And so begins my first documented build.
I've built several parts guitars & done pickup routing etc in the past.
Here's a photo of my starting point:
I'm still waiting on a couple of small parts, namely a compensated nut & a set of ferrules.
The neck is a Squier Strat, 12" radius, picked up cheap from Ebay, I'm not ready to build a neck yet . The Squier logo was easily removed with the edge of a scalpel blade as it was only screen printed. Bridge is a Gotoh GTC201c Std Tele with brass saddles. As I prefer the naked look, there is a chrome pickup ring for the neck. Ebay also provided a Fender neck plate & an EMG T set for bargain prices.
The body shown below is how it arrived, it's ash, but beyond that I'm clueless. The blank was donated, planed & joined by a friend. As I have no bandsaw , he was also kind enough to get it bandsawed roughly to shape for me. I'm stalled for now until my full size prints of the T. Downs Rev. E plan comes through(*), then I can make a master template & begin making sawdust. At this stage the blank weighs something like 3.5kg (around 8lb) so even after "removing anything that doesn't look like a guitar", it's still going to be a medium to heavy weight guitar. I will weigh the body properly as soon as I get chance.
Plans for the body include a belly cut & forearm contour a la Strat, plus rear mounted controls.
My aim is to stain the body with a transparent water based colour, either straight brilliant blue, or a blue to black burst.
From what I've gleaned in other threads, it should go like this I think:
1. Sand through to 220.
2. Grain fill.
3. Stain.
4. Sanding sealer.
5. Clear lacquer.
I'm also thinking about stripping the lacquer from the face of the headstock & stain it to match the body. The should also eliminate the shadow of the Squier logo from the headstock, but I'm unsure if it will bleed down the sides under the lacquer, thoughts anyone ?
The body has a few strange grain patterns in it, a sort of zig zag, could someone enlighten me as to what they may be ?
And finally, a gratuitous mock up shot. Certainly not a purists Tele, just my interpretation.
*: If anyone else in the UK is interested, I'm using a company called CADtoPrint who can print A0 for just £2.50, additional print for £2.10. I'll let you know the end result when they arrive, but their customer service so far is very good. They called me to check a couple of details as the drawing is a US size & the print on A(n) sizes.