first tele from scratch - in process

[tklaavo]

Hello
I'm working on my first build totally from scratch. A basic tele with basswood body and maple neck. Couple of pics:

The body with neck test fitted (tight..)


The neck, freshly fretted


Headstock


The body has some typical basswood colour defects. The pencil marks around the bridge area are temporary measurements. It's two pieces "Tilia Cordata", an European species of Linden, probably very similar to what is called Basswood in America.

The neck is a two-piece maple, with double action truss rod, heel adjust. The simplest construction I could imagine and easiest for a total newbie like me.

Looking at the pics, I see the first fret is not properly seated in the slot, so I'll probably have to replace it.

I used CA glue in the fret slots and got some glue stains in the back of the neck. After careful sanding the stains are still visible. Is there a trick to get rid of them? Just sand some more? I'm planning a Danish oil finish on the neck.

The body needs more sanding and roundover on the edges. I'm trying to decide on the finish. I have no resources to spray (no equipment, no place..) so I have to use something I can apply by hand. A dark stain, oil, wax, something like that.

I'm open to ideas on the finishing!
Thanks for looking.

[tintag27]

That maple is beautiful - look forward to following this build!
Thanks for posting.

[tklaavo]

Some updates on this. I wanted to finish it before the challenge starts, but got a terrible flu and had to stay in bed. Got finally some work done - and found more errors to learn from.

I messed around with grandad's old roundover bits and found out they're dull.. so the body roundover was quite rough and needed a lot of sanding. The radius is also not right, but I don't mind.

Positioned the bridge and found out my body outline template and the cavity + neck pocket template have their centerlines out of place. My center seam is not in the center.. It doesn't matter though, the strings line up with the neck and the bridge pickup fits the cavity, so it will be playable.

I was frustrated with all this and started a new set of body templates today, so the challenge build will be better.

Installed my first set of string ferrules. What a sick job. I'll never do that again.. Gonna use top-loading bridges or make a solid block out of metal for string-through body, if needed. They're in line, but the basswood was too soft to drill nice-looking holes for the ferrules. Not worth a picture.

Also made a pickguard template and routed one out of my two square-meter black sheet of plastic which I got for the price of one pickguard..

No pics of my mistakes today, only this one:


I have applied some coats of Rustins Danish Oil on the neck, and really like the way it looks now - I'm surprised how it darkens the maple. I'm definitely going to use it for other woods as well (my challenge build will not have maple on it..)

I'm off to a 10-day trip and return just in time to start the challenge, so no updates until then, sorry.

[tklaavo]

After first day's work with my Challenge build I wanted to do something to this neverending project as well.

I had stained the body with a coat of almost black oil-based stain. It looked horrible, but the idea was to sand most of it off like this:



Then I put on a coat of "mahogany brown" oil-based stain, thinned with white spirit and for some reason a bit of Danish oil. And behold:



Turned out looking somehow bronze-like and suddenly I like it!



It will still evolve from this..

[macaroonie]

For finishing without spray equipment you can use a variety of methods. Old school French polishing , rubbed on polyurethane , quickly rubbed on Acid Catalyst lacquer , either pre cat or two part. The last two require several coats to build up a glaze and then allow some time to cure and then wet sand to your finish and polish

[tklaavo]

Thanks for the ideas. I have no clue what is Acid catalyst lacquer, googled a while and found out something. I don't know how to get it around here - probably just have to find the right words in Finnish and some brand names.
Poly wipe-on sounds interesting. I've also considered french polishing with shellac, but am not sure if I dare to try my clumsy hands on it. And then there are rattle can lacquers, but I still would need a proper place to spray them.
Let's get the color right first..

[jkingma]

Looks great.

[bcarter_1]

Originally Posted by jkingma

Looks great.

+1
Good job so far.

[Olav]

That's a great look. BBQ style.

[tklaavo]

Thanks yous!
I'd like to give it some burst, kind of darker on the edges. I'll check it out tomorrow if I have time. Black pickguard is going in anyway. And the ferrules will fly out, need some kind of tone bar instead - I can't even look at them as they are now. I'm not going to show them to you.

[macaroonie]

Originally Posted by tklaavo

Thanks for the ideas. I have no clue what is Acid catalyst lacquer, googled a while and found out something. I don't know how to get it around here - probably just have to find the right words in Finnish and some brand names.
Poly wipe-on sounds interesting. I've also considered french polishing with shellac, but am not sure if I dare to try my clumsy hands on it. And then there are rattle can lacquers, but I still would need a proper place to spray them.
Let's get the color right first..

Commonly used for hard wear situations for example flooring. I would expect you can get Junckers products where you are.

Its basically a cellulose but with other good stuff in there. Quick drying and curing.

http://www.agwoodcare.co.uk/prod/jun...ional_625.html

[tklaavo]

Today I messed around again with some oil-based stains:




It's getting very close to what I was thinking of.
The wood didn't absorbe too well today. I guess it was a stupid idea to mix in the Danish oil last time.

I hope to finish this one before the challenge build. The sloppy ferrules will be replaced with a solid bar of some sort when time allows.

[jipp]

looks good. keep up the good work.
chris.

[tklaavo]

Originally Posted by macaroonie

Commonly used for hard wear situations for example flooring. I would expect you can get Junckers products where you are.

Thanks for the tip. I found a dealer for Junckers floors, maybe they have the lacquers as well. Haven't decided yet what to try.

Thanks Chris, I'm trying

[tklaavo]

The barbecuecaster is almost ready. I tried a brush-on poly lacquer and ended up sanding it all off, including the stain, back to bare wood. No success..

Did the staining again, this time much better. The barbecue look is definitely there still..
Decided to put a danish oil finish, polish that and maybe some wax on top.

This is what it looks like, almost ready. The finish is a bit grungy, needs some more polishing.



Made a tone bar out of iron, the ferrules were all over the place (blurry shot, sorry..):



A close up of the front:



I like it a lot. The pickguard is the first one I made for my challenge build. Pickups are from a Tokai ATE-55, got them from a local music store for 10 euros. The hardware is not golden, even though it looks like that in the pictures.
I'm really waiting to hear this one. I have promised to myself to finish this one before the challenge build.

[nosmo]

THAT is a fine looking guitar! The hardware does look gold. I'm not a big fan of gold but it would look good on this piece. Great job.

[freaktone]

Great job! I love the finish.

[glen smith]

Very nice!

[jnepo1]

Very nice. The textured pick guard goes well w/ the wood finish.

[AirBagTester]

Digging that slightly burst/burned look... crispy!