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I'm planning on making an Esquire from scratch, and wanted to build myself some templates. Looking online different tele routing template sets come with different templates, some just have the body/pickup templates, some add the neck, and some even go as far as having a side profile of the neck. Watching videos of scratch tele builds it seems using the body/pickup template as well as the basic neck template is typical, but is the side profile template worth making?

I’m not sure what an Esquire is, but Telecasters are an even slab of wood. 1.75” IIRC. A side template would just be a strip of material that wide. That’s a job for your planer, not a router.

Does an Esquire have a carved/domed top like a Les Paul? Even so, templates to carve that usually take the form of a series of nesting rings that look like a topographical map.

Give us a little more information on the guitar you are building and what you mean by “side template” and we will be better able to help you.


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Sorry an Esquire is a single pickup Telecaster.

I was talking about a side profile template for the neck. I’ve seen them included in template sets, but never seen one used in any of the reading I’ve done online.

You don't really need a side template of the neck. A better bet could be get neck shaping templates. for the 1ist and 12th frets on the neck. Its. pretty simple way to get. decent neck on your first go around.

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Cool, I guess using a profile gauge to take the shape of a neck I like and transfer that to a sheet of thin mdf or plexiglass would be the way to go about making the shaping templates? And they would be used for checking progress, rather than guiding a router?

Any time I'm going to use a router I make a template. If I have plans I make a copy, glue it onto sometime, cut it out and use it to make the real thing. I make separte templates for neck cavities and pickups so I can use them on different guitars. I make templates for drilling holes - string thru bodies, tuners, all kinds of things. Here is one I made for f-holes, I've used that on four guitars now



For necks I make two cross section templates. Often these are given on a set of plans - make a copy, cut it out, compare to a guitar I like and see if I think I'm going to like it, modify accordingly. I did that for the first couple of necks I made but lately I have three sets of templates that I took off of guitars that I like and made my own. One was from a vintage Les Paul ('60's something gold top) - that has become my electric guitar template. I made one set for a 1-3/4 wide acoustic neck and modified it to make a 1-11/16 acoustic neck. I suppose if I ever go into making Fender screw on necks I would need another template.

I make them at the nut and either the 10th or 12th fret (depending on the heel). I figure everything is straight between those two points so I can check my carving progress with a straight edge. I admire anyone who can carve a neck by feel - I've tried that twice and ended up going back to take more material off.

Here is the molding copy gizmo from Grizzly and the LP neck. Protect the neck with some tape. Copy the profile to a piece of paper, write down critical measurements (depth and width, thickness and radius of f/b), then transfer to something hard like MDF, plywood, lucite.







Since I do most of my carving with the f/b off I make marks on the templates where the top of the neck itself is located.

While I have your attention perhaps I can pick your brains about template making methodology.

My plan is this, I have paper templates printed off to scale, I'll glue them to an 1/8" sheet of MDF (this will ultimately be transferred onto a 3/4" sheet of MDF), cut them out on the bandsaw, staying close to the line but not trying to be exact at this point. This is where things get a little muddy for me I'm not sure what the best way is to make the edges of the template true and exact. I've seen guys online say to sand/file to the line keeping as straight as possible recognizing that the first rough template will be just that rough, I've also seen somebody file on an angle to the line of the template and then use their router bit with a roller to run along the part thats been filed which gives them a true edge. Then once the template is finished I'll spray a thin coat of lacquer onto it to ensure it lasts a little longer then a raw piece of MDF would.

So what is the most exact least tedious method for you guys?

I make a copy of my plans, glue it to 1/4 inch birch plywood or MDF or lucite, cut it out with a band saw. Sand the edges with either a drum in the drill press or my little bench belt sander or both. If I have a long straight line I will clamp a straightedge of some sort on it and route that edge. These are a few for a chambered Les Paul sort of thing - the basic body is on the bottom at the left with a couple of control cavity and a pickup template, on the right is the one for the chambering



Here is the p/u cavity template screwed onto the top (use the mounting screw holes) - sometimes I'll have to put a shim under it if the top is curved



same thing for the control cavity - two routes, one for the cavity itself, one for the shelf that the cover sits on



I also have a trick up my sleeve, I used to work at a metal fabrication company with a large sheet metal cutting laser. I can do a layout in AutoCadd and send a dxf file to them, they can make the template for me, this is one for the tricone

One more thought about making templates - think about how you are going to attach them while doing the routing. Lots of people used double sided carpet tape - I don't trust the stuff and when I use it I like to add a clamp or two. Sometimes I'll have to move the clamp to clear the router (which usually means stopping the router, putting on another clamp in the new location, taking off the old one). I try to use mounting screw holes as much as possible - pickups, bridges, etc. Also, think about the order you are going to route - often you can sink a screw into an area that will be routed later. A good example is Gibson neck pockets - make the template long enough to reach both p/u cavities, run a screw into both. After you have routed the neck pocket do the cavities. You need the neck in its pocket in order to route the neck pickup anyway since you partially route out the tenon. For the pickups just use two or four of the little flat head mounting screws.









A couple of comments: I did not use two screws for the neck pocket template because of the angle of the top. Instead it has one screw in the neck p/u and a clamp that I moved around, plus some carpet tape. Normally I would not make a template that thick (3/4) but since I also use it to size the neck tenon I wanted it thicker.



In the last picture I have basically set the neck and clamped it in place. I'm routing the front p/u cavity which also take wood out of the tenon. You can see the screw hole for the neck template - its pretty close to the edge of the p/u template (I think I need to move that)