My Fried Egg

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 06:51 PM

Well folks, this is the post I've been waiting nine months to make. This is the story of how I build my partscaster, my first Tele and my first real guitar.

This is how I got it when I bought it off Craigslist for $40. Well, it wasn't in pieces, but I couldn't wait to take it apart before I took pictures. Somebody had already tried to make a partscaster with this squier body.

Things to note:
-22 fret neck with a rounded strat-type heel. How did this guy think bolting that to this body would work? Maybe that's why he gave up on this project.
-Gold control plate. Eww.
-Strat type pickup from a Parker guitar. He had hot glued this onto a triangular piece of pickguard in order to mount it on a tele bridge plate.

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:00 PM

Next step: Stripping the body.

Boy this was a PITA. For the record I would never advise anyone to try to take a squier body down to the bare wood now that I've been through that ordeal myself. I used four cans of extra strength stripper to get this plasticky crap finish off. Man that stuff is noxious. The old finish was so hard and impenetrable that the stripper only worked where there was an opening to the wood, like the screw holes. I had to work slowly, enlarging the spots where the finish had begun to come up. This process literally took a month unto itself.

The reason I wanted to take it down to the bare wood was that I wanted to do a semi-transparent Mary-Kaye finish on it. Halfway through the process of this project I moved from Boston to San Francisco in a Uhaul. My road trip buddies all thought my box with Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer, Lacquer thinner and Vinyl Sealer were stinking up the truck so we put it outside while we slept. Well, one morning we take off and hear a sickening crunch. We had run over my box of finishing supplies. There goes >$100 of Stew Mac liquid gold. I was so distraught over this loss that my body sat unfinished for another two months. I couldn't look at it.

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:04 PM

Here's what I ended up using.

After waiting so long I no longer had the patience or funds to do a nitro finish so I opted instead for Olympic White Duplicolor Acrylic.

Now I needed something to bolt the body onto for painting...

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:07 PM

My improvised spray booth.

A friend of mine helped me do the neck-hum rout and drill the string through holes. This body was previously a top loader.

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:12 PM

And finally!

TADAH

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:14 PM

It's got a Duncan Jazz Humbucker in the neck and Rio Grande Tallboy bringing up the rear. Reversed control plate with a push-pull for coil tapping. Lurking inside is an orange drop for the tone knob.

voodoostation · November 13th, 2009, 07:14 PM

She looks good, congrats!!

BritishBluesBoy · November 13th, 2009, 07:14 PM

Nice job!

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:22 PM

Allparts TMNF-V neck. Feels great and sure is purty. I was able to get a good deal on it through my employee discount at a music store. The string tree is from my cheapo bullet strat. That's what they used in the 50's though right?

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:22 PM

I took the finish down to 1000 grit and left it there for a satin finish. Here are the things I'm unhappy with. You can see a couple freckles that cropped up as I was sanding. The don't bother me too much though. Who's gonna see it? Well you guys I guess. That scar on my wrist is where they put a titanium plate in my wrist after I got hit by a car riding my bike. Thought I'd never play guitar again for a while there. Phew!

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:28 PM

I went through to the bare wood while sanding the edge here. Whatever, call it a relic. The switch tip I bought was too loose for the switch post so I cut tiny slivers off a hot glue stick and shoved them in the switch hole. Then I heated up the post with my soldering iron and pressed it on there. Voila!

Another thing that bothers me. The bridge pickup won't sit quite right. I think the Rio Grande might not fit the Barden bridge correctly. As it is the height is just right, but if I needed to adjust it I'd be screwed.

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 07:33 PM

I foolishly put the ferrules in before painting. Live and learn...

Gotoh Split-shaft Klusons. Love the look and having the split shafts was great for when I was putting in the nut. I could take off the strings and put them back on without damaging them.

And here's the image that started it all:

I woulda used a gold anodized pickguard but none of the online vendors had pictures so I got the gold pearl instead. Seeing it complete I'm happy with my decision.

Well, that's all for now folks. Hope you like it. I couldn't have done it without this forum and all of you. I'll post up some mp3s as soon as I record with it!

BigDaddyLH · November 13th, 2009, 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodwillHunter

I must be slow. I finally figured out why it's your "fried egg". The initial pictures looked more like "burnt toast".

Runn3r · November 13th, 2009, 07:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodwillHunter

It's got a Duncan Jazz Humbucker in the neck and Rio Grande Tallboy bringing up the rear. Reversed control plate with a push-pull for coil tapping. Lurking inside is an orange drop for the tone knob.

...what a lovely guitar and nicely conceived

jkingma · November 13th, 2009, 08:00 PM

Very nice.

buddywayne · November 13th, 2009, 08:24 PM

Good job man. Enjoy!

superhand · November 13th, 2009, 08:27 PM

Thats real purty.

Fernder · November 13th, 2009, 09:26 PM

OH YEAH!

MickM · November 13th, 2009, 09:59 PM

I'm liking that pickguard, first one like that for me. Nice job overall Goody, but why do you think you have bridge plate/pu adjusting issue?

Joefaity · November 13th, 2009, 10:35 PM

Cool job! Love the paint job.

GoodwillHunter · November 13th, 2009, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MickM

why do you think you have bridge plate/pu adjusting issue?

I'm thinking the screw holes on the pickup baseplate don't line up with the holes in the bridge. Either that or the baseplate is scraping against the side of the pickup cavity. Enlarging it isn't an option though because the hole would extend beyond the edge of the bridge plate and look unsightly.

yegbert · November 14th, 2009, 12:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoodwillHunter

Another thing that bothers me. The bridge pickup won't sit quite right. I think the Rio Grande might not fit the Barden bridge correctly. As it is the height is just right, but if I needed to adjust it I'd be screwed.

I found the spacing of the pickup mounting/adjusting screw holes in my Barden bridgeplate, to not be ideal for a Seymour Duncan pickup. I posted about that here.

Parma_TeleMon · November 14th, 2009, 08:18 AM

Nice job!!

Groovey Records · November 14th, 2009, 08:29 AM

sunny side up!

blakktode · November 14th, 2009, 08:59 AM

Nice job.
I really like these threads where somebody takes what looks like a POS and turns it into a decent guitar.

jimdkc · November 14th, 2009, 02:12 PM

I never woulda thunk it... but I like the gold pearl pickguard on a white body!

Nice job!

Jim

November 13th, 2009, 06:51 PM	#1 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	My Fried Egg Well folks, this is the post I've been waiting nine months to make. This is the story of how I build my partscaster, my first Tele and my first real guitar. This is how I got it when I bought it off Craigslist for $40. Well, it wasn't in pieces, but I couldn't wait to take it apart before I took pictures. Somebody had already tried to make a partscaster with this squier body. Things to note: -22 fret neck with a rounded strat-type heel. How did this guy think bolting that to this body would work? Maybe that's why he gave up on this project. -Gold control plate. Eww. -Strat type pickup from a Parker guitar. He had hot glued this onto a triangular piece of pickguard in order to mount it on a tele bridge plate.

November 13th, 2009, 07:14 PM	#7 (permalink)
voodoostation Tele-Holic Join Date: May 2007 Location: Midlothian, Va Age: 36 Posts: 562 2 Photos	She looks good, congrats!! __________________ "'Til the pawnshops were packed like a backstage party, hangin' full of pointy, ugly, cheap guitars. And the youngun's all turned to karaoke, hangin' all their wishes upon disregarded stars. -DBT"

November 13th, 2009, 07:14 PM	#8 (permalink)
BritishBluesBoy Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 7,466 62 Photos	Nice job! __________________ BBB.

November 13th, 2009, 08:00 PM	#15 (permalink)
jkingma Friend of Leo's Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: N43° 11.943 ~ W079° 35.285 Posts: 3,727 18 Photos	Very nice. __________________ Creator of Fine Sawdust and Expensive Kindling.

November 14th, 2009, 08:18 AM	#23 (permalink)
Parma_TeleMon Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Deep in the heart of Parma, oh Age: 49 Posts: 1,196	Nice job!! __________________ ================================ Packin' a Tele, lookin' fer trouble.... ================================

November 13th, 2009, 07:00 PM	#2 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	Next step: Stripping the body. Boy this was a PITA. For the record I would never advise anyone to try to take a squier body down to the bare wood now that I've been through that ordeal myself. I used four cans of extra strength stripper to get this plasticky crap finish off. Man that stuff is noxious. The old finish was so hard and impenetrable that the stripper only worked where there was an opening to the wood, like the screw holes. I had to work slowly, enlarging the spots where the finish had begun to come up. This process literally took a month unto itself. The reason I wanted to take it down to the bare wood was that I wanted to do a semi-transparent Mary-Kaye finish on it. Halfway through the process of this project I moved from Boston to San Francisco in a Uhaul. My road trip buddies all thought my box with Behlen Stringed Instrument Lacquer, Lacquer thinner and Vinyl Sealer were stinking up the truck so we put it outside while we slept. Well, one morning we take off and hear a sickening crunch. We had run over my box of finishing supplies. There goes >$100 of Stew Mac liquid gold. I was so distraught over this loss that my body sat unfinished for another two months. I couldn't look at it.

November 13th, 2009, 07:04 PM	#3 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	Here's what I ended up using. After waiting so long I no longer had the patience or funds to do a nitro finish so I opted instead for Olympic White Duplicolor Acrylic. Now I needed something to bolt the body onto for painting...

November 13th, 2009, 07:07 PM	#4 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	My improvised spray booth. A friend of mine helped me do the neck-hum rout and drill the string through holes. This body was previously a top loader.

November 13th, 2009, 07:12 PM	#5 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	And finally! TADAH

November 13th, 2009, 07:14 PM	#6 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	It's got a Duncan Jazz Humbucker in the neck and Rio Grande Tallboy bringing up the rear. Reversed control plate with a push-pull for coil tapping. Lurking inside is an orange drop for the tone knob.

November 13th, 2009, 07:22 PM	#9 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	Allparts TMNF-V neck. Feels great and sure is purty. I was able to get a good deal on it through my employee discount at a music store. The string tree is from my cheapo bullet strat. That's what they used in the 50's though right?

November 13th, 2009, 07:22 PM	#10 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	I took the finish down to 1000 grit and left it there for a satin finish. Here are the things I'm unhappy with. You can see a couple freckles that cropped up as I was sanding. The don't bother me too much though. Who's gonna see it? Well you guys I guess. That scar on my wrist is where they put a titanium plate in my wrist after I got hit by a car riding my bike. Thought I'd never play guitar again for a while there. Phew!

November 13th, 2009, 07:28 PM	#11 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	I went through to the bare wood while sanding the edge here. Whatever, call it a relic. The switch tip I bought was too loose for the switch post so I cut tiny slivers off a hot glue stick and shoved them in the switch hole. Then I heated up the post with my soldering iron and pressed it on there. Voila! Another thing that bothers me. The bridge pickup won't sit quite right. I think the Rio Grande might not fit the Barden bridge correctly. As it is the height is just right, but if I needed to adjust it I'd be screwed.

November 13th, 2009, 07:33 PM	#12 (permalink)
GoodwillHunter TDPRI Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: San Francisco Age: 22 Posts: 99	I foolishly put the ferrules in before painting. Live and learn... Gotoh Split-shaft Klusons. Love the look and having the split shafts was great for when I was putting in the nut. I could take off the strings and put them back on without damaging them. And here's the image that started it all: I woulda used a gold anodized pickguard but none of the online vendors had pictures so I got the gold pearl instead. Seeing it complete I'm happy with my decision. Well, that's all for now folks. Hope you like it. I couldn't have done it without this forum and all of you. I'll post up some mp3s as soon as I record with it!

November 13th, 2009, 08:24 PM	#16 (permalink)
buddywayne Tele-Afflicted Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: missouri Age: 64 Posts: 1,262 10 Photos	Good job man. Enjoy!

November 13th, 2009, 08:27 PM	#17 (permalink)
superhand Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Clovis, CA Posts: 419	Thats real purty.

November 13th, 2009, 09:26 PM	#18 (permalink)
Fernder TDPRI Member Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: San Diego Age: 30 Posts: 76	OH YEAH!

November 13th, 2009, 09:59 PM	#19 (permalink)
MickM Tele-Holic Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Hbg. PA Age: 52 Posts: 958	I'm liking that pickguard, first one like that for me. Nice job overall Goody, but why do you think you have bridge plate/pu adjusting issue?

November 13th, 2009, 10:35 PM	#20 (permalink)
Joefaity Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Washington (the good one) Posts: 150	Cool job! Love the paint job.

November 14th, 2009, 08:29 AM	#24 (permalink)
Groovey Records Friend of Leo's Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Desolation Row Posts: 2,389	sunny side up!

November 14th, 2009, 08:59 AM	#25 (permalink)
blakktode TDPRI Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Canada Posts: 65	Nice job. I really like these threads where somebody takes what looks like a POS and turns it into a decent guitar.

November 14th, 2009, 02:12 PM	#26 (permalink)
jimdkc Tele-Meister Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Independence, MO Age: 53 Posts: 150	I never woulda thunk it... but I like the gold pearl pickguard on a white body! Nice job! Jim

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