The Teiscocaster: Ikeacaster Thinline project

[cknowles]

Hi Tuur,

Thanks for the updates, I just read through the whole thread again.

Can you enlighten us on how you remedied your "scroogish" use of wood around the upper bout? Did you graft new pieces onto it, or did you leave it as it was?

Chris

[JasonRobert]

I say lacquer it. It will bring the grain out, and give the wood some protection.

[tuuur]

CKnowles: I took a woodrasp and sanding paper and ground it in a round shape.

JasonRobert: Yeah, that's what I ended up doing. First I applied 4 layers of mahogany-coloured wood stain, and then 3 layers of yacht lacquer. I don't know when I finally will dare to try and spray paint. For one thing I'm concerned about dust, and the place I work in (our garage) is very dusty by design.

More pics coming up shortly...

[tuuur]

Now for the pics:

[tuuur]

More of them:



I still have to finish the headstock and make a decal for it. As the Tryggvecaster's one is peeling of, I guess I have to apply a thin coat of clear lacquer over it.



The holes for the tuners are not evenly ditributed on the headstock.
Real Builders or Luthiers would dowel and redrill; I just rummage in my screw drawer and put in two bigger screws.
Just making it up as I go, using whatever is at hand, taking the easy route.



The first, second and blurry third fret. Dented and all.



Still, it plays well enough for my taste, and definitely better than when it was still a Teisco. I tried it out at the rehearsal last sunday, and with mild distortion it sounds perfect! Starts to squeal when de overdrive is turned up, so better not do that. I intended this one to be a home only guitar, so no problem there.
Sounds coming up as well in a little while...

[numeric]

wow Tuuur, that stain looks gorgeous, and complements the neck very well.

[telecaster1987]

Got a friend who asked for my help restoring another friend's Teisco. Apparently Teiscos and Silvertones are made by the same company, which would explain why yours sound similar. This build looks good, but to me the trem handle looks like a car window crank . Teiscos are interesting looking guitars, but I think Leo's body designs are the best, with the Tele being at the top of the list IMHO. The classic shapes of the 50s Gibsons and Fenders just look good to me, always have. It's neat to see all you guys take a somewhat marginal guitar and make something wonderful out of it.

My wishes as well for a speedy recovery tuuur!

[tuuur]

Took it to a gig yesterday, but its pickup is way too microphonic. Started squealing when I switched on the Bad Monkey in a no good way.
Still I don't think I'll change it, it's got a nice tone on it's own that will work when recording at home.

[tuuur]

So I sorted out where the squeal came from. After grounding the metal plate of the goldfoil pickup, the Teiscocaster has no hum any more; at least at home it hasn't.

Now on to the headstock. I'm opting to do a compromise: the back of the headstock will be black, and the front natural. Also, I'll use rattle cans from the local hardware store for the first time.

First I used some plastic wood to fill some holes, left by the string retainer.



Then I sprayed some 5 layers of primer and sanded it with 400 grid paper.



I like the result up untill now. No orange peel, no drops whatsoever!

Pics are made with my new temporary phone (it's increasingly becoming a weird world, where people take pictures with their phones); 2 megapixels, but it doesn't look too good. Better use the Canon for the other pics.

[woodman]

your phone pix look better than my camera pix! cool project, tuuur.

[tuuur]

Originally Posted by telecaster1987

My wishes as well for a speedy recovery tuuur!

Thanks alot!
Walking is possible again, but it still hurts a lot. Could be painful for another half year according to the doctors.
The ankle feels like it's locked most of the time; running is out of the question at the moment. I sure hope I can run again in the near future; not because of me, but because of my son of 4...

Originally Posted by woodman

your phone pix look better than my camera pix! cool project, tuuur.

Hey, thanks woodman! That rainbowcaster of yours is one mighty fine work of art.

[tuuur]

My father in law saw the headstock and thought too much grain was showing. I agreed... he offered to help a bit, and started to apply some filler.



... or so he thought. In fact, he took the wrong tube and had applied glue.

Oh well, I'm still in the learning phase anyways, so we took the glue off, applied filler, and wetsanded. Then, again 4 layers of primer.

[tuuur]

4 coats of black spray paint later:

[tuuur]

I lost count as to how many coats of clear are on right now. I got the feeling it's there, sort of. Now I let it cure.

Mind you, this is the first time I ever worked with rattlecans... I think it looks good!

[minorseventh]

of all of the incredible builds on this board, this is one of my favorites. i love old teiscos almost as much as teles, and now that I think of it, most of my furniture is from Ikea
excellent job tuuur, and very inspiring!

[tuuur]

Originally Posted by minorseventh

of all of the incredible builds on this board, this is one of my favorites. i love old teiscos almost as much as teles, and now that I think of it, most of my furniture is from Ikea
excellent job tuuur, and very inspiring!

Thanks! I find I am now in the hardest part of the build, being...

... waiting for the paint to cure...

[tuuur]

Well, it's done. (Is a homebrew guitar ever really done?)
And only sort of, because the finish still isn't hard enough... I'm considering stripping the finish and redo it with rattle can clear lacquer.

I find it sad to think I can use this guitar only at home, what with the squealing Goldfoil pickup.
So I decided to change pickups and put in a humbucker.

In a way I think this makes it a bit of a less unique guitar, maybe, but it is much more playable in my bands...







Those coming to the dutch TDPRI gathering saturday 12th will get to see this beast in reality!

[mroll]

Hi Tuuur,

I've been reading your Ikeacaster threads with great interest and decided to try my hand at a Thinline Ikeacater. I have a question on the template you're using. I noticed that you're able to get two pieces from a 79 cm board. The templates I've downloaded from this site (like tdowns) have a body length of 40.5 cm, making it impossible to get two pieces out of a 79 cm board. What template are you using and can you link to or post it here?

Thanks. Your projects are gorgeous.

[tuuur]

Originally Posted by mroll

Hi Tuuur,

I've been reading your Ikeacaster threads with great interest and decided to try my hand at a Thinline Ikeacater. I have a question on the template you're using. I noticed that you're able to get two pieces from a 79 cm board. The templates I've downloaded from this site (like tdowns) have a body length of 40.5 cm, making it impossible to get two pieces out of a 79 cm board. What template are you using and can you link to or post it here?

Thanks. Your projects are gorgeous.

Thanks for your kind words!

I used TDPRI member gtech's template, which you can download as a pdf over here:
http://www.gtechblues.ca/images/Thinline/Thinline.pdf

As you can see in this thread, I had problems and ran short of wood in certain places, especially the upper bout, which forced me to apply some creative solutions which made this guitar less of a tele than I wanted to. I'd recommend to make a body out of sufficient wood.

[mroll]

Thanks. Somehow I missed trying that template.

I want extra to practice on so I'll just pick up six pieces to make sure. Just finishing up a Partscaster first.

[iansmitchell]

Did you try to wax pot the goldfoil?

[tuuur]

Originally Posted by iansmitchell

Did you try to wax pot the goldfoil?

Nope... I don't dare to.