A combination of using templates (battery cavity on the left) and freehand (!) routing for the control cavity. The control cavity isn’t cut to full depth as I hadn’t worked out how strong the top carve would be. The battery cavity is loosely based on my Powerhouse Strat. Somehow all my guitars are ending up with 9V batteries in them (though this is the first true active guitar).
While cutting the EMG81’s cable channel the dremel (which I was using for test cuts) dropped into a void in the wood (the middle one hole, left and right are the screw holes). It’s quite deep and now fairly full of sawdust from the pickup hole. Guess it adds character…..
If I was doing this again I would probably surface mount the bridge pickup as I think it’s more in keeping with the look. Getting the height right would be more tricky of course.
EMG 81 template. I turned this into a technical drawing exercise, hence all the lines and marks! Not owning a band saw, all templates where made with a router, using some straight pieces of scrap wood as guides. I’m not using a template bit in the router (I don’t own one mainly), so the template is oversized and I’m using a guide ring that came with the router.
The router I bought was the Trend T4 for cutting all the body holes and shaping the headstock. I went for something light and easier to work with. It takes a few more passes to cut, but that isn’t a bad thing. I set about learning how to use it and build some templates (for each finished one, there are ~2 dead ones).
So the plan was a Telecaster build (as they seemed the “simplest” of any to do). The mahogany body set the tone for the project – it’s going to be dark and rock sounding guitar (I hope).
Parts
The body – 4 piece mahogany. I didn’t own anything beyond a £2 hack saw, so I bought it cut to rough shape. Over the next month I had to research and buy tools (anything and everything, well beyond screwdrivers!)
