A while ago I got the itch to make a Telecaster. I've got the body mostly done (cut to shape, top cap of spalted maple over an ash body, neck fitted, routs done, sockets cut, etc...). There will be no pickguard. Instead I will back mount the controls. I am using a Fender neck that my son bought when he thought he wanted to make a guitar. He didn't really like the hours he had to put into one that only needed refinishing, so I'll put the neck to use. Pi, the deaf shop dog helps. I went back through SMC builds of John, Julie, and others to pick up what tips I could. I also asked their thoughts on the distance between the neck and the humbucker rout.
Thank you John and Julie!
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I am planning to add a black binding front and back on the guitar. This is where I am at a stopping point. I have two issues. I routed the bindings on the acoustic I built with the dremel and the offset guide. The tele's a different beast though. At a few spots there isn't enough wood around the neck pocket and cutaway to rest the base of the dremel router on to get proper registration. I have ordered a router bit with bearings to use in the router.
I was also going to do the binding in solid ebony. The bend is really too tight at the horn for bending ebony of the thickness needed, so I am falling back to the plastic bindings. Maybe, I'll get ambitious enough to mill very thin strips of ebony and laminate them together for the sharp curves. I haven't yet determined what tone / color to make the ash potion of the body. The hardware will be all black. I'll swap out the tuners with black Sperzel, Grover, or Schaller models.