing my guitar now and not still building it.

But I digress...

One of the great things about routers is that if you buy the right router bit you can use a template or form to trace a shape. As long as your template is smooth and accurate - your final piece of wood should be as well. I bought a router bit with a ball bearing colar just above the cutting edges. This way the ball bearing guide follows the contours of the template and the blade cuts the wood. To make the template I used the Squier body to trace the shape on a piece of Medium-density fiberboard (MDF) that was about 1/2 inch thick.

If I ever build another guitar I would use 3/4 inch plexiglass for my template instead of 1/2 inch MDF. The extra hight would make it easier to do more passes with the router. I bought a router bit that is too long - it should be 1/2 inch not 1 inch but my local home despot only had the larger bit. Because of this my initial cut is too deep. It means I make fewer passes with the router but it also means my cuts are not as precise and I had quite a few burns on the wood. With routers - the shallower the cut - the smoother the end product. Some people recommend making 1/4 inch passes or less with the router. I was making anywhere from 1/4 to 1/2 inch cuts. Cuts that deep are hard on the router, hard on the blade and hard on the wood. Less, in this case, is more. Way more. There is also the thought of a router bit snapping because it is working too hard. That friends and neighbors is the thought that gives me the creeping willies.

Another reason for using plexiglass is that a transparent template would make positioning hardware and pickups much easier.

So, what you do is take your finished template and put it on top of your body wood. Clamp the template to the body using vice grips/clamps (remember not to let the clamps directly touch the body - use wood scraps between the clamps and the final piece whenever possible - this will mean less sanding later). Set your router on top of the template. Lower the router blade so that the ball-bearing guide touches the template and the blade touches the wood (I made the mistake of letting the blade touch the template and now that template don't work so good). After you make a few passes the body itself will act as the template. The ball-bearing will follow the contours of the previous cuts you made.

I made so many mistakes with the jig saw on my rough cut that I had to move my template around a little in-between router cuts to get a smooth finish. The end result is that my Tele is slightly less wide around the waist than standard Tele's are. Still looks okay!



Note: I wiped this with a quick mineral spirit wash again to 'preview' the grain.