fun projects at Cleveland guitars

mrfjones

mrfjones

New member
I recently helped out a friend of mine, he had a very old stair case leading up to his attic that needed to be replaced. Normally this wouldn't be anything I write about here but I JUST CAN'T HELP IT! The stairs we tore out were a full 2"x6" and they are around 100 year old pine. I will be joining the pieces today and cutting out the bodies sometime in the near future. I am going to make 3 '49 namm style esquires complete with no truss rod necks.

I have some ideas for parts (I am thinking glendale for most of it) and pickups but I would like to hear what you guys think.

I will be in the shop later today and I will hopefully post some pics later today, at least on my facebook page. Thank you in advance for all of your suggestions.
 
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okay so it took lot longer to get some pics of the rough wood up there. I have two body blanks glued up now but you can see some of the pics from earlier in te process.


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Re: fun projects at Cleveland guitars

have you seen any of Rick Kelley's Bowery Pine teles?
everyone says they sound great ... let's face it, there's no substitute for good old wood

I'm not sure I'd want a non-trussed neck though. Some details were revised for good reason.
 
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look like it's gonna be fun projects for sure!
 
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well first I think I should say that the gentleman in the picture is not me. That is my friend Bill.

about the truss rod, I would like to play one just like the 49 NAMM guitars but I just don't know if I can go that far with it. I might have to put a truss rod in mine. I do not know how it will turn out yet.

I have seen the bowery pine teles and they looked great.

another update, most of the hardware will come from Glendale and some will be custom made for me by a local company.
 
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mrfjones said:
about the truss rod, I would like to play one just like the 49 NAMM guitars but I just don't know if I can go that far with it. I might have to put a truss rod in mine. I do not know how it will turn out yet.
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I was surprised one day to see a non-trussed neck on Tommy's web specials.
I can see doing it for "historical" accuracy. The thing for me is that I like having the adjustablity -- I've had several new guitars that were really dialed in with just a small adjustment. I think one option may be using carbon reinforcing rods, but I'm not sure how you do that and retain vintage appearance.
 
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I've spoken with a few guys that have built guitars with no rod necks Tommy included, it seems to be no big deal in terms of stability...adjustment is out the window but I would be willing to let that go if the neck is nice and solid as-is.
 
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Tommy won't do a non truss rod neck in anything but quarter sawn maple (well maybe some more solid woods as well but nothing like mahogany) The neck is also the biggest carve they have just so it will not bend or flex. I am only skeptical of this since I live in a place where the humidity changes daily. I know if the winter I usually have to file down the fret ends because the wood shrinks. I don't know if I can use one myself but at least one of these will get one so that it can be historically correct. I will play that one some and decide on my own guitar.

as for being stealthy with the carbon rods, it could be done but it still wouldn't allow for adjustment. A neck over an inch thick should not bend too much, if at all.
 
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Awesome idea to salvage the old stairs and make Teles out of them. I'm sure that 100 year old wood will resonate beautifully. However, I think that 99% of guitars made have truss rods for a reason, and I certainly wouldn't buy or build myself a guitar without a truss rod in the neck.

Even with a truss rod in the neck, it'd still would be accurate to a 1950 Esquire, and you wouldn't have to worry about buying a new neck just because the first one warped and you couldn't compensate for that.

As the old saying goes; better safe than sorry.
 
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Fender_Punk said:
Awesome idea to salvage the old stairs and make Teles out of them. I'm sure that 100 year old wood will resonate beautifully. However, I think that 99% of guitars made have truss rods for a reason, and I certainly wouldn't buy or build myself a guitar without a truss rod in the neck.

Even with a truss rod in the neck, it'd still would be accurate to a 1950 Esquire, and you wouldn't have to worry about buying a new neck just because the first one warped and you couldn't compensate for that.

As the old saying goes; better safe than sorry.
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yea but imagine the machismo of hanging out at lunch at school:
my guitar has a floyd on it!
oh yea? mine is so bada$$ it doesn't even have a truss rod! eat that!
 
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funny innit?? we guitarists, Im sure the builders especially look at wood differently.. to most, those were rotten old steps and maybe firewood or trash. We are thinking "tonewood"!! When I think of old houses, I think of Brian mays red special from the fireplace mantle.

I have my concerns with pine, but I will be watching to see how this turns out...
 
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Pine is a "funny" sounding wood for sure but in my limited experience with it I have found that it varies a lot...every pine guitar I have played has sounded different from every other pine guitar I have played!

As for the no rod necks...you guys are a bunch of sissies...a 1 inch thick, quater sawn, hard rock maple neck is not going anywhere...:cool2:
 
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#129 has a sandwich pine body and a no truss rod neck. still more playable today than a lot of new guitars. If the neck weren't quartersawn I would be more of a skeptic, but I have discussed this with Tommy from USACG at length. He has made some and has not heard of any of them bowing or warping, twisting etc.


Does anyone have one of the limited edition esquires the fender custom shop made a few years ago?
 
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I may have just sourced some very old maple for necks. I do not think that it is quartersawn so these will need truss rods but something pretty fun to add to these old pine bodies, and maybe some more guitars also.
 
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Sounds like a cool project, Scott. I am always wanting to try different woods, even those not considered "tone woods" because most tone woods are selected for reasons in addition to tonal qualities -- appearance, ease of milling, finishing, etc.

Hope you post pics of the build process!
 
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I will hopefully have more pics for this thread very soon but for now I just have to tell everyone what I got my little hands on this past weekend. To go along with the 100+ year old pine, I found some maple that was salvaged from a house built in the 1890's (i think). I have 11 neck blanks from that old house. I can not do a no truss rod neck with them as they are all flat sawn, but it is killer looking wood no less and rings like a bell in it's current 2x4 state.
 
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just posted some pics on facebook of a maple neck blank. It will be going on my "53" as soon as possible.

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