Q4 Builds in progress - another one “finished”

PeteC

Current builds in progress - waiting for the Fuji spray kit to arrive. 

2 Ash Teles - one with Rosewood board and one with maple, and another PRS style carved top with maple cap and white Limba body/mahogany neck and panga panga board.

I need to get these finished but I am getting badly sidetracked by researching vintage LP construction and starting my LP templates, making various jigs, buying materials, and sourcing wood for winter builds.  



The Tele on the left is getting a PRS Dragon Bass in the neck and Irongear Steel Twin in the bridge. It has belly and forearm contours and will possibly end up seafood green I hope.  The 2nd Tele is probably going to be butterscotch and pretty traditional except for the 22 frets. The carved top will be a black top and clear coated body with a bit of amber tint. Thats the plan anyway ? Things may well change. 

PeteC

Seafoam!!! ! bloody spell correction 

PeteC

This is what's slowing up progress on the Teles and the carved top...

I think its true that the template is the guitar - so its worth spending plenty of time getting it spot on. 
Quite a bit to do yet to finish these but they are coming along fine for upcoming builds

TTony

3 at once is just showing off

PeteC said:

I think its true that the template is the guitar - so its worth spending plenty of time getting it spot on. 

I tend to use shapes as “inspirations” rather than precise templates.  It’s a lot easier that way!  But otherwise, totally agree, get the template right and the bearing guided cutter will do the rest.

And your pics have reminded me that I’ve got a plank of nice plain maple that I bought ages ago which hasn’t yet been put to the intended use ....

paulnb57

Nice builds! 
Im always goi to think of Seafood Green as a colour now! 

Winny_Pooh

More on that PRS style pls, looks nice.

PeteC

Although I've got quite a few builds on the go at the moment,  the only Q4 Challenge I've managed to complete so far has been a reworking of the first DC Junior I made a couple of years ago. 

While waiting for my Fuji spray kit to arrive I decided to learn to French Polish and have a go at the junior. 

At the same time I stripped the guitar, completely reshaped the neck profile to be a kind of cross between the big 59 and my 94 McCarty, nitro'd the headstock, grain filled the body and neck and finished in tinted French Polish. 

I also relevelled the board and redid the fretwork. 

Plays very nicely, and strung up with a set of 9.5's the Oil City Firewatch sounds amazing. 
Mahogany, Panga board, CTS pots, Dunlop 6105, Oil City P90 and Klusons. 

Looks like this one will now be going to one of my long-time bandmates for his upcoming 60th as he's always wanted a 59-spec junior,  but not at vintage prices! 

I know the FP finish will wear - but I can refinish it for him whenever he wants. 

Now need to get some other stuff finished...! 

TTony

Perfect - a guitar needs no more than that!!

Looks like a really good finish.

I wish I'd found the Liberon easy French polish a few years earlier, I might have progressed onto the real stuff by now, and be achieving finish quality like that.

PeteC

Cheers @TTony    At first I tried using Rustins button polish shellac but it tended to drag a bit.  So in the end i ordered some blonde shellac flake and mixed up my own shellac.  Many coats of 1lb cut shellac seemed to do the trick.   I think if I had spent more time on grain filling and not knocked as much out when burlapping then the finish would be even glossier.    Good practice and i learned a lot 

I really like the feel of the french polished neck - really slick and no sticking

i might try spraying shellac on one the Tele builds i am doing and tinting to get a faux sunburt.  So many options

PeteC

Got one of the Q4 challenge Teles done - just needs stringing and some fret dressing.   Waiting for better weather before painting which is probably going to be a seafoam green - which i’ve always liked with rosewood boards.   

This one is designed to be a rockier tele.   Ash and maple sourced from the wonderful Duffield timber, but with a modern Gotoh bridge, PRS Dragon Bass in the neck position and Irongear Steel Twin in the bridge. The knobs are temporary cheap crap ones - waiting for some good quality flat tops to come into stock where I usually buy parts. ( anyone have any spare to sell ? ) 

22 Frets,  with headstock truss rod. 

CTS switched pots for kicking in the 2nd overwound coil in the steel twin.   Theres a belly cut and a little forearm contour too. Neck profile is between a C and V and intentionally a little chunkier than current Fenders American Professionals - but less beefy than my Richie Kotzen Tele 

Not sure when i will be able to spray with all the crap wet weather lately!

Also not sure about the pickup ring choice and pick guard yet. I made the pick guard from a blank so might keep it and see how it is with the green body. 

Excuse the mess in the home studio  

PeteC

Small update ….Frets now levelled, crowned and polished to 7000 grit and finished with polishing compound

Wiring all done and checked too 

brought the bone nut down to approximate size ready for stringing and final slot cutting 

Any flat top knobs for sale ? 

TTony

Very nice work (of course!) @PeteC.

Although that pickup ring is shouting "NO" at me!  Now, if you could make a replacement out of an offcut of the Ash, grain pattern running the same way as the body, then it'd be shouting something very different

paulnb57

@PeteC ;;;

Any good?

Unsplined fit a Solid shaft, side grub screw

PeteC

Thanks for the offer @paulnb57 ;
But the pots are CTS split shaft so they wouldnt fit unfortunatley 

Roland

I use them on a splined shaft. You just have to avoid tightening then too much.

PeteC

In which case @paulnb57 , how much would you like for them ? 

cheers, 
Pete

paulnb57

Just send your address and Ill pop em in the mail

I use them on splined pots making sure the screw tightens against the edge of the slot

PeteC

Many Thanks Paul - pm’d

PeteC

Going to call this one done - at least until I can spray it in Spring when temperature and humidity improves.   Scrapped the pickup ring and it looks much better.   

Plays very nicely indeed - Ive learned a lot about fretting, dressing and set ups on the last few builds and its paying off now.  

https://i.imgur.com/nUdpO7x.jpg 

Corvus

Nice stuff Pete. That ash ^^ looks very nice, as does the Tele itself.
French polish can get very hard over time, my first build was done in it- decades later almost nothing would strip it, except some concoction Gizmo very kindly sent softened it. It sunk like nitro does and looked nice generally. Bits checked like nitro as well, headstock & places. That is, it did look good till I bandsawed it up..  gonna re-use some of the wood.

Anyway - all looking very nice.

PeteC