1Q22-Challenge-Deconstructed-Tele-project-by-Flip

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I've been building and renovating guitars for my wife (who's an artist) to use as a canvas. The overall objective is to provide us with a modest retirement income that will allow her to 'art' full-time. Since we haven't actually sold an instrument yet I'm hoping this project will qualify - especially as I've only been building instruments for 14 months.

Ideas are very basic as yet though I have in mind to call it 'Sam's Sunset'. Sam is our 10-year-old grandson who I'm teaching to play (after more than 60 years of noodling!) and who will probably end up as the recipient if it doesn't find a market.
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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    Sounds interesting
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • FlipFlip Frets: 68
    I suppose it's the competitive instinct but I wasn't intending to post much about my plans until I realised that doing so is evidently part of the ethos on this forum - and I'm new to it of course.

    So, the fundamental idea is to carve off about a third of the body in an arc on the bass side and about the same percentage off the treble side of the headstock. The larger part of the body and the neck and remaining part of the headstock will be stained to a rich, dark red/brown using several coats of water-based stain. The headstock and the remaining body section will be sprayed with a matte spray. The 'opposite' parts of the instrument will be kept pretty much natural but sealed with Boiled Linseed oil. I've obtained a red tortoiseshell telecaster scratchplate and replaced the vintage TC bridge (with pairs of intonation adjusters with a more modern style with individual adjusters for each string). 

    On the electrics, I've bought a pair of Warman pickups to replace the generic Chinese items, a humbucker with split coils I'll put through a push-pull switch for the neck and a hot single coil for the bridge.

    Finally, I plan to re-attach the section of the body and the part of the headstock that have been detached (deconstructed) using three short sections of appropriate diameter stainless steel rod. I have some adhesive designed to fasten metal and wood though, of course, the effectiveness of those 12 joints are germane to the whole success of the plan.

    I have no intention of cheating by requesting help inappropriately, but if any reader has already experience of wood/metal adhesive and it's allowed I'd be grateful to know. FYI the three rods joining the body parts are 10mm diameter SS, those three joining the headstock parts are 6mm diameter SS.

    I hope these details are interesting. 


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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    The details are interesting, something a bit different.
    Ben Crowe at Crimson Guitars did something similar a while back, Ill see if I can find a link on You Tube
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    I got bored looking but heres a link

    https://youtu.be/70SYL31BmJc

    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    Flip said:
    I have no intention of cheating by requesting help inappropriately, but if any reader has already experience of wood/metal adhesive and it's allowed I'd be grateful to know.
    Asking for help is not cheating it’s part of the process. Members like to give you their opinions, requested or not, and share their experience.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • FlipFlip Frets: 68
    paulnb57 said:
    Thanks for drawing attention to the Crimson guitar. It's an interesting project though I'm intending three important differences. First I'm not going to drill holes from the outside of the body to shove the rod through - I want to leave the two parts joined without evidence of how it's done.

    Second I'm also 'splitting' the headstock and joining the two pieces in a similar way. Both those considerations mean that the rods must be parallel.

    Finally, the two sections will have clear air between them ie the overall guitar when finished will have a wider 'body'  and 'headstock' than before they were cut. 

    Oh and one other point, the lines of separation will not be rough and basically straight but smoothly finished and follow carefully drawn arcs..

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  • paulnb57paulnb57 Frets: 3044
    Looking forward to seeing it progress..
    Stranger from another planet welcome to our hole - Just strap on your guitar and we'll play some rock 'n' roll

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  • FlipFlip Frets: 68
    Update to which I hope to add photos later. Incidentally, I hope it's within the rules but my 10 yr old grandson who I'm teaching to play and fettle/kit build is helping me with this project from time to time.

    Since I don't have a band saw or another means to make the initial cuts, I had the local lumberyard cut the body and headstock for me. From that point to now it's been sanding and staining.

    Kit bought from Guitar and Fabrik.

    The 'coloured' side of the guitar is intended to be deep red/brown in matte/satin finish; the lighter parts are just slightly coloured with some old Peachwood stain and finished with diluted Barrentine poly gloss for the contrast. The body's a single slab of mahogany, the neck maple so the stain doesn't match very well. I used a combination of water stains, orange mixed by me from powder, the end of a Crimson black and a can of Fiesta Red from NW Guitars. The combination was based on what I'd already bought, not a scientific or artistic choice. The finish on the neck is thin boiled linseed oil because I don't like playing on anything heavier. The fretboard is untouched. Frets will be dressed by my grandson and me.

    What I'll call the 'inside faces' - the parts separated by the designed cuts, are sealed with boiled linseed oil because I want to minimise the chance of bleed into the stained front and back faces then painted with black acrylic and finished with a thin coat of poly varnish into which I mixed some copper-coloured glitter.

    And that's where it stands. I've measured and cut by hand the solid stainless steel rods - 10mm diameter to join the body parts, 6mm diameter for the headstock parts. Today my grandson and I plan to pillar drill the sockets on the smaller parts and to glue in the rods. A test drill I did showed that this stage is likely to be the critical phase since the 3D alignment will determine whether the end result looks right. I'm planning to glue with Gorilla Glue clear which they claim will bond dissimilar materials inc wood and metal - the second critical decision, especially as regards the two parts of the body. There's no critical tension on either part although I plan to instal the top strap lug on the deconstructed horn. That means that any failure of the fixing is likely to be spectacular or spectacularly disastrous.

    The only other non-kit changes I've decided upon are to replace the supplied pickups with some modestly-priced pups from NW Guitars (required some Dremelling to expand the cavity), to leave off the scratchplate and fix the neck pup in the humbucker-shaped and sized cavity with a converter ring from Alegree and replace the supplied bridge - based on an old-fashioned Fender unit with the strings in pairs - by a similar design but with individual saddles for the strings allowing proper intonation. Finally, I will replace the tone pot with a push-pull switch and install (as I do on most guitars I build) with a two-range tone option. I select the cap values using a selector I built that allows me to try by ear ten variations of values.  
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  • FlipFlip Frets: 68
    edited March 2022
    I'm in the last furlong and hope to meet the deadline in time but I've been distracted by other tasks. I have a few last polishes etc then it's a matter of putting in the neck, doing the electrics and setting it up.

    As others have said I've definitely learned a lot about my limitations and the demands of 3D engineering and woodwork. While I'd not take on exactly this project again without more alignment gear (I'll explain fully in my final submission) I'd certainly take on another deconstructed guitar.

    In the meantime, I'm enjoying getting to grips with what I hope will be a beautiful ES335 kit with gold hardware.
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    Fascinating idea, and well implemented. I presume that the sound isn’t affected, unless there’s a lot of weight added to the headstock.
    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • That looks really cool. Good to see some pictures of it at last :) 
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  • FlipFlip Frets: 68
    Funny you should ask that, Roland. A supplier to whom I showed the body when first joined together wondered if it would affect the tone, then went on, 'no more than any other chambering I suppose'. No wood's been removed so I'm fairly certain that the effect of the weight in the headstock either by mass or moment is compensated/outweighed by the metal in the body. 

    Thanks for the comments, gents. I learnt a lot in the making but perhaps I should wait until the challenge closes before writing more - I'm not sure what the format and courtesies are.
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  • Andyjr1515Andyjr1515 Frets: 3127
    Flip said:

    I learnt a lot in the making but perhaps I should wait until the challenge closes before writing more - I'm not sure what the format and courtesies are.


    Fascinating project.  Love it!  And carry on writing away - I think you will find that the format and courtesies are very flexible ;)
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  • RolandRoland Frets: 8590
    Flip said:
    .. perhaps I should wait until the challenge closes before writing more - I'm not sure what the format and courtesies are.
    Keep writing. A guitar doesn't finish growing. There will be adjustments to make as it settles. There will be things you realise as you use it.

    Tree recycler, and guitarist with  https://www.undercoversband.com/.
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  • FlipFlip Frets: 68
    Thanks. More to be posted.
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