flatfive's 2011 TDPRI Build Challenge Thread

[flatfive]

Hi all! Wow -- I wasn't watching carefully and all of a sudden there's
a million build threads. I feel an imposter among the many here whose
work and character I greatly respect.

I have no chance of winning but the tight time frame is going
to force me to work fast. Being my first neck build it will be tough
to meet the deadline.

My goal is to build a $250 "luxe-caster" -- a tele that is beautiful
and sounds really great on a budget of less than $250.

I'm also hoping to do an original tune for the final video.

[whodatpat]

I am right there with you on being an imposter among experts with a sub $250 budget. For most of us finishing the projects alone will be winning. Good Luck.

[Mojotron]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Hi all! Wow --...
I'm also hoping to do an original tune for the final video.

Hey cool - you're in! Awesome - ya, this year's going to be huge. IMO - start on that neck as soon as you can and it's going to be easier than you think. If you're like me though, you might plan on making 2 or 3 necks at the same time until you get through the placing of the truss rod in the neck - the first one for all the mistakes and jig wrangling, the 2nd for practice and the 3rd will be awesome. I found that everything after the truss rod and skunk stripe gluing went better for me on the first necks I did. If I can make a neck I think most people can - it just take a little time/patience.

I don't know if I'll do all that well - I think it's the first time I've built anything with a time-line. Also, I'm really focusing on aesthetics, reworking some stuff and using woods that I have not used for a guitar before. I'm really challenging myself to come up with something I'll love to play though - I think that's what this year is about. It could turn out like one of my weekend baking experiments - "lets make something interesting using..." - that sounded great but no one would touch with a 10' pole. We'll see

Glad to see you in!

[CJFearn]

If you look at it carefully you'll see that as far as winning goes, it's really just a crapshoot for all of us. I mean, there's only three people going to win and all of the rest of us aren't. But the coolest thing is, we all will get a new guitar! And we get to hang out with all of these other cool guys who are building guitars too! I wouldn't miss it for anything!

[flatfive]

Thanks, Mojotron. I hadn't thought of doing two or three
necks in parallel -- great idea!

Originally Posted by Mojotron

Hey cool - you're in! Awesome - ya, this year's going to be huge. IMO - start on that neck as soon as you can and it's going to be easier than you think. If you're like me though, you might plan on making 2 or 3 necks at the same time until you get through the placing of the truss rod in the neck - the first one for all the mistakes and jig wrangling, the 2nd for practice and the 3rd will be awesome. I found that everything after the truss rod and skunk stripe gluing went better for me on the first necks I did. If I can make a neck I think most people can - it just take a little time/patience.

I don't know if I'll do all that well - I think it's the first time I've built anything with a time-line. Also, I'm really focusing on aesthetics, reworking some stuff and using woods that I have not used for a guitar before. I'm really challenging myself to come up with something I'll love to play though - I think that's what this year is about. It could turn out like one of my weekend baking experiments - "lets make something interesting using..." - that sounded great but no one would touch with a 10' pole. We'll see

Glad to see you in!

[flatfive]

I see guitarbuilder independently decided to call his the
"DeluxeCaster", while I'm using "luxe-caster"!

Unfortunately for me, I think guitarbuilder is capable of
quite a bit more luxe than I am.

[motor_city_tele]

***Thanks, Mojotron. I hadn't thought of doing two or three
necks in parallel -- great idea!***

3 necks turn into 6
6 turns into 12
12 is about right plus a couple spares
gotta have bodies to match - right?
and hardware too

before you know it . . .
you got guitars taking over the house.

I suppose it could be worse - I could have enjoyed
boat building as a hobby.

[guitarbuilder]

Unfortunately for me, I think guitarbuilder is capable of
quite a bit more luxe than I am.


I think everybody has a good shot at this.... I'm sure there is a newbie advantage factor somewhere.... good luck or should I say good" Luxe" to you and ...sorry didn't mean to infringe on your name...

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

think everybody has a good shot at this.... I'm sure there is a newbie advantage factor somewhere.... good luck or should I say good" Luxe" to you and ...sorry didn't mean to infringe on your name...

That's it! I'll seize the newbie advantage. I think I can
maximize it by taking photos of myself laying into some
wood with a chisel and a rubber mallet, while actually
working with a CNC machine. "...and after sanding with
old sandpaper for 12 hours, this is what I got..."

No problem with the similar names -- I prefer to think
it means we are both wildly original!

[flatfive]

That's some Home Despot birdseye maple, a piece of 1/4" rosewood,
a two-piece poplar blank, and two pieces of eucalyptus veneer.
You can smell it's eucalyptus!

Now I'll take out of the oven one that I prepared earlier...

Pity to cover the poplar with veneer as it's a nice piece with no
green streaks.

Anyway, the plan is for a double-bound body with bookmatched
veneer on the front and back. Cream binding. The veneer is
gorgeous and will get better when finished.

Chrome hardware; standard tele pickup configuration. What I'm
attempting is a classic, beautiful and great-sounding tele for
under $250.

My current price list shows a total of $219, not including shipping.
But I'm getting all parts from just a couple of vendors, so even
with shipping I should be well below $250.

[flatfive]

During the last week or so I started collecting or making
some of the stuff for my neck.

Glued the Ed Hawley neck plan to 1/4" MDF, cut it out
with a jigsaw, and ROSS'ed it (I'm working on getting
the Ridgid sander turned into a verb).



Spent a while getting the edges very smooth. I learned
recently at a wood finishing class that fingers often work
better than eyes, and I think it's true.

Made a 3/4" template from the 1/4" master template using
my crummy Sears routing table.



Just did that tonight.

Since I'm too cheap to buy most StewMac tools I've
searched around on TDPRI and found that this might
work for sawing fret slots:



Found it on the web for less than 7 bucks, but haven't tested
to see if it works yet.

[flatfive]

Not prepping by using sandpaper -- prepping for the use of
sandpaper.

At this finishing class I took recently the instructor had
a bunch of 3M sanding blocks, all ready to go with various
grades of paper. I've always been too cheap to do
something like that, but realized how handy it is.

Now I'm ready:



The 3M blocks cost a tad over $4 at Lowe's, and you can
get fake ones at Menard's for $2.

The same instructor showed us a simple-minded buy handy
jig to cut sandpaper:



As you can probably guess you use it like this:

[rcole_sooner]

I am now so ashamed of my sandpaper practices.

[CJFearn]

Hey, whether you win or lose you still get a new guitar! What could be better than that?

Very nice looking wood. And double binding is always classy. I can't wait to see it finished.

Many thanks for sharing the idea with the sandpaper cutter, very clever!

[njg12171]

Originally Posted by CJFearn

If you look at it carefully you'll see that as far as winning goes, it's really just a crapshoot for all of us. I mean, there's only three people going to win and all of the rest of us aren't. But the coolest thing is, we all will get a new guitar! And we get to hang out with all of these other cool guys who are building guitars too! I wouldn't miss it for anything!

Technically we all win, except those of us whose wives cannot understand the need for yet another guitar, at least until we get rid of several we already have, but even then, new guitar finished, amp or no amp is a win/win situation I believe..

[guitarbuilder]

I have a couple Zona saws... they are pretty nice.

[jkingma]

I wish I could find birdseye maple at my HomeD.

Nice start, FF.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by jkingma

I wish I could find birdseye maple at my HomeD.

Nice start, FF.

I feel your pain,apparently all they think we Southerners need is 2 X 4's,drywall, and deck lumber

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by jkingma

I wish I could find birdseye maple at my HomeD.

Funny thing was, at the register I told the cashier how happy
I was about finding this wood, and she said that many customers
would ask for a discount because of the "flaws".

[flatfive]

Got a cold, but should at least be able to spend money
on parts until my energy returns...

Here's my plan for parts:

----

body wood ($13.29, poplar)
veneer (3)
binding material (2)
bwb pickguard (AZ guitar parts, 11)
Wilkinson bridge (AZ, 19)
control plate (AZ, 6)
neck plate (AZ, 5)
strap buttons (AZ, 4)
ferrules (StewMac, 7.21)
2 knobs (StewMac, 7.04)
electrosocket jack (AZ, 7)
output jack (AZ, 1.50)
upgrade 3-way switch (AZ, 8)
250K pots x 2 (StewMac, 5.46)
wire + capacitor (1)
copper foil?
felt for strap buttons

subtotal: 100.50

pickups (BL Keystones, 64)

subtotal: 64

neck blank (Home Depot, 7)
fingerboard (8)
frets (StewMac, 3)
truss rod (StewMac, 13)
nut blank (StewMac, 3.82)
pearl dot fretboard markers (eBay, 7.50/25)
side dot material (StewMac, 1.15)
Wilkinson vintage tuners (AZ, 23)

subtotal: 66.47

total: 230.97

----

Another good source for parts is TDPRI member KokoTele.
Eric helped me with another build and I highly recommend him.