After picking up a telecaster body nearly 2 years ago I've finally completed the build. I've a few issues with it but I'll get to them shortly.
Unfortunately the only before shot I have is this
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2013-07-02 18.09.29.jpgThe body is from booboo guitars on ebay. As their name suggests they are bodies with slight flaws but the only flaws on this one were a couple of knots in the wood. They weren't anywhere I'd have to drill and I was planning a black finish so wasn't really too bothered by them.
The finish I was going for was the Wudtone Black Magic Woman which is meant to come out like this (from their website)
http://www.wudtone.com/shop/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2-1024x628.jpgI didn't get the finish I wanted but I have to say that the Wudtone kit was easy to use and the quality of the finish is great.
No progress pics I'm afraid but this the (almost) finished product
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.55.31.jpgThis finish is slightly darker in the flesh but it's certainly not what I was expecting. I still quite like it so I'm not that bothered.
I know some will tell be I've put the control plate on the wrong way but it makes more sense for me. Apologies to the purists!
Not sure there's much to comment on. The tuners are Axetec's locking tuners which work very nicely and I'm probably going to put locking tuners on my main guitars. Pickups are IronGear Steel Twin's which I picked up from
@thecolourbox. I've only put it through my Blackstar Fly 3 to make sure everything was wired up correctly (think there's a problem but I'll get to that).
The problems
Other than the required setup (slight back bow on the neck) there are a couple of issues that are bugging me.
First issue - the neck pickup is much quieter than the bridge I'm assuming there's a problem with how I've wired it.
Second issue - this is the big one as I'm not sure what the problem is or how to fix it. The high doesn't run parallel to the neck and by the 21st fret it's almost off the fingerboard
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.56.48.jpgIt's fine at the nut
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.56.25.jpgand the low E is fine. To me it looks as though all the stings are drifting off to the left. String spacing over the bridge pickup looks okay (if anything the low E is slightly to the right)
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.56.54.jpgI'm not sure is it's the bridge or the neck or something else. Any ideas?
Comments
You can often fix that by loosening the screws a bit, pull the neck over and nip them up again. The screws should pass through the body so it doesn't hurt to enlarge the holes slightly - doesn't need much to give enough room. If the neck resists shifting over, or moves back after a while, it'd be something to look at.
Might find the scratchplate resists the neck being moved, might need a little bit of work on the cutout. Couple of mins job though once the plate is off.
The body looks good, antique-y looking, nice one.
Before I applied the finish I found an old post of yours about applying the first coat (the BMW kit has a deep colour coat that goes on first) so I was mindful of forcing the finish in. I don't know if it'd make a difference but the Wudtone instructions do recommend you use the kit within a certain amount of time (3 months I think) and I'd had mine sitting around for over a year?
The body has was meant to be a new and unfinished but who knows. If there's another partscaster in my future I'll be getting the body from Guitar Build or GSPBasses. I'd be more than willing to give Wudtone another go though. As I said above, the quality of the finish really is great.
I used dark tease on my Flying V build which turned out to be dark brown rather than the faded, dirty look of a Washburn N4 that I was hoping for (probably down to me using it for the first time & not really knowing what to do).
My current Tele deluxe build has carmine gipsy on it which I thought would be a deep red but in fact is more of a burnt orange (which is good).
Having now played it through my main amp the volume disparity between the neck and bridge isn't as great as through the little Blackstar. I think Lower the bridge pickup should be able to sort it. The difference before was large enough that I didn't think it would be that simple.
There are a couple of other small issues - nut too high, need to order another string tree to stop the G string popping out of it's slot (was expecting it on the B&E strings but not the G), neck needs a bit of relief - but it's playable enough to get an idea of what the finished product will sound and play like.
The neck is very similar to my strat so no surprises there. Even unplugged there's a lot of "twang" and it comes through well on both pickups. Swapping the pickups from single to double coil doesn't have as much effect on the sound as I expected. You get the expected reduction in treble and a bit more more power, it just isn't as pronounced as I thought it would be. Still very usable though and actually makes it pretty versatile. The neck pickup with both coils engaged can do a passable Sweet Child of Mine intro.
Before you go all gung-ho with a dremel, try a shim in the lower bass side of the neck pocket, I've found just pulling the neck to one side and tightening can ease it's way back after a few hours playing, a shim should stop that.
http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/61134/sarge/p1