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Hey everyone,
So I have embarked on my first Telecaster build. Its going to have a walnut and a neck made of either sapele or Hard Maple. How do you suggest shaping the headstock and how thick of a piece of wood should I be looking for?
Thanks,
Benjamin

Tele's don't have a neck angle, they have an offset. The headstock is parallel to the fingerboard, but it's about 1/4" lower. The headstock needs to be about 1/2" thick, so a minimum of 3/4" thick. The back of the headstock lines up with the back of the neck. 4/4 would be better, but I've made several Fender style necks from 3/4" finished lumber from HD, I used to run across curly maple pretty often.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

For shaping the headstock its best to make a template. You can find pdf's for just about any shape online.

I can tell you that I have made it harder for myself before, by cutting out the shape of the neck before cutting the truss rod slot... Maple will hold up well to the torque of neck screws, but you may want to use inserts or add some superglue to the neck screw holes on a sapele neck.

I remember watching this vid after building my first neck and realizing some of my mistakes: [youtube]https://youtu.be/NZSDzBv_rIA[/youtube]
https://youtu.be/NZSDzBv_rIA

Good luck!

In his book Making Your Own Electric Guitar, Melvyn Hiscock shows how to scratch build a Tele neck, starting with a piece of 3-1/2 by 1 maple 27 inches long. He uses the traditional rear mounted truss rod (skunk stripe) and shows the jig for the headstock. I highly recommend getting his book.

Chuck's comment is good - try to do as many operations as you can that require square flat surfaces - routing the truss rod channel is one, planing the headplate is another.

I also recommend getting a good set of tele plans if you want to make the neck pocket and geometry as close to "standard" as possible. Tele's are pretty simple but its important to get the geometry right.

I would say get Hiscock's book too, good suggestion.