Hybrid Tele Build part 1

This is the first guitar that I’m building under an arrangement that should be a win-win for both parties.  I need practice in building guitars if I want to learn how to do it to a professional level, but I don’t really want to accumulate dozens of guitars at home.  So I’m looking to build guitars for people under a deal whereby the customer pays for the materials, and I build the guitar for free.  The customer gets a guitar built to his specifications, but accepts that it probably won’t be perfect – although it should be decent, and at least playable.  As I build more guitars, the quality should gradually improve.

This guitar is being built for a friend in the UK.  He’s a Telecaster fan, but he wanted a Telecaster shape with some Les Paul elements – in particular, 24.75″ scale length, two humbuckers and four controls.  He also picked a flame maple cap which will be stained blue.

This page contains some pictures of the early stages of the build.  I will post more pictures later, as the build progresses and when it is complete.

This was a selection of parts that the customer sent to me for use in the build.
Gluing together the two-piece sapele body
And then gluing the two-piece maple top
More gluing – this time the laminate neck, made from 8 pieces of wood.
This is how it looked after it was glued…
…and a close-up of the laminate after being planed flat.
I made chambers for weight relief, and the control cavities…
…and then used the shielding tape before the cap was glued on.
Here you can see the fretboard with the neck and body. It’s a lovely piece of natural ebony.
The cap was glued on, cut to the body shape and has been partly sanded. The customer also wanted a carve in the lower cut, in the style of a PRS Custom.

More pictures will follow in a few weeks!