Researching my FIRST BUILD ... WOOD QUESTIONS

Hi all ... This is the first forum i've ever used .... i don't quite know what im doing ...

Ive been doing some research into building a Thinline Tele...
Ive been reading "Building Electric Guitars - M. Koch (2001).pdf" and watching loads of youtube footage...

Im confident that i can make the semi-hollow body, but am nervous about the neck...

Im thinking of using mahogany for the body with a maple top ... (no reason)
And a "through-neck", I like the idea of having the pickups routed into the neck ...

My neck might be made of maple with an ebony fretboard ( no reason) i just like ebony ...


I have a few questions about buying wood.

1) Where can i order wood?
2) How do i order wood .. i know its a really silly question but i've been reading about FLATSAWN and QUARTERSAWN and its a bit confusing for a newbie ...

Any help would appreciated.

I've got loads of templates if anyone needs ...

*Moved into relevant area where more people will see it*

Hi Grock,
welcome to the forum.

Building a guitar is quite a challenge although i'd tell anyone to attempt it if they could.
I stuffed up my first two attempts, all I'd say is get the tools you need first.
I've always stuck to solid bodies with my guitars so can't give any advice on building semi's.

I'm actually attempting my first neck in a couple of weeks, got a couple of pieces of maple from David dyke, just need to get the fretboard wood, truss rod etc. I've always brought necks or had them made.

Keep us updated on how you get on

Im thinking of doing a course so i can learn the basics and not buy the tools, yet ... the courses ive seen cost about £400-£500 and are 30 weeks long, once a week... i know its a lot so spend and could buy the tools i need with this cash, but i think its a good way to start off and see if its something i really want to do ...

I know a guy in Overton (Basingstoke) thats making some really good acoustics. Hopefully he can help when i get stuck.

Making the neck is the part that really scares me ... Good luck, upload some pics of your progress...

Do you know how to set the TRUSS ROD, i can find anything about that online?

Touchstone Tonewoods are a good place to order from, but there are loads of others,

Flatsawn means that the board is saw out of the trunk so that the longest side is at right angles to the diameter of the tree. Quarter sawn means the longest side is paralell to the diameter and that the centre line of the board is actually on the diameter. Theoretically quarter sawn should warp less as it is dried and over its life. Quarter sawn tends to be more expensive as there's more waste that way, and you need much bigger trunks to get big boards out of it.

If you did decide to go for one of the courses, you could always go down the rout of hiring tools for a short while until you get the cash. At least if you did a course you'd have the skills to sell on what you make, so it may not be a bad idea.

The truss rod is a little tricky to do, but doable with simple tools.
You need a channel routed into your neck, which has to be deeper in the middle than the ends so when the rod is in it, it can bend. It is anchored in at one end with a bolt sort of thing (its the bolt which is anchored, at the truss rod twists within it, thus tightening and loosening), and it is held in place at both ends. You can choose wether it is adjusted at the top or the bottom.

I've come across two ways to rout the truss rod channel, one is to make a jig for your router, which in simple terms is two wooden rails, which are shaped like two long U's. Your router sits on these and makes a perfect channel which is deeper in the middle.
The second is to mark out points along your neck blank where you make your router deeper. And do this several times along your neck, and then sand down the 'steps' it would leave.

The simplest is definitely the template option, although getting hold of one may be tricky, so that leaves you with making one which needs to be precise.

You can buy some truss rods which consist of an extruded aluminium channel, perhaps 12mm deep and around 10mm wide, which comes with a length of something like M8 stud. One end of the channel has captive M8 nut and it is supplied with an M8 nut and square washer at the other end. Because the channel is open on one side, when you compress it by tightening the stud it bends. You then just have to rout a channel the correct width and depth down your neck ( it doesn't have to go rith the way to the end) and glue it in (Araldite works well). Just remember, you want the neck to bend backwards, so the open side of the channel has to be towards the back of the neck. Easy if you're inserting it into the back of the neck and using a skunk stripe because intuitively the open side faces you as you insert it, but if you're using a rosewood board, say, and laying it under the fingerboard, you have to make sure the open side faces into the neck.

Wow ... Thankx guys i would have never known that you need to make the cut "curved" to allow the truss rod to bend.

I think the best way to do this is to used the "template" method. I really dont want to be sanding and filling ...

Thankx ...

You don't need to make the truss rod slot curved if using hte aluminium channel type I described.

aaahhhhh .... i seee ..... that sounds easier ....

hi Grock

i'm in a similar situation as i'm looking to build a headless bass with the best parts i can buy - e.g. pick ups, body, etc. there are many sites on the web selling parts such as necks/bodies/pick ups/etc to help you on your way so that you don't need to build every part. there are many professionals building the parts you need so why try to do (badly) what they already do well

you may want to try Brandoni - 0208 908 2323 - i've found them very helpful. they have vintage (i.e. old) bodies and necks, pickups and electrics.
if you want something newer try: allparts.uk.com or ch guitars in South Shields.

best of luck..

Check out Warmoth custom guitar parts, pricey but very, very high quality materials. They sell just about anything you could want for a guitar construction, from pre cut parts to just blank slabs of wood. Pricey, but like I said very high quality. Got a friend (Who I'm very jelouse of) who's bought a good few parts from there. Also a great feature on their site is this little app they have that can generate and show you what your guitar will look like, providing all the parts your wanting to use are in their cataloge (which is more than likely!)

Oh and also I've spent alot of time on Ebay before looking for blank materials for project guitars, quite alot can be found on there at great prices if you spend the time looking properly

Good luck with your project and be sure to post pics of the end results!