christodav's DTL-1 Purple Monster

I have been procrastinating over this one for ages. Since building my Daughters kit a couple of years ago, I finally decided to build my own T style. I have already started as you can see. I was really disappointed with the neck initially as I couldn't see any flame as it was described. I had to Tru-oil it to see what it was yet to reveal. I am still a little disappointed, but you can never trust wood coz it is always so unpredictable anyway. The main flame is at either end and it kinda disappears in the middle but as I said, it creates a character. I am not expecting much from the rear of the neck in terms of flame now either, but I expect it now and I am okay with it.

The good news is that the body is REALLY nice and apart from major machine scratches on the top at the end it is pretty flawless. It will sand out not problem.
My plan is to sand and cut body contours (i know it is a T style but I prefer a belly-cut for comfort), ebony timbermate it, purple leather dye - yes PURPLE and then clear coat. I also want to use an aluminium pickguard.I am not sure if this will have the traditional 2 pickup config or whether I will go Nashville style yet - I will work on that later.

https://i.imgur.com/DY4iVDJ.jpg

I can't find a picture of what I want it to turn out like as it is a combo of a few, but I do have it clear in my head. Here is a pic for inspiration. However, imagine this, clean and see through ash grain like my offset blue one.

https://i.imgur.com/VkdTb9k.jpg

Chris

https://i.imgur.com/AN6ydx7.jpg

Starting to see what it is going to look like. I have done the cuts and sanded quite a bit. I still have a fair bit of sanding and grain filling to do before the dye.

Chris

That should look great with a trans-blue finish!

I too have to have the comfort contours on a tele. I don't have a big belly, but that top edge digs into my ribs without one.
IMO, it's the one design flaw Leo made on the tele. Guess I'm not a purist!

If you haven't already, I'd do a dry fit with the neck in the pocket and bridge screwed on to make sure the scale length is right. Also that there's no conflict with the bridge pickup route. If those bridge mounting holes are from the factory, it's worth double checking. It will save you headaches and heartaches down the road.

Also a good time to do your string-through holes if you're going to do it that way.

Look forward to seeing this progress!

All good advice.

Yep, going to do a brass block string through using one of Euroa Guitars fine products.
They are factory holes. I will most likely use a Babicz bridge but I don't have it yet.

Chris

https://i.imgur.com/M2LxwDu.jpg

Yep - it seems that whatever t-style kit you buy, the router needs to come out to enlarge that bridge pick-up cavity in the body if you want it to sit a little closer to the pickguard.

Chris

https://i.imgur.com/iqBAEDk.jpg

Now we are Nashville style T-type!

With my PBG Ash TL, I ended up doing quite a significant "swimming pool" route in front of the bridge position right up into the neck pickup route.
This was all about weight relief. The body was HEAVY... I lost roughly a 1/2 pound (>200g) which is actually quite significant in guitar terms.
I think I finished up at 3.7kg (8 lbs) which isn't too bad, at least manageable.

Yep it has made a big difference.

https://i.imgur.com/y6yaqzt.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/nFcCQzQ.jpg

Some progress

https://i.imgur.com/0z1Ph32.jpg

It's difficult to get a nice clear shot on camera, but it is a chocolate company purple right now.

Chris

Can’t wait to see it all shiny and in good lighting. Purple is a great colour for guitars, well most things really.

The dye is still kinda splotchy and hasn't dried yet. I have the aluminium pickguard coming tomorrow.

https://i.imgur.com/pKtTrcS.jpg

after a light steel wool to remove some of the excess dye

Very nice. A very even-looking stain.

Thanks Simon. So far it seems better than the last blue one that I did. i haven't been game enough yet to steel wool the front as I don't feel confident in lying it on it's back just yet - maybe tomorrow. I was told from a channel on Youtube that the purple Angelus Leather dye was the trickiest colour to us as the pigments go weird and turn green if you perform a second coat. i tried my best to get an even coat straight up. There was a strange green layer that appeared on top of the surface but the steel wool (as recommended form the Youtube chap) seemed to have made that vanish. There will be niggles I know, but so far I think it is pretty good.

I will let it dry for a few days and then perform my Glueboost tricks to seal it and then spray it with the Supercheap Auto clear cans maybe on the weekend if all goes to plan with the weather and time.

If the aluminium pickguard turns up in the mail tomorrow, I'll post a picture up.

Chris

Looking sick mate. You should go fine with the SCA stuff. I'm so impressed with the quality of them, it's hard to go wrong. If you follow phrozin's schedule - you will be golden. Just finished burying a headstock decal in SCA clear and all looking good.

Yep done it with the last guitar. It should hopefully turn out nice.
.

https://i.imgur.com/STTYwme.jpg

I couldn't resist checking it out. Tomorrow with the aluminum pickguard

https://i.imgur.com/laEBFIu.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Bb5VPJm.jpg

I still can't get it to look like it is in person, but I hope you get the idea. The aluminium guard is SOOOO SEXY!!!
(and it wasn't that pricey either.)

Chris

Looking amazing! Where did you get the pickguard?

Ebay

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Standard...53.m2749.l2649

Thanks! Much appreciated.

That has come along nicely and will really come to life with the clear coat.

If you haven't tried it before, have a go at reversing the control plate.
The only thing you need to do (apart from physically flipping the plate) is swap the positions of the tone & volume pots.

This puts the volume knob right at the front and allows easier access with your little finger for volume swells or just simple volume adjustment without moving you hand out of the picking position. Pickup switching then becomes a similar feeling to a strat.

I've it done to all the teles I'd had or have. If you don't like it, it's completely reversible. (re-reversible??? :confused:)

Though it normally involves soldering on an existing/pre-wired plate as you can bet that some of the wires will be too short to simply just move the pots and switch around. And on an existing guitar, the pickup wires may not stretch far enough and will need to be extended.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Though it normally involves soldering on an existing/pre-wired plate as you can bet that some of the wires will be too short to simply just move the pots and switch around. And on an existing guitar, the pickup wires may not stretch far enough and will need to be extended.

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True enough, but I was able to do it to my Classic Vibe 50's tele without extending any wires. Could have been a fluke though.

That aside, it's not much work if you're starting from scratch on a new build anyway.

LOL. I was already considering this mod. It is so painful looking at the neck drying next to me as I type along with the body.

I have purchased a set of Fender noiseless Nashville pickups from the US which are due any day now. They will go into the offset blue guitar and the Iron Gear set will come out and go into this one. I did make a huge mistake with the blue guitar in ordering a middle strat type pu and not having it matched correctly in terms of the pole direction. So I will end up with a spare strat type middle pickup unfortunately.

I think I might look at a 4-way reverse plate set-up for this.

Quote:

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I have purchased a set of Fender noiseless Nashville pickups from the US which are due any day now.

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Don't know if you have played FVN's before, but I'm a huge fan of them. Lot's of people bag them, but I think they sound great.
I have a number of strat sets in my guitars and a set of Gen 4 Noiseless Tele one's in my tele. IMO, the Gen 4's are even better than the Vintage, but I still dig them as well.

Quote:

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I think I might look at a 4-way reverse plate set-up for this.

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If you do the 4 way, you may (not always) need to lengthen the lever switch slot in the control plate.
The length of the arc of a 4-way is slightly greater than a 3-way and a standard control plate slot can restrict the lever and not allow it to go all the way into positions 1 & 4.

It's not a big job and only requires about 1-1.5mm at each end of the slot, but the trick is not stuffing up the chrome plating while cutting the slot. Again, not a big deal, just good to be aware of these little things.

Good advice. I might even get a pre-wired plate - we'll see.

I have now laid the first 2 coats of glue on the back of the body with very little dye lifting in the first application.It's gone on quite rough as usual but it'll sand out nicely. I got a couple of bits of dust in is so I will probably stick with the 2 coats I have, sand it back with 600 and then apply a 3rd and hopefully final coat. I love this stuff.

https://i.imgur.com/7gTr2Cv.jpg

A couple of Glu Boost coats laid down - still not sure now as it is showing a little gloss. Try satin or stick with gloss clear coat??

Chris

Def gloss is my vote! Noice!

Gloss! Gloss! Gloss!

I'm going to buck the trend and say satin might go really nice with that brushed aluminium scratch plate [emoji1]

I'm normally always gloss, but here, maybe nights in purple satin would be good.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I'm normally always gloss, but here, maybe nights in purple satin would be good.

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You'd never reach the end.

Only have one 'satin' finish under my belt, but discover that the parts that you come in contact with tend to get glossy.

cheers, Mark.

All my satin finished guitars have been polished to a semi-gloss, then contact polishing doesn't become an issue. Also gives them more of an old guitar vibe.

Hmm. I am still going backwards and forwards with the whole gloss vs satin thing. I have actually purchased a few cans of satin clear and I do still have another guitar body that I can trial use it on and if I don't like it, I can always just go back to the Super Cheap Auto stuff on this one.

The Fender noiseless pickups arrived earlier in the week and I am keen to pop them into the offset and shear what they sound like.

I ran out of the thin gluboost on the body before finishing i, so I have to wait another week or so before the new bottle comes. I still have a bit to go on with this weekend like fitting the pickups in the offset, Tru-oiling the neck and sanding the gluboost down on the body. The top and back are pretty close to done but I need to fill and smooth out the sides and edges. It probably only requires half a bottle at most but I will keep going until it is perfectly smooth so the final coats go on nicely.

Thanks everyone - gloss might win this one, but satin purple still looks good as I have a bit of an idea after I sand the glue with 600grit.

Cheers.

Chris

So.......

I am still going with this thing and still slowly sanding and applying the glue to get it all perfect before I spray it.
Despite what some have suggested, I have purchased clear satin however, I am still not certain if I should stick with it or go back to gloss. LOL.

My sales job has dropped to 30 hours per week from 44 hours now and we are running on 2 shifts - 2 days on and 2 days off in a rotating kind of deal. As my daughter pointed out to me the the other day, " the first day you work is always like a Monday and the second day is like a Friday before another weekend." Unfortunately it is now a bunch less money but hopefully the extra Gov't money should fill most of the gap. Fingers crossed though that none of us in our small team gets the virus. I don't think I have ever washed my hands so much in one day!

I am mainly working on the sides and edges right now as I remember on the last guitar, I failed to get this right and it took some extra work in the final sanding of the top clear. It's not easy with a deep grain ash body or course an even though I filled and sanded quite well, there are still a few areas where the edges are uneven have have to be filled with the glue more.

Anyway, back to it and I'll post a picture or 2 once the body has been sanded ready for its topcoat.

Chris

https://i.imgur.com/Ww5kDuU.jpg


I haven't really got very far in 3 months, but I have taken a few photos to motivate me. I still have a fair bit of work to do before the final clear. As you can see,I received the bridge from Adam in the post today.

Chris

That's looking pretty sweet even if it's not done yet!

I know it's a bit of an afterthought, but I just noticed the dolphin on the headstock. A reverse headstock would have been cool so you could have made a dorsal fin shape going up!
Still very cool though! Look forward to seeing it all together and strung up.

Cool idea - maybe next time. My last build has the dolphin as well, although it looks more like a porpoise as I took a bit off it's nose by accident when I was sanding at one stage. LOL

it's all fine filling all the edges etc now so it's the final 10% that takes the longest time.

Chris