ShatnersBassoon

7 hours ago, ScottR said:

You should be able to adjust those saddles to the 16" radius without any problem. Much easier than a standard tele radius in fact.

SR

Cheers

I would be very interested in hearing about experiences drying wood from folks on here. The idea of chopping down a tree and using it for a guitar is very appealing to me. Ofcourse, I am aware that this can be a very lengthy process if the wood is not chopped up a certain amount. I’ve read all sorts of stuff on how to do it, including kitty litter  I actually have a Eucalyptus tree that I chopped down in the back garden that would be awesome to use. 

Some really fantastic stuff, loving these entries, that Telecaster is lovely! Acoustic clinches it for me though! 

Slight quandary, the fingerboard radius is going to be 16. I’m not sure what radius the saddles are on the bridge that I bought but I suspect it is designed for the standard Telecaster radius...will this be an issue? Will it defeat the purpose of the 16 radius? I got this by the way - 

https://www.amazon.ca/Wilkinson-WTB-Electric-Guitar-Bridge/dp/B06XDRHYVW

1 hour ago, ScottR said:

Possibly. UV light and oxidation are generally the two main causes. That may limit your ability to put any additional finish over it though.

SR

I may well go down this route, just watched a video and it seems that preserving the colour might be doable. 

4 hours ago, ScottR said:

That's the first thing I thought when first looking at that initial picture as well. And bright orange sawdust does give it away. Bubinga's dust is more brown. Likewise your report of easyish sanding points more towards padauk than bubinga as well. Padauk is heavy enough, but a bit lighter than bubinga and hard but again not as hard as bubinga. It is a great guitar wood, but unfortunately will turn to brown over time.

SR

I suppose time will tell! Just a thought but...  https://www.osmouk.com/sitechaptern.cfm?bookid=Products&chapter=82&page=262

Could this be a consideration? 

Interestingly, I’ve noticed that Padauk looks very similiar? It also apparently has the bright orange sawdust that I have noticed during this build.

But of an update, I’m down to 7.7 pounds at the moment...still in the process of routing out the back but not far off being finished on that front.  Anyway here’s a pic, will add more as I progress. Haven’t done recesses etc yet and still in the roughed out stage. I’ve bought a Bubinga neck blank and also a Wenge one. Will use which ever one turns out the best! The pictures show a roughed out stage too hah...any untidiness evident in the photo is because I massacred the template recently and had to patch it up. 

By the way, thanks everyone for all of the help with the Les Paul build! It really didn’t turn out as I had hoped but I have viewed the experience as part of a learning curve.

I like both with the scratchplate and without...marginally more with. It’s a bit six and two threes though! 

It does help  Thanks for taking the time there, much appreciated! Funnily enough I made a bit of a mess of a template recently and had to patch it all up. As an aside I have been using very cheap router bits, I have noticed that many think this is not the way to go and that the cheap ones are generally junk. Is this because the cut is not as smooth? Or do they break?

No problem I appreciate all of the advice! 

Cheers man! Yes I did some research a while back on Tele thickness and I think the thinnest I saw was 38. The deepest route on the guitar will be 30mm (for the control cavity). 

Thanks for the detailed reply! It’s actually 50mm at the moment. I figure that once all the sanding etc is done it should be down to about 48 mm, which I believe is at the upper end of Telecaster thickness. It certainly doesn’t have to be a slavish Tele design though!

Hollowing out the back does appeal to me to an extent, that way it can as you say be a Thinline of sorts. Could even do an f hole. The only thing I need to find out there is how to do an accurate recess for the ‘control plates’, my previous attempt at that left a lot to be desired. I would want to use nice wood for the covers I think, cheap plastic would certainly detract from the look. 

So I have cut out the wood on a bandsaw (Tele design) and the weight is...12.2 lbs. ofcourse this is before any routing, but still...

I have been thinking of various ways of reducing the weight, including making it a fairly pronounced carved top (keeping the centre section where all the hardware is flat). Also a belly cut.   I was thinking of a Thinline initially but it’s a pity to hide that lovely wood. Not out of the question though. 

2 minutes ago, Andyjr1515 said:

Give me a nod when you get to that stage and I'll run you through with it.  Basically, you create a slurry of bubinga dust by sanding with wet n dry sanded wet with the truoil itself. This fills the pores with bubinga coloured oil.

Thanks man, I was going to ask if that’s how you did it, ive seen a few videos where people have used that technique 

Cool, I may do it the same way then! It’s good to know that you don’t necessarily need grain fill! 

Cool, I may do it the same way then! It’s good to know that you don’t necessarily need grain fill! 

Lovely work! I would love to try a fretless. Did you oil and/or wax it? I have a number of ideas for finishing the wood and oil is one of them.  

I have just smoothed over the join after glueing the two blanks together. Interestingly it took very little time to sand plush, literally about 10 minutes...with very little dust. Time will tell how the rest of the wood fares during the build. 

Yes it was my first guitar that I reckoned was a step up above from the Squier. Interestingly, it has those magnets on the back of the pickups! Maybe it was a partscaster all along? It always played well but to be honest my Squier sounded better, and it was made of ply! (I know because I dented the finish one day and it showed through). I was young and silly and thinking that the ply element automatically made it a bad instrument, I gave the guitar to some kid. Years later he brought the guitar along to my house and I was amazed at how awesome it sounded.

I would love to be able to keep the rich reddish hue, however I believe that the colour darkens with age? I suppose if I lacquer it that will help? Maybe? 

37 minutes ago, ScottR said:

Bubinga is very hard too. I'm betting your pieces are as well?

SR

Yes, very heavy too. I was given this because a friend of mine has a planer and he put in some wood I have bought recently and it got torn up in to pieces. It was a piece of 'Golden Phoebe' that I got from China. I was going to use it as a cap/droptop for a Tele Thinline build. It was very dry and brittle...accidents happen. He just offered me some wood in exchange

7 minutes ago, ScottR said:

It looks very much like bubinga to me too. On the other hand there are plenty of woods out there that look similar to bubinga in certain cases. One thing about bubinga is that it is maybe the most difficult wood to sand that I've run across. That would not be a conclusive test, but it would be a clue if that is the case with those pieces. In the meantime, here is a bunch of info and examples to compare it with.

http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/bubinga.htm

That site will also have examples of pretty much everything else it could be.

SR

Thanks, the close up on the first photo certainly has similarities with my pieces. I will update on the sanding aspect. Either way, I love the look of it! It was a darkish brown before it was planed. 

Move over rover...and let Jimi take over! 

Lovely flames there...I just tried to plane some flamed/quilted wood...well a friend did in a planer...and it got shredded in to pieces

That’s a very tasteful collection, a bit of bling but nothing too over the top. Classy!

I have a Mexican Strat that has a massacred body that is the result of me trying to take off the thick poly...I tried to burn it off years ago  I may take the neck off it to use in a current Tele build...haven’t decided yet.