A Tale of Two Teles

[Cactus Jack]

I need to drill a hole for the bridge ground wire. Would you drill from the bridge to the pickup cavity or attempt to drill into the control cavity? I suppose it doesn’t matter much, but would like to tap into the groups collective wisdom before I grab the Mikita. Thanks.

 

[stratamania]

I need to drill a hole for the bridge ground wire. Would you drill from the bridge to the pickup cavity or attempt to drill into the control cavity? I suppose it doesn’t matter much, but would like to tap into the groups collective wisdom before I grab the Mikita. Thanks.

Normally you would not need to drill but as I recall the pickup and bridge will mean it is needed in this case. I would drill from the bridge area to the cavity. Ideally use an aircraft bit(long drill bit) and place a steel rule in place with masking tape to protect the body as you will need to get the drill at a low angle.

 

[Cactus Jack]

I hope to finish the body today. I've been working slow, but checked off two more boxes this morning.

First, I drilled the hole for the bridge ground wire. I decided to drill into the pickup cavity vs the control cavity as it required the absolute minimum drilling. I drilled straight down about 1/2", then ran a 45* into the pickup cut out. To make sure I didn't botch the finish I used an awl to mark my target, then ran the drill in reverse until I hit wood. I then drilled normally and everything turned out just fine.

Second, I had to modify the neck humbucker. The baseplate was designed to be direct mounted and therefore the holes were too big from traditional humbucker ring mount screws. My solution was to run to ACE and grab two 4-40 gun stock screws, two nuts, and $.85 later I was in business. One unique thing about Anderson pickups is they make their baseplates from some sort of plastic fiberboard. As such, I simply soldered the nuts to the humbucker cover and was done in 2 minutes. Height adjustment works perfect.

 

[stratamania]

You know when you asked about drilling about from the cavity to the bridge or the other way around. For some reason I answered bridge to cavity. In reality drilling to the pickup cavity which you did is what I actually meant to type. For some reason I thought you meant the pickup cavity rout rather than control cavity.

Glad it worked out in the end...

 

[Cactus Jack]

Still need to put on strap buttons, but it's shaping up ok. The neck is just sitting in the pocket as I'm saving it for another build. However, I'm succumbing to temptation and think I'll bolt it on and string her up. I need to play this thing!

 

[rgand]

It looks mighty good. I like that neck with that body. Nice, very nice.

 

[Cactus Jack]

Have you ever spent weeks assembling a guitar only to realize once you're finally done you don't have any strings?

I have!

:doh:

 

[PhilHill]

Very Nice! Congrat's on a job well done. :hello2:

 

[rgand]

Looks great! Congrats.

 

[Cactus Jack]

I've been offline for several weeks, but have been enjoying the heck out of my Warmoth/Anderson Tele Hybrid. Overall the guitar is sneaky awesome, and everyday I find something new to appreciate. She has blown me away and in doing so has earned the name "Cherry Bomb!" There's nothing left for me to do besides enjoy her, so I'm officially calling this build complete. Feel free to ask questions & share your thoughts, and here are a few pics of the final build:

Allow me to introduce Cherry Bomb:

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

That is an great looking Fretboard and is a good combination with the red flame maple.  Looks like Pau Ferro.  Did you put lemon oil to bring out the grain?

 

[Cactus Jack]

That is an great looking Fretboard and is a good combination with the red flame maple.  Looks like Pau Ferro.  Did you put lemon oil to bring out the grain?

I had intended to go a completely different direction with the neck, but glad I bolted that one up.

Yes, that's Pau Ferro, but no lemon oil. Rather, I spent hours...burnishing the neck, and leveling, crowning, and polishing the frets. After that I cleaned up my mess with a bit of naphtha. Overall, it's a great example of what you can find in the Showcase.