Tele build is underway

FretFire

SingedFingerologist
I found the neck I want to go with on the Warmoth showcase, so it's officially underway. Hopefully it'll be done around the end of the year.

Here's the neck. Quartersawn black limba with an Indian Rosewood board. 1 11/16" nut width, '59 roundback contour. I went with 6105 frets, and I'll do an oil finish on it. The body will be black limba as well, with two P90s.

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Re: Tele build is underway

Nice. I ordered a neck from them on Sunday (online order) for my partsocaster. Mine will be done well before the end of the year..lol.
 
Re: Tele build is underway

Nice. I ordered a neck from them on Sunday (online order) for my partsocaster. Mine will be done well before the end of the year..lol.

I'd like for mine to be since I'll have a few shows and some recording going on this fall. But, I won't order the body for a few weeks, and that'll be a custom thing so I won't have it for a couple of months after that. Then I'll have to do the oil finish on it and pick out/order the rest of the hardware. I'll take it to my tech for final assembly & setup once I have it wired and everything. Plus I've got a bunch of travel plans this fall that will push it back too :laugh2:
 
Re: Tele build is underway

I'd like for mine to be since I'll have a few shows and some recording going on this fall. But, I won't order the body for a few weeks, and that'll be a custom thing so I won't have it for a couple of months after that. Then I'll have to do the oil finish on it and pick out/order the rest of the hardware. I'll take it to my tech for final assembly & setup once I have it wired and everything. Plus I've got a bunch of travel plans this fall that will push it back too :laugh2:

Yeah, things definitely creep up on ya at times when you want something done. I'm doing mine out of sheer necessity for something more diverse since we are losing our keyboardist/3rd guitarist. I want to be able to fill the void a little bit with more tonal options on the guitar. I could slap another pickguard on my #1 but I have it so dialed in that I don't want to mess with it. Just ordered the rest of the necessary hardware I didn't have (tremolo and some screws). Now just waiting for it all to arrive.
 
Re: Tele build is underway

Neck landed today, and it got me really pumped about this project. Great pieces of wood, and frankly better fretwork than I expected. Here it is fresh out of the box:

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And here it is after the first two light coats of Tru Oil. I should be able to get two on per day, supposedly around 8 should be plenty for necks but we'll see how it feels.

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Re: Tele build is underway

Six coats in on the neck, I think it's pretty close to being done. Ignore the weird green spot in the middle of the photo, not sure what happened there.

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Re: Tele build is underway

I think the neck is just about done, now I'll let it cure for about a week before I do the final polishing.

Also, I decided to go with a tele control plate that Rutters Guitars makes with a slanted switch. I'm going to reverse the plate on this guitar and this should put the switch in a nice ergonomic position.

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Re: Tele build is underway

Cool ,an, good work on the Tru Oil finishing. Do you use a t-shirt? Or better yet:

What is your application process?
 
Re: Tele build is underway

Cool ,an, good work on the Tru Oil finishing. Do you use a t-shirt? Or better yet:

What is your application process?

I got the Tru Oil at my local Sportsman's Warehouse, and they had a 12-pack of white cotton cloths in the same aisle for about $6. So I grabbed a pack of those, too.

The first two coats I put on fairly thick and let them soak for a few seconds, so I applied those with my fingers. Simple process: dip finger in bottle, wipe on and even out, let sit for a few seconds, wipe off with cotton cloth. For the rest of the coats, I'd fold up a cloth, hold it against the bottle opening and turn it over quickly to get a spot of oil, and wipe the area I was working with along the grain. Then immediately wipe off with another cloth.

I'd do the headstock face, then the headstock edges, then the headstock back, then move down the neck in 3 or 4 chunks. One coat would take me maybe 10 minutes to do, and I used 4 or 5 cloths for all the coats. The last coat's drying cloth became this coat's application cloth, etc.

Then I hung it up from the shower curtain rod in our spare bathroom to dry. I'd wait at least a couple of hours between coats, usually did two per day. I smoothed with a gray Scotchbrite pad (sub for 0000 steel wool) between coats.
 
Re: Tele build is underway

Here it is today, I think six coats will do it.

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Re: Tele build is underway

I wish i knew something about guitars. I spend good cash for minor repairs like replacing tuners because I have convinced myself they are complicated and require special skills to maintain and repair.
 
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