Some advice on refinishing a 66 Tele.

[jwells393]

Bruce ............ have you chosen a color?

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by PJ

It's much easier to see, now, that '66 body getting back to its original body profile. I suppose the biggest challenge is to get a
good fit of the two pieces to avoid gaps as much as possible. How
do you anticipate that part shaking-out, at this point? Is it a good
profile-to-profile fit of the 2-pieces?

I'm using an inlay template insert for the router. I tried a couple of peices yesterday when I was makinig the templates and the fits are excellent.

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by jwells393

Bruce ............ have you chosen a color?

I'm still waiting on the Tele book with the color charts. It's been on backorder but should be to me tomorrow.

I still think I want to go with a blond as I thought originally but I like sunbursts too.

[PJ]

Bruce.....can't wait to see the body, after sanding to see where you ended-up. I definitely think you're approaching this fix the right way. Your dilligence and precision will payoff on this project, for sure.

[BAW4742]

This is the setup I used to cut the pickup fillers.



I was making good progress yesterday. Finished the template, made some test cuts and started cutting the body. The bright wood shows the new cutouts. Then I lost power late in the afternoon. So I had to resort to a little bit of hand work with the chisel to clean things up as much as I could.



It was several hours before power came back on so I didn't get much else done.

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by PJ

Bruce.....can't wait to see the body, after sanding to see where you ended-up. I definitely think you're approaching this fix the right way. Your dilligence and precision will payoff on this project, for sure.

Thanks PJ.

Here's a couple of shots of the body rough sanded.

[jwells393]

I'm still waiting on the Tele book with the color charts.

My earlier post listed all the colors for a '66 from the chart. The chart doesn't show color swatches ....... just names the colors.

Why not rectangular patches for each pickup cavity? Ah ............ I think I see ............ a pickguard coverage issue.

Removing a radius ............. this is very cool and very unique.

[PJ]

Bruce...after tackling the huge task you've done a marvelous job with on the edge profile, wouldn't blocking-in the routs and recutting be a walk in the park, for you? I watched my luthier do this on an old Strat for a guy, and I think he started by putting the body on the copier machine glass to make the template for the insert.

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by jwells393

Why not rectangular patches for each pickup cavity? Ah ............ I think I see ............ a pickguard coverage issue.

Tht and I'm also trying to leave as much of the original ash as possible.

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by PJ

Bruce...after tackling the huge task you've done a marvelous job with on the edge profile, wouldn't blocking-in the routs and recutting be a walk in the park, for you?

I can only hope.

Each step has it's own challenges. I don't take anything for granted. Stuff can go wrong when you least expect it.

[BAW4742]

OK - I was able to get a little done today.


I finished trimming up the cutouts using a top piloted bit riding on the template. Cleaned up the edges a little bit with a chisel.





Then I had some cutouts like this. Sorry for focus. My camera doesn't work all that well for close up work.



Now I need to start making some plugs.

[BAW4742]

I used the pattern bit and bushing with the same templates to get duplicate plugs for the cutouts.



Then trimmed them close on the bandsaw.



And finished cleaning them up on a disc sander.



Making some headway now.

[BAW4742]

After a little sanding and trimming the plugs fit pretty good.



So I wet one side of the wood and apply some Gorilla glue.



And then clamp 'em up.




The poly glue expands and fills some gaps but the fits were pretty tight so there's not a lot of squeeze out.

I'll let this cure at least until some time tomorrow. After level sanding the plugs I'll be ready to re cut the pickup routs.

[jwells393]

My camera doesn't work all that well for close up work.

If it has that little flower icon button, pushing that might help.

Everything's looking good.

[vanguard]

i love this thread. please keep the pics of progress coming. i just love seeing that great old guitar coming back to life.

[PJ]

Wow...looking good. And coming along quickly. You're really on this project!

[BAW4742]

OK guys - take a look at this and give me some feedback. Do these cutouts look right?





I placed the bridge and a pickguard on the body lining them up with screw holes and marked the openings for the pickups.

Then I lined up my body template with the center lines and with the edges and it was not very close to these marks.

So I shifted the body template around to get it this close. What do you think? These cutout look right?

The body template that I'm using is one from Ron Kirn and it for a 50 something tele. Would that explain this difference? Am I on the right track with these cuts?

After all of the work I''ve done to get to this point I don't want to screw up the pup cavity routs.

[BAW4742]

I was able to get the pickup routs done.



I used the measurements from the drawing that tdowns posted and the ones in the Duchoissoir book to confirm that my layout was ok.



So I just cut 'em.

I need to drill a couple of holes for the pickup wiring and rout the neck pocket to clean that up. Then I can rout the edges and after some (a lot of)sanding I'll be ready to start shooting some sealer.

[jwells393]

If it were my project I'd probably do two or three applications of grain filler sanding back to bare wood after each one before applying the sanding sealer.

By routing the neck pocket are you referring to the notch between the neck pocket and the pickup cavity?

What color was this originally?

Oh .......... by the way .......... Good Job.....

[BAW4742]

I’ve not had a problem with the woodworking but when it comes to finishing that’s another story. I’m not real confident in my finishing abilities. So here’s my plan.

I'm leaning toward a blond finish now. I love a sunburst and that would help hide the patches on the edges but I’m not sure I’m up to doing that right now.

This is what I’m thinking about doing.

Shoot 2 to 4 coats of sealer (probably Deft as I have some of that).

Grain fill with dark filler too bring out the grain and then sand back. Probably do this 2 or 3 times (I hate working with grain filler and I’m not very good at it) and then lock it in with a couple of coats of sealer.

Shoot the edges with a white primer (BIN?) to hide the patches.

Shoot the color, 1 or 2 coats. I want transparent blond to show the grain somewhat and hope the white prime will hide the patches at the edges.

Then shoot 6 to 10 coats of gloss sealer.

Needless to say I’ll be sanding between groups of coats as needed.

What do you think?

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by jwells393

If it were my project I'd probably do two or three applications of grain filler sanding back to bare wood after each one before applying the sanding sealer.

By routing the neck pocket are you referring to the notch between the neck pocket and the pickup cavity?

What color was this originally?

Oh .......... by the way .......... Good Job.....

You would do the grain filler on bare wood?

As far as the neck pocket - the filler for the neck pickup extended a little into the neck pocket (not much - maybe less than 1/8") and I'm going to cut that out along with the notch.


As far as original color I see black and blond on the neck pocket. When I got the guitar it had been stripped so I really don't know what the original color was.

[Old Cane]

That sounds good. I've never done a transparent finish and priming the edges may be just the trick. I don't know but I'm sure someone does. My brother-in-law told me over the weekend he was having edge troubles with butterscotch blonde so this may work. I'm not sure if I'd use dark filler or not but worth trying. Glad you've gotten so far with this. Then again, sunburst would solve a lot of problems but I've never shot one of those either.

[BAW4742]

Originally Posted by Old Cane

I'm not sure if I'd use dark filler or not but worth trying. Glad you've gotten so far with this. Then again, sunburst would solve a lot of problems but I've never shot one of those either.

Thanks Old Cane. I'm not sure about the dark filler either. That's why I'm here.

Believe me, I would have never attempted this project if I hadn't found TDPRI.

[Buckocaster51]

very nice

thank you for sharing

for what it is worth, on my '67 there is essentially no grain showing...anywhere...and it is about as blonde as blonde can be.