Yet Another Jimmy Page Dragon Tele Build

[EyeOfZorro]

@ Manolet... Yes the paint did run under neath so the mylar will have to go down first and then the pick guard over it. There is a funny black dot sort of spec in the middle between the neck pup and the bridge under the strings that looks like either a screw under the guard or something holding it in place. Not sure what that is. Also the mylar has air pockets under it which is common with this stuff but not crinkled like foil gets so its definitely a sturdy material like mylar. I'm gonna have to make sure it retains the air pocket relief and get that what looks like glue cloudiness under the guard where I think people see as burnt. But honestly this part I look forward too. But thats gonna have to be after I grain fill, shellac and hand paint. The Red over the foil part still haven't thought about the choreography.

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Here is the current version of the control set I got from RS Guitarworks. Their vintage set comes stock with this repro chiklet cap. Its stilll missing the 2nd tubular cap to complete the "Dark Circuit" found in 59' telecasters. These repro Paper in old Caps come from Luxe.

 

[EyeOfZorro]

The other Tone Cap came tonight. Luxe ZYW1S5. Holy crap... Now I know why these cost $22 bucks. The packaging alone must have been 50% of that. The tweed fender case inspired box reminds me of the Jeff Beck CD Box set. Also pictured is a cap I bought for my 1966 Fender Electric XII. The very last part needed. I having so much fun with her, I'm hesitant to take the strings off and unscrew the control cavity to solder it in.

 

[UserNotAvailable]

But the test will be... The Dragon Tele through the pedal into a Supro.

with my 63' Supro 1624 x12" speaker and my homemade bender with 3- OC 81Ds I discovered that it was too much dirt.. and the Supro alone was enough distortion on its own... and the pedal when played thru other amps sounds like the Supro on its own, leading me to start to think that the pedal was used to get that sound of the Surpro while he played the larger amps... let me know how yours goes.. this will be interesting

 

[Berndizzle440]

Here's a close up of the neck that Bernie Hefner's shop cut for me.

image removed

Hey my name is Bernie i think its crazy that before i got into guitar building i never really heard too many people with the same name as me and since then i have heard of sooooo many luthiers with the name!

 

[jipp]

what a cool build. im suprised fender s not tried to recreate this. man, i feel sorry for jim.. coming home and your friend gives you a gift you think you will dig.. painted your guitar for you.. his friend thinking he was doings something kind. but in the end it ruined the dragon. jim seems like a polite English man i doubt he took it out to hard on his friend but what he must of been thinking.. he probably would not want to be put in print. ( also in the print i read, jim says everyone was painting there guitars at this point in time.. i wonder if this trend will come back.. )
chris.

 

[CraigB]

This is cool, enjoying watching the planning you're putting into it. Dang fine looking pedal you got to go with it there, too!

 

[EyeOfZorro]

I think I'm good on the pick guard tracing. But Thanks to the_best_of_fools Home Depot Lexan tip, I found a sheet of clear pick guard material tonight for $3.98. So I bought two!
Hell...a clear plastic pick guard sheet at Stew Mac or a custom guard is is like $35-40 bucks. I feel mush better tonight about my $22 vintage capacitor purchase yesterday with these savings!

Here's is the tracking printed on a clear sheet so I can see if I have a big enough Mylar sheet. Phew...it fits just inside the tracing, if I angle it to the side.
Below that is my $3.98 sheet of Lexan Polycarbonate sheet from home depot.
Also pictured above is double sided gummy stuff from 3M that you find on wedding invitations and marketing mailers that I'm gonna toy with under the mylar over the wood to get that ripple effect under the pick guard.

Whats crazy about this material is you get completely different rainbows as you walk around it and angle it differently.

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Its easy to see that this material was reflective and had relief under the guard.
Also there is something holding it in place in the center. Also looks like resin build up on the B & E string bridge pole magnets.

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Cutting Lexan is harder than I thought. I was told that Polycarbonate material chips and now I know first hand. I'm new to all this stuff so after replacing blades with lots of teeth still scratching my head. If Jimmy Page cut his own pick guard then he had the same problems I'm sure. Some of my close up photos of Jimmy's pick guard, shows the horn area looking rough around the cut away tip, so I guess I'm in good company.

While I sort that out, I've moved on to the Dragon art. I've chosen my images and created layers in Photoshop to use as a guide. Instead of printing this stuff out I'm staring at a computer screen and mentally flattening the image as I hand draw the Dragon artwork onto a full size photo copy of the body. I'm looking at this as my practice run.
All you graphic artists that would have done it digital in Photoshop with mad illustrator skills, pleas don't laugh.

This is going to be a slow process, but that's the price I pay for not having any drawing skills and trying to play art reproductionist.

 

[RogerC]

Great job so far

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Here's one of my favorite photos of Jimmy playing the dragon.
It's a rare example of the detail with minimum color smearing.

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Picked up some supplies today, such as an erasure shield, exacto knife, better pencils, paints, some sample wood to paint on etc.

The Dragon art is coming along.

 

[the_best_of_fools]

Hey !! EyeOfZorro, I'm glad to see your project is underway. Looks like you got everything under control. You're doing great. Keep up the good work and keep those pictures coming.

PM me if you have any problems and need any help. I'll be glad to try and help you the best I can.

EDIT: Forgot to mention... I've since changed the material under the pickguard several times. I did try mylar but I found the rainbow effect much too pronounced. IMHO, I found that I get best results with a few layers of thin iridenscent acetate sheet (kind of like the stuff they use to wrap flowers at flower shops) under the guard. It still reflects rainbow colours but very subtly. If you put a few layers, it will ripple nicely. I found this stuff at an art supply store, it came in a roll.

Also, if I might add, be very careful when cutting the pickguard. The Lexan stuff is hard to work with and it can crack. I used a hand jigsaw to cut the guard roughly then switched to files to shape it nicely. It took a lot of time but gave a nice result without any chips or cracks. Also, try not to screw your pickguard screws to tightly or you'll risk putting a crack in the Lexan. The ripple effect of the iridescent sheets or the mylar will sorta act like a sponge so you'll want to be careful not to screw the screws too much. It's better not to put too much pressure on the Lexan since it won't be resting flat on the wood...

tbof

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Hi TBOF,

Thank you for your encouragement and great advice. Your thread was the tipping point for me to build a guitar so I really appreciate and welcome your input.

Yeah my electric jigsaw was impossible to cut the Lexan with. I will have to go with a hand saw and then file. I will most likely get a guy to cut my actual pickguard for my own sanity but will use the Lexan for prototyping the frosting technique I’m trying out to get that cloudy glue under the guard look. From the pics I’ve seen Fabgear’s pickguards look the closest I’ve seen yet on projects, but I’ve trying to get a more “sloppy” look to mine.

What I love most about this project is the challenge. It seems that with Mr. Jimmy, everything is speculation, mystery and interpretation.
I would love people to kick in their comments on what they think he used on any part of the guitar. Everything I’ve done to date is no where near verified and his Dragon Telecaster just doesn’t have the controversy like that surround his amp and pedal.

I just read on page 162 of Whole Lotta Led Zepppen by Jon Bream the following… “Originally a white guitar, it endured some custom decorating by Page when he became a Yardbird (“everybody painted their guitars back then”) and interior rewiring. “
I would love to know what specifically that internal rewiring was. I have not come across this before. And I’ve been operating on the basic speculation that his Telecaster was a stock 59’ in regard to the pickups and controls. I have also heard from Don Mare that Page later rewound his pickups for live playing and would love to get confirmation on that but for now I’m going with Don’s Studio set at 5.7.

Anyway here’s a pic of where I am today with the graphic. Needs a ton of clean up and final inking.

And here's a shot with the reverse side of the Mylar.. Definitely toned down.

My process basically was frame capturing images from the Danish B&W TV appearance and the Supershow. These shows are a month apart and apparently he added more paint to the design between these performances. So my design is basically an interpretation or a mash up of the Dragon Tele from 2 periods of time. While in the end I intent to lean towards the later final image. I like a lot of the earlier original so some of that is incorporated here.

 

[EyeOfZorro]

I'm new to the topic of what Page may have done to pick up & tone control wiring. So up till now I've been preparing to use a pre-1967 wiring scheme with the following choices:

Back: treble pickup
Middle: bass pickup
Front: bass pickup with capacitor

Now I'm reading this speculation that he may have had it rewired to:

Back: treble pickup
Middle: both pickups
Front: bass pickup

And additionally I've read people talk about out of phase wiring for the middle position.

While I've studied tons of photos, I've rarely have seen the switch in the middle (up) or towards the neck position. It's always pointed towards the bridge. So maybe this is all bunk. But Ild love to hear peoples opinions. I'm tempted to use a 4 way switch to have the options to support all the speculation.

Anyone care to chime in?

 

[EyeOfZorro]

Fender vintage 3 saddle ashtray bridge cost me $27 on ebay. However it was not a top loader. Actual vintage top loader bridges for a 59' Telecaster were going for $850 bucks! Really? Come on! I guess repro vintage toploaders for Jimmy Dragons are just not that in demand. So I bought a regular vintage Tele bridge and had it drilled by the fine folks at HipShot!

As you can see, to do it right you need a real drill and/or a steady hand.
I have neither...so the nice folks at Hipshot Products Inc. in NY saved the day with the right gear. I'ld hate to drill the holes with uneven spacing. Or have crappy bevels that cut the strings.

As you can see they did a great job and with mad turnaround time!
Bill at hipshotproducts dot com. Thank you!!!

 

[Manolete]

Any progress on this build? Looks amazing thus far!

 

[Monoamine]

bumping because I'm going to do one soon

 

[shorty1]

I allways thought that the pick guard was Aluminium,learn something new every day.