My first partscaster

[gimmeatele]

Well here is my first one as the title says, 'el dia de Los Muertos' parts caster.
Made from :-
Gear4music alder body with maple cap, not that you can see the cap.

Gear4music maple neck.

Fender Texmex pickups, in keeping with the theme.

New bone nut.

All parts pickguard.

Di marzio pro 3 way switch.

Fender control plate and pots.

And all wired with vintage style cloth wiring.

I wanted to make a paisley guitar but couldn't find the fabric so went with this as a finish. Front and back were covered with it the then lacquered with a water base laquer, which worked well and dried quickly in the Spanish heat.
I was going to do a sunburst finish but liked it as is, so spent a good many hours shaving back the fabric to fit exactly to the edge of the body.
Sides were sprayed with a black rattle can which I am pleased with for my first attempt at spraying.
Took just over month as everything was hand sanded and hand tools to build it.
Just giving it its first play and other than tweaking set up I like it alot, the pickups are great and not as treble sounding as some said.
Hope you like it.

Phil.

 

[tintag27]

Nice work - I can see it will not be your last project!

 

[Telekarster]

Nice! Welcome to the club! There will be more I suspect....

 

[ClashCityTele]

Very nice. Looks great.
I have been looking at their Tele kits recently.
Have too much on at the moment to be building guitars.

 

[Killing Floor]

That’s cool. I like the print fabric.

 

[gimmeatele]

Nice work - I can see it will not be your last project!

Thanks, absolutely loved doing it, certainly won't be the last

 

[gimmeatele]

Nice! Welcome to the club! There will be more I suspect....

Definitely, learnt alot from this one so hopefully just get better at it

 

[gimmeatele]

Very nice. Looks great.
I have been looking at their Tele kits recently.
Have too much on at the moment to be building guitars.

Thanks, have to say body and neck were A1, a few of the parts with them not so good

 

[gimmeatele]

That’s cool. I like the print fabric.

Thanks, It was good to work with and kept the actual colour through all the laquer and sanding

 

[Telekarster]

Definitely, learnt alot from this one so hopefully just get better at it

Yepperz man! You surely will. I too learned a LOT when I built mine, 4 years ago now, and since that time I've built a 54 Strat and 2 1959 spec 335's, as well as have repaired/restored many guitars for friends too I also have probably 2 more guitars that I have the parts for, just need to find the time to put them together LOL!!! Off you go mate! You're on a good journey!

 

[gimmeatele]

Yepperz man! You surely will. I too learned a LOT when I built mine, 4 years ago now, and since that time I've built a 54 Strat and 2 1959 spec 335's, as well as have repaired/restored many guitars for friends too I also have probably 2 more guitars that I have the parts for, just need to find the time to put them together LOL!!! Off you go mate! You're on a good journey!

Definitely a strat to be done and we will see from there. As I said in another post, the parts which came for the guitar were not up to scratch so will be source better parts too, but yeah, real satisfying expierience

 

[Telekarster]

Definitely a strat to be done and we will see from there. As I said in another post, the parts which came for the guitar were not up to scratch so will be source better parts too, but yeah, real satisfying expierience

For sure. I always try to find the best parts I can get my hands on. If Fender then I try to buy MFG original USA made, likewise with Gibson. If I can get vintage parts I'll use em, but that's hard to do for a good price.

 

[gimmeatele]

For sure. I always try to find the best parts I can get my hands on. If Fender then I try to buy MFG original USA made, likewise with Gibson. If I can get vintage parts I'll use em, but that's hard to do for a good price.

I have just seen the paisley owners thread and that has started me off already lol.
Yes, I would go for branded parts just for reliance of quality, the ones with the kit were definitely substandard to the point I never used any. The pickups and wiring were plug types so I put them in and boy, there was nothing but a earth problem type howl. If I had been experiencing to get a playable guitar from the kit I would have been very disappointed.

 

[Telekarster]

I have just seen the paisley owners thread and that has started me off already lol.
Yes, I would go for branded parts just for reliance of quality, the ones with the kit were definitely substandard to the point I never used any. The pickups and wiring were plug types so I put them in and boy, there was nothing but a earth problem type howl. If I had been experiencing to get a playable guitar from the kit I would have been very disappointed.

Yep, the 2 335's I built were from kits. The bodies and necks were fantastically built! The parts were crap. I literally didn't use a single piece of hardware from the kit at all... not even the screws LOL! All crap. I went with genuine Gibson and they both turned out fantastically. Had I used the parts that came with em, I'm positive I would've regretted that.

 

[Oxidao]

Very nice!

I've stripped a Fernandes long ago, and I'm still figuring out what to do with it. May you tell us how did you do yours?.
Is it painted? vinyl and lacquered on top? ...

 

[hemingway]

Way better than Paisley.

 

[brookdalebill]

Neato!

 

[gimmeatele]

Very nice!

I've stripped a Fernandes long ago, and I'm still figuring out what to do with it. May you tell us how did you do yours?.
Is it painted? vinyl and lacquered on top? ...

The fabric was stuck to a well sanded body with PVA glue. I left the fabric about half an in over the body and then applied water based laquer over the material, left to dry, two more coats then wet and dried, repeat another five or six coats of laquer , wet and dry every two coats, which left a very smooth surface.
I had sprayed two coats of black rattle can acrylic spray on the sides prior to putting on the fabric. Now the edges of the fabric had dried solid I began painstakingly shave it back to the body, getting it so flush to the body edge you cannot see the join between paint and body. This was repeated on the back too.
Two coats of laquer then went on and again wet and dry sanded to a glass smooth finish, and that was it for the body, same process for the head stock.

 

[gimmeatele]

Way better than Paisley.

Thanks,It does look good, the actual green of the fabric does not photo well and is slightly darker, and sits well with the black

 

[Oxidao]

The fabric was stuck to a well sanded body with PVA glue. I left the fabric about half an in over the body and then applied water based laquer over the material, left to dry, two more coats then wet and dried, repeat another five or six coats of laquer , wet and dry every two coats, which left a very smooth surface.
I had sprayed two coats of black rattle can acrylic spray on the sides prior to putting on the fabric. Now the edges of the fabric had dried solid I began painstakingly shave it back to the body, getting it so flush to the body edge you cannot see the join between paint and body. This was repeated on the back too.
Two coats of laquer then went on and again wet and dry sanded to a glass smooth finish, and that was it for the body, same process for the head stock.

Thanks