Nicco Posted August 29, 2021 Author Report Share Posted August 29, 2021 Two steps forward, one back! Ha ha. Finished the fret level, crown and polish today, plus threw my first coat of finish on the fretboard, it looks stunning. Very happy with it. Body colour is coming along nicely. I snuck another tint coat in to help blend a few bits, happy with that now, so honing in on the finish line for it. I wasn't happy with the headstock logo though, it just wasn't what I wanted and looked a little rough. I've decided just to sand it out and start again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted September 9, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 I've been working on polishing the front of the guitar body. Really happy with it, the blue really does look iridescent in real life. Just got a bit more polishing to do then I'll get to oiling the sides and back of the body. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted September 10, 2021 Report Share Posted September 10, 2021 On 8/29/2021 at 6:48 PM, Nicco said: Two steps forward, one back! Ha ha I think that's the dance moves for this entire hobby! I've just taken a break from my own build and having a look at others, looking excellent and the blue looks surprisingly good. My experience with colours is "One step forward, Ten steps back" Good to see another West Aussie! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted September 13, 2021 Report Share Posted September 13, 2021 Beautiful blueburst and great offset evolution of the Tele shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted September 14, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 14, 2021 Hey gents, agreed, great to see some more aussies here. Crusader, are you perth based? And thanks re: the design and colour on the guitar. I'm very happy with how it's going and can't wait to play the thing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted September 16, 2021 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2021 (edited) I've got the tape off the sides, got most of the sanding of the sides done, but couldn't resist doing a mock up, so threw some tru oil on the sides and put all the hardware in place Edited September 16, 2021 by Nicco 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted October 1, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 1, 2021 (edited) I took this week off work to give myself a mental refresh before a role change at work, so got stuck in. I've not quite finished, but it is up on the wall and makes noise through the pickups! Yew!! The pickup rings are made from the same tassie blackwood as the body. Next jobs, the neck is sitting slightly skew, which I'm not quite sure about why. I'll have to tweak the fit to square it up. The slots in the pre slotted nut are no where near deep enough, plus the nut is too tall. I also want to play around with the cavity covers as the magnets I was using aren't strong enough, plus change the screws on the truss rod cover. Edited October 1, 2021 by Nicco Typing faster than my brain can think! Ha ha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted October 1, 2021 Report Share Posted October 1, 2021 29 minutes ago, Nicco said: the neck is sitting slightly skew, which I'm not quite sure about why. I'll have to tweak the fit to square it up. The slots in the pre slotted nut are no where near deep enough, plus the nut is too tall. That was the case with my bolt-on neck as well. The easy fix is to turn the screws loose about 1/4 turn and simply wrench the neck to the right alignment. The second easiest fix is to file the screw holes in the body slightly oval to give some space for the screws to move sideways - the holes in the body should be oversize anyway so it doesn't do any harm if they're not round. And finally if that doesn't help, you'll have to hone the neck pocket but that's the last thing to try. Even that won't be too difficult, though, as there's very little meat on the cutaway side so you won't actually be widening the pocket. I like oversize pre slotted nuts given they're of right length because I don't have any accurate templates for slotting. It's not rocket science, I know, but it still helps to get the spacing right. Simply cut them deep enough for your preferred action and file the excess off so the strings are seated about half of their thickness. Fast, easy and smelly... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted October 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2021 Thanks Biz. I'll have a crack at it and see how it works out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 2, 2021 Report Share Posted October 2, 2021 nice work nicco. some nice details there like the pickups covers and cavity covers. afa magnets... damned if I didn't have the sm issue. Getting bigger magnets means bigger cavity and not exactly idea. Seems the next available step up in size is too big... so in my case I resigned myself to deepening the mag holes and stacking two mags each in there. If I'm wrong... and you happen to find some that are maybe just a hair stronger (mine were n52) or just slightly larger - feel free to enlighten me! afa nuts... generally speaking they make them a hair large so you can sand them down or file them to suit. I always just take a piece of sandpaper and rub it back and forth... constantly flip it so I don't end up taking it out of square. Then I keep checking it on the guitar and pulling back out and sanding some more until it's really close. I don't like to wear out my good files any more than necc. I always touch up the slots with good files at the end because it seems sl0ts are hardly every perfect from the factory so just leave myself enough room to take off some with a few passes on the file. Feels like this is also less work (sanding then filing as opposed to just filing then having to potentially remove material fromt he top of the nut. if I'm telling you all stuff you know... forgive! just trying to be helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted October 2, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2021 Thanks Mike. Nope, when I did the course all those many moons ago, the guy who ran it did the nut for us, so it was one of the few bits I didn't get any feel for. Still feels like a dark art getting the nut just right. Appreciate the tips, I'll have a crack at that too and try get it really sweet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted October 4, 2021 Report Share Posted October 4, 2021 I only just now noticed the 12th fret marker matches the string ferrule cover matches the body color....... Really nice design touch. I love it! SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicco Posted October 4, 2021 Author Report Share Posted October 4, 2021 Thanks Scott. Yeah, it's a little detail bit I'm happy with how it's all tied together. And also, big news, with thanks to the help from Biz and Mike, the guitar is (essentially) done. The nut is now sorted, the action much more reasonable, and the neck is now nicely back square where it all should have been. I've got a couple of tiny details to sort (changing the screws on the truss rod cover to smaller, black plated screws, etc) but yeah, I'm calling this the finish line. I'll take some glamour shots later in the week. Thanks again to everyone who chimed in and helped out with the build, I've learned a metric shitload on the way through and thoroughly enjoyed the process 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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