Jump to content

Telecaster for a friend


Recommended Posts

A really small update...poor light for taking a pic. I've glued the missing part of headstock on with some overhang from both sides, so after roughly cutting it with jigsaw, I've planed it down flat from the back side, and flat-enough-for-template from the front. Back of the headstock is close to final dimension, but the front is sloping down somewhat, so it will get cleaned when I thickness it to size. I need to fine tune the headstock template, as it is slightly too wide at the nut, and route the truss rod channel next.

29042343148_2b94d57a36_z.jpg1-IMG_20180619_203136 by Goran P, on Flickr

42013754985_dc09bd914a_z.jpg2-IMG_20180619_203419 by Goran P, on Flickr

29042343028_50fcb121a3_z.jpg3-IMG_20180619_204807 by Goran P, on Flickr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some more progress! Also, some part were ordered for the telecaster this thread is supposed to be about :) so I hope to post some progress on that too, soon!

Firstly, routed the truss rod channel using the straight side of the neck blank as a guide, and then glued the missing piece on:

29077773568_f1817cbb1d_z.jpg1-IMG_20180621_202642 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then, some quick planing to be able to attach the headstock template for routing the shape,

29108621618_7c08d583fa_b.jpg1-IMG_20180622_193407 by Goran P, on Flickr

And after that, routing most of the headstock to 17mm. I'm planing to get to the final thickness on the sander while shaping the transition from headstock to fretboard.

29108621828_610cf50c0c_b.jpg2-IMG_20180622_194533 by Goran P, on Flickr

I mentioned a while ago that I want to learn to plane properly, so I'm using every opportunity :)

29108621968_619c0d24c2_b.jpg3-IMG_20180622_200244 by Goran P, on Flickr

...so many clamps, so little space...

29108622298_01ae339d0d_b.jpg4-IMG_20180623_142201 by Goran P, on Flickr

Routing the sides flush:

42980839521_b11e6f4830_b.jpg5-IMG_20180624_120031 by Goran P, on Flickr

42980839621_845960cae8_z.jpg6-IMG_20180624_130110 by Goran P, on Flickr

I hope to do some more work on this later today with the spindle sander, and to finish the TR access with dremel sanding drum. 

Edited by gpcustomguitars
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cleaned on the spindle sander, and also sanded the transition. The fretboard is 7mm thick, so some thicknessing is to follow. Drawn the headstock shape on the back and just had to do a mockup :) Fits nicely, and the centerline is dead-on 😎

I think I might need to deepen the neck pocket a bit, and the final shape of it is still to be determined, I've since ordered a offset neck plate.

28116498517_db203efb0f_b.jpg1-IMG_20180624_161534 by Goran P, on Flickr

28116498907_40f7f7d558_b.jpg2-IMG_20180624_161713 by Goran P, on Flickr

28116498957_f0c973cae2_b.jpg3-IMG_20180624_161824 by Goran P, on Flickr

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Scott!

I was actually considering turning it into a few bodies until the last moment, but I did need the bench, so it's safe...for now :) and I do love it feels so old and worn.

I still have to finish the brass themed rotten-cherry topped guitar I've started a while back, that's definitely a disreputable material :) I kinda have a love/hate relationship with the headstock I've made for it, so I'm just watching it for now. I'll probably re-start it soon, and it is a bolt-on, so I can always swap the neck. The idea was to have a memorably ugly headstock that kinda clicks with the body, but I might have been too successful :)

Did some sanding yesterday, planed the fretboard flat, there was a slight hump in one spot, and marked/scored the fret locations. I'll probably drill the tuner holes next, and do the final thicknessing from the opposite side. I'll have to be extra carefull, cause I didn't leave that much stock in front of the nut, so it could cause chipout. I might want to soak it with some CA beforehand...

43017606271_e5d807d059_z.jpg1-IMG_20180625_211010 by Goran P, on Flickr

29145694758_b1d1ce5362_z.jpg2-IMG_20180625_211023 by Goran P, on Flickr

43017605991_b1d1ce5362_z.jpg3-IMG_20180625_211328 by Goran P, on Flickr

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Didn't have much time yesterday, but according to the self-imposed policy to do at least something every day :) I slipped to the shop to drill the tuner holes. I should route about 1.5mm off the back to get the desired thickness of the headstock, while leaving enough to sand to spec. Also shaped the TR access some more with the rotary tool.

42987630942_1af5f17f20_z.jpg1-IMG_20180626_205253 by Goran P, on Flickr

I'm having trouble with the colour scheme, neck will be natural, oil/wax, acero parana is yellowish so that will look OK to me, but what to do with the headstock and the body? I would like to use a decal this time, on a clear finished headstock, and for the body - either baby blue with mint green pickups and yellow cream pups, or mint green body with white pickguard and yellow cream pups? Even considered butterscotch blonde, but that's too tele I think...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, gpcustomguitars said:

Didn't have much time yesterday, but according to the self-imposed policy to do at least something every day :) I slipped to the shop to drill the tuner holes. I should route about 1.5mm off the back to get the desired thickness of the headstock, while leaving enough to sand to spec. Also shaped the TR access some more with the rotary tool.

42987630942_1af5f17f20_z.jpg1-IMG_20180626_205253 by Goran P, on Flickr

I'm having trouble with the colour scheme, neck will be natural, oil/wax, acero parana is yellowish so that will look OK to me, but what to do with the headstock and the body? I would like to use a decal this time, on a clear finished headstock, and for the body - either baby blue with mint green pickups and yellow cream pups, or mint green body with white pickguard and yellow cream pups? Even considered butterscotch blonde, but that's too tele I think...

Whatever colour you go for, it's going to look excellent.  I like the shape very much :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks a lot! :) I think I would definitely like a solid colour on this one, probably mint green...

Also, in addition to the "bridge always on" switch, I'd like to add a phase switcher one for the middle pup:

41274747600_b4937ca8e6_b.jpg3p2p2s MM by Goran P, on Flickr

I'm hoping that this way that setting would be subtle and not get in the way of the "normal" settings that much. I'm starting to add the treble bleed regularly, seems a nice option. If I get a import switch, will have to re-draw the schematic a bit...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Back to the telecaster for a while - postman brought the neck and the bridge we had ordered a while back, so I now can route the neck pocket and do the binding.

28300953627_74f8ccdce2_z.jpg1-IMG_20180702_195544 by Goran P, on Flickr

28300953147_b60b5067db_z.jpg4-IMG_20180702_212013 by Goran P, on Flickr

42266258525_dd17f8b6a5_z.jpg5-IMG_20180702_212022 by Goran P, on Flickr

The neck seems to be really nice, just one chink in the lacquer on the fboard extension, and the nut requires some refinement. Will take care of both soon :)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Finally, some real progress on the telecaster! Fixed the neck on the centerline with a clamp, made sure its ok, scored around it with scalpel, and fixed some mdf on double sided tape around it. Routed to around 8mm deep with the short bit, and then removed the mdf and finished the route to full depth, 21.5mm. I might make another pass, as the fretboard extension is not touching with the body, 0.5mm or so.

42620572054_bd33b15485_b.jpg1-1 by Goran P, on Flickr

Cut a strip of binding material, 7mm wide:

42433866035_9bf51815d6_b.jpg2-2 by Goran P, on Flickr

42433865675_b791a78467_b.jpg3-3 by Goran P, on Flickr

42433864795_de63a8fa94_b.jpg4-4 by Goran P, on Flickr

Used a hairdryer for just a minute :)

42433864255_a3be34d1d4_b.jpg5-6 by Goran P, on Flickr

42433863905_9b79381779_b.jpg6-5 by Goran P, on Flickr42433863635_47eeb05204_b.jpg7-7 by Goran P, on Flickr

43287937992_44038cee00_b.jpg8-8 by Goran P, on Flickr

Still need to scrape the sides some more, drill the holes, and prepare for finishing.

Edited by gpcustomguitars
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks Scott! The summer started early, and temperatures were between 30-40C for a month, and just now we had 2 weeks of heavy rains, with small sunny windows. The greenery likes it, but it's not that comfortable, especially for picking clothes for work etc... We live in the forest bordering with town :) Fruits were a little early this year, and my kids had a surprise swim in river Sava in the end of april :)  I hope we will not pay for such nice weather later on ...

I've definitely decided on surf green for the Albert Lee guitar, and the postman just brought in the bridge for it!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Time to start finishing the bodies! I still needed to drill all the holes, and also enlarge the 20mm hole on the MM to 25mm. I got a new forstner that cuts really good, it was a joy to work with :)

I used a template to locate the jack hole location and drilled a 2.5mm pilot hole, then switched to forstner.

43455215552_692eda6802_z.jpg2-IMG_20180718_185525 by Goran P, on Flickr

28616620667_427f4ce31d_z.jpg3-IMG_20180718_190028 by Goran P, on Flickr

43455215192_d5ef739b08_z.jpg4-IMG_20180718_190044 by Goran P, on Flickr

I marked and drilled the neck screw holes from inside the pocket, just pilot holes for now, and cut the excess wood, rounded the edge and sanded. Just realized I forgot to take any pictures of that part...😐

43455215372_04762bc07a_z.jpg5-IMG_20180718_193358 by Goran P, on Flickr

I managed to redrill the jack hole on the MM without plugging it first by drilling a piece of mdf trough to use as a guide, which was fixed in place with 2 clamps and a wooden cube :) I was a bit worried, but it went really fine.

28616620417_90e5f5f770_z.jpg6-IMG_20180718_200729 by Goran P, on Flickr

28616620147_743dd5fa9d_z.jpg7-IMG_20180718_200735 by Goran P, on Flickr

43455215072_2ca1d9f46d_z.jpg8-IMG_20180718_201056 by Goran P, on Flickr

Last but not least, a rubberband henry I made for my nephew. He likes to visit, as he always goes to my shop and finds a wooden toy waiting :) He's only 4, so the moving parts will be added in due time. It's a one piece of pine, mostly hand carved, with some rattlecan finish. I like to spray a cloud of black in the end and sort of wave it trough, gives it a bit of realism I think.

43455215692_ca9967e18f_z.jpg1-IMG_20180715_153426 by Goran P, on Flickr

So, the tele gets the butterscotch blonde finish, and the MM seafoam green. I was digging around some boxes in the shop and found a set of cream strat pickups I completely forgot I had! 😎😎😎

Edited by gpcustomguitars
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, gpcustomguitars said:

Last but not least, a rubberband henry I made for my nephew. He likes to visit, as he always goes to my shop and finds a wooden toy waiting :) He's only 4, so the moving parts will be added in due time. It's a one piece of pine, mostly hand carved, with some rattlecan finish. I like to spray a cloud of black in the end and sort of wave it trough, gives it a bit of realism I think.

When I was but a wee lad, I had an uncle that made very good wooden guns as well. Us nephews loved to visit and play with those, and he occasionally would send us home with one. Good on you for being an uncle like that.

I agree about the effect of that black cloud.

SR

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I could say that the Force runs strong in my family, but no...there's a nail in the tree, and the rifle has a hole in the "barrel" :)

Made some dots from abs black binding, belt hole punches work great for this - I've used 6 and 2mm ones.

29758131308_c44f5fe3b9_z.jpg1-IMG_20180719_193001 by Goran P, on Flickr

29758131638_6c0eb846a8_z.jpg2-IMG_20180719_194220 by Goran P, on Flickr

Also, I should know better, but this seems fun for now - brushed 2 coats of waterbased sealer on, dried real quick, no smell. It says in the instructions that it can be sanded in 24h, so I might do some sanding and spray some color coats tonight. Color scheme changed yet again!!! I'm preparing to make a run to my laser guy too.

29758131958_f67c4b062a_z.jpg3-IMG_20180724_205652 by Goran P, on Flickr

Tele went to be professionally finished by my friends brother, but that might take a while...

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, we had a nice day yesterday, so I managed to sand the primer and spray the color coats. I think I did 6, with some sanding after 4th. This stuff dries really fast, easily the fastest I've used ever.

42743649975_e3c37cf327_z.jpg1-IMG_20180725_175937 by Goran P, on Flickr

43600196872_10ffdc9c31_z.jpg2-IMG_20180725_175950 by Goran P, on Flickr

Then glued the dots, and leveled.

42743649415_0aba7b3f6e_z.jpg3-IMG_20180725_184204 by Goran P, on Flickr

43600196602_167f3d1dec_z.jpg4-IMG_20180725_184743 by Goran P, on Flickr

Between the coats, managed to cut the fret slots. I was worried that I've left to little space between the headstock-side cut and the beginning of the slope, and that it might cause some chipout when cutting, but it went without incident. 😁

43600196282_8941c8cf05_z.jpg5-IMG_20180725_200630 by Goran P, on Flickr

I got a new radius block in the far east, and I'm really satisfied with the quality of it. Sanded out the radius starting with 80 in a few mins. I'll go up to 1000, re-cut and chamfer the fret slots and start fretting.

42743649275_853a81a365_z.jpg6-IMG_20180725_211240 by Goran P, on Flickr

And here;s the (partial) result:

43600196442_7861a8d836_z.jpg7-IMG_20180725_214706 by Goran P, on Flickr

42743648995_0427d84d72_z.jpg8-IMG_20180725_214732 by Goran P, on Flickr

The RAL No. is 1014, looks nice to me, sort of a TV yellow :) Acero parana fretboard will get more yellow with true oil, I'm thinking about lacquering the headstock, and the back of the neck will also be true oil. Level sanding lightly tomorrow, and then some clear coats of the same system, brushed. Primer was used undiluted, as per instructions, but the clear coats need 5% water added.

The only problem is finding some 4+2 tuners without excess cost now...

Edited by gpcustomguitars
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Getting closer! Used some homemade decals on primer, sanded back and reapplied. Fretboard was sanded to 1000, chamfered the fret slots, got the frets in (2.0mm), dressed them, polished it all with steel wool, cleaned, and protected from getting dirty with one coat of true oil.

43682474972_6c026587ac_z.jpg1-IMG_20180728_162534 by Goran P, on Flickr

43682474842_f66383e457_z.jpg2-IMG_20180728_183113 by Goran P, on Flickr

43682474782_b66d6cf511_z.jpg3-IMG_20180728_210120 by Goran P, on Flickr

43682474642_ca037236e0_z.jpg4-IMG_20180728_210127 by Goran P, on Flickr

43682475112_afb0c3e78b_z.jpg5-IMG_20180728_210139 by Goran P, on Flickr

I took my time with shaping the neck this time, no spokeshaves, just a 4-in-1 hand file, one facet at a time. Then switched to scraper a bit to refine the profile a bit nicer, and finally shaped with the newfretbpard sanding beam. It's long, so no dips, everything nice and smooth. Still some sanding to higher grits, but looks OK to me. I took the profile from my favorite tele, thicker C, a little like a U.

43682839162_b7942ab44b_z.jpg2-IMG-1e49b809b1373cd1bc13c7fd8dee9059-V by Goran P, on Flickr

43014493344_33a7d5d631_z.jpg3-IMG-9c4d67ccd7566db447dbf4262a7b308b-V by Goran P, on Flickr

Starting to look like a guitar more and more :)

43682839352_810b3b9202_z.jpg1-IMG-3d3b73e9fa3bacd7b6fd3f3a346dd29c-V by Goran P, on Flickr

 

Edited by gpcustomguitars
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Well, it's been a while!

We went for a vacation, a bit more work started to come in (which is nice!), so I didn't really take many pics. The guitar is polished, I brushed on about 8 thin coats of waterbased clear with a lot of sanding in between and oiled the neck with true oil. The headstock was also lacquered with waterbased clear.

Around 6th coat of clear I decided I'd like to have the guitar look a little bit aged, so I did a really light relicing in few places that would probably first show signs of wear. No dings&scratches, just some polished-trough-over-time details. I did ding the pickguard in 2-3 spots, around the pots. Also, overpolished the arm bevel, as it would happen with any well=played guitar over time.

The cavities were shielded with tape, and I have yet to solder everything together. I'm missing the pickup height adjustment screws, so I have to order them, and also, had to reorder the 4l+2r tuners set, as it's supposed to be 4r+2r.............

30718338818_a4c73da827_z.jpg1-IMG_20180909_172459 by Goran P, on Flickr

44588918421_12a35d0918_z.jpg2-IMG_20180909_172603 by Goran P, on Flickr

30718338418_8f5fc8dff6_z.jpg3-IMG_20180909_172829 by Goran P, on Flickr

44588919021_7c9283df66_z.jpg4-IMG_20180909_172841 by Goran P, on Flickr

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...