Home-made Tele makeover

[chrissyinbkk]

Sit down and relax Simon, after all the sanding you have done I'd want a weeks recuperation....

[Simon Barden]

Well the Tele body is now a lot thinner. A bit thinner than I wanted though.

As I don't have a thicknesser, I just had to use a combination of power plane, belt sander and random-orbital sander. The power plane dug in a few places, so I then had to even that all out with the belt sander and then smooth it all down with the random-orbital sander. Removing those gouges meant I probably took an extra 1.5mm off in total. I did both the top and the bottom, so the output jack hole is still central in the body. it certainly now feels lighter!

Now need to go over it with sandpaper and remove the odd mark on the sides of the body.

I also need to remember to check the pup and control cavity depths, as I may need to deepen them.

I also need to glue the veneer strips into the neck pocket to get that back down to size.

Once that's done and its all fine sanded, it will then be ready for a coat of butterscotch lacquer (I'd forgotten I had it), which will give a slightly more creamy-yellow look to it than If I'd used white as I first thought of doing, (and will look more Fendery, even though I'm then going to pore fill after the butterscotch has gone on with mahogany filler in a Gibson style).

[FrankenWashie]

Yes I have a power plane, and the sniping at the end of the run is terrible even with care taken. The 1.5 mm shouldn't be a huge issue should it?

[Simon Barden]

I don't think so. I'll probably have to deepen some of the routs and possibly the rear string ferrule holes (need to get some new ferrules) but the finish will probably add 0.5mm back. making it only slightly thinner than my Fender Tele. I did once have a Squier Affinity Tele, and that was considerably thinner than the Fender.

[FrankenWashie]

Yeah, that should present no issue. It's still nearly 5mm thicker than the FrankenWashie and I managed to squeeze a FR trem into that.