One Piece Plus Wing - Two Piece Ash Build

Thanks, Man! The finishing process was pretty simple once I bailed on the translucent black idea. After many hours of sanding, up through 320 grit, and after using the iron technique to raise any sunken/damaged grain, then more very careful sanding, I put on one coat of Zinnser Bullseye Shellac Sealer. Let it dry for a couple days, then started with straight MinWax wipe-on gloss poly. Put on six coats, with light 0000 steel wool treatment between each coat. That's it! No grain filler.

Thanks beerfish! I played last night through my Line 6 setup and got some great "woman" tone out of the neck. Wasn't even expecting that!

Thanks! I feel better now - sorry if I got a little down there, but it can be tough to put your work out there and not get much response!

Thanks sultan - you kept me going a couple times with documenting my progress. The heavy grained areas in the ash definitely show - the result of no grain fill. But the trade off for me was the shimmer I got from the light shellac coat, followed with gloss poly. Even the dark grain areas are alive! At least to me!

Thanks Jack! I hear you on the grain and I went back and forth in the beginning before cutting it out. But, my daughter's vote on featuring the whorl below the bridge like I was thinking won out!

 

Built a New Bridge

Well I couldn't live with the bridge very long with the extra set of holes ... so I got out another piece of 3 inch aluminum angle and headed for the garage. I took quite a few pics and may start a thread on just how I make these bridges with just hand tools - seems like a good topic. Anyways, here's the finished product with a good look at the reflection off the finish (and the grain :neutral:

And from the bottom:


I need to get a new mounting screw for the upper corner - that one has been in and out a few times and the head just didn't keep nice. I'll pick one up tomorrow and that will help snug the head down all the way into the bridge plate too. I may also file down the saddle adjuster screws - but that low "backstock" sure feels better under the palm than the other one!

 

Last Post - Video!

Here's a video I did this morning of The Beast - hope you like it!

 

Hey Irishmail! Good to hear from you! I hope all is well with the Spa Caster - you're still gigging with it I trust?

 

Hey, thanks, Irishtele - two Irish in a row - must be my lucky day, for sure!

I went to the Seymour Duncan site and looked at their diagram for a: HB/SC/SC one volume/one tone setup. The differences with mine are:

• HB in the neck position - no big deal to move that
• .022 cap instead of .047 - just the way I like it
• .001 treble bleed cap across the volume lugs

The treble bleed is not demonstrated very well in my video - it works great with some gain and some higher amp volume than I was running. Let me know if you need more info on that.

 

Thanks tchuls! Good luck in your class - I'll post a bridge-building thread soon ... sometime in the next couple days.

 

Thanks scatter and Murray!

I took the guitar into the store today and showed it off a bit - salesman I know grabbed it immediately and headed into the amp room where the rep from Mesa was demo-ing the new Electra Dyne.

Wow! Wow! and Wow!

My guy Smitty ripped it up for about five minutes and then looked at me sheepishly and asked if I wanted to play my own guitar! Then the Mesa rep tried it and did a dead nuts version of La Grange - not a terribly hard song, but man did it sound great through that amp with the soft intro and then the full on verse part! That's what the treble bleed is all about!

We played the guitar through a real nice 5/25 Express as well. That was really fun and I may have to sell off some gear - I think my old amp is not up to day-to-day duty!

 

Thanks John! Really high praise - I'll take it with a big dose of humility - I still have a lot to learn, but as I've said before, what an incredible hobby this Tele guitar-building thing is!

Thanks Robbied_216! Feel free to steal any of my licks - I stole 'em all from someone else, that's for sure!