Lefty Tele project

NPP

Roland said:

I’m pleased to see that you’ve put the control cover on the sensible way round.

not yet sure which way round it will end up, partly depends on whether it has any influence on the fit of the ill-fitting pickguard.

Meanwhile, I've started doing things, rather than just waving a credit card around. So the first cock-up can't be far away ...

NPP

ok, this is another instalment of 'Watching paint dry with Niels'.

Here's the state of play this morning:



not really sure about the colour (which is called Harbor, from this chart):



You could describe it as understated and elegant, or boring and similar to primer. I guess I'll have to get one or two more coats on, sand it a bit and wax and buff it to give it a bit of a sheen before I decide whether I like it or not. 

Looking at it again I think it will look good once it's a bit more shiny.

NPP

I think I've now achieved a decent and even coverage:



I'll let it dry and harden (if it does such a thing) overnight. Perhaps by then I'll manage to summon @WezV and get him to voice an opinion on the following:

- shall I risk sanding it now that it looks even?

- what's the best way to get some wax on? Just with a cloth? I fear using wire wool might damage the paint.

- what's the correct order for the next steps? First wax to protect the finish, then masking tape off, then oil and wax the back and sides? Or get the masking tape off first, oil the back and sides and then wax all over? 

Roland

Does it really need sanding?

The oil is not going to dissolve the milk paint, but there is a risk that any loose surface could be washed over the sides. So I’d put a thin coat of oil over the milk paint, using a cloth, before removing the tape.

Wire wool does two things. It smooths the surface. It also leaves dark grey iron particles which collect in the wood grain, and emphasise the grain. So you could use wire wool for the first coat on the back, but keep it and the oil off the milk paint.

WezV

If you're happy it's smooth you should be fine rubbing wax in with a cloth.  I would do that first, then unmask and oil the back nd sides, then do another coat of wax over the whole thing

NPP

thank you both!

NPP

this almost looks like I'd hoped it would:



there are some imperfections in the finish you can't really see (from contamination in the wax), and the sides and back should still darken a bit with the oil and wax. I'll carefully mask off the already finished bits when applying the oil, and I'd better get the missing jack and socket ordered.

NPP

ok, let's move from watching paint dry to watching oil dry:



looks nice, the body absorbs much more of the oil than the neck. Will give it a few thin coats over the course of the day.

paulnb57

Its looking really nice

Roland

NPP said:

... the body absorbs much more of the oil than the neck. ..

No surprise there. Maple is much denser and close grained than Ash or Alder. For a neck I wipe on oil using a rag, and never more than three thin coats. 

NPP

Roland said:

NPP said:

... the body absorbs much more of the oil than the neck. ..

No surprise there. Maple is much denser and close grained than Ash or Alder. For a neck I wipe on oil using a rag, and never more than three thin coats. 

yes, I expected that to be the case, just not in such a dramatic fashion. I did use a rag to wipe it on for both the neck and body.

It looks great this morning but still feels just a bit sticky to the touch and the surface isn't totally smooth. So I'll leave it for a day and then very lightly wet-sand it with a little bit of oil before moving on to wax.

I've now ordered the electrical bits I forgot the first time around. 

NPP

back and sides now oiled, wet-sanded and waxed.





I had a moment of panic when I saw that some oil had got under the masking onto the paint but @WezV 's suggestion to give that a light coat of wax before proceeding paid off at this point as the oil and one or two dirty spots could easily be sanded off. 

Tomorrow it's time for a final coat of wax all over and then buffing before I move on to installing the hardware. Including some scary drilling of holes. 

Won't make the Q1 challenge but that never was the intention - my aim was not to miss out on one of @GSPBASSES 's lefty Teles. 

NPP

Some more progress: 



All wired up, bridge, neck, tuners, jack socket installed. 

Still need to drill for the control plate, pickguard, string tree, and strap buttons. 

Next steps: checking the electrics and putting on a set of crap old strings to let it settle a bit. 

There was a near disaster a few days ago when I installed the tuners. Apparently, I hadn't drilled the locating screw holes wide enough and when putting in the first one there was an audible crack, and soon a visible one too. I filled it with superglue and widened all the holes, hopefully I've dodged the bullet. I really thought I'd done everything by the book but clearly I didn't.

Edit: No sound. How annoying. But I always cock up a minor thing somewhere. Will check it tomorrow. At least with an Esquire I don't have to take the strings off to do so - speaking of which, I had no high e and D left so it's wearing four strings at the moment. 

NPP

first major milestone after a few days with no time to make progress on this: we have sound! There's still an intermittent short so the wiring is far from finished, and I still haven't got a full set of strings on it. And I still need to drill all the holes for the PG and control plate. 

Still, I can play boogie riffs on the E and A strings and it sounds kind of ballsy, and gets more polite rolling back the volume so I hope once it's finished it will be a good guitar. 

Not looking forward to chasing down the intermittent electrical troubles and I'm already pissed off about tools and parts strewn all over the house but I don't want to rush things because I know I'll cock up.

NPP

I haven't updated this in a while but made some progress in the interim and I'm almost done. I've fitted the pickguard, strap buttons and string tree, put on a full set of strings, and set the string height and intonation to make it roughly playable.

I guess it will have to sit a while and settle. 

I also took another look at the wiring but I'm not quite there yet. It turns out that I have to press down on the treble side of the pickup to get sound. Maybe Ash @OilCityPickups has a view on what I may have done wrong here?

Also I'm not quite happy with how it sounds, it's a bit weak overall. I know the Honky Tonk Angel is anything but weak because I have one in my Strat, so maybe I still haven't got the wiring right. Or it's a characteristic of the thinline body? Or something's wrong with my HX Stomp or a cable; I have to turn up the volume far higher than I used to, but weirdly this was the same with a different guitar. 

I'm away right now so everything is stalled for the moment. 

OilCityPickups

NPP said:

I haven't updated this in a while but made some progress in the interim and I'm almost done. I've fitted the pickguard, strap buttons and string tree, put on a full set of strings, and set the string height and intonation to make it roughly playable.

I guess it will have to sit a while and settle. 

I also took another look at the wiring but I'm not quite there yet. It turns out that I have to press down on the treble side of the pickup to get sound. Maybe Ash @OilCityPickups has a view on what I may have done wrong here?

Also I'm not quite happy with how it sounds, it's a bit weak overall. I know the Honky Tonk Angel is anything but weak because I have one in my Strat, so maybe I still haven't got the wiring right. Or it's a characteristic of the thinline body? Or something's wrong with my HX Stomp or a cable; I have to turn up the volume far higher than I used to, but weirdly this was the same with a different guitar. 

I'm away right now so everything is stalled for the moment. 

Sounds like something is shorting between the pickups soldering eyelets - as you push down you'd break that connection and get sound. If the pickup is screwed out very far some times this can happen, but it's rare.  

NPP

OilCityPickups said:

NPP said:

I haven't updated this in a while but made some progress in the interim and I'm almost done. I've fitted the pickguard, strap buttons and string tree, put on a full set of strings, and set the string height and intonation to make it roughly playable.

I guess it will have to sit a while and settle. 

I also took another look at the wiring but I'm not quite there yet. It turns out that I have to press down on the treble side of the pickup to get sound. Maybe Ash @OilCityPickups has a view on what I may have done wrong here?

Also I'm not quite happy with how it sounds, it's a bit weak overall. I know the Honky Tonk Angel is anything but weak because I have one in my Strat, so maybe I still haven't got the wiring right. Or it's a characteristic of the thinline body? Or something's wrong with my HX Stomp or a cable; I have to turn up the volume far higher than I used to, but weirdly this was the same with a different guitar. 

I'm away right now so everything is stalled for the moment. 

Sounds like something is shorting between the pickups soldering eyelets - as you push down you'd break that connection and get sound. If the pickup is screwed out very far some times this can happen, but it's rare.  

thanks Ash @OilCityPickups , and sorry for the delay, I was away. Can you see anything untoward on these pictures? The tiny little wire between the left solder joint and the hole the black and yellow leads pass through seems stray but can't be touching anything it shouldn't. I really can't see anything wrong. 





Anyway before taking the guitar apart again I played it yesterday and I'm pretty pleased. When the pickup is fully connected it sounds strong and brash. 

OilCityPickups

Have you gotten this sorted yet or can I help a bit further? 

NPP

OilCityPickups said:

Have you gotten this sorted yet or can I help a bit further? 

afraid it's not sorted. The only way I can get a signal is with the pu installed and pressing down on the treble side. Taken out as in the picture it's stone dead (knocking it with a screwdriver for example). Previously (before I went away for three weeks) I also tested it with a multimeter, and with a direct connection rigged from the pu leads to the amp (bypassing the guitar circuit). 

I will repeat all these tests more thoroughly and methodically to exclude errors.

NPP

aargh this is doing my head in. Connected the pu directly to the amp: result, sound. Put it back into the bridge: still sound. Removed the direct wires, plugged a cable into the jack: sound. Control plate back in: sound. Everything back together: sound. 

Ok, now let's string it back up and see what happens ...