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I just cleaned up the wiring again. My girlfriend's father gave me some decent solder, so I fixed it up a bit. I'll try what you said (connecting the pots), Southpa, after I have it all assembled, as I'm sure the output jack isn't soldered that securely. Thanks for the advice though.

Yeah I found that page prior to my post lovekraft, but that site is how to improve an already properly wired Telecaster. And thegarehanman, my bridge is grounded as far as I know, there's a wire connecting it that's grounded to a pot. I'm going to try and rewire everything from scratch, wish me luck, but I doubt it's going to change much. Thanks for your advice though.

Sweet mother of god, my project is 95% done. The telecaster body is complete, the neck is finished... but holy christ is this thing noisy. It's not at the not-grounded noise level quite, but it's not that far off. I've been testing it without a neck, but even so it's noisier than all of my other guitars, and even if I touch the bridge plate to further ground it, it's still fairly noisy. I had a real hard time soldering this, as none of the stores near me sell solder flux. Whatever I soldered, I had to solder on top of stuff that was already soldered, or just pray. The wiring is fairly messy, and all the wires that are supposed to be grounded are more or less connected to the same spot. (it took me about 4 hours to wire this without any flux, and it wasn't easy Can anyone clue me in to how to solve this humming catastrophe? My greatest appreciation for your time,

Oh man... alright. I'll buy two more cans. 5 cans should do it.

LGM: Yeah, I grain filled it before priming. I don't feel the woodgrain, and there's no orange peel either (which kind of surprised me, as it's pretty humid where I am). And wow... 30 - 50 coats... I think I'd go insane in the process. and Godin SD: That's exactly what I was talking about. Thanks guys. I think I'll let it cure a little more, and if it's too thin... I guess I'll put on another 15 coats Thing is the look of the finish isn't the most important, it's more just the feel at this point. It's not a clear body, and I got a little elaborate with the paint job (took me 4 tries before I got it right).

. great reply man. Thank you both for your answers. I should have specified, it is a clear coat. When I sanded it, I got some clear to come off. The color underneath is a really deep purple. Now that I think of it, I wasn't very clear with my explanation either... it's not the the guitar doesn't look lacquered, as it is pretty shiny, it's just the feel of the guitar. If I compare it to any of the guitars I have, it obviously doesn't have the same feel. Does this change after the sanding? Thanks again for your help guys.

Hi again once more guys. I'm about to graduate from the state of completely useless newbie to simply a newbie, as my first project is nearing completion. I've lacquered it up, and seeing as this is the first time I've ever lacquered anything, I have a few questions (primarily one), as I can't tell if I did anything properly (as always). I lacquered the body with 3 cans of lacquer (about 15 coats). Now it's been less than a full week, but I've felt the body and I honestly cannot tell if it's lacquered. I know it is, it just doesn't feel like it. The top feels a little harder than the rest, but the sides and horns feel maybe a little harder than paint. I actually took some 1000 grit sand-paper and wiped it across the sides to see if the paint would come off or the lacquer. It doesn't feel like it's been lacquered basically. Now obviously I know it has to cure, but does curing really make so much of a difference? Should I apply more coats? There is some importance for this question, normally I'd probably wait and see, but I'm on a timeline to finish this project, as it's a present for my girlfriend, and I planned to let it cure for 2 weeks, which would give me about 3 days to sand and buff. Thanks once again.

Wow, thanks for the info guys. To Matt, the neck is maple, yeah. Anyways last night around 6pm I put on a coat of the tung oil (which isn't pure tung oil btw), and I just checked it 20 minutes ago. The oil seems to have soaken in, except for some areas where there was some excess. Anyways it has a slight shine to it, but still feels like bare wood. I'm assuming that this is typical, seeing as how I only put on a single coat. I'll continue for now and see what happens. (I scuffed with 320 grit sand paper before I applied the oil, and I noticed that on the top of the headstock, which I will probably finish with lacquer, and which is grain filled, there are little shiny splotches that seem to have been the result of accidental contact with the tung oil, so I'm guessing it will work out). Another question just came to mind, how many coats would you guys recommend? I doubt the can I got will be sufficient. edit: Another note to the exceedingly long post, I just put on another "coat", by using 400 grit sandpaper. At the same time I put some tung oil on a recently sanded down Jackson neck, using 220 grit and 400 grit, and noticed a huge difference in color immediately, however the Tele neck (the one I was originally doing) had very little change in appearance.

Hey guys, I bought some off-the-shelf tung oil at a hardware store for one of my necks that I'm finishing. However I had originally sealed the wood with grain-filler because I initially wanted to lacquer it. Anyways the oil has been applied, and now one of my friends tells me that I'm stupid and that the oil isn't going to set in at all. Is this true? Am I screwed now to more sanding? Also, to get rid of the grain filler, could I use a higher-grit sand paper, like 220? I don't feel like sanding from 60 grit when I have so much other stuff to do at the moment. Thanks guys.

I was wondering if you guys could give me your opinions on how I should paint a small design into a Telecaster I'm working on. I wanted to give it a slightly unique look by painting a small tribal design on the lower left portion of the body. Not a very complicated design, and it would only be about 15cm high and 10cm wide. I was told by a buddy of mine that I should just paint it on with a brush, but I really don't want to mess it up. I was thinking about a template, but I really can't see how that would make anything easier, as there's a chance that it sprays underneath the template, and I have no clue what I could use to hold the template on that wouldn't affect the paint that I just put on. I already have the spray can (Painter's Touch), and I've already painted two coats of the base color. Any advice would be, as always, greatly appreciated.

Hey! yet another reason not to work with Oak!

Tough call. In that timeframe I'd fill it with body filler. But I have a bias to that as you can prob tell. Whatever you use dont rush anything. Depending on the type of primer it can take a while to dry though. A 2 part filler will be dry and sandable in 30 min. ← Yeah... I tried the filler trick. I'll wait till it's dry. I can always paint it tomorrow night. I'm not really in a rush or anything, I have a month left before I should start the clear coat if I want it finished in time. Thanks for the advice though. I've got a bunch of P400 and P800 sanding sheets available... which do you guys recommend on primers? My friend, who has done some completely INSANE paintjobs (including a very well done recreation of the Crash-3), tells me all I need for properly sanding paint is 400 grit, but I've read to use 800. And veeeery lightly.

Ugh, sorry for the second consecutive post but I miss the edit button as well. Anyways I exadurrated in the last post, the size of the dent only has a diameter of about 1/8", it's quite smaller than I was thinking. If you guys think I should drop in the white primer, let me know. Also, I wanted to spray the guitar the solid color around 8pm tonight, which would give it 8 hours to dry. Think that would be enough time?

Thanks for the advice guys. It's a pretty small dent, it's probably about 1/32" deep and 1/2" in diameter.

Hey guys, I just finished sanding this body for the second time. I spent about 3.5 hours today sanding, filling the grain, and painting (the primer coat), and I *JUST* saw a small dent on the backside of the guitar. I never missed it before, because it wasn't there before. I'm guessing either I accidentely hit something while I was moving it over to my painting area, or small rocks fell from the sky through my garage. I tried the method of using a soldering iron and water to raise the wood, but I think the fibers are broken and I can't get it back. Now I already painted the primer coat, and I have some rather crappy, and old, wood filler. Would there be anything I could do to solve this problem without having to re-sand and re-fill?