What's the best Strat/Tele clonebuilder's forum?

[skyboltone]

Considerably down the line, I want to make a guitar. My current main Ax is an Heritage H535 and I had thought about rewiring it to make single coil tones but have decided against it.

Where do I find out what the hot ticket is. Weight of body, neck shapes etc.

Thanks in advance
Dan H

[bigmik]

there's a link on the warmoth site to the warmoth builders forum ,might be worth checking out

big mik

[tkdrew]

This is not really a clone builders forum, but there are several extremely talented tele builders there. I think they have a strat version on the forum as well, check around on the site for a link.
http://www.tdpri.com/

[Roe]

yes tdpri

[statorvane]

At some point you will also need to consider a finish for the Tele. Lots of excellent work and help available at The Guitar Reranch, http://www.reranch.com/reranch/ . Pop in and take a look, it might give you some ideas.

[skyboltone]

Thanks Guys:
It's been a great help. I'll start smartening up on this stuff.

Dan

[statorvane]

One more tip. I have scratch built two guitars - a LP DC sort of axe w/P90s, and a Fat Tele. Even with the excellent web resources, I think you'll find investing in Melvyn Hiscock's Make Your Own Electric Guitar invaluable. Covers several different types of solid body guitar designs, construction methods, and wiring. The finishing section is a little thin, and to be fair about it, this could easily be a book in itself.

Couping the book with the Reranch web resource - so easy a caveman could do it . Well, maybe not a caveman, but I managed to succeed.

Good luck.

[mlp-mx6]

For finishing, StewMac sells a boot, "Guitar Finishing Step By Step" that will be exactly what you need.

[PUCKBOY99]

Try www.telemodders.com .....along with the ReRanch site, they have some GREAT builders with lots of tips !!
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[titanicslim]

Dan

I've been making them, and ones like them to varying degrees, almost as long as Leo did. If you want, I'll give you enough info on the wretched things to make your ears run with Fullerplast. PM me.

Dave

[titanicslim]

For plans of established designs, try the following sources:

tele, strat: MIMf- http://www.mimf.com/

Les Paul and the excellent Koch books: http://www.stewmac.com/

GAL plans: http://www.luth.org/
By the way, this is the organization that any serious luthier already belongs to (barring those with chronic cranial-anal disorder) and is the prime source of information and support for beginners. Their conventions are... unique.

And of course you can find lots of plans and routing templates on eBay but I can't vouch for their accuracy.

The way I got my own patterns when I started was by taking old fenders apart and carefully measuring every single dimension on every guitar I could get my hands on. If you want an accurate outline of a body, you need to make a block that will hold a pencil lead vertical and right against the guitar body. Cover the lead with Scotch tape so the guitar's owner doesn't throw you into the street.

My Dad was a player and knew all the music store dudes so I got first crack at the busted necks and irreparable (at first) instruments so I could cut the necks apart and learn how the truss rods worked. It took me years because the first several I saw were cheapos and they didn't know how it was done. I have retired and moved back to my hometown and it is a huge treat when I discover and repair/replace one of my very early instruments made in those clueless days.

Whether you use a published plan or draw your own, you need to get the most accurate straight-edge you can find and draw everything out full size, then take your patterns direct off those drawings. That's the only way you will get accurate work. Then, as early as possible, the neck templates should be made on metal or plexiglas. Same with the body.

A great resource for neck profiles is the Warmoth website. http://www.warmoth.com/guitar/necks/nec ... _pr ofiles
These happen to be the most popular profiles among players.

A happy coincidence is that a Fender-type neck, minus the fingerboard, happens to be pretty much the thickness of a "one-by" board of sugar maple. Fender calls it "hard-rock maple" as a sales device, and biologists call it acer saccharum. I don't make one piece necks, and I don't advocate making them, as they are purely an aesthetic thing and that minuscule glue-line buys you a lot of practicality.

Wood dealers will tell you that the figured pieces are rare but a stroll around an old gymnasium floor (made from random stock) will tell you just how rare it isn't. You can get some beautiful pieces on eBay. Birdseye comes at a premium but the really stunning swirly, flaming specimens are available for about the same price as the plain stuff.

Anyway, whatever style of neck you make, I can only recommend that you buy a ready-made rosewood fingerboard** from Stewart McDonald. Making your own fingerboard requires specialized tooling for each scale length and is only practical if you're doing several. The main drawback is that 21-fret boards are not available for vintage-style strat/tele necks.


**In fact. you might as well buy that first, along with the rest of the hardware, as that will help you to be sure of your layout. Just be sure you are getting the right stuff for the model you plan to make.


Dave