r/Luthier

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I'm putting together a one-off Telecaster/La Cabronita-style guitar and would appreciate some technical input from experienced builders before the body gets routed.

This isn't a standard Tele build. I'm supplying the components and working toward having a professional shop handle the body construction and final assembly.

The build:

Body: Traditional Telecaster_La Cabronita shape, one-piece swamp ash core with an approximately 3/16" reclaimed Winchester ammunition-crate wood top.

Finished body thickness: Targeting 1¾".

Neck: Custom Musikraft 24¾" Gibson-scale conversion neck, standard Telecaster heel, 22 frets, 12" radius.

Pickup: Single Lollar Imperial Standard Wind bridge humbucker, F-spaced, four-conductor, nickel covered. No neck pickup.

Bridge: Considering the Rutters Chopped (Cutdown) Vintage versus the machined Rutters Half Bridge, both with compensated brass saddles and 2⅛" string spacing.

Pickup mounting: Separately mounted full-size humbucker, potentially using a mounting ring.

Controls: One concentric 500k/500k volume/tone pot and a three-position mini-toggle for series/parallel/coil-split switching.

Construction: String-through body, rear-routed controls, side-mounted output jack.

My questions:

Is there any meaningful mechanical or functional advantage to the thicker machined Rutters Half Bridge over the Chopped Vintage, assuming both have the same saddle arrangement and mounting geometry?

Has anyone installed either Rutters bridge with a full-size PAF-style bridge humbucker? Were there any issues with pickup-ring clearance or positioning?

With a Musikraft 24¾" conversion neck designed for standard Tele bridge placement, are there any particular concerns about saddle intonation travel or neck-pocket geometry?

For a body with a 3/16" decorative wood top, what would you recommend for establishing the final neck-pocket depth and bridge/saddle height? I'm planning to have the actual neck and bridge used for the final layout rather than relying solely on a generic template.

Are there any structural concerns with routing the full-size bridge humbucker near the bridge mounting screws or string-through holes?

Are there any other dimensional or construction issues you see with this combination that should be resolved before the body is machined?

I'm especially interested in advice based on actual builds, measurements, or engineering considerations—not assumptions about one bridge having better tone because it's thicker or more expensive.

Thanks in advance. I want to get the geometry right the first time.

I've been wanting an electric mandola for years for recording at home but never found anything I really liked. I came upon this cheap "mandocaster" last week. I haven't received it yet but I have high hopes for it. It's a simple classic design which is why I thought it might be of some interest to luthiers.

13.85" Scale Length
Paulownia Body
Hard Maple Neck
Rosewood Fingerboard

The beauty of this instrument is that instead of having an acoustic chamber with a lot of fancy embellishments and a glued neck like so many electric mandolins, it's similar to a Fender Stratocaster; having a solid body, two pickups, and a bolt on neck. I paid $145 for the mandolin and $12 for a Graph Tech Mandolin Nut. Next is getting some Seymour Duncan mandolin pickups and better tuners.

Anybody know where I can find bolt on mandolin necks?

How much relief does a classicail guitar need. I think mine is to straight I only see a little gap but there is no buzz.

Hey folks,

I'm looking at some guitars that aren't available to me locally and I'm trying to imagine how they feel.

When retailers say that a neck thickness is X at fret 1 and Y at fret 15, is that neck thickness + fretboard thickness + fret thickness?

Or just the first two?

For e.g the strandberg 6 string is 21.7mm thick at fret 1, 22.5mm at fret 15. What does that truly mean?

Thanks for your time lads