Making Tele Neck

[Chistopher]

Anyone know of any good tutorials on how to make a good tele neck? I've got rough 4/4 stock of quartersawn maple, what size do you guys use for your fretboard-free necks?

 

[Chistopher]

Also I know making a neck requires specialized tools. What are the bare minimum? I want to do SS frets

 

[jeremy]

the shaping can be done anyway you want. i usually use a bandsaw to cut the basic shape, then an oscillating sander to get it close, and thickness sand the headstock with a jig. for frets i use a fret saw on the neck! i have a fret press, but ive used a fret hammer plenty of times to get em in. a fret bending/radius tool is very helpful to pre-radius the fretwire, especially with ss frets.

how big do you want the neck? i like a 1" thick neck (including fretboard) from nut to heal. 2 3/16" is standard head width
"

 

[Solarflares]

You will also need a 1600rpm router to cut the truss-rod channel and nut slot.
Also a pillar-drill to make the tuner holes.

 

[Chistopher]

I was actually considering pulling out my dremel for the nut slot.

But the truss rod thing does remind me I need to research how to do the skunk stripe

 

[ehdwuld]

If you have a drill press that will work as a fret press

Get one of those fractal brass fret cauls

It will conform to whatever radius you use

Cut a three inch peice of lumber one inch square
Cut a slot slightly larger than what you use from frets

Cut frets to length

Set tang into slot

Let one end hang over the end and use your Crowning tool to round over the fret ends

Chuck the fractal caul in the dril press
Unplug the drill press
Use the drill press to press in the frets

If centered, they will look like those cool ones from the cheapo guitar companies

Do you plan on putting graphite rods in the neck?

This guy talks about the thickness

Whatever size you want the neck to be minus 1/4 inch (6mm)

 

[ehdwuld]

If you plan on using a separate fretboard you can cover the truss slot with the fretboard

I am kinda fond of the spoke wheel at the heel

That means you can shape the nut side of the neck thinner without worrying about getting it that slot

 

[Solarflares]

Here in the real world we glue our frets, and for god’s sake just take a look at the string-spacing on the picture. No-one is gonna be playing that shit.

 

[jeremy]

yeah, thats bad

 

[Chistopher]

If you have a drill press that will work as a fret press

Get one of those fractal brass fret cauls

It will conform to whatever radius you use

Cut a three inch peice of lumber one inch square
Cut a slot slightly larger than what you use from frets

Cut frets to length

Set tang into slot

Let one end hang over the end and use your Crowning tool to round over the fret ends

Chuck the fractal caul in the dril press
Unplug the drill press
Use the drill press to press in the frets

If centered, they will look like those cool ones from the cheapo guitar companies

Do you plan on putting graphite rods in the neck?

Jeez Louise, some of those fractal things cost more than my bandsaw. I expect the cheapos are fine? Also I do plan to put graphite rods in as standard at some point. Maybe not the first one thought

 

[Chistopher]

What do we think of this as opposed to the StewMac fret saw?

Link

I'm not paying $300 for a saw and a jig

 

[jeremy]

should work fine id think

 

[ehdwuld]

I was thinking this one

Amazon.com: Guitar Fretting Fret Slotting Saw - 18TPI - Made in the USA! : Musical Instruments

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amzn.to

I think the perfect on this Walmart miter box is too wide

The one you posted is just a miter box and a thin back saw

EDIT

so I measured the width of my miter box blade above

.095 mm .037 inch

The normal fret slot saw does
.058 mm and .023 inch

As you can see from the image attached... Just a bit too wide
You could probably drop in frets with some titebond but it would be just glue holding them in place.

 

[ehdwuld]

Fret end round over tool

this tool on Amazon will hold your fret as you round over the ends for that finished look