Cutting/routing a tele body

TTBZ

I saw @impmann 's awesome home built pine tele earlier (nice to meet you btw Tim) and it has inspired me! We have an old solid wood chest of drawers that came with the house we moved into. The top looks perfect for a couple of rustic looking body blanks - a little thin at 40mm but I can live with that. Not sure on what wood it is exactly so any tips for identifying would be great - pic below! I'm pretty sure it's not ply/mdf as the whole unit is way too heavy for that but will cut off a corner to check before I make a proper start.

Where would I even start with this? I'm handy enough at DIY and putting together/oil finishing parts guitars it's more the routing and making sure the neck and bridge are in alignment etc that I'd be worried about. Are there decent templates online so I can get it all spot on? What's the method - route first then jigsaw cut to shape, then sand and finish?

Here's an awful pic of the wood in question - https://www.dropbox.com/s/d1qeyzdw6w8s4kq/2017-12-29 20.42.05.jpg?dl=0

TTony

TTony

http://thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/54250/how-to-post-pics-dropbox

TTony

That looks like it might just be a veneer.

In which case you might find it's just chipboard underneath.

m_c

Are you sure that's solid wood?
Looks very like something laminated to me...

WezV

Oak veneer

TTBZ

Balls! Was getting excited for a project then haha. I'll cut a bit off to check though the whole unit weighs a shit ton but looking at it again i think you're right.

Roland

It’s oak veneer on particle board, which is why it’s so heavy. No use for guitar building. Your cheapest source of pine is probably a builders plank, or the cut-off end of a roofing joist. You could try skipping, which is where I got one of my body blanks from.

There are guitar designs on the net, including https://sites.google.com/site/guitarplanscollection/pdf-files/fender-ish and http://www.gitarrebassbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6&start=0

impmann

You could try the Ikea route:

http://www.tdpri.com/threads/another-ikea-shelfcaster.167595/

A friend down south did similar and it’s a lovely guitar.

Otherwise keep an eye on eBay for cheap pine tables - there’s a cheap furniture seller based on meeting lane in the town who advertises on eBay. I can’t remember their name though, sorry! 

You also need a routing template, a router and some bearing router bits (top bearing and bottom bearing ones). A forstner bit is useful for removing a lot of material from the pickup holes etc. If you haven’t got those, you could borrow mine if you find the wood. :-)

TTBZ

Cheers guys - I was more into the idea of doing it on the chance I had a half decent scrap of wood I could turn into something cool - kinda takes the fun out of it if I have to go and get a body blank or something! Think I'll probably leave it if it's not anything decent and stick to my original parts plan