SwedishLuthier Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I usually don't make any "in progress" threads. When I build for customers they might see that the woodwork is finished and start to expect the guitar to be finished in a week or two. And then they start bugging me: "When is the guitar finished? I have seen it almost finished on the internet! And I never get a quite moment after that. This time it is a demo guitar so I think that it is pretty safe to do this OK, so here we go: A Tele with ash body and maple neck. So whats the twist? Well, 25" scale, bound body, ebony fretboard, Earvana compensated saddle, mini HB in the neck and a Bigsby! The woodwork will be finished today or tomorrow and then it is off into the spraying booth. And the finish? The neck will be tung oiled except for the head that will be finished in KTM-9 and the body will be grain filled with a black grain filler and dyed blue before finished in KTM-9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Neck done. All major sanding done. Just need to finish sand the wood and move to finishing/oiling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Love the Bigsby on Tele-shaped guitars. Very nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Thanks Rick500. There have been a bunch of discussions on Bigsby equipped Teles all over the net lately. So I thought that it would be something to show at the fairs I'm attending from time to time. I need something simpler so that I do not scare people away. The most common comment people have when looking at my guitars is "I don't dare testing it. It looks too expensive". Anyway, had everything put together and tested. The ash is one of the best pieces I have ever got my hand on. Light and resonant. The complete guitar weights in at only 3.6 kg (7.9 lb), not one of the lightest guitars ever, but a really comfortable weight for a full size Tele. The sound of the bridge pickup is great! Wound to -52 specifications, with A5 magnets and a whooping 9200 turns of AWG42 it has loads of attitude and with the steel base plate it still retain enough bite. But the mini HB doesn't make much of a sound...I'm almost 100% sure I put the coils out of phase. I cannot believe that I still do that! After at least five years of winding pickups Anyway I'll rip it out and see if that is the problem. That'll be the last thing I do today (tonight) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I didn't realize the Tele/Bigsby was a trend... This was my Christmas present to myself: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I didn't realize the Tele/Bigsby was a trend... This was my Christmas present to myself: is that a graphtech resomax bridge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 (edited) Graphtech makes the saddles. It's a Gotoh bridge, otherwise. The guitar is made by Carvin; it's a 13-pin synth-access guitar. Edited January 2, 2009 by Rick500 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 2, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 I didn't realize the Tele/Bigsby was a trend... I dunno if it is a trend, but there are some talk about it here and there. The telecaster forum www.tdpri.com has some discussions and I have found some elsewere. My fascination with Bigsby Teles are way older than that. I remember seeing a Thinline tele with Bigsby some odd 25 years ago and really, really wanting one. Anyway, I got the problem with the mini HB sorted out. I hadn't connected the coils out of phase. I had mounted one of them upside down, putting them effectively out of phase with each other! Unlike a standard size HB the bobbins of a mini HB have no visual difference between up or down so it is, as you see, fully possible to mount them up side down. Now the sound is there. Powerful and "honky". Tomorrow I will disasemble it and start finish sanding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 2, 2009 Report Share Posted January 2, 2009 Cool! Glad you got your pickup straightened out (so to speak). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Thanks Rick Got the body and head face finished sanded. Gonna do the finish sanding on the rest of the neck when oiling it. The black grain filler curing. Some sanding to do next. Hopefully I do not need to grain fill a second time, as the black grain filler was a real mess... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Sanding done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 Hanging there to dye...sorry dry Yeah, its hanging, but Photobucket refuses to accept the edit... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 3, 2009 Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 What did you use to grainfill? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 3, 2009 An old batch of Crystalac clear waterbased grainfiller tinted black with Stewmac black pigment. Worked really well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Scraping the dye and first coat of lacquer of the bindings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 4, 2009 Second and third coat. Have to dry over night. Too cold in the workshop right now. With minus 15 deg Celsius or minus 6 deg Fahrenheit the shop heaters isn't enough to keep the heat up. Can't add more heaters as that will blow the fuses. Have to call the electrician to get that sorted out. Anyway I hope that the temperature will be better tomorrow or I will have to lay low for a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Some progress. I have shot some more finish. The face of the head is to be lacquered and the rest of the neck is to be oiled. I know how the oil will change the color of the maple so I had to try to match that color with a few shot of amber. I made the amber by mixing tine amounts of brown, red and yellow stain to the KTM-9 to get the correct color. The difference between the "raw" side of the head and the front can be seen here. And it is not only the lighting that makes up that difference in color. More spraying for the body in the following days. Just have to wait for the next version of my headstock decal to arrive. I ordered a "neutral" batch (no model name, just Custom Made Guitars) before the holidays and I'm expecting them to arrive any day. So no more spraying on the face of the head until they arrive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 7, 2009 Report Share Posted January 7, 2009 Nice looking tele! Half of my grainfill question has been answered, so here's the second half. How long do you leave the grainfill on to really soak in there? I also noticed the jack area was slightly flatted out. I like the effect, it subtly breaks the smooth lines of the body. What type of jack are you planning on putting in there, that you need it flatted out? Neutrik? Barrel jack? That is quite the cool color, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2009 The grainfiller is waterbased and really doesn't need more than 15-20 minutes if the grain are not too deep. If you use oil based grainfiller you need more time. But I always leave it to dry over night The jack is going to be a electrosocket. It need the flat area to fit really nice. It also stays in there much better than the traditional cup-and-retainer-clip assembly that is the original. But the flat area is actually correct and to th -52 specs as are the little "bump" on the lower part of the neck pocket (I don't think it is visible in those pics). The completed area should look something like this: although it will for sure be a tad more obvious with the crisp edge that a binding gives. And yeah, the color is looking really nice. Much better in real world (don't we all say that ) I'm glad you liked it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 A bit of progress. My supplier of headstock decals delivered the first version really quick, but have not been able to keep that high standard. The idea was to move away from hand signed headstock to decals that incorporate my signature, my name (as my signature isn't really readable) and the model name, like this: So for guitars that isn't of my own design/doesn't have a model name that is mine, I will use Custom Made Guitars instead. But as the supplier still haven't delivered that version I had to pull a Leo: I cut away the model name and used an old decal (So this will be my no-caster guitar ). With the decal attached and some coats of lacquer on top: For the body there will be some more coats and level sanding to be done. Maybe I will have the last coat on the body by Sunday or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanthus Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Liking that logo style, though I personally think it might fit better were it parallel to the tuner holes, not the centerline. Did Tele's really always have a flat part for the jack insert? haha wow. In my defense, I think my dislike of Fender instruments must be very ingrained. I don't think I've ever played a Tele. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 The logo will look a bit less out of place with strings on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAWY2J Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Scraping the dye and first coat of lacquer of the bindings How did u router those humbuckers cavities out ?? and also how did u do the neck join ?? Where di u get that nice wood from ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 Take a look at Melvyn Hiscock's book for answers to the first two questions (or do a search on the forums). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted January 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 The neck pickup is going to host a mini humbucker. As I don't have a dedicated mini humbucker template (it is the first ever mini humbucker I wind) and the rout is covered by the pickguard I used a traditional humbucker routing template. The neck joint is being made using this type of ferrules: combined with steel inserts in the neck and stainless steel recessed Torx head machine screws (M6). That way I can reshape the traditional heel and get a superior coupling (if anyone still believe in good coupling between the parts of a guitar, I do) between the neck and the body. The wood is from a local supplier here in Sweden. According to him it is north American ash and European maple. The fretboard is ebony that I got from Stewmac. The body wood is extremely light and very resonant. And it have a nice grain pattern too. the maple is... well maple. Not exceptional in any way. The ebony is one of the most uniform piece of ebony I have seen in a few years time. Almost 100% black and really nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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