Mini Telecaster Plans

The three pages of the Mini Telecaster Plans.

These Mini Telecaster plans contain the geometry and route information for the body, pickguard and headstock modification to convert a Squier Mini Strat to a Mini Telecaster (follow link to read more about my build).

Mini Telecaster Plans

Price: ~~$14.95~~ $9.95

The plans assume you convert a Squier Mini - There is no plan or instruction to make a neck for this guitar. The headstock conversion is not mandatory, but gives your Mini Tele the right look.

Mini Telecaster made from the plans offered here

Mini Telecaster made from these plans and a neck from a Squier Mini

Body Blank

I bought my ash body blank from ebay store "ClassicToneWoods". The quality of the blank is the best I have ever seen. Truly flat and surface sanded to a finer grit than any blank I have bought previously. They also offer a service, free of charge, to thickness plane the blank you buy to any thickness you want. This is very helpful to most of us who don't have the tools to turn a thick board down to 1 1/2 inch thickness, as required for this project.

Hardware

You will also need to buy some hardware. The neck plate and tuners (and associated hardware) can be reused from the Squier Mini. I wouldn't recommend reusing any of the electronics, as the quality is as would be expected from a $100-guitar.

You will need a pickguard blank, bridge, pickups, jack with jack-plate, control plate, pots, knobs, selector switch etc. I bought most hardware from seller "Bezdez" on ebay.

Neck Donor

The Neck Donor - a Squier Mini can be bought new, including shipping, for $129 from Amazon or your local guitar store. A used Mini can sometimes be found on ebay or local yard sales for less.

A Squier Mini ready to be modified.

Tools

As there are so many ways to skin a cat, making a complete list of tools is a daunting task, so I won't bother. However, the main power tools that will make your life easier would include:

Jig saw or band saw to cut out the contour. Scroll saw if you are brave and have plenty of spare blades may work as well
Router with contour, pocket, and round-over bits. The bit for the pickup and cavity routes come from Stewart McDonald. I have not found any cheaper alternative
Drill press to ensure holes will come out square to the face. The drill press can also be used with a Forstner bit to hog out wood for the routes, alleviating the duty of the router
Drill motor - to drill the hole for the jack and long hole connecting the body routes. A 12-inch long 1/4" diameter drill bit is used.

Mini Telecaster Plans Format

The Mini Telecaster Plans don't contain step-by-step instruction, so some woodworking experience and common sense is a minimum. It also doesn't contain a neck pocket template. Instead, once you have the neck from the Squier Mini, check out this page on how to make the best fitting neck pocket template ever.

Also note, these plans are downloads in PDF format that you need to bring on a thumbdrive to your local print shop to get hardcopies. The page size for the first page is too big to fit on a home or office printer. Page two and three can fit on either 11x17 paper or A3, depending on what region of the world you're in (see more info below).

The PDF files are encrypted and can not be used for CNC code generation etc. This is to protect my intellectual property. No unlocked version is available at this time - please don't ask.

The PDF files are compressed in a zip file. When printing the plans it is critical to print full size. The plans are therefore provided in two versions based on paper size:

US/North American Version

The US/North American plan set contains three sheets:

First sheet is an ANSI C size (22 x 17 inches), with the main point being the body shape, but also show the pickguard and headstock
Sheet two is an ANSI B size (11 x 17 inches) intended to make a template for the body routs
Sheet three is also an ANSI B size (11 x 17 inches) somewhat redundant, as this info is already on page one. This sheet was created so that you can print an extra headstock or pickguard template, without paying the premium of the larger sheet.