No Electricity Tele Build

[grandtguitars]

Finally, it's finished. Sorry for the long hiatus, was waiting for the parts to arrive. This is the end result:

If you look closely, you can see that there is a patch of different wood around the switch. I made a terrible mistake drilling with a power drill (should've used the manual one ). And had to think of something to cover up the hole. Ended up cutting a circle from plywood with a laser machine.

It's not the only flaw on this guitar, there are some scratches, chipped off pieces and of course the blisters I wasn't able to fix.

The good news is that even though this was my first time soldering, everything worked first try. The suspense that I experienced after plugging the guitar into the amp and waiting for the tube to heat up was something else

Might post a video of me playing the guitar, even though I'm not good at guitar at all (more of a piano guy, too bad DIY'ing a piano is almost impossible ).

While the guitar is by no means perfect, I have learned quite a bit during the process and it was for the most part really enjoyable. I think that's all that matters.

[Bizman62]

It looks gorgeous in the photo!

Agreed, there's a spot or two where a splinter is missing but they aren't too bad. And if you want to revisit that very build, there's several ways to improve the looks: One trick is to add a wide binding which would also put boundaries to the quite busy colour scheme. Another trick is to simply file/sand the body just a fraction smaller. No one would notice that!

Need I say that there's no actual need to fix anything, the suggestions are merely served as ideas for learning even more.

 

[grandtguitars]

Here's the full video with some new footage and the demo at the end: (demo starts at 17:08)

 

[Bizman62]

What I would have liked to see is how you glued the bariole padouk veneer as that might have revealed why you got those blisters.

Just FYI, I recently saw a video about fixing a drawer where the guy used "pre glued veneer" which he then attached with a regular clothes iron. For a "hand tools only" build an antique wood burning stove heated iron would be acceptable, don't you think?

[grandtguitars]

4 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

What I would have liked to see is how you glued the bariole padouk veneer as that might have revealed why you got those blisters.

Just FYI, I recently saw a video about fixing a drawer where the guy used "pre glued veneer" which he then attached with a regular clothes iron. For a "hand tools only" build an antique wood burning stove heated iron would be acceptable, don't you think?

I most likely did not use enough glue, I spread it around with a paint roller, probably too thin of a layer (I applied glue to both sides though). Or the glue dried out a bit too much while I was preparing the other side.

Yes, it would most definitely be acceptable  Though I'd cheat a bit here too and use an electric iron

[Bizman62]

11 hours ago, grandtguitars said:

I most likely did not use enough glue, I spread it around with a paint roller, probably too thin of a layer (I applied glue to both sides though). Or the glue dried out a bit too much while I was preparing the other side.

If you spread it on both sides there's most likely enough glue. It's not so much about the amount of glue, it's about full coverage and the both sides method is about as fool proof as you can get. You may be right about the glue drying a bit although the open time usually is longer than one might expect. I guess proper clamping is the most difficult thing to do for such large areas of thin veneer and that is what I guess is the culprit here. If you use a large plate to clamp the veneer to the surface, there'll most likely be air pockets. Adding a piece of 3-10mm plastic foam in between can help since it will compress and push the air bubbles away. That works well for headstocks but not necessarily for large areas such as a top.

That's why the ironing method is superior. You can align the veneer and let the glue dry. Then at a suitable stage you take your iron and melt the glue, pressing the veneer firmly into place. Notice that the pre-glued veneer I mentioned earlier comes in tabletop wide rolls and there's glue only on one side! Yet you don't see veneered furniture with bubbles unless there's been some damage.

[grandtguitars]

3 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

If you spread it on both sides there's most likely enough glue. It's not so much about the amount of glue, it's about full coverage and the both sides method is about as fool proof as you can get. You may be right about the glue drying a bit although the open time usually is longer than one might expect. I guess proper clamping is the most difficult thing to do for such large areas of thin veneer and that is what I guess is the culprit here. If you use a large plate to clamp the veneer to the surface, there'll most likely be air pockets. Adding a piece of 3-10mm plastic foam in between can help since it will compress and push the air bubbles away. That works well for headstocks but not necessarily for large areas such as a top.

That's why the ironing method is superior. You can align the veneer and let the glue dry. Then at a suitable stage you take your iron and melt the glue, pressing the veneer firmly into place. Notice that the pre-glued veneer I mentioned earlier comes in tabletop wide rolls and there's glue only on one side! Yet you don't see veneered furniture with bubbles unless there's been some damage.

I researched this ironing method a bit and it seems pretty good! I didn't realize you can melt the wood glue again after it has dried. A bit scary to use a hot thing on the delicate veneer, plus I've already got shellac there. I'll keep this in mind for the next time though!