govtmule

Getting pretty close to finishing time. It'll be black gloss niro. Put together a dry fit tonight. Changed the pickup configuration to just a straight foward tele bridge pup and a simple pickguard. First attempt at making my own pickguard. It could have turned out better but it'll work.

I'm still making mistakes and learning a lot trying to recover from them but I feel like my build quality is getting a little better. Thanks to all on this forum for all the help.

Any opinions on the volume and tone knob on the pickguard ? My plan was to install the jack in the face of the pickguard below the tone knob. But I'm not sure I like the two knobs that high on the pickguard. I'm thinking about moving the volume and tone knobs down to the lower part of the pickguard and then installing the jack in the side like a normal tele. Any opinions ?

Lookin' great!

Thanks....funny, I actually bought the Jazzmaster routing templates from you many moons ago I believe.

Frets and side dots in...

Wood Bits:

Alder Jazzmaster body

Bolt-on maple neck

25.5" scale Pau Ferro fretboard

CBS strat headstock

Non-Wood Bits:

22 stainless steel frets

Zero fret

Sperzel Trim-Lok tuners

Spoke truss rod

Joe Barden Tele bridge

6 Way toggle switch

Tele bridge pup

Strat middle pup

P90 neck pup

I've had good luck with golf club grip tape. It's 2" wide and it holds very well. Too well sometimes. I put it on my shirt first to take some of the tack down.

And it's cheaper than the stuff from SM and the like. I got a 36 yard roll at a sporting goods store for less than 10 and SM sells what looks like the exact same thing for just shy of 20.

I vote for door #2.

I'm either brave, stupid, or both.

One of the inlays was cut about 1/16" too deep. Considering the router got set once and all the rest were fine, your guess is as good as mine as to how. Then end result was that instead of sitting a hair proud, it was a hair recessed. Well THAT won't do.

So I took it to my jointer. I set it for 1/128"-1/64" or so and prayed that I wasn't about to fook the whole thing up. I was about to be either brilliant or an idiot - no middle ground.

Thank God it worked. It took 8 passes to get it there, but it all came out perfect. There's no way in he11 I'd try that with shell, but the plastic shaved off so thin it's almost transparent.

Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good.

It's nice when those moments that make your ass pucker work out huh ? Nice !

Check out this ebay store too. They resaw (up to four cuts) for free down to a finished thickness of 1/4" including bookmatching. Prices are pretty good too.

http://stores.ebay.com/Woodbay-Company/Map...d=p4634.c0.m322

Alright, I haven't been contributing for awhile. Life has a way of taking up your time. Let's see: we had a flood in our basement from the tropical storm, we're still ripping up carpeting, throwing stuff out, etc., I did get the band saw in Sept., the car has been crapping out; I've been collecting stone for a wall, my daughter started middle school and is not adjusting well, the plane just went through its annual inspection, blah blah blah.

Anyway, I've been on the Sawmill Creek site a lot as I came upon an 8" Grizzly jointer, 220v 2hp with a helix cutter in mint condition for $400!!! on CL. I called the seller about 15 or 20 min after it was posted. Anyway, my buddy Tony (I get him into all sorts of adventures like the airplanes) and I took his pickup to Milford Pa. (about an hour and 10 min. or so drive from here) picked it up - well not that easily- it does weigh about 400 lbs- I should say hoisted it into the pickup and brought it home. Fortunately, it came with a mobile base. It's now in the garage and I need to make a 220v extension chord as I only have one 220 line right now. Can't wait to use it. I can see raw wood turning into guitar necks and bodies!

Of course deer season opens next Saturday so it won't be happening real soon.

Awesome...good find !

After I put the neck in place and really looked at the neck and body together, the whole thing looked pretty unbalanced to me. Too much body meat on the bass side of the neck. After I get it all finished up we'll see, but right now I don't see myself playing it much.

See what I mean ?

Overall, the neck turned out better than I expected and the body a lot worse than I had hoped. I'll give it some time to be sure but I'll probably come back later and strip it for parts.

Any opinions on that ? If you were pretty sure that you were likely to come back and tear a guitar apart for parts, would you finish it to see a project through to the end ?

I stared at this thing for a while trying to decide whether to sand it all back and redye or just shoot black lacquer on it to cover it all up.

I actually started to kinda like how it looks. It sorta looks like a burned finish. It sure isn't what I was shooting for and sure isn't a quality finish but I actually kinda like it. So just for the heck of it I through on some Tru-oil to see what it would look like under some finish.

Now the "fun" starts.

I really don't want to post these next pictures but I'm hoping that I can get some good advice from this group and learn something from this failed attempt.

My finishing idea was to amber up the cherry top and then with water based aniline dyes do a rubbed tobacco type burst. Black on the edges, fading to brown, fading to the amber as you get closer to the center. Leaving the back black.

Here's how it worked out........

Wetting the body to accept the dye better:

Dying the cherry top amber:

Now the crappy attempt at a brown burst:

At this point I sanded back the brown a bit to try and get more of a consistant edge. I also thought this would help with some of the blotchyness. It didn't unfortunately. I sanded more of it back and re-dyed it a bit but still didn't get too good of resuts.

After doing some poking around in the internet, it seems like I may have applied the stain too wet. Others reported having this blotchy issue with cherry and maple when applying too wet. But I wasn't able to find any pictures to be sure, just posts on message boards.

Side dots and neck with body.

Neck complete...

Pretty tight fit

Hey toddler...looking good so far !

I was wondering how you square off your neck pocket corners. Chisel ? Drill press w/mortise bit ? They look really sharp.

Thanks.

SOLD.....thanks.

Stock photo.

In great shape. Only used once or twice on a few frets.

$30 shipped anywhere in the US.

$25 plus actual shipping outside US.

I have a laser cut Jazzmaster template on 1/4" hard board. If anyone wants to trade template set for template set even up we can just swap.

The Jazzmaster set is three pieces:

Body with electronics cavities

Neck and headstock

Neck pocket and pickup cavities

Looking to trade for similar template set for another guitar model. Most interested in Firebird or SG but really would consider about anything. Shoot me a message with any offers.

Thanks,

Steve

Awesome !! Love it !!

That is a great shape, do you have a colour and finish in mind at this stage?

Thanks Muzz, no solid plans for the finish yet. I'm thinking simple. Maybe some shellac to amber it up and then tru-oil.

Have a suggestion ?

Some recent progress made on this one....

Routed for the electronics and truss rod

And the rear electronics cavity

Would you consider just selling it? If so I might be interested for the right price.

The Safe-T-Planer has found a new home.

Thanks sdshirtman !

Would you consider just selling it? If so I might be interested for the right price.

Sure, I'd sell it. I'll send you a PM.

I would be interested in trade, but it would have to be for Custom Hand Engraved parts for a guitar or banjo. You suplly the parts - I engrave them. Check out the parts I've done for "Cooperative Project" on the TDPRI.com telecaster forum. ou'd have something you cannot buy elsewhere. Guaranteed. And I could get a tool I cannot afford otherwise.. Let me know.

Hey mg,

Those custom hand engraved parts look pretty awesome ! Sorry though, it's not really what I'm looking for right now. I'll keep you in mind on future builds though. It would be cool to personalize some parts.

Thanks,

Steve

I have a Wagner Safe-T-Planer that I've only used a few times. It's still in great shape but is sitting in the tool chest.

I'm looking to trade it for guitar parts or tools. Anyone interested ?

Things that I would be most interested in:

• Pickups
  
• Body and Neck Template sets
  
• Fret Levers
  
• Metal Radius Blocks
  
• Fret Press
  
• Pickup Winder
  

Obviously some of those things could be worth more than the Safe-T-Planer but we could discuss what else I could throw in to make it an even trade.

Thanks,

Steve