New "Build" 3 teles in progress

Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

Yeah I Have a month set aside for them to cure so I'm just wishing for speed.

They are all supposedly swamp ash but the red one was about a half pound lighter than the other 2. The black & burst were both cut from the same larger piece of lumber ... I stained the black also so I'm hoping some of the natural grain will still show once it's polished out.

Not sure of final weight the heavier 2 bodies were just around 4 lbs +. I'll Weigh them when I get home and see what they are with paint.
 
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Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

allowing .4 lbs for the "handle

the painted bodies come in as..

red 4.0 lbs
black 4.8 lbs
burst 5.0 lbs

DSCN0586.jpg


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Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

some progress.. the black looks killer in the photos but i have strange orange peel type distortions UNDER the polished top coat.. i am going to sand it down and do the top over completely opaque (it was stained black directly on the wood initially). the red one exhibits minor flaws under direct light but looksk good eough that i won't do it again & lessons learned i guess..

i should have sanded more often between coats but i was scared to sand through.. the next batch will be even better!

i am in process of tru-oiling the necks.. i got some of the spray but it was so orange peely on application i went back to rubbing it in with regular full strngth oil from the bottle.

finished builds looming
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

Those look outstanding! I can't wait to see the finished products. Excellent work!
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

Killer gloss, nice work. I went the lazy route and picked up a dub-hum gold top Tele...the one with the set neck, should be here soon....have fun!
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

really dig the look of the red one, but i bet the 90caster is gonna be the best sounding one:naughty:
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

what clearance is your bandsaw? i built a les paul not too long ago and i used a friends bandsaw. but now im getting more serious and i need one for my own. would 19" be enough?
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

Kevincharles said:
what clearance is your bandsaw? i built a les paul not too long ago and i used a friends bandsaw. but now im getting more serious and i need one for my own. would 19" be enough?
Click to expand...

its just an el cheapo craftsman 10" bandsaw i would like to have a bigger higher powered one but it did the job and i won't upgrade right away.
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

#1 finished & sent off to new owner...

1pc swamp ash body cut & finished from raw wood by moi
i used preval sprayers and mcfadden nitro..

side note.. preval seemed great when i started since i could use & mix my own nitro but the atomization SUCKS.. the big flaw on this guitar is cosmetic and only under the right light.. i have "orange peel" clumpy weirdness under the perfectly polished top.. i think i needed to sand more in between coats and that may have helped a lot but the #2 i have working now i stripped down and re clear coated with stewmac aerosol can nitro is exhibiting none of the lumpy ornage peel ness i got with the pre-val.. no more preval for me even though it is a good idea in DIY theory.. the real world implementation doesn't cut it for a flawless finish IMHO. especially as a new builder.. someone more experienced or more patient might get better results but overall if i had just used stewmac spray cans i think i would have spent less money and had a much nicer finish. (i build in my garage in my townhouse so i can't really go for a big whacking compressor... i might go HVLP though if my tax refund is good enough hahaha.)

colortone cherry red witha hit of black stained top & back ... black sides
fender american deluxe bridge with stringsaver steel & graphite saddles
electrosocket jack
22 fret one piece warmoth AAA flame maple strat neck, abalone inlays, back finished in hand rubbed tru-oil to satin delicious finish. headstock & fretboard in ultra thin stewmac nitro (6 coats headstock to smooth over decal and 3 coats on the neck face wet sanded to a nice durable satin finish.
sperzel graduated post 6 inline tuners
schaller straplocks

plays almost too much like butter with the 9's my friend uses and i would raise the action but he's a bit of a shredder and there's no fretting out or nasty buzzing.. no dead spots.. it pretty much screams with the hot rails and the phat cat matches well with it in the output department so it can cover a pretty wide territory especially if you are well versed in vol knob as tone maker.

hot rails bridge
phat cat neck
3 way gibson style switch
250k pots .047 orange drop cap
my custom pickguard design that i'm sure has already been done (what hasn't !!) cut from a WD purchased blank.. i really like the aesthetic of it..
22 fret warmoth neck srv contour ( I LOVE HOW IT FEELS!)
custom neck plate by awesome forum bro andrizzle.... my buddy is going to crap his pants and probably cry when he gets it!!!!

cost about $840 bucks in parts/paint


big ups to xssive for the leopard blanket photo motif! i can only hope to build gtrs that nice one day!
 
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Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

this pic shows the "orange peel" ....i want to clarify that the topcoat is perfectly smooth and the orange peel effect is UNDERNEATH the smooth topcoat and only visible under direct light for the most part.. 1 out of 5 people i point it out to can see it.. but that 20% that can see it (all guitar playing bros) understand the agony! hahahahaha
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

WOW, can't believe I missed this thread for this long!!!

Great work man, as for the orange peel, I could see it alright but in the beginning I couldn't really "get" why you were complaining since to me it seemed like a deliberate thing.

It actually looks great if your aim is for that textured look (kinda like a snake skin or sth).
All you need is the right mix of colors :D
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

I missed this thread the first time around.

This is where that awesome red Tele is coming from, eh?

How to you make the neck pockets, BTW?
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

thanks for the compliments! not going into business but i have 4 more "orders" with no timetable for finishing (sucks for them!).. i used templates from guitarbuildingtemplates.com and stewmac but they are a little off and my next project will be to make my own set of templates.

If i had known i would have that "texture" in the paint it would have been cool to try and do something with/about it.. Its there on the honey burst one too but you can't see it against the lighter color..

i had a hell of time wit the black.. so unforgiving. the finishing is really the killer for me.. so time consuming and you don't necessarily see mistakes right away. A few more and I will get the hang of it and learn some tricks... you only get so much from reading about it. You really have to screw yourself over a few times to learn what NOT to do.

TONS of pictures of the whole process here

http://gallery.me.com/ecstasteve#100028&view=mosaic&sel=0
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

I guess you have some green tape or something around the black one in one of those pics. It looked nice enough that I think one completed in the colour scheme would be awesome.

The picture I'm referring to it 'Geoff Black.jpg'.

Either way, very nice job on those!
 
Re: New "Build" 3 teles in progress

This is just fantastic stuff, man! I love all of them. I don't see the "orange peel." What am I missing?

- Keith
 
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