genbloke

I kinda agree with sambo, trans blue with a black burst and natural binding would look awesome genbloke

Looks good cyclone To me the heel contour looks very nice except where it meets the body, to me it doesn't flow too well. How about contouring it so it follows the horns like this? >contour genbloke

tskullt-pm sent, I don't won't to hijack this thread. genbloke

I personally don't like Ovations, I don't get along with the bowl back designs (they seem to rock around alot when I play one) and the sound don't seem 'woody' enough to me, BUT the piezo type sound they produce seem to cut through the mix better than a lot of other acoustics genbloke

thedoctor- yeah, I've no intention on movving it. It is in an awkward position but it isn't bad enough for me to fix it. idch-I have problems with knocking the pickup selector on std teles too hence building this one, welll I almost solved the problem! I'll know better on my next project. genbloke

OK I'll go first, The volume knob is a bit to far forward (the one next to the bridge pickup) so i bang my hand on it sometimes, a rib contour would've be nice too. Other than that I'm quite happy with it my tele genbloke

Simo, exchange rate is quite good at the moment, it still might be worth shipping from the states depending on your budget. You could get your neck and some hardware (pickups bridges etc are generally a lot cheaper in the states) from the same place and only get stung once on the P+P genbloke

looking nice RGGR. Is that paint on the surface? I'm only asking 'cos it looks like your using a 'guide coat' to see where you've sanded (a car repair technique to see where the 'high spots' are when filling a dent) genbloke

Hi guys, I've recently completed my tele project which has magnetic pickups and a piezo pick up. Output from the guitar is via a stereo jack which I've wired as below: wiring To switch between the pickup types I thought of wiring a switch in a stomp box so that both pickups connect to the output of the stomp box but one of the pickups will always be shorted to earth, kinda like a kill switch, switch box What do you this? Will it work, is this the best way to wire it up to prevent popping when changing over? thanks genbloke

welcome i-j-c good to see another brit What do you plan to build, design/woods/finish? genbloke

Alexander, Bathink was saying that you can go to an auto paints dealer, do a search on the net or look in the local yellow pages. Some places can custom mix a colour for you, then stick it in a spray can. I've paid about £7-8 in the past for this. The paint is normally a lot better quality than Halfords acrylic stuff and the spray nozzles are normally very good too (they give a fan type spray pattern rather than the usual 'splodge'). genbloke

Drak, I love the way how you cut out the cavity covers, very impressive. I'm just curious, what was the reasoning behind CA'ing the interior? genbloke

AcousticSmash, There isn't a headstock angle on a standard strat neck genbloke

More pics posted below. Everything is almost complete, just the cavity covers and a proper set up to sort out . contoured heal another pic genbloke

To me the first one is best, the 'angular' appearence matches the look of the rest of the guitar. If you want the 'BOCASTER' logo on the guitar, I rekon it'll look better without the letters following a curve, again this will go with the whole stright lines look. All IMHO of course. genbloke

Latest update: most of the guitar is put together, just a couple of pots (on the piezo side of the guitar) and the output jack to wire up, then the cavity covers and the control knobs to install. I'll have to increase the resistor on the power indicator LED 'coz it is currently WAY too bright! I accidently drill through to the face when installing the neck pickup, aaaggghhh! It's not too bad but I know it's there . But overall I'm quite pleased on how it's turning out. genbloke ps sorry for the low quality photos, the hosting site won't less images greater than 120kb in size.

Setch, I love your recessing technique , I need to recess one of my controls fron inside the cavity. Now I know how to do it, ta genbloke

Hey Drak, That route near the bridge pickup is actual for the peizo pickups under the HARD TAIL bridge (although at a glance it does look like a trem cavity!)- so nothing to worry about there . Combining a wammy with a tele isn't my cup of tea either. I did think about using tru-oil but the "OIL" part of the name really put me off! I've sprayed car panels in the past and the worst enemy for bad adhesion were oil or wax. I've never been a fan of using disimilar finishes together. I trust your judgement so I'll try it out on my next poject if it's going to be another natural finish guitar genbloke

I'm not normally a fan of pointy guitars but I like this one, it's looking good! genbloke

Beef, routing isn't that tricky if you use a templates and a cutter with a top bearing. I've never used a router before making my tele and picked it up quite quickly. This will give you much cleaner results. Good choice of instrument BTW! genbloke

Beef (?), cheers. Got some more work done last couple of days. 1. Routed out for the magnetic pickups and the peizo pickups. The piezos are going to be bonded to the base of the bridge and run through a tone control/preamp. This is quite experimental so I'm not sure how this will turn out. 2. Drilled out the holes for the controls and a (blue) power on LED and made the recesses using a cove cutter in a drill. I got a bit of tearout doing this but most of it should sand out to a reasonable level. 3. Grain filled the ash with epoxy then sanded back. I applied sanding sealer to both the ash and the maple (I know maple doesn't need this but the sealer seemed to bring out the flame very well!) My next job is to route out the recesses for the cavity covers to sit on. I'm going to use brass plates for the covers for improved RF screening and add back a bit of strength that I lost by rear routing the neck pickup . My brother can get them nickel plated for me so they should look OK. to finish of I'll sand back to a high gloss (hopefully this will helf to 'pop' the flame more) then the final finish will be satin lacquer. There will be no staining, I'm aiming for a natural appearance. genbloke

sweeet! genbloke

Go to a sheet plastics or glazing place (look in your local telephone directory) You might be able to find some offcuts that they want to throw out. You might be able to get the peices for free or next to nothing. genbloke

The battery compartment hole was dead easy. This is how I did it: 1. Route out the "back" of the hole before glueing the maple cap on (see the pic at the beginning of this thread). Then I marked on the side of the guitar where to cut the hole once the cap is glued on. 2. Drill a large hole in the side using a forstner bit. 3. Open up the hole using one of those little drum sanders and a cutting disk in a dremel. 3. Square off the hole using a large file. Job done! genbloke

Thanks Drak, I've done the Pickup routes today, drill holes for the controls and recessed them. (I'll post some pics when I can) I'm not that far off finishing it now, Wahoo, can't wait!! genbloke ps Drak, your tele projects are really inspiring, very impressive