2010 TDPRI $210 Challenge "El Rey De Cobre"

Well I'm in... still finishing the Tres Recogida Especial but I can't resist another TDPRI Challenge. ... and it will keep me occupied while the lacquer dries on that one so I don't start messin with it too soon...

This one is going to be the "El Rey De Cobre" and as you can see in the pic attached I have some pine 2x4's that were from yet another shipping pallet that I pulled all the nails out of so the pine was free. I bought a piece of maple at home depot a couple of years ago and the sold it to me cheap because the board was bowed. I made a neck out of it before by cutting it in strips and turning them to quartersawn and gluing them together and imma do that again. It is more work than a nice piece of maple would be but it's cheap.
I will decide everything else later.

Another palletcaster, excellent! I'll be watching this to see how you'll do the neck.
Best of luck!

De Cobre? Need any BRG paint? :mrgreen:


Si-ya manana Mucho Miguel.

What is the significance of the name?

"What is the significance of the name?" Copper King

Yeah Copper King is pretty close... some translations reverse it to King of Copper.

Here is some progress...

I ran the 2x4's from a pallet through the jointer...

Then I matched up the pieces and sanded them a little with 320...

Then I glued and clamped them...

Then I cut it out on my crappy ryobi 9" band saw...

I don't have a router table yet so I just clamp the body and template to the corner of my workbench.

I routed the outside, the bridge pickup and control cavity..

Here is my setup for routing the neck pocket.

And here is where I am on the body tonight. I got home at 6pm from work and 6 hours later I still need to drill the bridge and neck screw holes, the jack cup hole, route the neck pickup (or not)... still undecided on the neck pickup.... maybe a dearmond like a Telesonic or a P-90, a standard Tele or maybe no neck pickup route at all.

Man... I wish I could work that quickly.
That looks excellent!

You're rollin' now Mike!

Dude, looking good. I haven't even gotten the body of mine together yet...still just strips of scrap wood.

Dude, looking good. I haven't even gotten the body of mine together yet...still just strips of scrap wood.

I don't have the wood yet!!:lol:

I don't have the wood yet!!:lol:

+1, hes flyin!

I don't have the wood yet!!:lol:

I could find you a good pallet at work...

I could find you a good pallet at work...

Or you coud go to your home depot, find some 2X4s...
Or go to the IKEA and score some BRODER or TRYGGVE planks...
:wink:

Here is my piece of curly maple I found at Home Depot a couple of years ago and they sold me the whole board for $20... this is the third neck I habe made out of it and there is enough for 3 more if I cut it right. Also in the pic is my neck template that I made by copying an allparts neck.

First I cut off a neck length piece with my saw. (don't have a table saw...)

Next I wouted a slot for the steel reinforcement. The brass bar and little wood block clamped on are router guides and stops. I drilled a couple of forstner holes to get started. I have used square tubing epoxied in the neck instead of a truss rod on a few necks with no problems so I am doing that again. I bought 10 feet of square tubing for $1.92 and I am using 15" on this neck.

Here is the steel epoxied in the maple. I found that it is easiest to make the slot and then rough cut out the neck.

Here is the neck roughly cut out with my crappy little ryobi 9" band saw. What a hack job... good thing I am going to route away this ugly saw job. The epoxy was not completely dry and all the sawdust stuck on it.

Once again I don't have a router table so I clamp the work to the table and route around the template. I have to move it a couple of times to get all the way around but I get it done this way.

Here is where I stopped tonight. The neck blank is cut out, steel reinforced and routed to shape. I need to come up with a fretboard. I was going to use some "brazillian cherry" that I have but it is too hard for my saw to cut it. still need to thickness the headstock and drill the tuner holes too.

Nice work!
One thing I never understood about necks is that trussrod thingiy that has to be bent in a certain way etc. etc. I think your method might work better for simple souls like me... :grin:
Theoretically, using your method, should you be able to make a neck from softer material like pine?

I've been doing 'static' truss rods like Mike's for about 10 years now and every one I've made has remained dead flat. Including those on resonator guitars that use 13s and sometimes 16s.
The trick is in how you put them in. Most people think of Harmonys or Silvertones when they think of a 'steel reinforced neck' and yes, back in the old days those necks weren't always so successful. But then they would usually wallow out a trough and toss in a piece of steel pipe, typically gluing it in with hide glue (I have an old National that actually was routed for a bar and *nothing* put in....great QC back then! :roll: ) I use 5/16" square steel set into a tight slot with the ends fitted well and epoxy it. This creates a rod that works through compression, not bending and really has nowhere to go.
Yes, it's non-adjustable but I typically end up with about .005" relief after finishing the fret work. As a plus I think the necks sound better (at least when you rap them with a knuckle) without the space that adjustable rods create in the neck.
For those that still want an adjustable neck and don't want to deal with a curved slot there is always a double-adjustable rod like the Stew-Mac 'Hot Rod'. They are as easy to install as a static bar.

PS, I still would not use pine for the neck. Doug fir at a minimum but I'd stick to hardwoods like maple, mahogany, cherry, walnut etc.

I picked up a piece of Bocote for $13 to make a fretboard out of.

I taped a couple of pieces of paper together and rubbed a pencil lead on another neck I have to get the fret spacing.

I drew a center line on the board and a center line on the pattern and cut the pattern in half. Then I lined up the pattern with the centerline on the board taped it on, and with a small square I marked the fret positions at the centerline. I removed the pattern and drew the lines across the board using a square. I also drew diagonal lines from corner to corner mark the location for the dots where the lines cross the centerline.

Coolio board Miguel!

That fretboard has some wicked grain! Like your "truss rod" too.

Looking good.

I picked up a piece of Bocote for $13 to make a fretboard out of.

I just picked up a piece of Bocote yesterday for a fretboard as well. Nice looking wood. Mine cost me $13.50 though.

Great work so far. Like how you are doing your neck... I'm picking up a lot. Keep it coming.

Your build is looking good dude, and I really like the fingerboard. I've never come across bocote before but I'll be looking for it now.

If it's of any help I've attached a pdf with the fret spacing calculated for a 25.5" scale (done on a spreadsheet using the 12th root of 2). You might like to check it just to be sure.

Like your neck reinforcement as well. I've been using the same system for a number of years. More sustain and better overtones.

Looking forward to seeing this one finished.

PS: nice looking bike, is it done yet?

CJ, Thanks for the pdf. The bike is not done yet. I seem to keep building guitars instead of finishing the bike project.

I made my own fretboard dots using a 1/4" plug cutter out of a piece of ivorid plastic that I bought about 10 years ago... it was supposed to be a heel cap blank for an acoustic.

I cut 10 of them out of about half of the piece and lost a few when they flew away somewhere in the garage.

Here is a shot of the color contrast against the bocote fretboard before they are glued in.

I set up the drill press so the stops would make all the holes the same depth and drilled the holes for the dots with a forstner bit.

Big Mike: You'll probably earn a special nomination for that insane fretboard. Great stuff! :-)

Thanks Moggl...

Yesterday I went to Maricopa's guitar mancave and borrowed his fret slotting saw and slotted the fretboard. Tonight I glued the fretboard on to the neck. I drilled a tiny hole through the center of the nut slot and one of the dots near the end of the fretboard and made matching little holes in the neck so I could stick toothpicks through there to keep the fretboard alighned while clamping it down. After the glue set up a little I pulled the toothpicks out with a pair of pliers.

Tonight I took the clamps off the fretboard, cut off the excess board with the band saw and used the router to trim the fretboard to match the neck. Next I marked and drilled the stepped tuner holes and cut a slice off of the front of the headstock. I finished thinning the headstock and shaping the end of the fretboard to a gentle radius with the belt sander.
.
Also in this pic you can see the dog chew bone that I will make the nut out of. I prefer the unbleached bone because it gived the nut a slightly aged look to it.

Here is a closer shot of the headstock and the Wilkinson tuners that cost $23 from http://www.azguitarparts.com/

I still need to radius the fretboard, glue in the dots and do the frets... I need to get some fretwire too, I want to use a medium fretwire on this guitar.

This is the 3rd body I have made out of pallet lumber and they come out about 1 1/2 thick but on this one I decided that I wanted it to be a full 1 3/4 thick so I cut 3 boards out of a pallet to add to the back.

I thinned the 3 boards on the jointer and glued them together to make a 3 piece pine back a little over 1/4" thick.

Here I have the clamps on and I am gluing the back on to make the body full thickness.

Lookin' good Mike!
PS, I got tons of med/jumbo wire. Grab some Sun.

After the 3 piece back was glued on I cut off the excess with the bandsaw and routed it to shape.

Then I cut it out on my crappy ryobi 9" band saw...


The modifier "crappy" before Ryobi is surplus language. :wink:

Although I have a 4" high speed grinder wearing the Ryobi label (yes, double insulated) that is bulletproof and even got flooded briefly here at the office during Katrina. Still works fine. Many hours of use since.

That Bocote looks exquisite!!

Yeah the bandsaw has always worked and I have probably over used it. The only real problem is the blade guides and tensioner make it hard to cut in a straight line or follow a curved line. It was cheap and I have done a lot withit and as you said about your grinder... it still works.

I drilled the neck holes, the bridge and string holes, jack cup hole and routed a relief on the back for a "tone bar" instead of ferrules.

I routed a 1/8 roundover on the edges, and drilled the holes for strap buttons. The body is ready for sanding sealer.

I radiused the fretboard and glued in the dots. I still need to level the dots and fret the neck before I round the back of the neck.

Looking better by the minute!

I leveled the inlays and fretted the neck with Dunlop 6170 fretwire.

Nice fret hammer there Mike! I'll bet the frets seat themselves just to avoid being hit with it! :shock:

Loving the board BTW.

Next I drew reference lines on the back of the neck for profiling the neck. I do most of the rough shaping of the profile on the belt sander.

I still have a little more sanding to do and a little more work on the heel area but the neck is mostly done. The shape I aim for is a chunky C like an Allparts TMO-fat neck.

Looking back I guess I left this pic out of post 49 and I can't edit it to put it back in order. This is a pic of my spindle sander in a drill press setup.

That 3-piece back is really fine. Are you thinking burst?

That 3-piece back is really fine. Are you thinking burst?

No burst... I'm going to paint this one with a nice thick layer of copper paint... soon you will see...

The neck and body look good. I am always intrigued by the change the wood goes through from rough/scrap to cut and sanded guitar. I hope to come close on our build.

Thanks vt,

I went over the body with some glazing putty and after that dried I sanded it back and put a couple of coats of primer on the body. After the primer dries I will sand it back, use glazing putty if any spots need it and reprime it one more time. I sanded on the neck a while too.

No burst... I'm going to paint this one with a nice thick layer of copper paint... soon you will see...

Hence the name. Of course.:lol:

More sanding... filler, primer....

I am pretty close to calling the neck profile good. I rubbed a little shellac on it to get a look at it with a little gloss. Sometimes it is real hard to see shapes in bare wood.

I wonder....

There's only one thing better than Metal Flakes, and that's More Metal Flakes!!!

Just don't spill 'em on the 'puter Mike! :mrgreen:

Neck looks great.

I wonder....
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/attachments/tdpri-2010-%24210-tele-build-challenge/43946d1268893067t-2010-tdpri-%24210-challenge-el-rey-de-cobre-img00261a-jpg

El Rey de Bucko?

I went to walmart last night and bought some new "luthier tools"

Well.... I have done it now... no turning back...

Looks fantastic. I can't wait to see the end result. Did you just spray a light coat of clear and then sprinkle the flakes on? Or some other method?

Mmmm, sparkly goodness, looks nice...

I painted a light coat of Duplicolor metal specks burnt copper over the primer for a base color and I sprinkled copper metalflake on that when it was wet. Any spots that didn't get covered with flake I used some duplicolor clear and sprinkled on some more flakes to get even flake coverage. I emailed Duplicolor and asked then how long before I could put a 2 part catalized clear over the metal specks paint and they said to wait 24 hours but I will probably wait 2 or 3 days.

I had a hard time painting the headstock since the maple had some decent flame but I did it... people will just have to look at the flame on the back of the neck...

Yes!

You have reached the point of no return

Mighty fine...mighty fine!

I'm diggin' the sparkly copper! Looks great!

Jim

OMG Mike has been bitten by the bug.
http://www.backwaterpartymusic.com/%20buttercaster/emeraldcaster/sparklebug.jpg

I bought these flakes a while back for another project that I have not done yet.

"4oz Bling Penny Copper .015 Metalflake Metal Flake HOK"

I used about half of the flakes on this guitar. In a few days I will spray on the automotive catalized clear that I bought at NAPA.

Buckocaster, thanks for generously sharing your sparkleknowledge on TDPRI and answering all my questions... you are the Sparklemaster!

Ohh, sparkly!

Go Mike!

I like. Especially the color. My son pointed out a copper colored Corvette today and said that's a cool color. I commented that I've seen pictures of teles that are that color and they look great.

I was just going to ask if you had enough flake.

2 oz sounds about right.

You read my mind. :wink:

Holy Werner von Braun, Batman, it's George Barris and Ed "Big Daddy" Roth all rolled into one! You're leading me right down the path of temptation here Big Mike! I'm seeing Metal Flakes in my future and no way out!

I'm starting to GAS for a coppercaster. Ack. I haven't been GASing for quite a while, and now this! Ahhh, the agony!

Great stuff, Mike! :-)

Here is the copper pickguard and copper control plate (the plastic is still on them in this pic) I might still make a leather pickguard though.

Here is the copper pickguard and copper control plate (the plastic is still on them in this pic) I might still make a leather pickguard though.

Do you have some way to keep the copper shiny or are you going to let it get /or make it dark?

After thinking about it... I may save the copper pickguard for another guitar. This flake looks better with a darker color guard. I may make one from leather or something else.

Well I put on my respirator and sprayed the clear last night...

I will have to do a Bucocaster leveling job on this stuff... and it is very hard to take a picture of. These are from last night when it was still being sprayed or was still wet.

Here is a shot of the headstock that I took tonight. It is dry to the touch but not completely hardened.

Well... last night I was working on making the hardware... I still need to fold up the bridge and solder the corners...

Things seemed to be going pretty good... and then...

Total failure... The clear developed a crack in the upper bout and another one from the control route to the end... So I peeled it all off. I think there was an incompatibility between the basecoat and the clear... or else I didn't wait long enough before putting the clear on... I dunno...

I am not sure which way to go now... I want to reflake it but if I have to count the cost of my failure I will have to do some math to see if I have naough money left without going over.

Do we count only the stuff that is on the guitar when it is finished or do I have to count the cost of the primer, flake and clear I just peeled off?

I thought I heard the '7 Dirty Words' faintly coming from the East side.

What a drag, I hate it when that kind of stuff happens. :sad:

Things seemed to be going pretty good... and then...

Total failure... The clear developed a crack in the upper bout and another one from the control route to the end... So I peeled it all off. I think there was an incompatibility between the basecoat and the clear... or else I didn't wait long enough before putting the clear on... I dunno...

Wow! Don't know what to think about that. Fortunately I haven't seen that (yet.)

It probably is a compatibility issue. I wonder if there was something in the first basecoat that was still gooey?

Could you smell anything as you scraped and peeled. That might be a clue.

As far as how long to wait before leveling. I am assuming that you are talking about waiting to level so that you can put more clear on?

Things have to be hard enough so that when you scuff with the green/gray pad it doesn't ball up on you. That should also be about the time that it will sort of pass the fingernail and smell tests. (fingernail does not put a huge dent in things and it doesn't smell overly wet and chemically.)

I try very hard not to get sand paper near the clear until I am ABSOLUTELY convinced that it can be sanded flat without sanding into the flake.

Hang in there.

While I am not a contest official, I sure can't see why you would have to count the cost of a failed finish attempt.

But then I have been wrong before. :shock:

Cheers

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Looks like I got off easy with my fingerboard problem!

As far as costs go, I would think that you only have to account for things that are on the guitar when you're finished. Anything else doesn't make much sense.

CJ, I asked the cost question in the rules thread and Paul verified that only the parts in the finished guitar count. I needed to make sure or I would have to change to a different finish.

So I am back at it again...
I scraped and sanded the rest of the goo off and re-primered the body... While I had it down to wood again I routed the edge radius from 1/8" to 1/4" radius, the sharper 1/8" edge was hard to flake over.
Sunday or Monday I will flake it again and change to a different basecoat.

Well... here I go again... Whole lotta flakin' goin' on...

I used a thinner base coat, I used clear urethane to retain the flake and I will do the remaining urethane clear in a longer time span with more time to flash over between coats.

I switched from FC710 clear to FC720 it is Martin Senour Finish1 product I bought from NAPA. The first time I used "slow" hardner and this time I am using a "fast" hardner. Here are a couple of shots of the first few coats of clear tonight I am going to let this set up a bit longer and put some more on later tonight.

Back in the saddle again!

Looks good there Mike.

Oh yeah, let the sparkle begin http://www.gitaarnet.nl/forum/images/smilies/cheer_icoon.gifhttp://www.gitaarnet.nl/forum/images/smilies/cheer_icoon.gifhttp://www.gitaarnet.nl/forum/images/smilies/cheer_icoon.gif

This is really awesome! Now if you could fit a blower, some lake pipes and a set of baby Moons... :mrgreen:

CJ funny I have Moons on my car... The full covers from Mooneyes.

After the pictures above of the first series of clear coats I put on a second series of coats last night but it was late and I forgot to take a pic. The first two series of clear hardened up pretty good overnight.

Here are a couple of shots from tonight after the third series of clear coats. I may wait till tomorrow to put the last coats on.

My God, it's full of stars......

Mike, are you scuffing when you wait a day between clears?

That is looking very, very good!

Deep!

I did not sand between the first and second or the second and third because the flake was not completely buried. Between the third and fourth I used a razor blade and carefully cut off any little peaks and a couple of runs and I lightly sanded it before the fourth and last spray session. I put a quart of clear and a half pint of hardner on in four sessions. Each session was 4 to 6 coats with about 15 minutes flash between coats. The goo has a "pot life" of about an hour and much after that it starts to not spray as well. If I did this again I would split it into 6 to 8 sessions (can I flake just one?).

It is curing really, really well this time and has a solid click with a fingernail like a factory poly. At this point there is almost no odor left. I would try to take another pic but these things are really hard to capture in a photo... I guess you already knew that though.

I am putting the side dots in the neck tonight and working on getting the neck prepped for lacquer.

Love the color and the sparkle, Mike. Those latest shots look fantastic.

Well... here's another pic of it hung up to dry. It looks better than in the pic. Out in the sunlight this flake is on fire.

That's just plain bad!

If you know what I mean.

Thanks!

Tonight I level sanded the headstock and put on the decal... unfortunately the black decal does not show up very well on the flake. There is a comparison to the shoreline gold headstock in the photo. I am pretty happy with the way the Urethane leveled and polished really well.

Well... this morning before work I put a little shellac on the neck for sealer / tint and tonight I sprayed some lacquer on the neck. I had a little bit left in a can from the especial build. So the neck is hanging up to dry. I finished cleaning out all the holes in the body for the bridge and neck.

I polished up the hardware and folded up the bridge. I still need to do some work on the bridge (sanding and filing and stuff). I use a piece of stainless and a couple of clamps because I don't have a vice.

I thought I was the only person in the world who didn't have a bending brake... :wink: That's lookin' mighty nice Mr. Mike! What kinda' metal is that, copper? Hard to tell in the picture.

Thanks CJ

The neck plate, control plate and bridge are copper and the string anchor is brass and the saddles will be brass.

Looks COOL!
Someday I may need to get a hold of a flake finish Tele.

I level sanded the body tonight with 400 grit, I forgot to buy some mineral spirits so I used soapy water. Tomorrow I will start with the micro mesh. This urethane is some tough stuff and with the catalyst it is hard as a rock already.

cool build cant wait to see the final product

Great comeback, looks cool.

Great comeback, looks cool.

+1

Here is a couple of progress photos. I went through the series of micro mesh on the body. I still have some polishing to do with meguairs.

It looks like it is staying on this time! That is always a good feeling. :smile:

Now we can see the fingerboard as well and it looks as good as the rest of it, which is to say "Mighty nice!"

I Polished on the body and worked on the bridge today. The bridge, control plate and neck plate are copper .063 thick... why? ...because that's what I have laying around. Can't find my silver solder... I still need to solder the corners and polish the bridge.

Here is where I am at on the bridge.

Here is where I am at on the bridge.

I'm just trying to find the bridge... Has anybody seen the bridge?

Have you seen the bridge?
I ain't seen the bridge!

Where's that confounded bridge? :mrgreen:


Really digging the fretboard!!

I got solder Mike, if you're coming over to use the buffer.

That copper parts would look to cool if you left 'em unsealed and so they'd green up some!

Tonight I pressed in the tuner bushings and put the tuners on.

Then I clamped the neck on using a piece of leather to protect the neck and body, put the two E strings on and a partially finished nut... ten drilled the neck screw holes in the neck and screwed the neck on.

It is starting to look like a guitar... I am still going to make a pickguard either out of garolite or leather, I just put this one on to get a look at it with a black guard. I have been planning on makeing a "Tuff Dog" style abbreviated pickguard but I really like the classic tele guard shape and I might go with that.

Damn Big Mike!!! Pardon my French, but that looks just beautiful!!! I am going to have to build me one like that!!! That paint, that fingerboard! WOW! :twisted:

I saw this one in person the other day and I still have spots in my eyes. The pics in no way convey just how friggin' sparkly it is. On stage it's gonna look amazing.

Wonderful lookin sparklecaster! I personally like that black pickguard on there! If you can ever get some lower bout wear through that rock hard finish it'll be interesting to see how the oxidization greens her up real well. Kinda like a 55 year old gold top with some wear. Looks great!

I soldered all the wiring tonight. I used the "Eldred diagram" except I chenged the .004 cap for a .001 and the .050 for a .047 because that is what I have. I am building this up as an esquire because I don't have an esquire but the body is routed and drilled for a neck pickup so I can easily add one.

Here is a shot of the wiring...

I made a "Tuff Dog" shaped pickguard out of 1/16 garolite I bought from McMaster Carr. I bought a 85315K131 Grade XX Garolite Sheet Black 1/16 12x24 for $7.62 and I can get at least 4 pickguards out of that so I will call the pickguard $1.90... plus a lot of work making a pattern... I still need to spray some lacquer on it tomorrow.

I might still make a leather pickguard if time permits to see how it looks on there but with the sparkle and the fretboard there is already a lot going on visually on this one.

Love it.

I have some copper flake around here. Hope I can use it sooner...rather than later.

Neat!

You are right. There is plenty of good stuff going on visually. Its a knockout. Excellent job.

To make the pickguard I started with the piece of 1/4" MDF and routed around a standard allparts 1 ply pickguard I keep around as a pattern. Then I laid another template I have that has the horn cut off and the curve down on the top but it has the "hybrid" shape at the control plate and I routed around that to combine the two shapes. This made the 1/4" pattern on the right which I duplicated to the 1/2" working pattern on the left. I clamped the 1/2" pattern on top of a piece of Garolite and routed around it to make the pickguard.

Yesterday I leveled and polished the frets. Today I put on the string tree and went to Maricopa's guitar cave to borrow his nut files. I filed the nut and shaped it with some sandpaper on a stick and set the intonation before we headed to the blues jam. I will get some good pics and a sound file up in the next day or so.

I am really happy with the result. This guitar kills... The cocked wah position is very raw and "Freddie King" sounding. The bridge pickup is a used Seymour Duncan Broadcaster I bought from Fezz Parka for $25 in the TDPRI classifieds.

I am pretty sure this list is complete but I will recheck to see if I left anything out.

$4.00 Maple for Neck
$13.50 Bocote Fretboard
$7.00 Frets
$2.00 String Tree
$25.00 Pickup (used)
$9.00 Pots ($4.50ea)
$5.00 Knobs
$9.50 Switch 3 way
$11.00 Electrosocket
$21.00 Tuners
$10.00 saddles and screws
$2.00 Control Plate
$2.00 Neck Plate
$3.00 Screws
$3.50 Strap Buttons
$5.00 Primer
$5.00 Duplicolor Copper
$11.00 Copper Flake
$12.00 Clear and Hardener
$1.90 pickguard

$162.40 Total Spent

$47.60 Left over

Congrats, you must be the first to finish!

Amazing job on the sparkel and copper work. Looking forward to hearing it.

I have gone the cocked wah route as well, never tried it before so looking forward to trying it.

Very nice..

Congrats, you must be the first to finish!

A'hem......no. :mrgreen:

Super nice build! You are going to be tough to beat! Good luck! That $47 and change left ought to be just enough for a bottle of Glenn Levit.

I like it. That pickup is a snarling beast!

I took a few pics out in natural sunlight this morning.... still have not lacquered the pickguard, maybe this weekend I will get that done and put up a sound file.

Here are a couple in indirect light (sorry... I am a bad photographer)

And a couple out in the road....

:shock: I love it......a lot :shock:

and the back...

You leave that pickguard alone!

You guys should see that thing on stage, it's amazing looking.
Mike did that cell phone pic I took come out at all?

I couldn't figure out out how to send the pic to my email. If it's still on your phone see if you can send it to me.

Metal flake is very hard to photograph. The different flakes catch the light with the slightest movement but pictures are static showing only one reflection.

WOW Big Mike!!! That is just gorgeous!!! I will have to try that. :grin:

Can't wait to hear it! :grin:

Well played.

Well played!

Thanks everyone!

Buckocaster, I owe special thanks to you for all the sparkle knowledge that you share and for answering my questions.

This is the third guitar I have built from scratch (last year's challenge Tele and a Tricone resonator around 2001). I have another one in the works that was going to be this years challenge guitar ( http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/196963-tres-recogida-especial-2.html ) but I started it early so I built this one for the challenge. I also "built" a Pinecaster from parts but only did the finish and pickguard myself so I feel guilty saying I made that one... I just put it together. I learned a lot in these two challenge builds and this one seemed to come together a little quicker except for the finish foobar. Once again many thanks to Buckocaster the Sparklemaster for inspiration and for sharing his zen like knowledge of sparkle.

I made a quick recording of El Rey on the computer... sorry it's a little sloppy. I have taken it out to the blues jam a few times now and it is a fun guitar to play. I don't use the back position very often (no tone volume only) and tend to use the middle for rhythm and the cocked wah for lead.

Bass: me on my CIJ 51ri P-Bass
Rhythm: me on El Rey middle position with the tone rolled off
Lead: me on El Rey on the forward "cocked wah" position
The only effects are reverb on the two guitar tracks and a little mastering compression on the three tracks mixed together.

Listen to this link ----> http://members.cox.net/mp3post/El%20Rey%20de%20Cobre.mp3 <-----MP3 Link

And here are a couple of pictures that are not reduced as much.

http://members.cox.net/mp3post/El%20Rey%20de%20Cobre%202.jpg

http://members.cox.net/mp3post/El%20Rey%20de%20Cobre.jpg

http://members.cox.net/mp3post/El%20Rey%20de%20Cobre%20headstock.jpg

http://members.cox.net/mp3post/El%20Rey%20de%20Cobre%20back.jpg

I am pretty sure this list is complete. I had the wrong price on the clear and hardner and left out the string tree in the previous total.

$4.00 Maple for Neck
$13.50 Bocote Fretboard
$7.00 Frets
$2.00 String Tree
$25.00 Pickup (used)
$9.00 Pots ($4.50ea)
$5.00 Knobs
$9.50 Switch 3 way
$11.00 Electrosocket
$21.00 Tuners
$10.00 saddles and screws
$2.00 Control Plate
$2.00 Neck Plate
$3.00 Screws
$3.50 Strap Buttons
$5.00 Primer
$5.00 Duplicolor Copper
$11.00 Copper Flake
$25.00 Clear and Hardener
$1.90 pickguard
$2.00 string tree

$177.40 Total Spent

$32.60 Left over

Very Nice Mike!