Fretworn’s GTH-1

This build is a combination of doing my bit for the economy, a birthday present to myself, rewarding myself for getting to the end of another semester of study and having something to do in lockdown now I’m finished study for the year.

Still working out the details, but now I’ve got it in my possession I can start to work out what I’m going to do. It’s got black hardware, because Adam’s waiting to be resupplied, and with the black pick guard and some black Toneriders, I’m leaning towards a traditional “blackguard” yellow for the body. But I might change my mind still.

My son got a GHQ-1 kits as well, so well be building together. If he doesn’t want to do his own build diary, I’ll put on up for his build too.

That one screams potential, nice score Fretty!

Wet Saturday afternoon. Perfect time to get started on the woodwork....

Nice. Is it a normal tele style bridge on these?

Given your start point a triple black color scheme seems a no brainer :D .

A hardtail Strat style bridge on these.

A got a little bit done this afternoon. Scale length was pretty much spot on with this kit. Neck connection, bridge positioning sorted and I had to bore out the string ferrule holes to suit the one that I bought for it.

That's some lovely grain in that body, would look great in yellow dye I've done a couple of yellow Tele's and Strat's the yellow rit dye works really well on them and it's easy to do would be nice with that grain


Here one with yellow RIT dye with lacquer clear over it
https://i.imgur.com/FJj2uFk.jpg

Been a while on this, a combination of forgetting to post progress, general busyness and less hours of sunlight to use......

Headstock is shaped and I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to sand the machine marks from the end grain. Eventually discovered the end grain was at 45 degrees to the top, I’ve only had end grain perpendicular or parallel with the top. Some of you will probably look at the photo and go “der” of course it’s 45 degrees, but I was taking for granted that it was perpendicular. Once you find the direction of the grain it becomes a lot easier.....

Love that endgrain fretty.

Yes you need to sand it "with a vigorous circular motion hitherto unknown to the people of this area, but destined to take the place of the mudshark in your mythology, here it goes now, the circular motion: rub It!"

:confused:

Slow going, but it is winter and was a cold and wet July in Sydney. Especially on weekends. The neck has a fair few coats of Tru-oil on it now and is progressing well. I’ve had to sand back and restrain the end grain because the popping just left them looking “muddy” once the stain went on.

Been ever so slowly working on this. Slowly building up top coats a bit at a time.

The neck is now finished. Body still needs some more top coats. As the Tru-Oil has added a golden hue to the original yellow stain colour.

Looking good. Has the end grain stayed clear?

Nice Fretworn.
What did you grain-fill with for the contrast?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by McCreed

Nice Fretworn.
What did you grain-fill with for the contrast?

---

Ebony timbermate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Looking good. Has the end grain stayed clear?

---

Yeah. It’s ok. It’s going to be nw of those guitars where I notice the small flaws. As long as it ends up being a player I’ll be happy.

Slowly inching towards completion. Need to do some troubleshooting on the wiring, before I finish putting it together. The neck circuit is fine. The bridge circuit has a bad joint somewhere so I’m getting intermittent results.

Can’t wait to play it. The neck feels great in the hand, it it will be fun to experiment with the sounds the LP style wiring and the series/split/parallel switches provide.

What did you use for shielding there?

Does that Marshall go to 11????

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by McCreed

What did you use for shielding there?

Does that Marshall go to 11????

---

Aluminium shielding tape from Jaycar. Bunnings doesn’t seem to sell the snail tape anymore....
The Marshall MS2 has been one of my best purchases. It doesn’t sound great, but it is perfect for practicing at home or as a bench top amp for testing guitar builds. It can live on my bookshelf and I don;t have to go down to the garage to get my full sized amp.

It’s together and working. Set up and intonation need to be done still. String trees need to be installed and I need to decide if I replace the knobs as they sit a bit high.

Looks great. How many coats of Tru Oil did you finish up with?

Quote:

---

...I need to decide if I replace the knobs as they sit a bit high.

---

Can you add a washer (or extra nut) to each pot on the backside of the pickguard to close the distance?

Unless you really just dislike those knobs, another alternative is shortening the shafts.
They're just aluminium, so a bit of filing with a coarse file will bring them down pretty quickly. Or a cut-off wheel on a dremel is even quicker. Just mark how far you want to go with a bit of tape around the shaft.

Quote:

---

It doesn’t sound great, but it is perfect for practicing at home or as a bench top amp for testing guitar builds.

---

I have a Vox Mini 3 that lives under the bench just for that purpose too.

Well done Fretty, she looks really nice. Love the highlighted grain.

Some knobs are just made badly, with not enough depth to the shaft grip (this is dangerous double entendre territory). But some knobs do slide all the way down and sit quite happily on the same pot. Unfortunately these are always almost anonymous items, so you just have to go by the store that sells the good ones and stick with them. Even then, the quality can vary and some knobs still won't sit happily, even after being checked for the right spline count. To get things going, you can drill out the bottom of the hole in the knob by a couple of mm, then squeeze the split part together slightly and the knob should then push on happily and sit further down.

One thing I found useful if the pots are a bit loose and rattle (especially noticeable on a hollow body) is slipping an 8mm O-ring over the shaft. I've done this on a couple of guitars and the knobs no longer move at the slightest accidental touch and no more rattle!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by McCreed

Looks great. How many coats of Tru Oil did you finish up with?

---

About 10-12. I gave up counting. First half full strength, then 50:50 with gum turps. I don’t do as many as some guys do, but I’m never after a full gloss finish cause they show up every greasy fingerprint.....

It is my heaviest guitar. It is almost as heavy as my bass which I had to buy an oversized, padded strap for because it was giving me shoulder aches.

I’ve decided that ST knobs are the right ones for it. They will sit lower than the knobs provided. I’m struggling to find any at the moment. Everyone locally seems to be out of metric black ST style knobs, so it might be unfinished for a little while longer. I lowered the action a bit more today and I’m really happy with how it is playing.

Finally finished. Very happy.

Now that is a nice Tele.....well done. :)