First build ATL-1QW

So I may be a bit premature in starting my build diary while my order is still winging it's way to the UK, but my excitement about getting started is growing.

I don't have much to share at this stage but I have been experimenting with stains and finishes on scrap wood. The current plan is for the top to be blue with the back and neck the amber. I reserve the right to change my mind though!

I came across the picture of the PJD Carey Elite in a back issue of Guitarist magazine and it helpfully confirmed my intentions.

More to follow I'm sure.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2bdd34c091.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...c1b04b98c7.jpg

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Cool, What stain is that, it is not easy to get blue to NOT turn out green on blond timber.

I am also curious about what you will use over the stain to avoid it turning green.

So my scrappy piece of pine cladding is stained with Royal Blue and Amber stain and then finished with 4 coats of finishing oil, all from crimson guitars. I've seen some others on this forum mention Crimson before so perhaps they will be better able to vouch for their finishes. So far though no hint of green in the blue - but time will tell...

I'm still waiting for the kit to arrive (apparently it's hanging out in Coventry at the moment) so this weekend was "coping saw practice" weekend.

I thought I'd try out cutting out both a strat and a tele headstock to see how I got on, and then tried designing my own, which is really just a mash up of them both.

Feedback from you lot cautiously welcomed...https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...8bb5c6ae61.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4521d06f1c.jpg

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I like the third one best. Tele headstocks always look too narrow to me.

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I'm generally a traditionalist when it comes to headstocks, but I do like your hybrid one. I may do something similar one day now that I've seen yours.

If we're voting, I vote for the mash-up.

So the kit has arrived and everything looks to be included. Just a couple of initial questions:

1) There is a crack/split on the back where two pieces of wood are joined. I'm assuming that the solution is some wood glue mixed with sawdust pushed into the gap?

Attachment 34914

2) After a quick measure it looks like a) none of the pre-drilled holes for the bridge are going to be usable, and b) once the bridge is in the correct location, the pickup cavity will be in the wrong place. I can see from other posts that this is fairly normal, but a little reassurance goes a long way!

3) Any tips for removing the original nut (or a link to another post)?

Attachment 34915

Thanks!

I had a similar crack in the same location, but smaller. I filled with CA glue. But given that your split is larger I will defer to more experienced hands around here (see my disclaimer).

For removing the nut, I followed this guide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-IimHz8To

Thanks for the guide, just what I needed :-)

Why is real life never like the YouTube guides? Nut removal proved to be a pain with the thing crumbling to pieces before the glue gave way. On top of this, the bone nut is thinner than the slot so there is a lot of play. I'm assuming a shim behind it will sort that out.

The bridge is on but that also wasn't without drama. The first screw snapped with 5mm still showing. Thankfully I was able to get the chuck of my drill tightened onto it and unscrew it. I opened all the screw holes up a little and this time put a touch of soap on the screws to help them along. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...5a506d7e20.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4cdeaa76e8.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...dd17af012a.jpg

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Arrgh, sounds like cursing time.

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Good on you Mrguiro, this is what builds can be like. I don't think any of mine ever went to plan and I lost my stuff on a number of occasions, but I never learn't anything from parts of builds that went perfectly well and there's always a work around.

If your veneer lifts, you can re-glue with by getting a syringe and inserting more glue and clamping. watch the ooze out on the veneer as you can't sand it out. remove excess glue at the time.

I am surprised that the bone nut is smaller in width than a tele neck! not sure if it would have fitted anything.

Be careful any of the kit screws are made of Chinese pot metal and are pretty weak. I always insert mine with a generous helping of wax.

Good luck mate.

The bone nut I got is also smaller than the tele neck, so maybe one of the factories is making them a bit bigger right now.

Well I'm putting the nut problem to one side for now and concentrating on headstock and frets today.

If you want to roll up the sleeves and have a break from endless sanding.


https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3299...archweb201603_

I now have more bone nuts at hand than guitars.

cheers, Mark.

OK I'm really pleased with the headstock, a bit more tidying up to do but I like the shape.

And blue masking tape, how have I lived for so long without you?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...7d43f22bf7.jpg

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I love the headstock. It's a bit meatier than most teles, which I think is great. A lot of tele headstocks look too thin to me. Which is why I am putting a strat headstock on my tele. At least I am not alone in this choice.

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Originally Posted by jugglindan

I love the headstock. It's a bit meatier than most teles, which I think is great. A lot of tele headstocks look too thin to me. Which is why I am putting a strat headstock on my tele. At least I am not alone in this choice.

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Oh yes very nice, and of course Clapton had a stat neck on his tele. I nearly went with the full strat profile but wanted to put my own stamp on it :-)

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I didn't know that about Clapton's tele, thanks.

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Neck stained amber. I'm pretty pleased with the colour, it's hard to tell from the picture but it's turned out almost a roasted maple look. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d20f97e2d6.jpg

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Back of the body stained now too. The grain has shown up a lot more than I expected but I "think" I like it. I'm telling myself it's "vintage amber" rather than orange!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...d03d3b242e.jpg

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Doesn't look orange to me. I think the grain looks great!

Actually sanded back a bit it does look less orange. I've now put the first 2 applications of blue strain on the front. The grain is looking lovely but there are some spots where the stain isn't taking. Thankfully most of these will be covered by bridge or scratch plate. Is it too late to do anything about these?https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...32f32ee1b7.jpg

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Well, you could always try Goof-Off on those areas and then re-stain those bits. Rubbing with a small soft brass-bristled brush helps to work it in. I really wouldn't worry about the bits that will be hidden and concentrate on any that show.

I have used coloured Sharpie pens to touch up the odd stain flaw, but it does depend on the finish used over the top, as some will cause the ink to separate. So best tried on some scrap wood first.

Thanks Simon, what's the goof off equivalent in the UK? There seem to be a few products available but it's not clear to me what would do the job. I tried with IPA and meths (on the spots that will be hidden) without any noticeable improvement. I fear I'm in danger of making things worse.

Sharpie is definitely a possibility, I've used them before to hide the odd scratch in furniture and even to cover bleach strains on a jumper :-)

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Thanks Simon, what's the goof off equivalent in the UK? There seem to be a few products available but it's not clear to me what would do the job.

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Goof-Off is essentially 100% Acetone (used to be xylene). A quick search yielded a product called EVO-STICK Adhesive Cleaner, but I did not find what any details of what's in it.

Goof Off actually still contains Xylene but the large percentage of the mixture is Acetone as McCreed said.

EVO-STICK Adhesive Cleaner is only up to 30% acetone, having said that the other components are hydrocarbon solvents as well so it may work ok. Without knowing the specifics of the glue and the dye your using I can't provide more detailed advice.

What other products have you looked at?

As a side note, as with any chemical make sure you are using gloves.

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So you could try straight acetone. It's basically nail varnish remover, but nail varnish remover often contains oils that you don't want. so look for pure acetone. I have a bottle for cleaning purposes (good at removing CA glue) that I bought from Amazon.

Just avoid getting it on the binding as it will start to dissolve it (you actually use acetone to stick bits of binding together or to dissolve some to make a filler for gaps in binding.

Or you could try the Evo Stick remover. I might get some and do a comparison with straight acetone.

Thanks all, I'll get hold of some acetone and see if that does any good

Not a huge amount of success with the acetone to actually remove the glue, but with some careful use of blue sharpie (and blended using the acetone) the visible white dots are suitably covered.

I've now started building up layers of finishing oil. What have others done when dealing with two different coloured strains? I'm worried about the blue bleeding into the amber on the sides so I'm oiling the top first and will do the sides and back once the top is more stable.

Also 6 decals prepared ready for multiple attempts. Attachment 35131Attachment 35132

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Sensible move. A couple of layers of the oil should be enough to stop and bleeding and you can do top and sides together.

Thank you so much for posting a build diary. I have the same kit as you and I've just started to get to grips with it. I particularly like what you've done with the headstock, so I plan on copying that. But before I get there, I think I've got a bigger problem to start out.

Doing a trial assembly, I think that I have some significant bridge location problems:
a) The front and back holes aren't the right spacing for the supplied bridge; more significantly
b) To get the cavity for the bridge pickup is too far back to get the saddles in the right place for the scale length; and
c) The holes don't seem to set the bridge perpendicular to the strings (obvious from join in the veneer)
d) The bridge assembly gets nowhere close to the pickguard (tho this may be feature rather than a bug)

You mentioned bridge location problems at the start - how did you resolve them in the end? I think I might need a router to open out the bridge cavity.

Thanks

Hi you are most welcome to copy my headstock design. Funnily enough, I thought I was being original, but I have since found that it's very similar to the headstock of a Fender Coranado - ah well.

I think I came across some very similar issues to you:
a) Nope I agree my bridge also didn't match the pre-drilled holes at all. I assumed that because I'd ordered the gold finish I got a different sized bridge?
b) Yes I also found that to get the bridge in the right position for the pickup cavity and the correct scale length I had to remove some wood. I used a Dremel with a rough sandpaper fitting. I thought it would take forever to remove enough wood, but in fact it got through it quite quickly. I put masking tape on the body to protect the veneer, offered up the bridge in the planned location (with the pickup installed) and drew around the pickup baseplate on the masking tape to mark out the required cut. I then went at it with the Dremel until the pickup fitted with the bridge in the right location. It doesn't look particularly pretty, but it will all be hidden.

I originally thought that, to allow for full adjustment, I should site the bridge so that the scale length was correct when the saddles were int he middle of their adjustment range. However this called for far too much removal of wood so instead I measured the scale length the be almost at the full extent of adjustment on the saddle for the top 'E' string, on the basis that all of the other saddles were likely to be adjust back from this. This arrangement only meant I had to remove approx. 4mm of wood to get the bridge pickup to fit.

c) No, I also felt that the pre-drilled holes would have meant the bridge would neither be straight or central. This worried me a lot. All I can assume is that the bridge the holes were intended for has some sort of odd hole placement! I too used the centre line of the veneer to align my bridge (and this did seem to be central to the body)

d)With the supplied pickguard I felt that the gap between it and the bridge plate was neat and even. However, I wanted a white pickguard so I bought an aftermaket one. My new pickguard is very similar to the supplied one but the contours are slightly different and it doesn't trace the line of the body so well. Look for pictures of a Fender Thinline '68 for guidance

Note: if you are planning on staining the body, don't fill the unused pre-drilled bridge holes. I thought I was being clever, but the surface glue has prevented the stain from taking. It will all be covered by the bridge, but I'm disappointed with the look of the body without the bridge attached:(

I hope that helps

OK all done then! :-)https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...9de5b0af95.jpg

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Looks good! How's it play?

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Originally Posted by Royami

Looks good! How's it play?

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That's the best bit in that it plays really well with a really straight neck. I've been able to get it intoned correctly and I can set the action lower than I actually like. The only problem is the finish on the neck which is a bit "grippy", but I'm not Steve Vai so no biggie.

My biggest disappointment is the overall finish. I guess I was impatient and got too much in areas and then tried to sand it back and in the process messed up the staining. You can't see from the photo but the finish is quite uneven and dull in places.

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The only problem is the finish on the neck which is a bit "grippy"...

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I looked quickly but didn't see any mention of what you used for finish on the neck.
There are a couple of things to consider, one, it may not be completely gassed off and may become less grippy over time.

If the problem is due to a gloss finish, you "satin-ise" or "de-gloss" it. I prefer synthetic sanding pads for doing this, but fine grade sand paper works too.

Edit:
Also, despite the imperfections you've mentioned, it looks good in the photo!
And if it plays well/sounds good, that's the most important part.

Carnauba wax polish is recommended by a Fender Custom Shop chap for making shiny necks un-grippy. 2 applications should do it.