The 30-day 5a Quilt Tele

[Drak]

Can I do it? I have no idea.

OK, here's the skinny.

I saw BigD's entry in this month's GOTM, with a 5A QM topper.

Well, last year, we had challenged each other to a Tele buildoff, the only rule was that we would use the same top wood and see what we could each do with it.

A few coincidences all corralled together the past few days.

Derek entered his guitar in the GOTM.

I received a veneer order I won on e-Bay from last week, of 5A quilt VERY similar to Derek's top.

I looked at his top, looked at my veneer, and asked myself this question:

'Drak, can you build a complete guitar in 30 days in time to enter it into the GOTM?' ...and we could have our Tele buildoff.

We are both at a disadvantage:

Derek had no idea that I was going to try and compete with his entry and consumate our buildoff, but no one I know of would take a topper like that and not do the very best he could with it (my thoughts anyway) so even tho he didn't build it with a buildoff in mind, who would take a top like that and give it anything less than their very best? He had been reveling in that red dye anyway, so I don't see his end at too much of a disadvantage, but what do you think?

I am at a big disadvantage in that I have NEVER built a guitar in 30 days.

Nowhere NEAR 30 days.

My usual turnaround is more like a YEAR.

So..........

I said Drak, you had better get your ass in gear if you have a shot at this, so I glued the body last night, rough-cut it this morning, and just a few minutes ago glued the veneer to the top (which is 1/4" QS Purpleheart).

Can I build a guitar in 30 days?

I have -no- idea, but I am going to drive myself very hard to get it done in time.

And the weather has to cooperate as well, but I think I'm OK there.

I will post all my progress pics here!

OK, here is the basic information for the guitar so far:

2-Piece Alder body, chambered in the upper horn area.

1/4" quartersawn Purpleheart top (to add some high-end juice to the overall sweet tone of Alder)

5A Quilted Maple veneer top and bottom.

That's it so far, will post pics as I go.

What do you think, can I do it, and is it a fair buildoff under these conditions?

[johnsilver]

Boy, this could be fun.

I think it is a fair challenge. BigD seems to build much more quickly than Drak, probably by each individual's personal preference, so I think it is a valid handicap for Drak to have to speed up his building and finishing technique. Anyway, who knows what kind of stuff the old maple tree will be depositing in September. And BidD would not have entered the guitar in the GOTM if he wasn't happy/proud over how it turned out. Let the games begin......

Couple of questions for Drak. Where the heck do you get quartersawn purpleheart? And if you are veneering top and bottom, will you bind top and bottom?

[jay5]

YESSSS! Its about time. I remember you promising to do a tutorial of sorts on all your cool tele mods. As we never got to see them until now I had to figure some out myself Heres a pic of my modified neck heel that you inspired. Can't wait to see what you come up with!

[Drak]

I will cover as much as possible, good idea.

Your rear neck route is beautiful!

I would have made mine a little deeper, but you know, to each his own.

OK, just got done gluing the veneered top to the body, she's drying right now.

The veneer job went well, no slipups there thank GOD!

Nice and flat, no humps, bumps, or other things to drive me crazy, can't afford any mistakes on this one.

I haven't veneered a guitar in probably 2 years either, a little rusty, but everything's OK so far (fingers crossed)

No time to lose!

The guitar itself needs to be done in under the first week if I'm going to have enough time to let the finish dry enough, the pressure is ON!

I got a 9' x 1.25' slab of the quartered P-heart from a local supplier, I just happened to spot it when I was up there picking up a hunk I had them resaw for me.

$45.00 ducks for the P-heart.

I thought of binding it, but that introduces more steps and more chances for something to go south on me, so probably not for this one.

The one thing driving me crazy is the rear control cavity cover. Y'all know I like to use the rear wood (in this case veneer) for the rear cover, but to do that with veneer is going to be a few steps tougher than normal, but heck, I want to show off that 5A veneer on the back too, so I'll figure out a way to do it.

Also gotta veneer the headstock too...maybe I can get that done tonight?

So little time, so many things to do!

Gotta order some hardware too, tee-hee....

[javacody]

Drak, you'll get my vote if you use normal 3 tele barrel saddles. I don't care for tele's with ANY other bridge (unless you add a bigsby to the end). It's even ok if they are compensated, but it must be 3.

[Drak]

Gotta order some hardware too, tee-hee.... rolleyes.gif

Do I have a surprise for you! (if there's enough time to get said surprise to the plater's and back again)

Shhhhh......

[Bigtommyb]

All the teles on here have inspired me to make one.... it will have to wait till ive done my current project as i have some wood lying around that would make a brilliant tele... So im watching this one for inspiration on the different mods i can do as i dont want a standard tele.

T

[n8rofwyo]

Can't wait to see if this one comes through. One of our most accomplished custom builders up against one of our most accomplished production builders. And both do S**T HOT work. Hope the pitfalls don't sneak up on either of you.

Good Luck Fellas!

Nate Robinson

[Drak]

The reason I veneered the veneer to the P-heart before I glued the P-heart to the body was that I was considering doing a steer-head cutout in the upper horn, but I got to thinking about it, and I usually only do those on Tele's that already have some sort of country-ish or southwestern look to them, which this one really doesn't have, so I just went ahead and glued the top on w/o doing any cutouts.

This stuff is really 'ocean wave' quilt, I have done a lot of interesting quilt guitars before, but not like this one, this is your typical PRS deep deep quilt stuff.

Pretty cool, wonder if I can really make it dance for me?

[AlGeeEater]

This sounds pretty awesome Drak. I am building a tele with the somewhat same specs. Alder body and a 5A quilted maple veneer too(wow 2 of the same thing ). I can't wait to see some pics of this beast man. Good luck!

Do you really refer to yourself as Drak?

[Drak]

Well c'mon in!

We'll crash the GOTM party this month with Tele's!

You know, I was looking at a bunch of PRS' to sort of feel where I wanted to go with this quilt, and I'll tell you something: except for the colors and quilt patterns, they all sort of started looking the same to me, I sort of got bored with them, so for this one, I'm going to try and surpass the typical PRS quilt look, and add some special tints or something.

I'm not really sure yet, but the ideas are starting to gel for me what the colors are going to be on it, let's see if I can make mine a little different than the typical PRS look.

...but you know, I don't have that extra special hard-to-get red dye that Derek has, so it probably won't measure up.

Tee-hee.

[johnsilver]

Do I have a surprise for you! (if there's enough time to get said surprise to the plater's and back again)

Shhhhh......     

←

Chrome plated brass bridge perhaps???

I'm not really sure yet, but the ideas are starting to gel for me what the colors are going to be on it, let's see if I can make mine a little different than the typical PRS look.

←

Your new turquoise dye perhaps???

[johnsilver]

The reason I veneered the veneer to the P-heart before I glued the P-heart to the body was that I was considering doing a steer-head cutout in the upper horn, but I got to thinking about it, and I usually only do those on Tele's that already have some sort of country-ish or southwestern look to them, which this one really doesn't have, so I just went ahead and glued the top on w/o doing any cutouts.

←

BTW, good call.

[javacody]

Chrome is no biggie, but if it was black chome? mmm... I wish I could get black chrome guitar parts.

[Drak]

No, not turquoise this time, although I did get it in, and really fast...good company that place is.

I won't say anymore about the hardware until a few things begin to gel, because what I have in mind might not work out in time and I might have to use something else.

[!!METAL MATT!!]

30 day's HA I only have 20 day's to finish my Impaler Just buging ya man If any one can build A great guitar in 30 day's you can!! I cant wait to see this thing But im guessing that You wount show anything untill the last second

Good luck Drak!

!!METAL MATT!!

[Drak]

Not true, I'll have pics up tonight of progress so far, ...which ain't much yet, but it is what it is.

I did get the veneer for the back pressed flat, taped and cut last night, and DID cut out the rear control cover (you know I couldn't pass that up). Got pics of pretty much everything so far except gluing the body halves, and who needs to see that?

~Katrina~ will be affecting our weather around here until Thursday, so I have a few days to get it routed to final shape and route all the normal stuff, hope to have it ready for dye colors by Friday, first lac coats going on Saturday if the weather holds up.

If the weather is nice and it's ready in time, I'm gonna pummel that thing with clear coats this weekend!

[Maiden69]

Hey Drak, that;s not a big deal, man 30 days is an blink of an eye when you are having fun building, but it is more than enough to build a guitar. My last 2, the gold bursted strat and the Kelly were finished at the same time and they took about 3 weeks including finish. And I used DEFT, so maybe a 2 part poly paint would have been quicker.

[AlGeeEater]

Well c'mon in!

We'll crash the GOTM party this month with Tele's!

You know, I was looking at a bunch of PRS' to sort of feel where I wanted to go with this quilt, and I'll tell you something: except for the colors and quilt patterns, they all sort of started looking the same to me, I sort of got bored with them, so for this one, I'm going to try and surpass the typical PRS quilt look, and add some special tints or something.

I'm not really sure yet, but the ideas are starting to gel for me what the colors are going to be on it, let's see if I can make mine a little different than the typical PRS look.

...but you know, I don't have that extra special hard-to-get red dye that Derek has, so it probably won't measure up.

Tee-hee.

←

Haha! I don't even think I can make a guitar in 3 months none the less 30 days. Maybe some other time. Drak vs. Algee The ultimate showdown, not! I would probaly get my arse handed to me though. Good luck though, I will be watching this thread very closely

[Drak]

OK, I will spill the beans on the hardware as Java has called me out sort of.

I am ordering 2 Glendale bridgeplates and saddle sets, but the kicker is that I'm going to have the bridgeplate GOLD plated. Dale said he has yet to have a customer do this, so I'm gonna send him some pics when it's done.

Now, the bridgeplate assembly, being an authentic high-caliber respected Telecaster assembly, is now driving my color decisions.

I mean, you can't put a Tele baseplate like that on a turquoise colored guitar,

They would laugh me out of the TDPRI ( )

So it will have to look like a respectable Tele in some way.

The guitar will have to, in some way, have to look ~Texican~, so we're talking oranges, reds, and browns in some combination.

Here is a link to Glendale Guitars website if you want to check them out.

[Guitarfrenzy]

Can't wait to see how this guitars going to turn out. Get the pics coming..

[Daniel Sorbera]

~Katrina~ will be affecting our weather around here until Thursday, so I have a few days to get it routed to final shape and route all the normal stuff, hope to have it ready for dye colors by Friday, first lac coats going on Saturday if the weather holds up.

Where do you live?

This is going to be one sweet guitar! I can't wait to see it done.

[AlGeeEater]

~Katrina~ will be affecting our weather around here until Thursday, so I have a few days to get it routed to final shape and route all the normal stuff, hope to have it ready for dye colors by Friday, first lac coats going on Saturday if the weather holds up.

Where do you live?

This is going to be one sweet guitar! I can't wait to see it done.

←

"The Dead Sea"

DUH!!!

[bigdguitars]

I hope you don't make it, knowing your skills I doubt I have a chance. This maybe my month.

On a better note though I have not forgot about the build off. I had all that wood I had to dump. Now once I move and have some time I still have the sets set aside. Maybe we can do a fall build off.

That GOTM entry has been worked over for months. I am still not happyt with the red but ohwell.

[Daniel Sorbera]

I just got my wood in the mail so I might be done with my project in time to go up aganist you guys. Waht is it? Well, you'll just have to wait and find out.