English Sycamore Tele Build

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by iansmitchell

The trick with stewmac lacquers is to use the BSB for the neck tint, not the amber.

What is the BSB?

[68thinline]

I wonder how the body would look with a two-tone burst?

So far, in addition to three coats of shellac, the body has received about a can and a half of clear lacquer. If I wanted to add color I could still do it...

The neck I think looks best without tiniting.

[FSJazzGuy]

That neck looks amazing.

I've not seen walnut as a fingerboard, will you seal or finish it, or just treat it as you would rosewood?

Nice work.

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by FSJazzGuy

That neck looks amazing.

I've not seen walnut as a fingerboard, will you seal or finish it, or just treat it as you would rosewood?

Nice work.

Thanks. The maple is truly special - I didn't realize how pretty it would be until the finish went on.

The walnut fretboard will be oiled like rosewood.

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by 68thinline

What is the BSB?

Nevermind. Butterscotch Blonde. I get it.

[iansmitchell]

Originally Posted by 68thinline

What is the BSB?

you got it

Originally Posted by 68thinline

I wonder how the body would look with a two-tone burst?
I'd say finish it like you do the neck, it's really pretty stuff, don't black out an inch.

So far, in addition to three coats of shellac, the body has received about a can and a half of clear lacquer. If I wanted to add color I could still do it...
The butterscotch makes pretty vintage looking stuff, but shellac is enough of a tint itself IMO.
The neck I think looks best without tiniting.

Good luck!

[68thinline]

Its raining again today, so I decided to start on the electronics. Here's the wiring package from Stew-Mac:



The first thing to do is drill the 1/4" hole for the switch. The switch will be wired for series/split/parallel options on the humbucker.



The hole is shifted slightly towards the tone knob for a bit of extra room at the back of the volume knob (a fortuitous accident):

[68thinline]

Here's the completed circuit...



I didn't realize that the Stewmac switches were backwards, but a quick search in the Tech forum told me what I'd already supected: that I wasn't going to get any sound in the middle position. With the output soldered to the common lugs, I would need to add jumpers from the pickup leads to the middle lugs. No big deal.



The mailman arrived at just the right time with my neck pickup and a Jupiter tone cap. I had ordered a .05 cap, but they shipped me a .02 instead. Sometimes the universe works in mysterious ways, so I went ahead and wired it in. Maybe it will sound better.

[68thinline]

Big brother on the left (SD Pearly Gates), little sister on the right (Fender AV 62):

[hackworth1]

Nice work. Looks good to me. The damp weather in Daytona has been preventing me from applying more clear lacquer to my first build. Its good to have a second one going.

[68thinline]

The weather changed today. It was still humid, but warmer and the rain held back until after dark. I took a chance and sprayed the rest of my rattle can nitro on the body. It's still a thin finish but looks great. I think I'm done for now...

...waiting for lacquer to cure so I can string this thing up!

I also fretted the walnut neck.

I was surprised to find that the walnut was harder to work with than the maple. I found it to be soft, easily marred and with less fret holding power. Many of the fret ends worked loose as I was filing and had to be glued in place. Even then, they were inconsistent as some had buried themselves in the fretboard and had to be redone.

Honestly, it doesn't look any worse than the factory frets on my Gibson, but I do hope to do a better job in the future. This one will require some leveling.
But for now, it can sit until I make a body for it.

[68thinline]

Well, I finished up on Saturday, sanding the body and neck to 1500 grit, then polishing by hand (what a chore!). In the end, it's more of a satin-type finish than high gloss, but it looks good.

After final assembly I fashioned the nut, filed the slots, took the neck off for a bit of sanding in the pocket then re-assembled and strung it up!

Here's some photos of the finished product.

[68thinline]

[68thinline]

I played it for awhile at the house, just to get a feel for the neck. It was way too chunky around the first few frets and seemed to have a hard corner along the top edge. I decided, after a bit of deliberation, that I wouldn't be happy with it unless I reshaped the neck.

So I sanded... and played... and sanded again, until I was happy with the feel of the neck in my hand. Then two quick coats of shellac to seal the wood.

Then it was down to the studio for a test drive...

I'll try to post a few sound clips, but it sounds great IMO. I'll post my observations as well after I get to play it some more. One thing I can say now, as a guy that usually plays hollowbody guitars, this thing is heavy!

Now I just need to touch up the back of the neck with some lacquer.

[68thinline]

Bone nut and string T installed... and no logo.

[JPW2105]

Man, that's the most fun I've ever had looking through a thread. It looks great, I love the fact it looks homemade, well done.

[brookdalebill]

Lovely!

[hackworth1]

Nice job. Very good looking natural piece. You should be proud of it. Especially making your own neck. Well done.

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by hackworth1

Nice job. Very good looking natural piece. You should be proud of it. Especially making your own neck. Well done.

Thanks. I think in retrospect the biggest challenge in making the neck is carving it properly on the back so that's it's comfortable. That's hard for me to visualize without playing it and I think this neck still needs some work, but the fingerboard feels great.

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by JPW2105

Man, that's the most fun I've ever had looking through a thread. It looks great, I love the fact it looks homemade, well done.

Me too. Thanks. It's been a real adventure and learning experience.

I can't wait to start on #002, but my wife wants me to wait until after the holidays. I guess she's right.

[68thinline]

Originally Posted by brookdalebill

Lovely!

Thank you.

[FSJazzGuy]

Absolutely beautiful.

I've followed the thread, but now need to go back through all of it. Gonna be good.