2010 TDPRI $210 Challenge - TeleSitar

[sean79]

This is a pretty weird project - I've never seen anything like it (of course, there's a lot I haven't seen). Very cool idea. I'm not yet sure what all it will do - not familiar with a sympathetic neck - but I have some ideas. Looks great so far. Can't wait to see/hear the finished product.

[jimdkc]

I can hardly wait to hear this thing! Should have western and eastern twang!

Jim

[BigDaddyLH]

Doing some image googling I can across this sitar-caster/tele-sitar:



... but I think your idea of a neck for the sympathetic strings is cooler!

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by sean79

This is a pretty weird project - I've never seen anything like it (of course, there's a lot I haven't seen). Very cool idea. I'm not yet sure what all it will do - not familiar with a sympathetic neck - but I have some ideas. Looks great so far. Can't wait to see/hear the finished product.

Thanks for checking this out Sean. I like weird. :)

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by jimdkc

I can hardly wait to hear this thing! Should have western and eastern twang!

Jim

Hey Jim - perhaps it's a universal twang... Thanks for checking it out - I'm looking forward to hearing this myself!

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by BigDaddyLH

Doing some image googling I can across this sitar-caster/tele-sitar:



... but I think your idea of a neck for the sympathetic strings is cooler!

Wow Big Daddy - that looks cool! I've not seen that one before, but I would imagine it would be hard to not be muting the sympathetic strings all the time - You really want them to be free to ring out constantly and it looks like (without "protection") one's arm would be muting the symp strings a lot. It even looks a bit, dare I say, relic'ed.

Thanks for checking out my build.

[RocknDrTom]

Back to the build. I used up the last of my tube of Duco Cement on the front binding. It just made it around. I squeeze the glue into the groove, then bend and shape the black PVC binding into the groove, and tape it in place. Here's the beginning:


Once I started, I got glue all over my fingers and didn't really want to delay the application, so I continued till I finished, cleaned my hands, and snapped another picture. The top is completely bound.


After that set for a day, I removed the tape:


A bit of cleanup needed, and expected. Next I "rushed a bit" and routed the channel for the binding on the back:


A bit of a waste of time, because I should have sanded the back first. Once it's sanded, it shortens the area for the binding a bit and I had to reroute it once again. Here's the back after sanding it again and leveling the wood filler:

That looks better.

Next, since the back is a very soft wood I gave the back a wash coat of amber stain:


Then sealed it with a coat of shellac, which completely soaked into the wood. Once it was dry, I rerouted the edge for the binding. And like the top, there are tight curve areas that still have to be trimmed by hand.


Since I didn't have any more Duco Cement, I started to level the top binding. Here's I'm suing a file to move quickly through it. Then I'll sand it, and probably scrape a smooth edge on it.


The search for Duco Cement, which I thought was a common household glue, took over 3 hours and 7 stores until I found it. NO other glue works as well. But I got it, and I'm ready to continue with gluing the back binding next.

[Leigh]

Universal twang sounds cool. Looking forward to hearing this too.

How thick is the body?

[CJFearn]

It's lookin' more beautiful by the minute DrTom! An "A" for workmanship too! You might need to change your name to "AmazingDrTom"!

[RocknDrTom]

I had a break, so I continued. I used the new tube of Duco cement and what a difference! Much better than my 10 year old tube. :)

I started the binding on the back channel, and it practically stuck without needing the tape.


I was able to use a single piece of PVC binding all around the back of the body. Here I cut off the excess.


And the back is now bound. And I have glue all over my fingers.


I still have to add binding between the two necks, and the flat section of the heel, but I'll do that when this is dry.

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by Leigh

Universal twang sounds cool. Looking forward to hearing this too.

How thick is the body?

HI Leigh! I wasn't so sure myself, so I just measured it. It's just a hair under 2 1/4 inches. Nothing like a fat and chunky body every now and then.

To my friends in Europe, the conversion is like 570 millimeters. Always willing to help.

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by CJFearn

It's lookin' more beautiful by the minute DrTom! An "A" for workmanship too! You might need to change your name to "AmazingDrTom"!

Thanks for the kind words, though I am too humble to be amazing. I'm happy with just rockin'

[kwerk]

Originally Posted by RocknDrTom

HI Leigh! I wasn't so sure myself, so I just measured it. It's just a hair under 2 1/4 inches. Nothing like a fat and chunky body every now and then.

To my friends in Europe, the conversion is like 570 millimeters. Always willing to help.

ah, that will be 57mm! 570mm is around 22.5"!

[jimdkc]

See... That's the problem with metric! "Factor of 10" errors!

LOL!

Jim

[RocknDrTom]

Originally Posted by kwerk

ah, that will be 57mm! 570mm is around 22.5"!

HA! I know. I was just seeing if anyone was really paying attention. Yeah that's it. ;)

[RocknDrTom]

I removed the tape from the back binding:


But I was not finished with binding just yet. I added the curve between the two necks:


Trimmed it, and added the two flat ones that go behind each neck:


I trimmed up the curve piece on the front:


Then discovered that the curved piece on the front was a bit troublesome (since I used the old glue on it), so I removed it, cleaned up the channel, and reglued it - this time with a little extra help holding it in place.

All the glue on the top will be sanded off later, so I'm not worrying about the messiness.

Once the binding is dry, I can start scraping the edges.
Here's a "posed" shot of using the scraper. Typically, I hold it with two hands.


And a close up of an area that has been scraped flush with the side wood (still rough though).

[RocknDrTom]

Most of the weekend was spent cutting grass. It's amazing that when I started this project, it was a blizzard. Now, lawn care is cutting (no pun intended) into my time.

So for the few moments I had free, I continued. Testing the tuners on the neck, I found that the holes were too small, so they had to be drilled out larger.


I mounted the tuners, lined them up, marked them, then spun them out of the way to drill the mounting screws on the back of the neck:


Mounting screws installed and tighten up on front.


I used an old neck plate (from Dimarzio!) as a template for hole placement. Marked the holes for drilling in both neck pockets.

I took it to the drill press for drilling. Here's the holes drilled.

Then I clamped the neck to the body and lined it up


And drilled the neck using the drill holes in the body as a guide. Notice a piece of tape on the drill bit as a marker so I don't drill too deep.


And here's the neck attached to the body - the camera angle makes it look really crooked, but it's not.

[jimdkc]

Looks like the same tuners I'm using!

Jim

[RocknDrTom]

I just happened to have found them in a box in storage. Cool coincidence, huh?

[RocknDrTom]

We've reached that point in the show where it's time for "audience participation"!

I have three possible options for what's next, and thought I'd get input from others. Here they are:
OPTION 1:

With OPTION 1, I would use mounting rings for all three pickups. I have to fabricate a mounting ring for the single coil. This looks the least like a Tele, but allows the most of the cedar to show. I will be making a custom bridge and tailpiece for each neck.

OPTION 2:

Option 2 is similar to Option 1, but uses the more standard tele bridge/pickup mount. However, I will have to completely rework the saddles on this, and it still requires an additional tailpiece.


OPTION 3:

This would look the most like a tele. The pickguard will actually continue over to the single coil pickup on the sympathetic neck, and curve around (much like the Merle Haggard Tuff Dog one). This option covers a lot of the cedar. Like option 2, it requires a reworking of the tele bridge piece as well.

Any thoughts? I'll wait for one week and go with the option that has the highest votes. In the meantime, I'll be sanding and finishing the body, and working on bridges.