That is looking tight. But what’s that hole just below the bridge screws?
It’s the mounting hole from the template for the body shape - remember? I mounted the body template with two wood screws, one there and the other where the neck pocket is now. I’ll probably use it as a starter for the hole I have to drill to the control cavity for the bridge ground wire…
Aha! Okay. Missed that early bit.
Wow. That’s quite lovely.
So squeegee asked the question of how I was going to drill the routes for the wiring. Well, read on - I’ll use the body template with the cavities marked out on it as a visual.
I’ll be using extra long (12" I think) 1/4" and 1/8" drill bits for this. The bridge pickup is relatively easy. It’s basically a short hole drilled at an angle from the pickup route through to the control route:
The neck pickup is a different story, however. Drilling it the same way as the bridge pickup hole would bring me in at too steep of an angle and I’d wind up drilling through the back of the body. :eek: That would be bad. :eek: So to the secret is to come at it at a shallower angle by using the neck pocket:
You’ll notice that I’ll be drilling the hole through the corner of the neck pocket, through the pickup and chamber cavities, and then on into the control cavity. Now this can be a little nerve racking because I’m kind of flying blind a bit and I can’t use my drill press for a little more control. But I just gotta have confidence in my measurements and go slow with it.
And voila:
I didn’t get a pic of the holes in the control cavity, but trust me, they came out just fine on the other end.
The other hole I drilled was for the ground wire for the bridge. This one is probably the hairiest of all since I have to drill at a shallow angle into the flat top. If I don’t pay attention and start too fast, I could gouge the top pretty good. But I take it nice and slow and it turns out like this:
I had a little tearout but thats ok - the bridge will cover it:
See…
I was thinking of doing recesses for the control knobs and the switch a la PRS, but after test fitting them, I think they’ll be sitting flat enough thanks to the relatively gentle slope of my carve. So after a little prep sanding up to 320 grit, I think it’ll be ready for the finishing process. It’s getting there. I hope to finish it by the time fall comes around…:rolleyes:
Thanks BigShooter, I guess I have an answer to my question!
On a purely theoretical level, is your method (drill into the neck pocket) used by commercial guitar makers? If not, how do they drill those holes for the pickup wires at a right angle? Is there some sophisticated right-angle drill tool that commercial guitar makers use?
I’ve seen some that do.
Fender sometimes uses a channel routed between the neck pickup and the control cavity, like on a Tele, which is covered by the pickguard, or I could of routed a channel before I put on the maple top, like Gibson does for the Les Pauls. You can see it in this pic:
http://www.guitargranny.com/electric/gibson%20Les%20Paul%20plans.jpg
The channel runs from the selector switch on the top right, through the corners of both pickup cavities, then into the control cavity. It’s routed before the maple cap goes on…
Interesting, especially the routing before the maple cap is glued on. That makes all kinds of sense, esp. considering that pickup switch on the upper bout, but it’s not what I would have expected.
Well, hell, now I’m curious enough that I want to take apart my Tele and and see how the routes were done. If I pop off the neck, is there any danger I’d disturb a shim or something and be unable to reassemble it back to how it’s current setup? It’s a 2008 American Deluxe tele, if that makes a difference. I’ve removed a bolt-on neck one other time, but this was ca 1980 on a Fender Mustang and it did have a couple of shims IIRC.
If you’re the original owner of the tele, I doubt it would have a shim of any kind. Fenders just don’t come from the factory that way.
If you do take off the neck, you will probably have to adjust the relief when you put it back on. Taking all the strings off a neck relieves all of the tension that’s going against the truss rod, so the neck might straighten out on you. Not a big deal, but just wanted you to know what you’re getting into…
On second thought, you could have a micro-tilt bolt:
http://www.fretnotguitarrepair.com/images/DCP_2962.JPG
…which eliminates the need for a shim to adjust the neck angle. I have a Fender with one of these. If you do have one, just be careful not to disturb it when you take the neck off so it stays in the same position.
My old Mustang (in ca 1980) had shims, but I can’t say if they were factory or not. I lucked out that there were fade-marks in the wood that showed where the shims went and I got the neck back onto the guitar without changing the tilt.
Yep, mine does have a microtilt. I think I’ll relegate my inspection to just removing the pickguard and guessing how the routes were done. Most other guitars I’d just jump in, but this one is my favorite and I don’t want to do anything unfortunate. I’ll post pics here if you’re curious.
Hey, BigShooter, is this project still ongoing?