The recycled table - update!

impmann

Once upon a time there was an expensive pine table. It served its time as a table very well until it became out-of-keeping with the decor of the house. At that point, it was moved outside to the patio and spent some time there in the rain, sleet and snow until it again out-grew its usefulness. It was destined to go to the tip until a chance conversation between its owner (an old friend) and I saw the tabletop passed to me... 

That was about five years ago, and it has sat in the shed getting in the way and generally gathering cobwebs until last week. I finally got the momentum together to start turning it into a Tele(ish)caster.

This is what it looked like cut into Tele sized blanks...

Using templates bought from here, I roughed out the body shape with a Jigsaw and then, using a router bought s/h some years ago on eBay (and untried since purchase) I carved around the template using a bearing-guided bit. The result was an Esquire-a-like  - I have a bridge pickup sat in the drawer so figured a one pickup guitar is the way forwards...

I'm waiting on my round-over bit arriving to finish off the major woodworking and then I can get on with preparing it for a finish.... more on that later.

The ethic for this build is "recycling", so that aside from the strings every bit of this guitar has to be either bought secondhand, scrounged or saved from a skip. And that leads me onto the neck.

Its no secret that until they closed the UK office, I was gainfully employed by Line6 and when we were clearing out the building, there were quite a lot of guitar parts that were destined for the bin. Therefore, I took as much on as I could including a few scrap JTV69 necks. These were reject necks for a variety of reasons (mainly broken off screws during repair work - as the repair could not be totally invisible, the neck would be replaced) and all need a little work to make them useable again. But that headstock HAS to go... sorry, it's eaten-up with the uglies...

I spent a happy afternoon in the garage armed with a sander, a Dremel and some files - its now a little more Tele shaped. I may attack it some more before I'm done, but its one heck of an improvement. I've filled all the holes and removed the broken screws from it. Plus I've removed all traces of the headstock decal and the serial number.

The body is waiting on the control plate to arrive (a s/h purchase from this forum) before I can be sure that all the routing is complete. The pickup is a Kent Armstrong rails unit that I've had for ever and when I tried, nobody would buy it, so I've built a guitar around it!! The bridge is a s/h Squier CV unit that I got from ebay for the princely sum of £5. I have an old Variax neckplate and screws set aside, a secondhand set of machine heads and I have a bunch of electronics left over from several projects that will get slotted in somehow.

A mock up of how it looks right now...

And yes, I ballsed up the socket hole. It will be OK with some work but hey... its a learning curve.

So what to use for a finish?

I'd like to stain it - I loved the green Westone that was on here and have considered doing similar. But what stain was used on that? And would it work on pine?

I have 3/4 of a bottle of Tru Oil left over from when I built my Telecaster thingy about three years ago. Its been in the garage ever since - I've checked it and it seems ok under the crust that had formed. A quick stir and I tried a bit on an offcut and it seemed pretty good.

So what are people's thoughts about the finish? All comments, suggestions and criticisms welcomed, as long as they aren't personal. ;-) I've not made a guitar body before, so I'm learning as I go!!

Oh and one final thing... once this one is complete, I'm doing it all again with the other blank and another JTV neck. That one will be a present to my friend for donating the table in the first place. That guitar will be slightly different in that it will have twin humbuckers (already sourced) but I'd like to do them in a matching finish so they can be 'sisters'. Again, it's being done using recycled materials as I have no money!!

steamabacus

I like the recycling vibe. Why not carry that over into the finish and keep the weathered pine (at least on the top) as homage to its previous life as a table?

impmann

I have thought about that but it's super scruffy plus there's quite a bit of pencil on there from where I marked stuff out... badly!!

Roland

It was only yesterday that I looked at our kitchen table, trying to estimate how many Tele bodies I could get out of it. Next time my wife asks whether we can change the table to match the kitchen units she's going to be surprised at the answer. I like the recycling vibe too

Phil_aka_Pip

I don't like Teles, but best of luck with your build and recycling brief. wow suitably awarded

Chuffola

Phil_aka_Pip said:

I don't like Teles

BAN HIM!!

:-O

jd0272

Nice work fella!!!

Shark_Eyes

This is going to look cool when it's done. Especially since you've changed the ugly headstock to something much nicer.

WezV

for inspiration  

http://www.dismalax.com/

Sarge

Excellent project!
My green Westone was done with Rothko & Frost Forest Green spirit based stain.
http://www.rothkoandfrost.com/spirit-based-wood-dye-lightfast/

god speed!

impmann

Thanks!

usedtobe

That body looks so cool, I wish we had a similar table to make into guitars...

ICBM

My mother has an unbelievably ugly Victorian mahogany dining table which I may inherit one day - although I did make a tactical mistake when she asked if would like it left to me, and after a quick visual assessment I said yes, I could probably get at least half a dozen guitars out of it.

JohnB

The green for my S type JB005 came from Tonetech, if thats any good (see my finished project http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/45201/finished-build-jb005#latest for pictures) 

paulnb57

If greens your thing, Quink waterproof ink is the mutts nuts.....

usedtobe

ICBM;698321" said:

My mother has an unbelievably ugly Victorian mahogany dining table which I may inherit one day - although I did make a tactical mistake when she asked if would like it left to me, and after a quick visual assessment I said yes, I could probably get at least half a dozen guitars out of it.

Someone I worked with was trying to sell a solid wood table, once, so I said I was interested. All was going well, until I said I was going to make guitar bodies out of it. Suddenly the deal was off.. People, eh..

impmann

Update - progress has been made.

I've finally received the round-over bit and have deployed that around the edge. This was then followed by a deepening of the neck pocket (only by a couple of mm) and then an all over sand...

It now looks like this:

There's still a fair amount of sanding before I can start deploying a finish to it but therein lies the issue. I quite like the idea of it looking like what it was before (a table) and I think a few coats of Tru Oil will give this a cool golden hue. I've also realised that the dinks and donks the table received during its lifetime aren't going to magically sand out, and so its never going to be a perfect finish, plus there's quite a bit of random darkening in places due to the soaking it had on the patio of my firend's house.

So - what would you do? Stain it or just encapsulate what is there as part of its story in Tru Oil?

ICBM

I would either finish it in Cuprinol garden furniture stain/protector (your choice of colour) or leave it completely bare to stain and age naturally by itself.

Yes, I'm serious . Especially about the second one.

samzadgan

I'd seen this kind of thing before...


but i like your way of doing things more...

its looking great!

impmann

Not sure on the Cuprinol idea, tbh. I don't mind it being a little rustic but that may be a step too far!

Any other ideas? I have ordered the green stain that @Sarge used for his gorgeous Westone makeover. I'm still quite keen on that but doubt I'll get this looking anywhere near as nice!!

melvynhiscock

This looks fun. I just had some fun with an Esquire, the owner and I put in a tapped pickup which was wound to 3,000 and then another 8500, so you have the option of a good jangly low power sound, a telecaster-ish sount (midway between 50s and 80s) and an 11,500 turn over wound tele. It was a very useable system.