First build ATL - Tommygun

I ordered wood filler in a variety of colors and will do some experimenting to see if I can get a good match. I also ordered a dental pick and Goo-gone to try to carefully remove the glue. In the meantime I tried using what I have on hand to fix things. I don't think it looks half bad. I attached before and after photos. I tried to make it look like it's just a part of the wood that took a lot of grain filler. I did my best to give it an irregular shape and different shades of black. What do you think?

Yeah I like that. Those glue spots can be pretty unpleasing, but I see you got your fix!
Are you going to add some of that character on other places around the sides?

Thanks, Rolf. The thought of adding some other dark spots has crossed my mind and I haven't made a final decision yet. I definitely want to try to correct that other glue line the professional way - by matching the wood color with wood filler if only to get an idea how difficult it is to do.

To be continued...

Grain filling and glue removal is done. Now it's into this big plastic box with cups full of Windex for an ammonia stain. I'm very curious to see the effects.

The parts spent 5 days in the ammonia fume box. I then applied 2 coats of natural (no pigment) gel stain. One coat would've been enough but I have a pint of the stuff and no other use for it. It's super easy to apply. I highly recommend it.

I'm not sure if the ammonia did anything. Maybe it needs more time. Regardless I'm very happy with how it's looking. Next step will be Tru Oil and steel wool.

I applied 4 very thin coats of Tru-Oil. Then I used Tru Oil to wet sand with 400 grit. It definitely feels a lot smoother after this but still not perfect.

I'm learning a lot from this project. One thing I learned is how difficult it is to make a guitar without any blemishes. I've got 4 or 5 so far. I'm trying not to be too hard on myself since this is my first attempt. I have a LOT more respect for luthiers now.

I stopped counting how many coats of Tru Oil I applied and how many times I sanded down. I can only say that it was a lot and I'm glad it's finally at a point where I'm satisfied. It's still not perfect. Maybe if if had sand paper finer than 2000 I could get out the smaller scratches and other imperfections. I'm hoping that a thick coat of wax will hide some of this. Overall it's quite smooth to the touch. The neck is extremely smooth.

Speaking of wax, I couldn't see myself spending so much for a commercially available product when it's easy enough to make it in my kitchen. Only 2 ingredients are needed. I followed this recipe: https://homesteadhow-to.com/how-to-m...niture-polish/

I've read that the Tru Oil needs time to fully harden but the recommendations for how long are all over the place. Anyway, while it's hardening I'll get started on shielding the cavity and drilling holes for tuners, strap buttons etc.

I'd switch to some Micromesh for finer polishing, though if you have obvious scratches, you may need to go back to 1000 grit as finer grits won't get rid of scratches unless you keep at it for ages, so coarser grits are better here.

Thanks for the tip, Simon. I'll give it some thought. At the moment I just need a break from sanding.

I tried going back to 1000 grit and still wasn't happy with the results. So I tried 600. That was a little better. So I tried 400. Now I finally removed those imperfections that were bothering me. Not only does it look good from a few feet away but up close as well.

In the photos it's sanded to 2,000 grit. This week I'll be getting 2,500; 3,000; 5,000 and 7,000. I don't know if the higher grits will do much but it's worth a try.

I never go higher than 2000. After that a good cutting compound, then polish.

But higher grits won't do any harm either. I've been using wet Micromesh all the way up to 12000 and then polishing compounds. I'm happy with the results.

I finished sanding the guitar up to 7,000 grit and got it looking great. The only thing left before installing hardware was to clean up the binding. It didn't occur to me to cover the binding hence it had 30-40 coats of Tru Oil on it. It was a lot harder to remove than I expected and in the process I got lots of particles stuck to the body of the guitar :-(.

So, after I finished cleaning up the binding I covered it with protective tape to prevent more oil from spilling onto it. Not it's back to work on the top.

I also did some work on the neck: I installed a walnut plug in the truss rod hole and installed the tuners.
Everything went smoothly with these things.

What do you think of the decal? Criticism is welcome.

Looks fine to me.

I'd personally trim it as close to the lettering and the gun shape as I could, as there's no benefit in having excessive amounts of clear decal backing. Steel ruler and a scalpel (or other really sharp blade). Try and have round corners rather than angular ones, as the eye will notice those more under the finish.

And make sure that the decal doesn't go right up to the edges of the headstock as you'll catch it when sanding the finish over it, so I'd leave at least 1mm (but 2mm would be better).

I got quite a bit done these past 2 weeks.
I got the black binding as clean as possible, taped it and then went back to sanding the top. Now both the top and binding look very nice. Next up was installing the tuners. The instructional video that Adam made was great help and I got the tuners aligned perfectly. Next up was installing the jack. This should've been easy but the part was too large. I sanded the hole by hand with 180 grit paper until I could push it in without too much effort. *Note to self: Make sure you cover all finished areas when doing any sanding. I messed up the finish a bit around the jack.
Last thing that I did was put on the water slide decal. I'm very happy with how it looks but it's not adhering to the Tru Oil finish. I need some advice on how to get it to stick.

Did you print the decal yourself or have you got another one? I'd rub the area with maybe 1000 grit paper and try again.

There are decal fixing solutions you can get. I've got some, but never actually tried them yet, so can't say how well they work.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Did you print the decal yourself or have you got another one? I'd rub the area with maybe 1000 grit paper and try again.

There are decal fixing solutions you can get. I've got some, but never actually tried them yet, so can't say how well they work.

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Good news. I let the decal sit overnight and this morning it is set in place. It just needed more time - nothing more. Question: Do I need to cover the decal with something to protect it? FYI, Yes I did make this decal myself on a laser (not inkjet) printer. I would think that a laser decal would be colorfast.

I would clear over it- I assume tru oil would work, I've never used it, but its basically poly AFAIK. Water slide decals are pretty delicate.

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

I would clear over it- I assume tru oil would work, .....

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Thanks for the tip. Would 1 coat be enough or are multiple coats needed?

Definitely several coats. As Sonic says, decals are easily damaged and string-ends (just the process of removing old and fitting new strings) will scratch an unprotected decal to bits in no time.

Are you planning to sand and polish the TruOil (which is linseed oil based and not a poly finish at all)? If so, you'll need quite a few layers. Do it all over the headstock, not just over the decal, as then it builds up to be over the thickness of the decal itself. When you sand flat, then the finish is flat with no bumps. But you'll need quite a few layers.

Thanks again, Simon. The headstock has more than 30 coats of Tru Oil and has been sanded up to 7000 grit. I thought I was done with the sanding and Tru Oil. :-( Oh well.. Fortunately I bought the large size bottle and I won't have any other use for it once I'm finished.

Sorry about that. You really needed to apply the decal after about 10 coats, then carried on with the other 20.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, if rather frustrating. :D

It's getting near the end. I covered the headstock decal with a dozen or so coats of Tru Oil. I think it'll be fine now. I also drilled the few holes that still needed drilling - neck pickup ring and switch plate. I also removed the cover on the neck pickup. IMHO it looks weird to have 1 pickup with a cover and the other pickup without a cover. An added bonus is that now the neck pickup is perfectly placed with the pole pieces right below the strings.

The last steps are the shielding and soldering.

Did all of the soldering today. I followed the wiring diagram that came with the pots.

The bridge pickup works fine but the neck pickup is not functioning. I'm wondering if it's related to my removal of the cover on the neck pickup.

I could use some advice on how to troubleshoot this.

The pickup cover is normally connected to the ground connection on the pickup, to make the cover more effective as a shield. Did you unsolder any connection first? If not, you may have broken the coil connection to the ground wire. Even unsoldering may have left the coil connection loose.

Select the bridge pickup (so the neck pup remains unconnected to the volume and tone pots), then measure the resistance between a pot back and the neck pickup hot connection to the switch. That will give the coil resistance and af its somewhere in the 4k-10kohm region, then the pickup is OK.

If it's open circuit, then the coil has become either become disconnected or a coil wire has been broken in the process of cover removal.

If it's a short circuit, then somehow the coil connections have become linked, possibly with a wisp of loose wire.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

The pickup cover is normally connected to the ground connection on the pickup, to make the cover more effective as a shield. Did you unsolder any connection first? If not, you may have broken the coil connection to the ground wire. Even unsoldering may have left the coil connection loose.

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Yes. I saw that the center tab on the cover was soldered to the ground. I heated this with a soldering iron while gently pulling off the cover,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Select the bridge pickup (so the neck pup remains unconnected to the volume and tone pots), then measure the resistance between a pot back and the neck pickup hot connection to the switch. That will give the coil resistance and if its somewhere in the 4k-10kohm region, then the pickup is OK.

If it's open circuit, then the coil has become either become disconnected or a coil wire has been broken in the process of cover removal.

If it's a short circuit, then somehow the coil connections have become linked, possibly with a wisp of loose wire.

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Are either of those repairable or will I need a new pickup

Open circuit - not easily. Short circuit - normally.

Measure first, only worry if it's not correct. One step at a time.

I had a buddy of mine at work help me check everything. He knows a lot more about this stuff than me. We checked everything twice. The pickup is toast. :-(

Tonerider doesn't have a distributor in China so I'll probably have to order another one from Adam and wait another week or so for it to arrive. Oh well, could be worse.

While I'm waiting for my new neck pickup I thought I'd see how a modern bridge looks on the guitar. I swapped the intonation screws from the vintage bridge to get more adjustment.

Although I prefer the style of the modern bridge this one just doesn't match the switch plate and pickup ring. At the risk of sounding like a primadonna I'll say that these are 2 very different shades of black. I don't think I could get used to this.

If anyone knows of another top loading, black, modern bridge that mounts with either 3 or 5 screws please give a shout out.

Babicz do one. Top or through-body stringing.

http://www.fullcontacthardware.com/fch-tele-bridge

https://www.pitbullguitars.com/shop/...-bridge-black/

https://storage.snappages.site/tome5...x2700_2500.jpg

It's been a lot of fun seeing this guitar come to life. Thanks to everyone that assisted or even took the time to read.

As this build library comes to an end I thought I'd share my list of things learned/reminded of during construction. So, in no particular order, here we go:

-Check things twice. This is especially important for drips. Sometimes it takes time for drips to form so it's best to check again a few minutes after application.

-Work in good light. Use the light reflecting to check for scratches etc.

-Do every step to the best of your ability. If it's not satisfactory suck it up and do it over. Yeah, it's tedious but you'll be glad that you did.

-If you're thinking of doing a little bit more...don't. Keep things simple.

-Buy 2 (or more) of everything. If you don't need something you can save it for later, use it on your next build or return it.

-Remove dust/hair with adhesive tape or a tack cloth before/after each step.

-When using sandpaper to try to fix a mistake, use the finest grade of paper and work your way down to more coarse grades.

-Press grain filler into wood across the grain. Press in with a lot of force.

-After wet sanding, rub the wood across the grain to fill the grain.

-Use the palm of the hand to spread Tru-Oil thinly and evenly

-Use Goof-Off and a dental pick to remove glue

-Be extra careful sanding above the neck pickup

-Protect finished areas with painters tape. Better safe than sorry.

-Try paint, stain etc. on an inconspicuous area. Give it time to dry to fully assess.

-Drill all holes before finishing.

Looks great!

I am curious about the last lesson - drill all holes before finishing. I plan to do the opposite - drill holes for bridge and pickguard after finishing. I will use masking tape to protect the finish. The reasoning is to limit the risk of water getting into the wood during wet sanding as it can crack the finish.

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Originally Posted by jugglindan

Looks great!

I am curious about the last lesson - drill all holes before finishing.....

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I did most of the drilling after finishing. I think there are benefits and drawbacks to both methods. It's a lot easier to make a pencil dot/line on bare wood as opposed to finished wood. It's also a lot easier to erase an incorrectly marked point and cover over an incorrectly drilled hole. By all means do what you feel is best for you.

Don't really know what will be best on my first build. That's the problem! Positioning the bridge is where I am most likely to stuff up. Tempted now to fit the neck and bridge before finishing anything, just in case I need to fill a badly placed hole.

Like most things I am likely overthinking it.

Putting masking tape on a finished body, marking hole positions on that and drilling through the tape is a good way to drill holes at the very end. The tape can also help stop the finish from cracking/splintering, though using sharp drill bits should prevent that. It can also be a useful way of drilling holes before finishing, especially if you need to draw lines to line things up first and don't want to mark the wood and then have to sand off the pencil lines.

Looks very good, THZ321.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Putting masking tape on a finished body, marking hole positions on that and drilling through the tape is a good way to drill holes at the very end. The tape can also help stop the finish from cracking/splintering, though using sharp drill bits should prevent that. It can also be a useful way of drilling holes before finishing, especially if you need to draw lines to line things up first and don't want to mark the wood and then have to sand off the pencil lines.

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Why didn't I think of that??? Excellent tip for next time.

Thanks very much for your kind assistance during this build. It was very much appreciated.

No problem. That's why the forum's here.

I finally got the cover removed from the neck pick up. That looks much better doesn't it?

Love it! Good job!

Was it soldered?