Two Partscasters: Dual P-90 and Modern Blackguard

[Fernder]

So some of you may remember that my last partscaster was stolen a few months ago. I had sitting in my garage a butterscotch affinity body and a mighty mite neck, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to do with them. I wanted to do a vintage style blackguard, but the color on the affinity is way wrong, and before doing my homework, I ordered a vintage Fender bridgeplate that I quickly realized was going to leave some exposed holes.

So about a month ago I saw an add on Craigslist saying "Squier Telecaster $50." However there were no pics with the ad and I figured that it was probably a busted up affinity, but I called anyway because I knew I needed more parts and told the guy I'd buy it. Well, it turns out to be a 2002 Squier Standard 20th Anniversary edition. It's a fat tele with a bucker neck and the metallic black finish. The only thing wrong with it is that it's missing the jack cup, but I got it home and lets just say that I was more than pleasantly surprised with how this baby sounded.

So now I've got one complete tele and one partial tele and I finally decide what I'm going to do. I have a set of mean 90s from GFS that need a home and since my new $50 squier already has the neck humbucker route, and the mean 90s are humbucker sized I've got a humbucker bridge on the way with some new tuners and other various hardware.

As for the butterscotch affinity body, I've ordered a bunch of genuine Fender parts as well as some GFS parts and am going to be putting together a replica of the 2009 american standard in the natural alder finish like this:
http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/p...tar?sku=515750
Actually the only thing squier that will be left on this guy is the body

So this is going to include my first refin, which should be interesting, as well as some other stuff I haven't done yet, but am looking forward to having two solid teles in my collection

This is a long intro, but I like reading this kind of stuff on TDPRI so I thought I'd post it as well. The rest of my parts arrive Tuesday. Lots of questions to come.

Heres the new guy


And heres the butterscotch affinity. The color looks WAY better in the photos than in real life. It's really very orange, if it looked like the pics, I'd leave it alone



Look forward to sharing and learning with/from everyone

Brian

[spannerman]

I'll take your word for it that the affinity doesn't look as good in real life but DAMN that's a nice looking guitar in the pics lol.

Good luck with the refin, i found mine harder than building from scratch lol

[Fernder]

Okay, First Update,

Got all of my parts in (almost) and am really excited. I'm going to post some closeups of stuff for anyone who might be thinking of ordering some of these parts. It's always nice to see pics other than those on the websites

First shot is a mock up of the soon to be modern blackguard before the refin. I know, it looks great in this picture, but the white balance on my camera is off and it is really an orangey amber color ad not this nice yellow.

[Fernder]

GFS Bridge #1

This is the GFS version of the bridge that's on the 09 American standard. Modern bridge with vintage strat style saddles.



The bridge plate is nice and thick and well finished


And the saddles are tight to each other, no play from side to side

[Fernder]

Stripping the body using citristrip. You can see the real color a lot better here


I've used this stuff before on various projects and once on an ovation acoustic guitar, which it took the finish right off of with no problems. I've read on here that some other people have had success with stripping the poly off these things with Citristrip, so here's hoping


Put it in a bag in the garage and waiting 24 hours

[Fernder]

Control Plate

Fender Plate and Knobs, GFS switch


Wired up the new pots, switch and leads for the jack

[Fernder]

And the P-90 Tele:

GFS humbucker bridge loaded with the Mean 90 in black nickel finish


Again, nick thick plate and saddles sit tight to each other


But.... as you can see, the plate overlaps the pickguard by quite a bit, so I hope that you guys have some suggestions for the best way of cutting the pg cleanly.

[Fernder]

And the tuners:

I used these on my last partscaster and really liked them for several reasons. These are the Wilkinsons with the holes drilled at 90 degrees to each other so that it locks the strings


here's the 20th anniversary neck plate. Anyone else have one of these things?

That's all for today. Next update we'll see how well that poly comes off.

[Casual_Reader]

Originally Posted by Fernder

... so I hope that you guys have some suggestions for the best way of cutting the pg cleanly.

a router with a pattern bit and a few pieces of scrap with straight edges... or cut it outside your lines with a coping saw and file and sand with a block to the lines. Wrapping sandpaper around the shank of a 1/2 or 3/8 drill bit might come in handy when hand sanding the corner radii. A vise is also handy, but laying it on a table and letting the working end extend over the edge works too.

[jefsut]

Great thread, man, and love the pics of everything. Good luck and keep 'em coming!

[Pappy]

Can't wait to see how this develops!

[Fernder]

So here's the body after sitting with the Citristrip for about 2 days. I've spent about 15 minutes with a paint scraper and about 5 mins sanding with a 220 grit sponge block, then wiped it down with a wet rag.



I don't know if you can see it, but there is a clear undercoat that's pretty tough. I was really hoping that the citristrip wouldn't penetrate it (some people have said that it wouldn't) so that i could just give it a light scuff sand and then be able to start shooting clear. However, if you can see from this picture the stripper did penetrate to bare wood on the back side, so..... gotta take it to the bare wood....It's alright though, gotta get rid of the rest of the orange anyway.


So I think the orange on the bottom didn't come off because it was making contact with the bag I put it in the first time, so I'm trying a new technique. Hang it up. Also I realized that I can probably fabricate a descent spray booth here when the time is right.



Alright, question of the day for you finishing pros:
Since I'm taking this to the bare wood and am doing a natural finish, do i just need to shoot some sand and seal and then the lacquer? Sanding and everything in between obviously.

Also, It seems like some of you have had really good results with Danish oil or tru oil or tung oil. How glossy of a finish can you get with these products and what is their drying time and ease of use? If I get a nice finish out of it and it saves me time might it be worth it to look into these products?

Thanks,

Brian

[Fernder]

Still got some sanding to do, but I'm getting EXCITED about this one, probably going to be the weekend before I can get much more done on this one....Finish sanding, drill string thru holes etc...

[danerada]

Wow! That looks GREAT natural!

[Fernder]

Thanks I think I got pretty Lucky

[Fernder]

Got some work done on the black one today!

Started out by cutting the pickguard to fit the new humbucker sized bridge. I put the bridge in place and scored the pg with an exacto knife. Then I rough cut it with a mini hacksaw and sanded to shape:


I then drilled the holes for the new bridge, marked the opening and chiseled out the rest of the humbucker opening. (no pics of that)

When I got the guitar it was missing two of the string ferrules so I ordered some new ones that were too big for the opening so I had to widen the hole. I driled it out with a regular bit and then countersunk the top rim with a step bit to accommodate the flare in the ferrule.


And here they are installed:


And Oh boy oh boy, this ones getting close!


I actually got the rest of the guitar together today. Got everything wired up, got the tuners set and screwed in place, but low and behold, I didn't have a full set of strings on hand. Actually that's not true, 2 sets of acoustic strings and a set of electric flatwounds that I didn't want to use for this guitar. I had to go to work this afternoon so I couldn't stop and get any. Will do that tomorrow and get it set up then post some completion pics.

Brian

[Fernder]

BTW, what are some of your favorite strings. I've always used D'adarrios and Ernie Ball, but i'm interested in what you guys like.

[Mr. E]

DR Pure Blues. :)
I've only tried two sets but they feel fantistic... but thats just me.

[Fernder]

Got this one finished up.

Eventually, I'll order a new control plate and knobs that aren't scratched up and use them on my next project, which is going to be a relic'd piney. Already have that body glued up and will be my first body build.

Here she is:



Hopefully you can see some of the sparkle in the finish.


The mean 90s sound WAY better in the tele than they did in the SG. I think that it has to do with the resonance and weight of the body. Really happy with this one =)

[Scott Auld]

Originally Posted by Fernder

Really happy with this one =)

You should be!

[SixShooter]

Originally Posted by Fernder

Wired up the new pots, switch and leads for the jack

That is one sweet wiring/solder job. It's a real inspiration

[Fernder]

Thanks guys.

SixShooter, I used to be terrible at soldering, but the two things that helped the most was when I bought a soldering iron that actually got hot enough to do a good job and also using hookup wire that's stiff enough to hold its shape when you bend it. That way it stays in place when you are ready to solder and you don't have to wrestle it.

[52Tele_lover]

So are you going to paint that body you striped? Because it looks like an amazing peice of wood with good looking grain, you should just leave it and clear it, or something along those lines.

[SixShooter]

Originally Posted by Fernder

and also using hookup wire that's stiff enough to hold its shape when you bend it. That way it stays in place when you are ready to solder and you don't have to wrestle it.

I see you are using solid wire. I have always used multi-strand. Do most people use solid?

[Fernder]

Originally Posted by 52Tele_lover

So are you going to paint that body you striped? Because it looks like an amazing peice of wood with good looking grain, you should just leave it and clear it, or something along those lines.

Nope no paint, just clear. staying natural =)