Telecaster Custom

Got an interesting job lined up. Build a Telecaster Custom. The body, neck and pickups are second-hand but everything else will be new.

The frets are rather worn so the first job will be to sort those out.

I was out of the workshop all morning and had another small job to finish so didn’t manage as much as I would have liked. However I made a start on the fret-board.

The first, and probably most important step, make sure the fret-board is perfectly flat.

With the neck flat I always mask up the fet-board with low adhesive tape to protect it while working.

I’ll then mark the tops of each fret with a marker pen so I can see where the flat beam is touching and which frets are too low. Using adhesive backed abrasive paper and a calibrated straight beam I’ll file down the fet-tops evenly…

You can see here where the beam is starting to grind fret-wire away and where the wire is too low and hasn’t yet been touched. I’m taking the tops off the middle two frets, you can still see the worn low points but the outside two have hardly been touched. There is a long way to go yet.

About half way. I’m touching the tops of the frets but there are still some low very worn spots..

Worse still, further up the neck I’m still not touching the fret-tops. You can see the low, worn spots on the 11th, 12th and 13th frets but I’m still not touching the tops of the 8th or 9th frets. Still a long way to go…

Getting there at last. Just the low spots on the 7th to 10th frets…

A little more, almost done…

And there we have it. The frets are now all completely level.

The trouble is, I’ve had to remove so much metal each fret is now this shape…

So what I have to do is file away the squared off shoulders to make a round fret top. Being careful not to take anything off the top, otherwise I’ll be back where I started, with uneven fret heights! Something like this….

I’ve run out of time today so It’ll have to wait ’til tomorrow. I’ve started by marking up the tops again so I can see what I’ve touched….

Re-shaping the frets isn’t difficult, it just takes time and patience along with the right file..

Making sure only to file the edges of the fret and round it off without touching the top. Half way through fret No.1…

Some time later, all done….

The file leaves a very rough finish so each fret now needs re-polishing with 4 finer and finer grades of micro-cloth

A little lemon-oil on the fret-board and the neck is ready to go back on.

A couple of problems though. Firstly it doesn’t quite line up..

I tried loosening the screws to move the neck but I still can’t quite get it right. It’s almost there but not quite. I’ve got to take the neck back off anyway as one of the screw holes isn’t very tight. When I put it back next time I’ll take some paint off the side of the neck pocket to see if I can move it over a little more.

Meanwhile, that screw hole..

I don’t know if this neck has ever been on another guitar but there is an extra hole? I’ll fill them both and start again. Drill out the holes and insert wooden plugs..

When the glue is dry cut it flush…

Do the same with the hole right next to it and it it’ll be ready to re-drill.

There is also another problem. None of the holes in the pick-guard line up with the old holes in the guitar..

Where the required holes are close I’ll have to pug the old ones. I need to get the neck and bridge sorted first……

Holes Plugged….

Turning my attention to the pick-guard there are more problems, I seem to be having one of those days! I had a look at the pickups but they haven’t come with any springs or screws. I keep a stock but guess what, none fit so I’ll have to order some more in.

I can mount the pots’ and switch and start the wiring but found another problem. The size of the switch and the position of the switch hole don’t line up with the cavity in the body. I’ve already had to use a right angle switch but even that won’t fit.

It’s close so the only option is to take a little off the cavity. I don’t like doing this sort of thing but there is no way otherwise…

Just a little nip..

Fits nicely now. And there is another problem. The switch tip needs to be black and it’s a different size thread to all the others I’ve got. Like I say, one of those days….

With the pick-guard now fitting I’ve started the wiring….

Enough for today, my frustration levels are getting too high!

This thing is really bugging me now. Every time I touch it something else doesn’t work!

I finally worked out why the neck pickup wasn’t sitting properly….

The cutout for the pickup doesn’t line up exactly with the cavity in the body, there is about a 2mm lip that is just catching the pickup. Another job to sort out.

On a plus side, some of the parts arrived today, including the volume and tone knobs…

A few more parts arrived today, the screws for the pickups.

Guess what? even that didn’t work out as easily as I would have liked. Should have expected that I suppose, I think this guitar hates me. Well you know what, I’m starting to hate it back!!! One of the screw holes is very worn so the US threaded screws I’ve just bought slip through. The only way to deal with that is to expand the hole a little more and tap it for a metric screw..

At least I’m a step closer. If my nerves will take it I’ll have another bash tomorrow..

Well I finally think I’ve got it worried. I did hope to have it finished this afternoon but then, what was I thinking, anything on this guitar was always going to take twice as long as planned!

Next then the neck picukup cavity. Needs to ba at least this much bigger…

With a small router take about 2 or 3mm off the edge….

That should do it…

Of course it didn’t. It also turns out the pickup scews are too long. Not a difficult fix, just another job to do.

With it all fitting in place at last all I had to do before screwing the top down was solder in the neck pickup and jack socket.

I’ve still had enough for the day so I’ll add some strings and complete the setup tomorrow. One last job before I pack up, the strap buttons. Surely nothing can go wrong with those, can it?

Well, no actually. I think it was the first step that should have been easy and was.

The final stage, fit the strings and a setup, should be easy, not with this one…. more problems….

Starting with the neck set, a little large….

so a quick turn of the truss-rod. So far so good.

The action at the first fret is a little high……..

so I cut each nut slot down a little.

Next the action at the other end, and here is where it all went wrong…..

Even with the saddles right down the action at the 12th fret is still too high.

Not a problem this guitar has an adjustable neck….

apart from the fact I couldn’t locate the screw inside. So, off with the neck again to find out why. You can see the tip of the adjuster screw in the plate set into the body. I took it out and found that the hex-socket was full of gunk.