Burl Walnut Telecaster is finally done!

[stratisfied]

I started putting this Thinline together about 2 years ago and resurrected it to finish it up. I started with an unfinished Walnut body w. bookmatched burl walnut top and Fender Walnut neck. I put in Filtertron pickups with Bourns no-load mini-pots and orange drop caps. Tuners are staggered locking Hipshots and the bridge is a Hipshot clone with brass saddles.

I veneered the headstock face with burl walnut veneer to match the body. Freeman Keller (the woodmaster) gave me some tips which I emulated with my usual ghetto woodworking skills! I must have moved the veneer around for 15 minutes just to get it so the top and side grain matched up before I pre-cut it to laminate. It's a small detail I am especially proud of. The speed knobs and pickup rings were ordered clear and I back-painted them with a shade of bronze I mixed up to match the bridge saddles. I also went modular on all the connections, doing all the soldering outside the body and making it plug and play. I just couldn't go near that body with a soldering iron after all that lacquer, wet sanding and hand buffing lol

Let me know what you think. It's not a player yet, I need to do a full setup and work out some high fretboard low bridge issues (needs longer saddle height screws).

 

[Danny T]

Looks mighty tasty! I’m cursing the lack of a drool emoji in this app...

 

[Danb541]

WOW! That's killer diller. Well done man.

 

[gregulator450]

This is fantastic! Well done, sir!

 

[boredguy6060]

The guitar is gorgeous, even the wiring is very impressive.
Bravo!

 

[telepraise]

WOW!!! Definitely worth the wait. I didn't see any magnets, are your control access covers friction fit? I'm anxious to hear your report of how the filtertrons sound in there? Clear and bell like? Will they growl? Walnut is similar to mahogany in tone, just a little mellower. Should be a great sound. BTW, painting the bottom of the clear plastic is a great idea, those speed knobs are beautiful and so easy to read. Also, I just noticed the peghead and see what you mean about matching the grain, it looks one solid piece of walnut the way the grain wraps around. Awesome work all the way around!

 

[Intubator]

Really beautiful and impressive work stratisfied! You've got mad "ghetto" skills there!

 

[koolaide]

That right there is pretty, I don't care who you are.
Well done!

 

[Rockinvet]

Whoa gee whiz that is really nice!

 

[RockerJeff]

That is absolutely gorgeous! Super neat wiring as well

 

[Joshiquad]

I now have a jaw-shaped bruise on my lap.

 

[Dana Rudd]

Fantastic build, thanks for sharing.

 

[medownsouth]

I started putting this Thinline together about 2 years ago and resurrected it to finish it up. I started with an unfinished Walnut body w. bookmatched burl walnut top and Fender Walnut neck. I put in Filtertron pickups with Bourns no-load mini-pots and orange drop caps. Tuners are staggered locking Hipshots and the bridge is a Hipshot clone with brass saddles.

I veneered the headstock face with burl walnut veneer to match the body. Freeman Keller (the woodmaster) gave me some tips which I emulated with my usual ghetto woodworking skills! I must have moved the veneer around for 15 minutes just to get it so the top and side grain matched up before I pre-cut it to laminate. It's a small detail I am especially proud of. The speed knobs and pickup rings were ordered clear and I back-painted them with a shade of bronze I mixed up to match the bridge saddles. I also went modular on all the connections, doing all the soldering outside the body and making it plug and play. I just couldn't go near that body with a soldering iron after all that lacquer, wet sanding and hand buffing lol

Let me know what you think. It's not a player yet, I need to do a full setup and work out some high fretboard low bridge issues (needs longer saddle height screws).

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that's just beautiful how does she play?

 

[Jim_in_PA]

Stunning!

 

[tele12]

I started putting this Thinline together about 2 years ago and resurrected it to finish it up. I started with an unfinished Walnut body w. bookmatched burl walnut top and Fender Walnut neck. I put in Filtertron pickups with Bourns no-load mini-pots and orange drop caps. Tuners are staggered locking Hipshots and the bridge is a Hipshot clone with brass saddles.

I veneered the headstock face with burl walnut veneer to match the body. Freeman Keller (the woodmaster) gave me some tips which I emulated with my usual ghetto woodworking skills! I must have moved the veneer around for 15 minutes just to get it so the top and side grain matched up before I pre-cut it to laminate. It's a small detail I am especially proud of. The speed knobs and pickup rings were ordered clear and I back-painted them with a shade of bronze I mixed up to match the bridge saddles. I also went modular on all the connections, doing all the soldering outside the body and making it plug and play. I just couldn't go near that body with a soldering iron after all that lacquer, wet sanding and hand buffing lol

Let me know what you think. It's not a player yet, I need to do a full setup and work out some high fretboard low bridge issues (needs longer saddle height screws).

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Nice work!

 

[stratisfied]

WOW!!! Definitely worth the wait. I didn't see any magnets, are your control access covers friction fit? I'm anxious to hear your report of how the filtertrons sound in there? Clear and bell like? Will they growl? Walnut is similar to mahogany in tone, just a little mellower. Should be a great sound. BTW, painting the bottom of the clear plastic is a great idea, those speed knobs are beautiful and so easy to read. Also, I just noticed the peghead and see what you mean about matching the grain, it looks one solid piece of walnut the way the grain wraps around. Awesome work all the way around!

Thanks for the compliments. Yes, the covers are friction fit. They snap in very tightly and I have a fender washer crazy glued to the underside so I can touch a retrieval magnet to the cover and pull it off. If they loosen up in the winter as the wood shrinks, I have some small neodymium magnets I will glue to the covers at the corners and recess larger magnets into the lip around the openings. I figured I'd try the lazy way first and see how it works.

Here are some pics of the raw body and headstock before finishing. Also some details of my ghetto luthery forming and installing the headstock veneer (shaping pics were with a different veneer but gives you the idea). It's ghetto but it works!

It really makes the guitar too.

 

[Dismalhead]

That's beautiful.

 

[stratisfied]

that's just beautiful how does she play?

There's the rub, right now it's a guitar shaped object.

I started to set it up and am running out of adjustment (up) in the bridge saddles. The neck pocket may be a bit shallow or too much neck angle, so for the moment, I have stopped. I could manage to play it a bit and it is bright and jangly for sure. It has a nice filtertron edge of breakup clean.

Tomorrow I am picking up some longer bridge saddle screws and may have to take out a touch of neck angle and height on the belt sander. The bridge after all does not have the elevation of a 3 barrel Tele and is really pretty flat like a Strat. My eye says the neck needs to sit down in the pocket a bit more like a Strat to work. Easy fix.

They all need a little love to set them up right. The pretty ones tend to be high strung lol!

 

[imploration]

Great looking guitar!!!!!

 

[ping-ping-clicka]

I started putting this Thinline together about 2 years ago and resurrected it to finish it up. I started with an unfinished Walnut body w. bookmatched burl walnut top and Fender Walnut neck. I put in Filtertron pickups with Bourns no-load mini-pots and orange drop caps. Tuners are staggered locking Hipshots and the bridge is a Hipshot clone with brass saddles.

I veneered the headstock face with burl walnut veneer to match the body. Freeman Keller (the woodmaster) gave me some tips which I emulated with my usual ghetto woodworking skills! I must have moved the veneer around for 15 minutes just to get it so the top and side grain matched up before I pre-cut it to laminate. It's a small detail I am especially proud of. The speed knobs and pickup rings were ordered clear and I back-painted them with a shade of bronze I mixed up to match the bridge saddles. I also went modular on all the connections, doing all the soldering outside the body and making it plug and play. I just couldn't go near that body with a soldering iron after all that lacquer, wet sanding and hand buffing lol

Let me know what you think. It's not a player yet, I need to do a full setup and work out some high fretboard low bridge issues (needs longer saddle height screws).

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at err's ah mighty fine bit of work. the finishing sanding polishing et al came out lik'a museum piece of work.
shukes and golly, thats a great job. immaculately concieved and executed.