bluesy

Drill a hole through to the lower bushing of either the bridge or tailpiece. Put in the ground wire so some bare wire makes good contact with the bushing as you press it in. If the metal parts are painted, you may need to scrape a bit of paint off to get good electrical contact.

I have a small (10" or so) crowbar that I find is easier to use than a claw hammer. I used it to remove tailpiece bushings using your method, very successfully.

425 is actually about 17", but, if 18" is fine for 28" scale then I am reassured - thanks.

Yes I have a supply of the good quality blue masking tape. For the very narrow edge of the binding, it has been recommended to get the fine automotive detailing tape. If the blue tape is hard to apply, I'll get some of that as well. I note you recommend a clear coat. I was discussing this in another thread. It's another decision I need to make... Thanks for all the help.

Having built 2 necks, and now starting on my third, it may seem strange to ask now, but, I just purchased a truss rod that is shorter than my previous 2. I never took much notice of the actual length because I just asked for the right 2 way truss rod for an electric 25.5" scale neck. The first 2 I purchased were long. When I had the allen key adjustment poking out under the nut by a suitable amount, the other end was very close to the far end of the neck. Only 10 mm or so, of wood was left between the end on the channel and the heel of the neck. My new truss rod is much shorter - it is in fact 425mm long (and still sold as suitable for a electric guitar neck), but it is 40 or so millimetres from the heel end when positioned as above under the nut. Does it matter? Will the shorter rod still provide adequate adjustment of neck relief?

OK, thanks for the advice, it's as I expected - the paint has to be quite green. Masking the binding on the sides of the guitar is no trouble, but I expect masking of the thin edge on the top and bottom of the guitar is going to be a painful, or at least slow, process. Also, as my masked edge is the paint/binding join, I was plannning on not scraping or sanding the binding until after painting, so the paint may fill to the level of the binding, to some extent, assuming the binding is installed a little proud of the wood. It's going to be a learning experience, but it looks like I can recover from any early mistakes.

Well I have been known to sit down with the plate curves and find an optimum loadline and bias point for the tube, then to calculate the component values around it. What would be really original would be to invent a totally new circuit configuration that no-one's thought of before - like when someone invented the ultra-linear output stage, or a new type of phase splitter, or the long-tailed pair, differential input stage. It may be the case however, that most of the possible ways of doing it have already been found. Yes, it's a very mature technology.

Haven't found a source for micro-mesh pads here in Australia. Do Bunnings sell them? I need to look a bit harder.

I am thinking that most automotive "touch-up" paints in rattle cans, are intended to be used without a clear coat over the top. My test piece now has a good thickness of just such a paint. I will let it cure for a day or so, and see how it comes up with some sanding/polishing.

I guess I only mentioned waxing from the point of view of maximising the gloss, if gloss was what was desired, as compared to a full-gloss clear finish as the alternative. Anyway, I need to consider if I really want clear over the top for myself then. Maybe just a nice thick colour layer would be good. Thanks for the info.

As I mentioned in my other recent post, I am going to use white acrylic (automotive paint). I as wondering if people ALWAYS use a clear coat, or are alternatives possible, such as sanding, polishing, and maybe, waxing the white colour coat?

I have not sprayed a guitar before, but I will be spraying my current build with white acrylic, and it will have black bindings. So, I plan to mask the bindings as well as I can, and scrape them for neatness later if necessary. I will be spraying multiple coats as recommended, starting with undercoat/primer then white colour coats. My question is about removing the masking tape. Somewhere I have read that there is a best time to remove the masking, and it's before the paint is fully dry. If this is correct, how do I do that, given the multiple coats and the time periods between them? Surely I don't have to remove the masking and remask it between each coat, or do I?

These do too (at least the bridge pickup does - can't see inside the lipstick). They have made some effort to be very original it would seem. I think I might keep them original, as has been suggested, but I may add an earth wire, quite separate, to ground the metal cover on the lipstick pickup (in the same way as there is a ground wire to the bridge.

A file is quite narrow, so as you move it backwards and forwards up and down the neck, and slowly move it side to side as you do it, it follows the fret radius. In a way, it's the same as how you can use a flat wood rasp to create a curved neck, just keep it in motion so it doesn't create a flat in any one spot.

I just got a set of Gotoh TL-Classic Tele pickups, and was surprised to find that the wires from the pickups were separate cloth covered wires, with no shielding. Is this an attempt to keep them authentic, i.e. is that how Fender originally made and wired Telecasters? Anyway, should I rewire them with twin core shielded wire? Or I should I just wrap them with aluminium foil tape and add an earth wire (so I can ground the chrome lipstick cover on the neck pickup and the metal backing plate on the bridge pickup)?

You really can't do it like that. For example, you can't measure the resistance of the volume pot, because it is shorted by the wire you put in place of the pickup. For a simple circuit like this, you are really better off checking it visually, then plugging it in and trying it. There's no risk of blowing anything up. You can test it before you assemble it all into the guitar as well as there's no dangerous voltages involved, just leave it all on the bench and connect it to an amp.

I made the decision this morning. It will be traditional. I am going with ... - white body - black binding - m'o'pearl pickguard (pearl/white/black 3 ply -- that one in the picture is an old one off my japanese tele copy) - single coil lipstick neck pickup - single coil angled bridge pickup - chrome hardware - headstock similar, but not identical, to orig. tele shape I nearly went for a tortoiseshell pickguard, but when I found out I could get a m'o'pearl one with 3 ply with black as the backing, I decided that would nicely 'outline' the pickguard. Looking at plenty of pictures, especially on the tele forum as pete said, made it easier to choose.

I had that thought when I decided to do one.... Yes, this end of the wood is not as nice as the one I already used. Besides, I don't have a solid painted guitar - can you believe that? They're all done in semi-transparent - time for something different. I must take a look and see what the tele forum had to say. That's why I am shying away from doing it. Maybe just a basic Tele shape, but alter the curve a bit to make it my own. A nine string? That would be different I have an old Japanese tele copy that I used to play a lot. Actually, it suited my style of playing well. I never use a trem anyway - hate the things. I always use my left hand to alter the pitch. So a fixed bridge suits me fine, and hence I preferred the Tele to a Strat. I often use the "lipstick" to get a nice soft, almost jazzy sound, and like to flick back to the bridge when I need some bight. I also want this to be single coil since my last build used humbuckers. Just to keep up the variety.

When I bought that New Guinea Rosewood for my previos 335 style build, I had to buy enough for 2 guitars, so I have started a new build. This time, my favourite Fender style - a Telecaster. I have cutout, routed to size, and sanded the basic body. The pic shows it with some typical hardware positioned. Right now I am trying to decide on the rest of the details. So far... - must have binding on the body - traditional "lipstick" neck pickup, and single coil angled bridge pickup - old style ashtray bridge with 3 saddles (as shown in pic) - Queensland Maple neck - Rosewood fingerboard Haven't settled on colour, leaning towards cherry with cream bindings and M'o'Pearl pickguard. Alternatives are natural (but I just did one like that), or white with black binding and tortoiseshell pickguard. Also, should I stick with a psuedo-fender shaped 6 in-line headstock, or break away completely with something unique (even an angled headstock with 3 a side tuners)?

Not bad actually. It has that very acoustic sound that you get from a large full-hollow jazz guitar. I was going to try to fit one of those thin neck mounting humbuckers that you can buy for jazz guitars, but there wasn't enough clearance, hence I hacked in the single coil (there is barely room between the braces to fit it btw), and at least it eliminates those three weird holes. I don't know much about fancy tuning arrangements, but I would think it would be easier to leave the string in a fixed tailpiece, tune it to the lowest note you wanted, then have a mechanism that pressed the string down vertically at a point midway between the tailpiece and the bridge. Mechanical advantage will make it easier to make a mechanism that's strong and accurate enough.

Just the single coil. These guitars are super cheap from ebay, brand new. Made in Asia, and you can get them for well under $100, I think I paid about $50 for mine. Not worth spending big money on them, but fun to experiment with. I had to play with the neck angle to get mine playable, but the frets are fairly level and don't buzz.

Hey, I have one of those. I hacked a single coil pickup into it to see how it would sound. I managed to set the original neck up so it is very playable - just a bit thick, as you said.

I just started a new build - a Tele style guitar, and immediately broke 2 jigsaw blades trying to cut the 45mm thick body shape. So I went down to the hardware store for blades. However, I also looked at the new power jigsaws because mine is over 30 years old, and is making some nasty sounds I was surprised at what was on offer, especially a 'new' feature called "pendulum action" and "orbital". Instead of just reciprocating the blade up and down like my old one, it moves it forwards and backwards "pendulum" style. Also a big 750 watt motor version was still quite cheap. So I bought it. Well, WHAT a difference. It slices through the 45mm slab like butter. As an experiment, I tried the various settings for more or less "pendulum" action. On zero, it struggles, just like my old jigsaw, but the more action you give it, the faster it shoots through the hardwood. The downside is that I have much less justification for buying a bandsaw later

I purchased a 'proper' fret levelling file. It is a 6 inch long, single cut, very coarse, file (and of course it is flat). The coarse single cut grooves in the file almost "shave" the frets. I was worried at first because it is very different to wearing them away with sandpaper, but it is very controllable. It is also quite easy, just pass it lightly over the frets and it does it's job smoothly. I was practicing on a neck with some badly damaged frets (from a file that slipped when bevelling the ends) and it cleaned them up with minimal effort.

What you are doing is known as tube "rolling". The one that is best depends on a lot of things, not least, your own preferences. Also, it depends on how the tube's foibles interact with the rest of the amp and speaker et al. Cheap Chinese tubes have at times had a bad reputation for reliability, but not always, and I believe they are getting better all the time. If you like that particular tube, be happy !