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Lee's Spalted Beech Tele


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  • 3 months later...
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After a bit of a break from this one due to reworking the another Tele I had but not happy with, I'm now back on the job.

Not much work, just cut the neck pocket and tried the neck in place. The end of the slot is a bit untidy but the pick up cavity should clean it up.

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Some photos of a mock up just to see what it will be like. It was always the intention to glue the neck in because I think it may give better sustain or may be not but I'm starting to think about bolting it on. The only reason is I can position the neck and the then datum the bridge position from it and also I can always take the neck off if I need to shim it or build the neck thickness up any. I'm in two minds.

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I love the look of that Hannes bridge, I really want to put one on one of my next builds. If you are going to remove that dam after pouring in the epoxy, I would use waxed paper so that it will peel of easily. I love this build, glad to see it coming back again.

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Thanks Ripthorn, Its the first time I have used the Hannes bridge and I really like it so far eventhough it was very expensive about £100 is I remember.

I'm glad I'm back on this build. I took a break to build a new neck for a tele I built in 2009. It was for sale and the neck was to the buyers specification but I think I've been bummped. I'm not bothered because its a great guitar. Photo below

Lee

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The epoxy is in now but I'm going to leave it a few days before I sand it back. In the meantime I've rough sanded the neck. I wont compele the neck until the body has been finished. This way if the neck needs sligh sanding at the heel to make it perfectly flush to the body I can do it then. Since the neck is Goncarlo and Wenge it's getting a few coats of Danish Oil only so its silky smooth.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

I finally was brave enough to drill for the Schaller Hannes Bridge. Its a tricky little thing. As is normall custom for me I have made a bit of a booboo of it. The slot for the string retaining thingy is too long. my own fault I was just not taking my time. See photos.

I've had the neck on and checked for neck alignment and all seems to be OK.

All I need to do now is drill for the switch and pots and route the control cavity then final contours and sanding.

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Done a bit work today. I've routed out the rear cavity to take the 3 way switch, vol and tone pots. I used a template I had a local laser cutters do for me as I want perfect radii. Its worked really well. Each cut out is 1/2" bigger than the other so the smaller is to do the cavity, the second is to make a bigger recess to take the plasic cover and the biggest of the 3 is to cut the plastic cover using the same 1/2" router bit. The plastic cover should fit perfect with good clean rads.

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I've done the recess using my new template and its worked well. I'm surprised because I normally make a mess of things but this part of the build is going well. Nice clean uniform curves.

I've ordered a 3mm sheet of black perspex so I've router the recess to 3.7mm to allow for the double sided sticky tape I use to clag the thing down.

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I've drilled the hole for the euro-scoket jack. Had to off set it from center because I did not want the socket bisecting the Sapele body laminate. I think I've done the right thing.

Just need to do the back belly contour and thats it. Just need to do final sanding and then it spray gun time.

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Edited by iluvteles
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  • 3 weeks later...

So slow on this project but I have give the body a final sand today. I used those Siasoft foam backed pads and was very impressed with them. Took it down to 400grit. I dont think I need to go any further.

Also a photo of the rotten bit I dug out and epoxy filled. I dont think it will look that odd since the top has lots of black bits in.

Also I think the Idigbo is a bit too pale so I mixed a bit methnol based dye, yellow and a drop red and ended up with a colour that I like.

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Just want to say how much I love this thread. The guitar is awesome, but what I really love is how much I can relate to the builder's frustration here.

"If I had to select one quality, one personal characteristic that I regard as being most highly correlated with success, whatever the field, I would pick the trait of persistence. Determination. The will to endure to the end, to get knocked down seventy times and get up off the floor saying. 'Here comes number seventy-one!'" ~Richard M. DeVos

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Thanks for all the replies. Fustrations YES. The latest clanger is to get a nice even colour by using methonol dye and then use a brush to apply the lacqure. I thought the lacqure would soak straight into the spalt which it did however the brush lifts the dye and spreads it around which makes the even stain now UNEVEN. If it was'nt so funny I would cry or maybe I'll cry anyway. Sand paper here I come. :D

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Xadioriderx, I just ment that I thought you prefered the natural wood colour. :D

Well once again I rushed things. So today I have sanded it back to remove little blotches of dye and lacqure. I think I've made it worse now.

So the plan of action. Apply more dye to the back and sides to coat the sanded back bits. Spray the whole body with a very light tint using the same dye just to give the spalt a more rich warm colour.

Note to self. Lee, DONT RUSH THINGS YOU ALWAYS DROP CLANGERS

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yeah, i have found the same thing, not to rush! im a very impatient person, and in the end it will show if you dont beat it!

i would say be careful just putting dye on the spots that are worn through, you run the risk of almost making it stand out more if you overlap a little around the edges of each spot.

im not super experienced with doing this kind of thing, but i would think if you did just a full coat, the spots might hide better than you think. i could be wrong though.

i suppose if you do spot touch-up, and then another full coat, you will probably be alright too. in the end, i think if its noticeable at all, it will only give it a slight "worn" look. and isnt that what most people want these days? :D

youve run into the easiest thing to do, sand too deep on corners. even if you try hard not to hit the corners/edges too hard, it will happen. happened to me after i did faux binding, and made a mess of it!

alternatively you could just continue to sand some in the middle and take the dye off more, then go over it from the beginning

Edited by xadioriderx
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