Tele build ideas - TOM with Bigbsy

[SalK]

So this is my first post. I am playing around with ideas for a Tele build.
What I've got in mind is a a very tasty tele with a Tune-O-Matic and Bigsby. How would one go about building that? Will a recess under the bridge take care of the break angle? Should be smooth sailing adding that Bigsby after that, right?

Would appreciate all input.

Thanks
-Sal

 

[AlexR]

Re: Tele build ideas - TOM with Bigbsy

Rout the neck pocket on an angle. I think 3 degrees should do it. The method is easy. Buy a level that has a digital angle readout on it. Place the bridge on the body so the top of it is at 12-15mm above the body (its 'normal' position on a finished guitar. Get something approx 6mm high and place it on the edge of body where the neck rout is and put the level between these two points. The beauty about making your own guitar is you can tweak the neck rout, the neck heel and the bridge studs to make it work really well.

I'll be doing a Tele soon almost identical....roller TOM and Bigsby B5 (with filtertron pickups), and this is how I plan to get the right angle myself.

 

[Chocklit_Thunda]

Re: Tele build ideas - TOM with Bigbsy

3 degrees seems to work on a les paul but with a Tele, I found that 1 degree was enough. 3 was way too much.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Tele build ideas - TOM with Bigbsy

How far above the body does your fretboard sit??? This is all part and parcel of the equation. If you drop the neck down so the fretboard is almost level with the end of the body then you'll need more angle. In this case you start the 5/8 rout at the end body of the fretboard and rout deeper as you get toward the outside of the neck pocket (the bridge end of the rout is at normal tele neck height and the heel is lower/smaller than normal).
If you have the heel starting at the normal 5/8" cut at the edge of the body and get shallower from there, then you can use less angle as you are about 5mm higher from the get go.

So some thinking about this needs to be done. As I said in my first post here (and I'll repeat it just to make sure the message is clear), you tweak the rout and the heel plus the angle to make it work.

And a LP has a 4.5degree neck angle FYI

 

[Chocklit_Thunda]

Re: Tele build ideas - TOM with Bigbsy

Yup I tried that. 5/8 equates to 16mm am I right? Yeah I started with a 16mm rout and a 3 degree angle and the bridge was basically sitting as high as a violin... So I dropped it to 17mm and dropped the angle to 1 degree and it worked perfectly. Zeroed the bridge out then raised it a touch and the action was perfect. The pocket goes from 17 - 19.5mm on mine.
(To the OP, AlexR's advice and method about routing the neck pocket is spot on. I just found the calculated angle didn't work)

I know the les paul neck uses 4-4.5 degrees but is that with the bridge zeroed out? I know the bridge on my Epi sits a touch high with the regular neck angle