gpcustomguitars

Thanks! This was a fun and quick project It was just an idea I got looking at my Stew-Mac rounding file. I did want a bigger handle, but the basic shape comes from there. I guess that it will get dull quickly, but it's a tool for this one job, so re-sharpening is not an issue. I've cut the channel roughly to make sure it works, still need to make sure that it's flat and level with a file. 1-IMG_20180914_074028 by Goran P, on Flickr I can't wait for the tuners and screws to come in, as I'd really like to hear it play!

I've ordered the correct tuners and a pack of pup screws/springs, so while waiting, decided to tackle making the bone nut. I had prepared some bone cuts before, so here goes: 01-IMG_20180911_183501 by Goran P, on Flickr Cutting to size using the vise as the guide: 02-IMG_20180911_185259 by Goran P, on Flickr Flattened the facettes, and using the radius sander to rough in the radius: 03-IMG_20180912_192623 by Goran P, on Flickr 04-IMG_20180912_192703 by Goran P, on Flickr 05-IMG_20180912_193104 by Goran P, on Flickr 06-IMG_20180912_193113 by Goran P, on Flickr Then, I figured I need a tool to cut the nut slot, which was already marked with 2 fret saw cuts, so I decided to make a chisel from a nail. Initial bend in a vice: 07-IMG_20180912_193530 by Goran P, on Flickr Flattened with a hammer, cold, should harden the mild steel some: 09-IMG_20180912_194257 by Goran P, on Flickr Cut the angle with saw, and cleaned the sides with a file: 10-IMG_20180912_195233 by Goran P, on Flickr Cherry offcut for a handle, angled: 11-IMG_20180912_203022 by Goran P, on Flickr Poor pics due to lightning, but polished the sole and the cutting angle: 12-IMG_20180912_203113 by Goran P, on Flickr 13-IMG_20180912_203156 by Goran P, on Flickr Some 5-min epoxy later: 14-IMG_20180912_204236 by Goran P, on Flickr 15-IMG_20180912_204249 by Goran P, on Flickr I almost finished it last night, whittling the handle, but I want to sand it some more and dip it in oil. Tried it out, and works great for purpose intended Will post pics, now to fit the nut.

Thanks! I did the logo by printing it out (Ink or Laser Jet), taping it over with clear tape and burnishing it for about 2 minutes. Then, cutting it to shape, and soaking in room temp water for about 5 mins. Use your fingers to rub off the paper and slide in place, get rid of the moisture with some tissues and let dry a bit. NOTE-I already had primer on. Then you just lacquer it over, lightly at first. Re: wood burning - No, just some discoloration that was already in that piece of wood.

Well, it's been a while! We went for a vacation, a bit more work started to come in (which is nice!), so I didn't really take many pics. The guitar is polished, I brushed on about 8 thin coats of waterbased clear with a lot of sanding in between and oiled the neck with true oil. The headstock was also lacquered with waterbased clear. Around 6th coat of clear I decided I'd like to have the guitar look a little bit aged, so I did a really light relicing in few places that would probably first show signs of wear. No dings&scratches, just some polished-trough-over-time details. I did ding the pickguard in 2-3 spots, around the pots. Also, overpolished the arm bevel, as it would happen with any well=played guitar over time. The cavities were shielded with tape, and I have yet to solder everything together. I'm missing the pickup height adjustment screws, so I have to order them, and also, had to reorder the 4l+2r tuners set, as it's supposed to be 4r+2r............. 1-IMG_20180909_172459 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180909_172603 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180909_172829 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20180909_172841 by Goran P, on Flickr

Just great!!! Please post other builds too!

Thanks! I hope it will sound good too. I'm really starting to like the colors I chose.

Getting closer! Used some homemade decals on primer, sanded back and reapplied. Fretboard was sanded to 1000, chamfered the fret slots, got the frets in (2.0mm), dressed them, polished it all with steel wool, cleaned, and protected from getting dirty with one coat of true oil. 1-IMG_20180728_162534 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180728_183113 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180728_210120 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20180728_210127 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20180728_210139 by Goran P, on Flickr I took my time with shaping the neck this time, no spokeshaves, just a 4-in-1 hand file, one facet at a time. Then switched to scraper a bit to refine the profile a bit nicer, and finally shaped with the newfretbpard sanding beam. It's long, so no dips, everything nice and smooth. Still some sanding to higher grits, but looks OK to me. I took the profile from my favorite tele, thicker C, a little like a U. 2-IMG-1e49b809b1373cd1bc13c7fd8dee9059-V by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG-9c4d67ccd7566db447dbf4262a7b308b-V by Goran P, on Flickr Starting to look like a guitar more and more 1-IMG-3d3b73e9fa3bacd7b6fd3f3a346dd29c-V by Goran P, on Flickr

Well, we had a nice day yesterday, so I managed to sand the primer and spray the color coats. I think I did 6, with some sanding after 4th. This stuff dries really fast, easily the fastest I've used ever. 1-IMG_20180725_175937 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180725_175950 by Goran P, on Flickr Then glued the dots, and leveled. 3-IMG_20180725_184204 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20180725_184743 by Goran P, on Flickr Between the coats, managed to cut the fret slots. I was worried that I've left to little space between the headstock-side cut and the beginning of the slope, and that it might cause some chipout when cutting, but it went without incident. 5-IMG_20180725_200630 by Goran P, on Flickr I got a new radius block in the far east, and I'm really satisfied with the quality of it. Sanded out the radius starting with 80 in a few mins. I'll go up to 1000, re-cut and chamfer the fret slots and start fretting. 6-IMG_20180725_211240 by Goran P, on Flickr And here;s the (partial) result: 7-IMG_20180725_214706 by Goran P, on Flickr 8-IMG_20180725_214732 by Goran P, on Flickr The RAL No. is 1014, looks nice to me, sort of a TV yellow Acero parana fretboard will get more yellow with true oil, I'm thinking about lacquering the headstock, and the back of the neck will also be true oil. Level sanding lightly tomorrow, and then some clear coats of the same system, brushed. Primer was used undiluted, as per instructions, but the clear coats need 5% water added. The only problem is finding some 4+2 tuners without excess cost now...

Back from the laser cutter! I think I overdid the holes a bit, but it might be OK as they yet need to be countersunk. If not, I'll call it a v.1 and cut another one. This stuff has nice texture I think, goes well with the cream pup covers. 1-IMG_20180725_120631 by Goran P, on Flickr

I could say that the Force runs strong in my family, but no...there's a nail in the tree, and the rifle has a hole in the "barrel" Made some dots from abs black binding, belt hole punches work great for this - I've used 6 and 2mm ones. 1-IMG_20180719_193001 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180719_194220 by Goran P, on Flickr Also, I should know better, but this seems fun for now - brushed 2 coats of waterbased sealer on, dried real quick, no smell. It says in the instructions that it can be sanded in 24h, so I might do some sanding and spray some color coats tonight. Color scheme changed yet again!!! I'm preparing to make a run to my laser guy too. 3-IMG_20180724_205652 by Goran P, on Flickr Tele went to be professionally finished by my friends brother, but that might take a while...

Time to start finishing the bodies! I still needed to drill all the holes, and also enlarge the 20mm hole on the MM to 25mm. I got a new forstner that cuts really good, it was a joy to work with I used a template to locate the jack hole location and drilled a 2.5mm pilot hole, then switched to forstner. 2-IMG_20180718_185525 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180718_190028 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20180718_190044 by Goran P, on Flickr I marked and drilled the neck screw holes from inside the pocket, just pilot holes for now, and cut the excess wood, rounded the edge and sanded. Just realized I forgot to take any pictures of that part... 5-IMG_20180718_193358 by Goran P, on Flickr I managed to redrill the jack hole on the MM without plugging it first by drilling a piece of mdf trough to use as a guide, which was fixed in place with 2 clamps and a wooden cube I was a bit worried, but it went really fine. 6-IMG_20180718_200729 by Goran P, on Flickr 7-IMG_20180718_200735 by Goran P, on Flickr 8-IMG_20180718_201056 by Goran P, on Flickr Last but not least, a rubberband henry I made for my nephew. He likes to visit, as he always goes to my shop and finds a wooden toy waiting He's only 4, so the moving parts will be added in due time. It's a one piece of pine, mostly hand carved, with some rattlecan finish. I like to spray a cloud of black in the end and sort of wave it trough, gives it a bit of realism I think. 1-IMG_20180715_153426 by Goran P, on Flickr So, the tele gets the butterscotch blonde finish, and the MM seafoam green. I was digging around some boxes in the shop and found a set of cream strat pickups I completely forgot I had!

Thanks Scott! The summer started early, and temperatures were between 30-40C for a month, and just now we had 2 weeks of heavy rains, with small sunny windows. The greenery likes it, but it's not that comfortable, especially for picking clothes for work etc... We live in the forest bordering with town Fruits were a little early this year, and my kids had a surprise swim in river Sava in the end of april I hope we will not pay for such nice weather later on ... I've definitely decided on surf green for the Albert Lee guitar, and the postman just brought in the bridge for it!

Finally, some real progress on the telecaster! Fixed the neck on the centerline with a clamp, made sure its ok, scored around it with scalpel, and fixed some mdf on double sided tape around it. Routed to around 8mm deep with the short bit, and then removed the mdf and finished the route to full depth, 21.5mm. I might make another pass, as the fretboard extension is not touching with the body, 0.5mm or so. 1-1 by Goran P, on Flickr Cut a strip of binding material, 7mm wide: 2-2 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-3 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-4 by Goran P, on Flickr Used a hairdryer for just a minute 5-6 by Goran P, on Flickr 6-5 by Goran P, on Flickr7-7 by Goran P, on Flickr 8-8 by Goran P, on Flickr Still need to scrape the sides some more, drill the holes, and prepare for finishing.

Glad you like it Andy It worked nicely the first time I made a 335-like guitar like this. I did laminate the sides piece by piece then, using NOS hardwood flooring I had on hand. That was a bit boring, and presented a number of problems in flattening such a irregular shape. This time, I went with clean laminated flat stock, so I expect no warping and it was much cleaner and quicker. It's been raining for a few days now, so I didn't do much of anything, but did manage to take care of a place for the pot in the side stock, basically just sanded it out, and sawed/chipped/sanded the center piece shoulders. Strategically placed mdf stick provided 0 degrees for sanding, and it worked easier than expected I plan to route the cutout portion under the bridge pup for slipping the electronics trough, and then I can start gluing up the pieces into the body. I'll probably sand out the round bottom portion of the central part using the same method as with the shoulders. 1-IMG_20180707_110456 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180707_113426 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180707_115146 by Goran P, on Flickr

Well, yesterday's session was all about the center block. My mdf template is about 1mm oversize to account for any router-connected events, and that was a correct decision. I've started with short bit, again small steps, 3mm, as the stock to be removed is both skinny and mostly runout grain, so it chips off easily. 1-IMG_20180704_184541 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180704_185743 by Goran P, on Flickr I've then removed the template to gain 8mm depth. I was trying to avoid using the long bit for as long as possible. 3-IMG_20180704_190426 by Goran P, on Flickr Then from the other side, first with template, then without, and had to switch to the long bit. 4-IMG_20180704_194453 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20180704_200256 by Goran P, on Flickr It worked fine, with some dips in few places, as the surface for the router is really narrow. Most of those will dissapear in carving and sanding to size. 6-IMG_20180704_204319 by Goran P, on Flickr 7-IMG_20180704_205329 by Goran P, on Flickr 8-IMG_20180704_205344 by Goran P, on Flickr Not cutting the shoulders was a trade-off, I needed that surface for the router bearing to ride on, but now I'll need more time to get them perpendicular. I might glue a shim to the block to level it while shaping on the oscilating sander. Next step would be to clean the surface more, cut the shoulders and the cutout in the block at the bridge pup and glue it all together. Must not forget to cut out a small space on the treble side where it would collide with the potentiometer later on. Also, I hope I'll get the telecaster into finishing booth by the end of the week! Still need to route the neck pocket and glue/trim the binding.

I hope he'll like both guitars, we did order premade necks for both, as that helps me to get both done in a reasonable amount of time. Last night I managed to plane both sides of the block clean, and made the mdf template. I screwed it onto the side using the centerline drawn all around, and will route the profile, probably tomorrow. I'll route it from both sides, I hope that the bit will be long enough, will plane/sand the rest of not. 3-IMG_20180702_210713 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180702_210700 by Goran P, on Flickr

Back to the telecaster for a while - postman brought the neck and the bridge we had ordered a while back, so I now can route the neck pocket and do the binding. 1-IMG_20180702_195544 by Goran P, on Flickr 4-IMG_20180702_212013 by Goran P, on Flickr 5-IMG_20180702_212022 by Goran P, on Flickr The neck seems to be really nice, just one chink in the lacquer on the fboard extension, and the nut requires some refinement. Will take care of both soon

I might have mentioned that my friend ordered a 335 type guitar along with the telecaster, constructed like mine. We agreed that he will supply the neck, and I'll take care of the body etc. So, here goes: 01-IMG_20180627_120533 by Goran P, on Flickr 1/2 of the plan printed to size, and glued over with tape, gives it some durability and thickness for tracing. 02-IMG_20180627_133903 by Goran P, on Flickr 03-IMG_20180628_173130 by Goran P, on Flickr 04-IMG_20180628_174146 by Goran P, on Flickr We bought some pine shelving, 18mm thick and laminated, so it should be dry and stable. I transfered my paper template to it and cut 4 pieces, one a bit nicer than the rest, and then fixed that one to another with 2 screws. 05-IMG_20180629_193117 by Goran P, on Flickr 06-IMG_20180629_201547 by Goran P, on Flickr Then shaped the two together on the sander, and glued them to the two other, rough cut ones. Accidentally, one tray for kitchen use was created 07-IMG_20180629_203737 by Goran P, on Flickr 08-IMG_20180630_111239 by Goran P, on Flickr 09-IMG_20180630_210131 by Goran P, on Flickr 1-IMG_20180701_104704 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180701_111336 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180701_114143 by Goran P, on Flickr Next, I routed the halves clean using the identical upper halves as templates, worked nice, and with no chipout 10-IMG_20180630_210459 by Goran P, on Flickr Picked a piece of cherry for the center block, and cut it to length. Today I've made and printed templates for shaping the center block, so that will be the next step. I'll make some mdf jigs to make things repeatable. Cheers, Goran

...and another small update: 4-IMG_20180701_121247 by Goran P, on Flickr Routed 1.5mm off the back, and sanded off another 0.5mm to final spec. I should start cutting the fret slots next. The parts ordered are starting to come in, and got a white PVC sheet to try for pickguard material.

Thanks a lot! I think I would definitely like a solid colour on this one, probably mint green... Also, in addition to the "bridge always on" switch, I'd like to add a phase switcher one for the middle pup: 3p2p2s MM by Goran P, on Flickr I'm hoping that this way that setting would be subtle and not get in the way of the "normal" settings that much. I'm starting to add the treble bleed regularly, seems a nice option. If I get a import switch, will have to re-draw the schematic a bit...

Didn't have much time yesterday, but according to the self-imposed policy to do at least something every day I slipped to the shop to drill the tuner holes. I should route about 1.5mm off the back to get the desired thickness of the headstock, while leaving enough to sand to spec. Also shaped the TR access some more with the rotary tool. 1-IMG_20180626_205253 by Goran P, on Flickr I'm having trouble with the colour scheme, neck will be natural, oil/wax, acero parana is yellowish so that will look OK to me, but what to do with the headstock and the body? I would like to use a decal this time, on a clear finished headstock, and for the body - either baby blue with mint green pickups and yellow cream pups, or mint green body with white pickguard and yellow cream pups? Even considered butterscotch blonde, but that's too tele I think...

Thanks Scott! I was actually considering turning it into a few bodies until the last moment, but I did need the bench, so it's safe...for now and I do love it feels so old and worn. I still have to finish the brass themed rotten-cherry topped guitar I've started a while back, that's definitely a disreputable material I kinda have a love/hate relationship with the headstock I've made for it, so I'm just watching it for now. I'll probably re-start it soon, and it is a bolt-on, so I can always swap the neck. The idea was to have a memorably ugly headstock that kinda clicks with the body, but I might have been too successful Did some sanding yesterday, planed the fretboard flat, there was a slight hump in one spot, and marked/scored the fret locations. I'll probably drill the tuner holes next, and do the final thicknessing from the opposite side. I'll have to be extra carefull, cause I didn't leave that much stock in front of the nut, so it could cause chipout. I might want to soak it with some CA beforehand... 1-IMG_20180625_211010 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180625_211023 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180625_211328 by Goran P, on Flickr

You've got steady hands, excellent work!!!

Cleaned on the spindle sander, and also sanded the transition. The fretboard is 7mm thick, so some thicknessing is to follow. Drawn the headstock shape on the back and just had to do a mockup Fits nicely, and the centerline is dead-on I think I might need to deepen the neck pocket a bit, and the final shape of it is still to be determined, I've since ordered a offset neck plate. 1-IMG_20180624_161534 by Goran P, on Flickr 2-IMG_20180624_161713 by Goran P, on Flickr 3-IMG_20180624_161824 by Goran P, on Flickr

Looks really nice! Could you explain your method a bit more? Is it freehand or you use some sort of a jig?