NOS Nocaster build

All the parts are in.

eBay ash 2 piece body, 3lbs 11ounces

Allparts TMO-V neck

Allparts "bakelite" guard

Tonerider A3 hot classic pickups

Rutter's knobs

Kluson single line tuners.

Lots of Fender parts for the rest.


I found a good "how-to" for late 40s/50s blonde furniture, and I'm trying that. Sand, seal, grain fill, seal, white wash. That's where I'm at now.

Next will be Behlens stringed instrument lacquer. It already has a very slight amber hue in the can and I'm of the understanding that it does turn darker over time.

The neck will probably get one seal coat then a few coats of the Behlens lacquer, again no tint, just letting nature take it's course.

I'm going for the catalog look!

 

Ugh, fine.

I've assembled just a couple complete so far; finished another 4 necks, 3 bodies. Done lots of fretwork for friends, rewiring control plates etc. This isn't too new a concept.

Here's a poplar no name body off eBay primed white and finished Dakota Red, Chinese neck, trans tint honey amber all lacquer.





The current build is an eBay body.



With just a coat of shellac, as a sealer. I love shellac.



The whitewash stain can be pure white and not tinted because the sealed ash is already very "amber".



The neck in the last picture is NOT the neck I'm using, it was just a stand in for the picture.

 

Before the whitewash was a coat of Stew Mac natural grain filler as per their instructions and then another coat of shellac to seal the grain filler.

The stain is nice and quick. It was applied with a foam brush with the grain, wait just 90 seconds and wipe off against the grain. There's no sign of any brush marks.

On a test piece I found that the instructions for the whitewash were very accurate, that if you wait for 2 minutes it will already be starting to dry.

You CAN apply a second coat of the whitewash a couple hours later to make it more opaque without it lifting the previous coat. But I chose to leave it at one coat to match that old Fender picture.

 

Yes, I agree. I have done several assemblies already and I think I've worked out most of the pre-setup alignment issues from that experience.

On this one either the pickguard template or the body template was a little off. I'm having to do a lot of fine sanding to get the control plate to cooperate and not push the pickguard askew.

In one of my posts above is a Dakota Red '65 copy I made. Below is a picture of the dry build for that one, long before any finish.