# Baritone tele w/bigsby project



## Sirppi (Sep 21, 2014)

27"
Wenge/padauk(?) neck
Rosewood fb
Reverse tele style headstock
Slightly modified tele style body, might go semi-hollow
Schaller M6 locking tuners (black)
Fender LSR roller nut
Wilkinson (not sure if knock-off, was cheap) compensated ashtray bridge (black)
Bigsby B500
Single coil sized hb on the bridge
P-Rail on the neck

Body wood is still undecided, but I've been trying to get some fungi to munch on a slab of mahogany. If that goes well, I'll use it for the top. Otherwise might go for moar wenge. <3
Ideas on what bridge pickup to choose would be nice 
I'm probably going with no pickguard and a black tele style control plate.

The fretboard:






Not sure what to do with the inlays, might just plug the holes with some wood. 5mm leds fit perfectly in the holes, though... 

And the neck blank. Huge thanks to Mr. Supercolio for planing and gluing it 





Trying to get the plans and some sort of a mockup finished tomorrow.


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## Sirppi (Sep 22, 2014)

So here's something really rough...




Got to modify the shape some more, though


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## BlackMastodon (Sep 22, 2014)

You've got my attention.


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## Pikka Bird (Sep 22, 2014)

BlackMastodon said:


> You've got my attention.



Second.


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## XxJoshxX (Sep 22, 2014)

Pikka Bird said:


> Second.



Third
Teles are da bomb


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## Prophetable (Sep 22, 2014)

I'll be following this one, for sure.


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## immortalx (Sep 23, 2014)

This seems quite an interesting project! And I can't stress enough how much I love those padauk stripes on the wenge neck, one of my favorites!


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## Sirppi (Sep 23, 2014)

/meaninglesspost









Seems like I have to glue some more wenge on the upper side of the headstock, it's about 5mm shy.

E: Derp, drew the compensations for the string widths upside down.


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## Fretless (Sep 24, 2014)

Wenge + Bigsby + Tele!!!! I love it!


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## Yo_Wattup (Sep 24, 2014)

Is that the fender roller nut? Awesome build


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## mathloss (Sep 24, 2014)

A Tele will probably be my next build!!! I will follow this thread with interest!!!
Have you any printable templates I can use please?
enjoy!!!


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## Sirppi (Sep 24, 2014)

Yo_Wattup said:


> Is that the fender roller nut? Awesome build



Yes 



mathloss said:


> A Tele will probably be my next build!!! I will follow this thread with interest!!!
> Have you any printable templates I can use please?
> enjoy!!!



I can definitely upload the files when they're ready


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## Sirppi (Sep 24, 2014)

A bit better...




Even bettererer?


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## Pikka Bird (Sep 24, 2014)

Standard Tele-shape: Always nice.
Skewed-ass Tele-shape: Naw, man!
All-skewed Tele-shape: Hell yeah.

So those are my votes.


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## asher (Sep 24, 2014)




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## rockskate4x (Sep 24, 2014)

I vote for the 3rd one as well. It looks like it will enable better strap placement so you can avoid neck dive from the long-ass baritone neck


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## TheWarAgainstTime (Sep 24, 2014)

I vote original Tele or the bettererer shape  

This is "shaping" up to be a sweet build! Can't wait to see more


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## pondman (Sep 24, 2014)

I love Teles and likey this


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## vansinn (Sep 24, 2014)

Bigsby, nice, I like those, there's this cool classic vibe over a Bigsby 
We don't see too many builds with those these days. Ignorant, pfft..


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## Sirppi (Sep 24, 2014)

Pikka Bird said:


> Standard Tele-shape: Always nice.
> Skewed-ass Tele-shape: Naw, man!
> All-skewed Tele-shape: Hell yeah.



My thoughts exactly 



rockskate4x said:


> I vote for the 3rd one as well. It looks like it will enable better strap placement so you can avoid neck dive from the long-ass baritone neck



That's a good point I forgot to think of 



vansinn said:


> Bigsby, nice, I like those, there's this cool classic vibe over a Bigsby
> We don't see too many builds with those these days. Ignorant, pfft..



Played once with these surf rock guys and the singer/guitarist borrowed me a tele with a bigsby, love at first sight


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## Solodini (Sep 25, 2014)

I think the top horn of betterer needs to lean more toward the neck/headstock. It's too upright, to my eyes.


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## Sirppi (Sep 27, 2014)

The fretboard was previously a failed sevenstring fb, as it was cut slightly off-center. It's now straight but the inlays are a bit crooked, and I'm not sure if I should leave them as is or modify them somehow.


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## Sirppi (Sep 27, 2014)

Headstock template:


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## Sirppi (Oct 3, 2014)

Yessssssss


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## Sirppi (Oct 4, 2014)

Headstock routed to shape! (plus headstock template v2)





The lip will be removed when thinning the whole neck.


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## Sirppi (Oct 5, 2014)

Opinions/wisdom on how this would work for the bolt placement?


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## pondman (Oct 5, 2014)

The one on the top right looking at the drawing, would be best moved further up towards the neck for better strength.


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## Sirppi (Oct 6, 2014)

pondman said:


> The one on the top right looking at the drawing, would be best moved further up towards the neck for better strength.



Good point, modified the drawing.

Tomorrow I'm off to Supercolio's superior workshop to bring the neck to the final dimensions, hopefully have time to glue the fb too.


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## Winspear (Oct 6, 2014)

Absolutely awesome! I'm planning to do a baritone semihollow Jazzmaster with a B500 too next year


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## Sirppi (Oct 7, 2014)

The neck's down to size and the fretboard's glued, pics tomorrow when I get it from Supercolio's daycare


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## Sirppi (Oct 8, 2014)

Sorry for the potato-ish pictures, it's surprisingly raining here and I'm not a master photographer either.

Jaddajaddajabadabadai





















Now on to rounding the whateveritscalled between the headstock and the fb and then I'll have to exploit Supercolio's collection of wood murdering tools to shape the neck profile. Aiming somewhere between my ibby and charvel. Also need to get some body wood. Morecoffeemorecoffeemorecoffee

E: Hold on, still upping the pics


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Oct 8, 2014)

Sirppi said:


>



How does the bigsby work with that bridge?

Also, very cool looking project so far btw, how low will it be tuned?


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## Sirppi (Oct 8, 2014)

DistinguishedPapyrus said:


> How does the bigsby work with that bridge?
> 
> Also, very cool looking project so far btw, how low will it be tuned?



I might have to mod the bridge by cutting the string holes open and adding some kind of rollers to them. Or something like that. I'll worry about it when I get the money for the bigsby  On the tuning, I'll probably go A# standard.


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## Sirppi (Oct 9, 2014)

Tomorrow I'll go buy the body woods. One option is a padauk body and a flame walnut top, but it's still a bit open. The wifey has a nut allergy (thankfully mine aren't allergenic) but I'm conserned if I'm going to kill her by a) showing up all dusty after working on the guitar or b) playing/letting her play the guitar. I'm going for oil finish so there's no thick layer of lacquer protecting the player from the evil walnut. The point: would the walnut wood painfully suffocate her? (The dust I mean, nobody's eating my guitar)


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## Sirppi (Oct 9, 2014)

Padauk body + (flame?)walnut top is the way I'll go if possible. Daymn.


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## Sirppi (Oct 10, 2014)

Padauk and walnut (with a hint of flame?) bought. Also ordered duncan's STL-2 for the bridge pu. Planing, pics and stuff tomorrow


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## Sirppi (Oct 12, 2014)

On their way to the planer


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## Sirppi (Oct 12, 2014)

Inlay fill test...


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## Sirppi (Oct 13, 2014)

Decisions...


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## Sirppi (Oct 13, 2014)

Diy plug cutter success!





Test fit became permanent fit + phone cam doesn't like low light


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## Sirppi (Oct 14, 2014)

On my way...






To glue town!


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## Sirppi (Oct 14, 2014)

Phone cam potato


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## Sirppi (Oct 15, 2014)

Scraping the glue...





What glue?





The sanding left the blank a tiny bit uneven, fixing this after rough shaping with a huge sanding block or something

Btw saving the walnut top for the next build, 'Brassmaster'  Don't want to hide that beautiful padauk


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## Sirppi (Oct 15, 2014)

Also





A mockup based on the outline I drew on the wood, a bit crooked because of the angle.


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## Sirppi (Oct 16, 2014)

Template routed from another template:


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## Sirppi (Oct 17, 2014)

Bandsawed...





...and routed





Some nastiness on the back side




Will be eaten by the chamfering, though.

Aligning...





...more routing...





...and finished with a chisel.





Tight enough!


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## Sirppi (Oct 18, 2014)

Router action


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## TKOA-Dex (Oct 18, 2014)

I officially NEED this guitar. AMAZING build man! Very inspirational!


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## Sirppi (Oct 18, 2014)

TKOA-Dex said:


> I officially NEED this guitar. AMAZING build man! Very inspirational!



Thanks man!  It's been very fun to build.

Drilled the bolt holes, now waiting for the inserts to arrive...





E: Didn't find the fourth bolt... yet


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## immortalx (Oct 18, 2014)

It already looked very beautiful on paper, but now that is alive, it looks gorgeous!!! Great job man 

Those are some massive bolts! What size are they?


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## Sirppi (Oct 18, 2014)

immortalx said:


> It already looked very beautiful on paper, but now that is alive, it looks gorgeous!!! Great job man
> 
> Those are some massive bolts! What size are they?



Thanks!  The bolts are M6, and the heads are 15mm in diameter. I'll shorten them so they'll be >10mm long on the neck side. They're sold as "Furniture bolts"


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## TheStig1214 (Oct 18, 2014)

Loving the oversized stereo knobs lol. Looks good man.


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## Sirppi (Oct 19, 2014)

Bridge mounted





And the jack hole drilled





Now onto routing the pup cavities


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## Sirppi (Oct 21, 2014)

The neck still needs work, but had to try making a scraper out of a carpet knife blade's back. Why does it work this well?! 
The glue line between the wenge and the rosewood is invisible so it's hard to tell if I'm shaping it too far.






Also decided to round the bass' neck keeping the asymmetrical shape, and used the endurneck license on this one.


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## Sirppi (Oct 21, 2014)

Btw here's a 300 dpi 1:1 pdf of my drawing. If you're making this without the Fender roller nut, make sure to use the long line for the nut.

Do not click me

Also, if anyone wants this in some other format, just ask


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## Sirppi (Oct 22, 2014)

Soooooooo I gotta make a new neck. Scraped thru the truss rod channel. Luckily I have more wenge and padauk. Just a "minor" setback


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## Deegatron (Oct 22, 2014)

Just a suggestion.
I like to set my neck thickness taper with a router slet (shim the headstock side of the neck to set the taper) before carving. it's super controlable and lets you set your exact neck thickness. then you just carve the edges and dont touch the very middle. reality is. if you broke through, your likely pushing the limit on how thin you can make the neck with a given trussrod setup anyways, might be a good idea to rethink that...


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## Sirppi (Oct 22, 2014)

Deegatron said:


> Just a suggestion.
> I like to set my neck thickness taper with a router slet (shim the headstock side of the neck to set the taper) before carving. it's super controlable and lets you set your exact neck thickness. then you just carve the edges and dont touch the very middle. reality is. if you broke through, your likely pushing the limit on how thin you can make the neck with a given trussrod setup anyways, might be a good idea to rethink that...



Yeah, I did the final thicknessing with the router sled jigamatic, but got carried with the scraping... Forgot that the end of the trussrod was routed deeper. I might be able to get a neck blank complete next week. 


The thread inserts arrived, really solid:





Now I just need the P-Rail, a radius block and a fret file.


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## asher (Oct 22, 2014)

If it's only a minor break through, you might be able to patch it over with some layers of veneer and then blend in the edges. My friend had to do this... though it was just walnut, not striped, so it'd be pretty obvious here.


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## Sirppi (Nov 3, 2014)

asher said:


> If it's only a minor break through, you might be able to patch it over with some layers of veneer and then blend in the edges. My friend had to do this... though it was just walnut, not striped, so it'd be pretty obvious here.



...





Meanwhile...





DUN DUN DUUUUNNN


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## superash (Nov 3, 2014)

looking good man!!


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## asher (Nov 3, 2014)

That works too, I guess


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## DistinguishedPapyrus (Nov 3, 2014)

bummer about the lost neck, I've scrapped an entire build because of a cut-too-deep type truss rod slot. 

Where did you get the neck bolts? I've been looking for a while for that particular style of bolt. hardware stores in my neck o' the woods carry stuff that's really close but doesn't really work for what I need...


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## Sirppi (Nov 4, 2014)

DistinguishedPapyrus said:


> bummer about the lost neck, I've scrapped an entire build because of a cut-too-deep type truss rod slot.
> 
> Where did you get the neck bolts? I've been looking for a while for that particular style of bolt. hardware stores in my neck o' the woods carry stuff that's really close but doesn't really work for what I need...



I got them from this finnish 'we got all kinds of shit' store. They're M6x25/40/60mm and are sold as 'furniture bolts'.


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## Sirppi (Nov 5, 2014)

The new neck blank:






The middle is 3x 10mm padauk stripes, leftovers from the body. The neck's 22mm thick, 80mm wide and long enough.


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## Sirppi (Nov 10, 2014)

The new neck (upside down, template still on the other side) and the neck for a budget ff 7string out of maple and mahogany, trying to figure out a way to do the hardware for it myself

An option for the string locks:


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## supercolio (Nov 10, 2014)

Thanks for crediting the neckmakerman Sirppi...  

Anyway, we're making progress! Woo!


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## supercolio (Nov 10, 2014)

Not sure if anyone cares, I'm the guy Sirppi's been working with. And yeah, the burnt neck is still half-buried in my backyard


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## Sirppi (Nov 10, 2014)

supercolio said:


> Not sure if anyone cares, I'm the guy Sirppi's been working with. And yeah, the burnt neck is still half-buried in my backyard



Don't you dare try to steal my spotlight!


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## Deegatron (Nov 10, 2014)

Im loving how this is coming together... especially the furniture bolts for the neck... the way the bevel goes into the recess for the neck bolts looks stellar in my opinion....


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## Sirppi (Nov 10, 2014)

Deegatron said:


> Im loving how this is coming together... especially the furniture bolts for the neck... the way the bevel goes into the recess for the neck bolts looks stellar in my opinion....



Thanks man, appreciated. Hadn't decided yet if that looked shitty or awesome


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## Sirppi (Nov 11, 2014)

Meanwhile at Supercolio's workshop:


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## badhabit (Jan 25, 2015)

any updates pal? been watching its progress and loving the work so far, very nice


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## Sirppi (Aug 30, 2015)

I'm finally back.


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