NTD - New Tele Day

AlanP

So this is my third self-build, but the first two had pre-finished bodies - so this is the first one that I have tackled from the bare wood.

http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk11/AlanP2008/20140119_145920.jpg

(Apologies for the rubbish camera-phone photo... complete with feet...) 

It is a Swampash Tele body that I got from ebay/guitarbuildonline just after Crimbletide, and I got materials and lots of great advice from Bill Quinn at www.tonetechluthiersupplies.co.uk

Body sanded, grain filled, sanded some more, dyed (water-based wood dyes), spray sanding sealer, lightly sanded then about 8 coats (1.5 cans) of rattle-can nitro-cellulose, waited a week, then flatted back with 1000 then 2000 wet&dry, before polishing.

I bottled out at 'going to town' over the flatting-back, as I was told to wait 3/4 weeks for the Nitro to cure before attacking it, so I might well flat back some more in a month or so when it is good and hard.

I have to say the the surface finish is (or has the potential to be) outstanding - quite beyond what I expected to achieve - so much so that had I known how good it was (almost) going to be, I would have taken much more care with the initial preparation.  Still, this is how we learn, and I certainly learned a lot about the finishing process.

Hardware is mainly from Axesrus.  Pickups are Suhr Aldrich (recently acquired from John_P of this shire) and are outstanding!  I usually wire humbuckers in parallel as I want to use coils splits, and HBs wired parallel produce about the same signal level as half an HB (split), so it is feasible to split & unsplit mid-song.  

I have the pups on a 5-way switch: bridge_HB, bridge_HB + neck_split, bridge_HB + neck_HB, neck_HB + bridge_split, neck_HB.  This gives a useful graduation of tones from bridge through to neck.

The tone pot is a push-push for splits, and split it has: bridge_outside, bridge_outside + neck_outside**, bridge_outside + neck_outside, bridge_outside** + neck_outside, neck_outside.  The splits marked with ** indicate that the coil is connected through a 6k8 resistor, which attenuates it somewhat so once again there is a useful (and usable) graduation of tones from bridge though to neck.  

And what tones!!! Those Aldrich pups are amazing - bright, complex, really solid bottom ends without a trace of muddiness - fantastic....  Split, they would give many a proper single-coil a run for their money...

... (having said that, I've just received a second Brassknuckle from Ash, and I have high expectations that they will be every bit as good as the Suhrs - maybe I'll post back here whn I've tried them).

(And yes, I know that the bridge pickup is fitted "backwards* - that is so that I get a humbucking pair in the middle position when using the splits...)

The other element of note is the Warmoth neck.  This is my fourth neck from them, and like the others it is faultless...

The great thing about Warmoth is that you can order pretty much exactly what you want, and they are playable out of the box (the bad thing is the price... but "if you want good hay then you have to pay for it - however, if you are content with hay that has already been through a horse, it comes cheaper...")

Neck is maple, "59 roundback" (which I really like as a pretty chunky handful, but apart from the feel, I'm certain that the fatter neck is more rigid and that contributes to a good tone - or more likely it "sucks less"). 

Pau Ferro fingerboard, which has most of the brightness of a maple f/b, but feels like rosewood (I love the sound of maple, but not the feel), and stainless steel 6100 (jumbo) frets.  The stainless is a $20 (IIRC) upcharge, but are likely to last 3/5 times longer before needing a refret.  Topped off with an Earvana nut and Hipshot locking tuners.

Overall, for playability (at least 75% due to the neck, I believe) and sound (40% neck and 40% pickups, I reckon) it is outstanding, and exceeds my expectations.

When I did my first self-build I did so with some trepidation, but my view now is that provided you know what it is you are trying to achieve, you can end up with something that is custom-shop quality or beyond, and configured exactly as you would want it... (And if it doesn't end up quite as you wish, you carry on tweaking...) 

La, la, la - well into the "honeymoon" period, and all traces of GAS (temporarily) displaced...

RocknRollDave

That might just be my ultimate guitar.

Lovely, lovely, lovely. And what a great choice of sounds! Wow.

ThePrettyDamned

Good work!

benmurray85

Pretty damn sweet. I'm not overly keen on the bridge but congrats on BUILDING a lovely looking piece!

jd0272

Nice. Hardware's a bit shiny for my tastes tho. I'm pleased to hear the Warmoth neck is a good 'un as I'm going to order a Tele Bass neck from them to quell my newly found Bass GAS.

AlanP

Yes, TBH, if I did it again I'd use some kind of smaller bridge - the weight of that thing, plus the control plate, two Suhr pickups and a set of locking tuners is probably 50% of the weight of the entire guitar.

...Still, if it is heavy, it is less likely to affect the tone...

(Thanks for all the kind words... Happy days!) 

ChrisMusic

Very nicely done.  I like the detailed rational behind the decisions too.  Lots of good information for all of us to take away, thanks.

I think it looks great too, well done, good NTD  

EricTheWeary

I can barely change a light bulb so my admiration for stuff like this is immense. Really nice.

Adam_MD

Really nice the finish looks great. I'm going to attempt wudtone on my next one as spraying nitro scares me for some reason, I've probably just read too many forums :-)

AlanP

Nitro is doable (domesticly).  I've developed a "kitchen sink" process (but what I know about spraying is what I've just learned...)

Main ingredients are two cans (400ml each) of gloss nitro, and twenty litres of patience. You might be able to do it with one can if you know what you are doing, but there is a big risk of going through such a thin varnish layer with the wet&dry - so get two cans... (And less than 10 litres of patience is insufficient too...)

The aim is to build a sufficiently thick layer of the lacquer so as to be able to flat it back to a mirror-like finish - hence it is vital to start with a dead flat wood surface (so always use a sanding block).  Also, any significant surface blemishes will be visible in the final result, so get that right before resorting to the spraycan.

Our UK weather at this time of year makes it unfeasible to spray outside, as high humidity will 'bloom' the finish.  A shed or garage is great if you can use dry heat to get the temperature up & humidity down - but I don't have that. Most sources say hang the body up so you can get all-round access, and leave it there to dry - I can't do that either....  

I did it on my kitchen floor (oh yes!)

Marge: "Homer, I can't believe that you ..." (whatever he did)

Homer's excuse: "Honestly Marge, I really didn't think you'd find out about it..."

I waited until the wife and kids weren't around, spread out a big decorator's sheet on the kitchen floor and put a foot-high cardboard box on top of that, then a 4" cube box on that, balancing the body on the top.  Doing this I could only do one side at a time, but the surface was horizontal (avoiding runs), but allowing a modest coat on the sides at the same time as either the top or the bottom.  The low vantage point means I was able to view the top so as to get some reflected light on it, and see what sort of coat was going on (how thick).

In grades: a "dusty" coat - far too little. "orange peel" not quite enough lacquer, but usable as a building coat. "fully wetted", a shiny, wet appearance - the best result, but periously close to: "running" (probably won't get this if the surface is horizontal, but there are other issues with putting down too much material in one go) - best stay somewhere from "orange peel" to "just fully wetted".  If you get any nasties (insect, fluff) in the coat, finish the coat, let it dry for an hour or so, then very carefully deal with it - ideally carefully sand it out.  Oh yes - wipe any dust off it before you start spraying, and keep it clean between coats.

I was advised to start with 2/3 coats of sanding sealer as that will fill any remaining grain faster and more efficiently.  You can get brushing sealer but I was concerned about dragging up my carefully prepared colour work, so I used a spray nitro sanding sealer, followed by a very light surface sanding (otherwise, don't sand between coats.)

So, ventiation to get rid of vapours (outside doors and windows open while you spray).  Wear a mask.  The smell does dissipate very quickly, although your wife might be suspicious someone has been using her nail-varnish when she gets back...

Nitro is touch-dry in 10/15 seconds, but any significant thickness of it will stay soft for ages.  Put no more than 3 decent coats on it per day (20 minutes apart works well), then set it aside to harden.  Using my method, you will only be able to do one side at a time, and when you do the other side next day, make sure to minimise the pressure on the previous day's coat.  I "rested" my body on a clean cloth on top of a towel, and there were still some signs of imprinting where it had been lying on the fabric.  Luckily, this matters little if there is more spraying to do (and tends to disappear anyway if left to it's own devices).  I found it safer to "rest" the body face-down, standing on two small blocks going into the pickup routes...

You can see how real patience is needed here, and any lack of it will increase the likelyhood of a screw-up.

After 8/10 coats (yes, that many), allow to harden for 3/4 weeks (more patience), then flat with 1000 paper used wet, and frequently washed to prevent any surface buildup that will mark the finish.  Use a small 2"x4" sanding block, do small areas at a time, frequently checking the paper and wiping the surface clear to see the effect. Sand in one direction only (to avoid swirl patterns). When you can see it is evenly flatted out (surface is evenly dull), change to 2000 grit and repeat.  Do the edges very carefully, then (ideally) stay right away from them - it is so easy to go through the varnish altogether along the corners (best avoided, really).

AlanP

Then polish. I used T-cut for my initial attack, but car shops sell coarse/fine pastes that are probably better.  I fancy that some people protect their finishes with (non-silicone) wax, but my sense tells me to wait a couple of months before applying that, handling very carefully whilst the finish is still soft.  I understand that Nitro is typically 70% thinners to start with, so it shrinks considerably in thickness while it cures...

Hope this helps, and I'm certain that someone like @WezV can help out with much better info than I can provide.  But be certain, it *is* doable with a bit of care (and did I mention patience?)....

ThePrettyDamned

Thanks for the how - to. Very interesting!

Sadly, I can't spray here at all, so it's wudtone for me, which is a very good alternative that has its own thing going that nitro cannot do (but likewise, you can't really get that flat mirror shine from wudtone... Pros and cons!).

Your tele looks great though. Nice to know the process to get there

AlanP

In fact, when you add up the costs of buying dye, sealer etc, and using nitro from spray-cans, Wudtone looks like a pretty good deal...

Col_Decker

Telecaster approved.

ThePrettyDamned

AlanP;141559" said:

In fact, when you add up the costs of buying dye, sealer etc, and using nitro from spray-cans, Wudtone looks like a pretty good deal...

It does look quite different, though. If you like the look of nitro, only nitro will nail it really.

Still, worthy of consideration, it's a very long winded process, too. Each coat takes a day to cure enough to rub back and apply the next, so it'll take a month to finish a guitar if you're, like me, doing one side at a time. But it smells nice and is easier than nitro.

Top coats I'm giving 2 days of curing before rubbing back as it really seems to level a bit better that way. So not every 20 minutes, that's for sure!