# Transforming and fitting a neck to a Tele



## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

Well I picked up a neck on ebay for a pretty decent price.It was custom made by the seller.It was listed as a Strat/Tele neck but had kind of a different headstock on it.









I drew out the shape I wanted and rough cut it on the bandsaw










After some sanding it looked pretty good


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

The only other thing was it had a strat style heel.We will have to either cut a custom guard or see if we can trim a factory one









I give it a shot of satin poly and blended as best I could










I then put on my decals and a couple more coats of poly









After it cures for a few days I lightly wet sanded it and give it a couple more coats


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

I am in the middle of a build for one of the kids.It has taking longer than what I figured so he needed a guitar to play until I have it finished.
I have a tele body here at the moment that I am not using so I decided to throw this neck on it for him.
When I did a test fit,I noticed the mounting holes were too big.Reg #8 neck screws were very sloppy so I had to fix them










I took it over to the drill press and drilled them out to 1/4"










I rounded up everything I needed to fix them.Some glue,1/4" hardwood dowel and some q-tips to put glue in the holes










To increase the surface area of the dowels I took each one and squeezed it with a pair of pliers to give the access glue a place to go when I tapped them in


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

IT was then just a matter of lightly dampening the dowels and holes to raise the grain of the wood,apply the glue and tap them in










After about an hour I cut them off with a flush trim saw and let it sit over night










The next morning I sanded them flush


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

IT was then just a matter of trying to fit the guard.Not perfect by any means but it will probably only be together for a couple months so it will do










Got it all screwed together and went to do the setup and hit a snag.I could not get my saddles low enough!
I pulled the neck and with the trusty caliper did some measuring.
I still have the neck that was last mounted on this body so I measured the two heels to see if they were the same.The old neck measured 1.06".This one measured 1.03"
It was enough to screw things up.
I decided just to shim it for now.I took an old playing card and measured it.
0.01"
So that being said,if you were to pull the neck off this you would find 3 of a kind under there 

After the shims it was just about perfect.I did a quick fret level and crown,polished up the frets and set it up
Plays great










Here it is after final setup
Black is sure hard to photograph without natural light 










Logo turned out great too


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

Just thought I would share how I did it.It is by no means the only way,just the way I did it.If this was going to be together for a long period of time I would have found some type of wood and made a 1 piece shim.If I use this neck for a build,I will just cut the neck pocket to fit.
I think he should be happy with it until his guitar is finished.I thought about replacing the plastic nut too but after some filing it plays pretty nice and I don't think he will notice any tone difference.He is just learning guitar.
Here is a picture of the one I am building for him


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## suttree (Aug 17, 2007)

nice work. the playing cards are a temporary fix, but that's all that's needed for now anyways. the new tele looks very sweet.


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## Edutainment (Jan 29, 2008)

How did you apply the logo? It looks professional.


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

Edutainment said:


> How did you apply the logo? It looks professional.


Thanks
I printed it with a inkjet printer on waterslide paper
Then I give the waterslide paper a light coat of spray poly to seal it.After it cured I cut out the logo,put it in some warm water and then applied it to the headstock,getting as many bubbles and water out from under it as I could.
After it dried overnight I applied about 3 coats of spray poly over it,lightly wetsanded it,and then 3 more light coats of poly,light wetsand and then some rubbing compound and polish


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

what are those pickups in the black guitar?


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

shoretyus said:


> what are those pickups in the black guitar?


GFS lil Puncher in the bridge and a GFS Retrotron Hot Nashville in the neck


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

martyb1 said:


> GFS lil Puncher in the bridge and a GFS Retrotron Hot Nashville in the neck



You like them?..... There is just way too much info out there.... I am having a hard time deciding pickups for my projects. I have a set of GFS 335 clone and like them but I keep getting discouraged by negative reviews at the Tele board. 
Of course how do you beat the price?


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## martyb1 (Aug 5, 2007)

shoretyus said:


> You like them?..... There is just way too much info out there.... I am having a hard time deciding pickups for my projects. I have a set of GFS 335 clone and like them but I keep getting discouraged by negative reviews at the Tele board.
> Of course how do you beat the price?


They seem fine,not in the same league as my Kinmans but there is quiet a price difference.The only thing I found with the lil Puncher is the blades are a bit short and you can notice it on you E strings.Mine is the older model and on the new XL version they put longer blades in them to fix the problem.


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