Lefty Tele project

NPP

I am expecting a rather exciting parcel today from @GSPBASSES  containing this:



This will be my first parts-built guitar, but I have been through all the steps involved when rebuilding and refinishing my Strat a couple of years ago. 

This one will get a baby blue finish with a matching headstock, probably using milk paint and a coat of oil and wax. I plan to leave the back and sides in a natural finish. PG will be tortoiseshell if I can find one. 

Now I need to order lots of bits, probably including a Wilkinson bridge, Gotoh classic style tuners, and a Honky Tonk Angel from @OilCityPickups . The guitar may start its life as an Esquire for ultimate simplicity. 

I'll have an extra-careful read of recent threads by @WezV and @ThePrettyDamned to get up to speed with the finishing technique. 

Progress will be extra slow because I'm busy and because I haven't even started ordering bits. 

ThePrettyDamned

Sick! Looks stunning.

Milk paint looks a bit see-through then it gets solid after a couple of coats. I... Wish I had left mine more translucent! But no matter. Let me know if you want to pick my brains.

I massively recommend the general finishes high performance finish as a clear coat so far, but I don't know long term how it is. Hemp oil is often used on milk paint and would protect it well enough. 

Have fun! 

Funkfingers

NPP said:

Honky Tonk Angel from Oil City Pickups.

FYI, there is a new old stock OCP Honky Tonk Angel neck/Rhythm pickup listed on eBay right now. (No affiliation.) Turns out that the seller also has a custom wound OCP Telecaster-style bridge/Treble pickup that he has not yet listed. Might be worth contacting the seller in case there is a deal to be had for both pickups.

NPP

Funkfingers said:

NPP said:

Honky Tonk Angel from Oil City Pickups.

FYI, there is a new old stock OCP Honky Tonk Angel neck/Rhythm pickup listed on eBay right now. (No affiliation.) Turns out that the seller also has a custom wound OCP Telecaster-style bridge/Treble pickup that he has not yet listed. Might be worth contacting the seller in case there is a deal to be had for both pickups.

cheers, will have a look!

oh, and the guitar has actually arrived now. It looks just as in the picture above, and is very light. Looking forward to making a start on this!

ThePrettyDamned

NPP said:

Funkfingers said:

NPP said:

Honky Tonk Angel from Oil City Pickups.

FYI, there is a new old stock OCP Honky Tonk Angel neck/Rhythm pickup listed on eBay right now. (No affiliation.) Turns out that the seller also has a custom wound OCP Telecaster-style bridge/Treble pickup that he has not yet listed. Might be worth contacting the seller in case there is a deal to be had for both pickups.

cheers, will have a look!

oh, and the guitar has actually arrived now. It looks just as in the picture above, and is very light. Looking forward to making a start on this!

Grahames woodwork is second to none, I have several of his guitars because they make it look like I'm better at this than I am! 

NPP

ThePrettyDamned said:

NPP said:

Funkfingers said:

NPP said:

Honky Tonk Angel from Oil City Pickups.

FYI, there is a new old stock OCP Honky Tonk Angel neck/Rhythm pickup listed on eBay right now. (No affiliation.) Turns out that the seller also has a custom wound OCP Telecaster-style bridge/Treble pickup that he has not yet listed. Might be worth contacting the seller in case there is a deal to be had for both pickups.

cheers, will have a look!

oh, and the guitar has actually arrived now. It looks just as in the picture above, and is very light. Looking forward to making a start on this!

Grahames woodwork is second to none, I have several of his guitars because they make it look like I'm better at this than I am! 

hope this will work out the same for me. 

By the way, did you say anywhere in your thread where you got the milk paint? I'll have to re-read it anyway, though. 

NPP

to my shame, progress has already stalled as I was busy with work. Now I'm slowly ordering parts, just placed an order with @OilCityPickups and ordered some sandpaper, and have a tort Esquire pickguard and various hardware bits sitting in internet shopping baskets. It will be an expensive Saturday. 

NPP

right, the first disappointment. 

Not looking too bad:



However, looking closely, something isn't quite right:





Things don't quite line up; either the neck pocket sits correctly and the PG extends below the edge of the body, or it lines up with the body but not with the neck pocket. 

Unfortunately I haven't got a bridge and control plate yet which would allow me to check alignment more thoroughly but given that this isn't the first Tele body @GSPBASSES has built it's highly likely that the PG hasn't been cut correctly. 

Will I have to send it back?

GSPBASSES

Just to let you know all TC bodies before they leave my workshop,  I lay out all the hardware (Fender) to make sure everything is correct. 

There is always a big problem with third-party pick-guards not fitting, I find the pick guards from WD always fit correctly. 

NPP

many thanks, that's reassuring. I guess I'll ignore the pickguard issue for a while and carry on with the rest - only thing is the specific colour of milk paint I was going to buy is out of stock ... 

tanihhiavlt

Pickguards are easy to make and mod, and the variety of cuts is surprising, I've had Fender scratchplates that don't fit Fenders. The variety in plates for a left hand is a lot smaller, and the fit of some of them isn't great - it only really shows on Teles and Strats.

As a fellow southpaw, I think that body looks awesome, excellent grain - I got an SG from GSPBasses and I loved it... (sent for a finish atm) with that woodwork it's going to be a brilliant guitar 8)

Roland

Do you really need a scratch plate? There’s no cavities to cover up.

NPP

Roland said:

Do you really need a scratch plate? There’s no cavities to cover up.

there's a neck pickup cavity. More importantly, I'm a fan of pickguards on Fender guitar shapes (I'd be happy with a Les Paul or ES without a pickguard but Strat and Tele shapes without pickguards just don't do it for me). So this one must have a tort PG!  

I should add that I strum rather vigorously and sometimes use a pick made of an old 50p piece so a pickguard also serves a practical purpose.

NPP

had some good news earlier today in the form of an e-mail from @OilCityPickups  who said he'd made and dispatched my pickup. I didn't take any risks, ordering an Honky Tonk Angel I'm already familiar with. 

Now, on to paint, and here I could do with some advice from all the friendly people who have looked at this thread so far. I'd like to try a milk paint finish and for a reason unknown even to myself I'm attracted to a sonic blue-ish colour. Unfortunately there's no direct match available, and the colour that comes closest is out of stock. 

Any views on this https://www.cornishmilkmineralpaint.co.uk/products/mor or this https://blueberrystoreonline.co.uk/collections/old-fashioned-milk-paint-colours/products/old-fashioned-milk-paint-harbor  ?

Do I finish the entire body in milk paint? Or just the front, with the back and sides in oil and wax? Do I go for a matching headstock? This looks very good on @TrentGuitars creations. Or go over the top and paint everything, including the back of the neck (not the fretboard obviously)?

Currently I am leaning towards doing the front face of the body and headstock in milk paint, and the rest in oil and wax. But if more experienced people tell me that masking will be a nightmare I may reconsider and do the entire body in milk paint, and the entire neck in oil and wax. 

Any advice and opinions welcome!

tanihhiavlt

NPP said:

Currently I am leaning towards doing the front face of the body and headstock in milk paint, and the rest in oil and wax. But if more experienced people tell me that masking will be a nightmare I may reconsider and do the entire body in milk paint, and the entire neck in oil and wax. 

Any advice and opinions welcome!

That sounds really cool, I've not got any advice on paint but that sounds like a great finish  

Are you going to mask off the sides so the rounded edges are milk-painted?

NPP

tanihhiavlt said:

NPP said:

Currently I am leaning towards doing the front face of the body and headstock in milk paint, and the rest in oil and wax. But if more experienced people tell me that masking will be a nightmare I may reconsider and do the entire body in milk paint, and the entire neck in oil and wax. 

Any advice and opinions welcome!

That sounds really cool, I've not got any advice on paint but that sounds like a great finish  

Are you going to mask off the sides so the rounded edges are milk-painted?

that was the idea, mask off with frog tape just underneath the bevelled edge.

I've done the oil and wax thing before when I refinished my Strat but never painted anything. Though I'm pleased with the results I don't want another guitar in an all natural finish. When @WezV and @ThePrettyDamned started working with milk paint that looked feasible and promising to me, and there are some examples on here of Gibson style guitars with painted front and natural backs and sides which I liked (I think again by @WezV and also @davros perhaps). 

NPP

still no real progress, but I have a pickup now and I've ordered paint and all the hardware - except that I forget the strap pins and couldn't find the right cap and resistor for a treble bleed. 

NPP

some work has actually started! Took advantage of the nice weather (and the wind conveniently blowing away any sanding dust) to start sanding. 

Front of the body and headstock to 240 grit, as per milk paint instructions, and back and sides of the neck and body which will only see oil and wax to 800 which feels smooth enough. 

I used pipe insulation as a sanding 'block' for the curved bits.

NPP

some more bits arrived and I couldn't resist a test fit:



everything except the pickguard seems to fit perfectly. Now just waiting for paint to arrive.

Realised that the strap buttons weren't the only thing I forgot to order - jack and jack socket also need to go on the list. 

NPP

today I am going to put a coat of paint on the front.

Wish me luck! 

Roland

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