Gorath's first build - TLA-1

Hey all

This is overdue because I got my kit and started my build around the beginning of Feb.

The catalyst for this has been that I had a Tele for a fair few years that was a Partscaster, entirely put together out of parts but it was a magic guitar, the go-to guitar when all else failed, and I used it on countless gigs, EP and album recordings and loved it.

Sadly it went a little while ago due to financial pressures.

I've covered off early parts of this build in my welcome thread:

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...ead.php?t=7126

Bunch of Instagram links there that may not work, as I've just made my profile/account private. I've had to do this due to some VRO related nastiness going on in the last few weeks.

I have tried to upload photos here in the past but haven't figured out how to make them smaller size/data yet.

Here's basically how my build has gone in a few points:

1) Get kit. It's like Christmas day.

2) Spend three or four days sanding. Now I don't order the sanding paper from the website, I use stuff I get from Bunnings, but pretty much the same sizes/gradients/whatever it's called.

3) Pretty happy with the sanding, it's really brought out the grain. Apply first coat of Stain. Haven't done this before, go really gung-ho with the front/top of the guitar, barely leave anything for the back. Dingotone "Coolangatta Gold" selected for the body.

4) Sand the neck, then use Accacia to stain neck. Now I don't really read/follow instructions and I use the stain on the whole neck, even the fretboard which I'm later told most people tape up and don't stain/touch. Looks good anyway, has that vintage yellow look.

5) Do another Stain coat on body, happy with colour/look

6) Apply intensifying coat. After this has cured, I add another intensifying coat, possibly a bit drunk, apply too much and really cake it on.

7) Get bored, put guitar together as a whole. Good exercise because I can see what it will look like and it looks great.

8) disassemble guitar, sand back really thick intensifying coat.

9) Patch up Stain coat - stain bits that are looking pale/colourless as a result of the sanding.

10) Apply intensifying coat again

I just have the following questions/need the following help:

1) In the instructions it says after you've finished your finishing coats on the guitar, wait two weeks for the body to cure, then buff and polish. I'm not handy, or useful, or knowledgeable, can I please have instructions/what I need to buff and polish state?

2) Waxing the neck. I've ordered the Dingo-tone wax, at present the neck looks great but feels unfinished, how do I wax? How much to use and how long to let dry/cure?

I think that's all I have at the moment, thanks all

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gorath

1) In the instructions it says after you've finished your finishing coats on the guitar, wait two weeks for the body to cure, then buff and polish. I'm not handy, or useful, or knowledgeable, can I please have instructions/what I need to buff and polish state?

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Before anyone answers, can you let us know what sort of finish you are after - full gloss shiny, or smooth satin. Personally I've tended to use DBs buff it with copier paper method and this has worked fine for me, but if you want the full gloss finish you will probably need some form of buffer and polish.

Fretworn, I reckon I'd be after the full gloss, I'd like it to look nice and shiny.

What's DB's buff with copier paper method?

Also if anyone can help me as to what to do with the neck?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gorath

Fretworn, I reckon I'd be after the full gloss, I'd like it to look nice and shiny.

What's DB's buff with copier paper method?

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Dingobass sometimes polishes the guitar with copier paper as it functions like ultra fine sandpaper. You won't get the high gloss finish this way though.

Thanks for the advice Fretworn.

Finally some photos:

Attachment 18530

I learnt not to hang the body like this.

Attachment 18531

I had helpers too:

Attachment 18532

Attachment 18533

So I still haven't finished the guitar, but about a week ago I got impatient and wanted to put it all together to have a look, before taking it apart again and continuing with the body and neck:

Attachment 18539

Attachment 18540

I think some might object to my rather crude headstock design and "decal". I guess I'd argue "it's punk rock"?

Attachment 18541

Nice Tele Gorath. I'm probably late to the game on this one but my ST-1 was buffed using photocopier paper method (on Wudtone)

http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...?t=2206&page=2

Sent from Lineage OS 14.1

G'day mate, presume you may also be known as Gareth?

With most finishes things need to be fairly smooth before moving on to the final polish stage and if using DT curing time needs to be taken into consideration as it can tend to take a bit longer than most folks realise. That said, once you have done your intensifiers and then clear top coats you may need to do some very light wet sanding with 1500 or 2000 wet & dry sand paper before using micro mesh pads where you can buy a 'guitar pack' from the Sandpaper Man in Oz via online ordering.

Once you have done all the wet sanding with micro mesh pads is when you can make a start with using Meguiars Ultimate Compound Polish that can be found at most auto accessory stores or on eBay - http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/like/131161573104?chn=ps

Time and patience following these steps will bring a showroom shine if that is what you are chasing.

Cheers, Waz

Edit: Love DT CG as a colour and it looks great on your Ash Tele with the black contrasting bits.

Thank you Waz, (yeah it's Gareth) that is great advice and really gives me some direction. I've just as of this evening put my first finishing coat on the body. Happy to let it cure for ages before the final sanding and polishing.

Really appreciate your help as well Andrew.

My next thing is the neck. I've done my stain coat and then finishing coat on it. When I did it, I stained and finished the fretboard as well, as I hadn't read the bit about people taping this up and not doing these things to it. I've got some Dingotone wax now (presumably to use on the fretboard). What should I do now with the neck?

Here's what it looks like, and no sweat if I have to take the tuning pegs, string trees etc out again:

Attachment 18640

Attachment 18641

Attachment 18642

Attachment 18643

P.S. hope you enjoy my Hawaiian theme board shorts.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gorath

P.S. hope you enjoy my Hawaiian theme board shorts.

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Don't all guitarists wear cargo shorts with a Hawaiian theme ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gorath

Thank you Waz, (yeah it's Gareth) that is great advice and really gives me some direction. I've just as of this evening put my first finishing coat on the body. Happy to let it cure for ages before the final sanding and polishing.

Really appreciate your help as well Andrew.

My next thing is the neck. I've done my stain coat and then finishing coat on it. When I did it, I stained and finished the fretboard as well, as I hadn't read the bit about people taping this up and not doing these things to it. I've got some Dingotone wax now (presumably to use on the fretboard). What should I do now with the neck?

Here's what it looks like, and no sweat if I have to take the tuning pegs, string trees etc out again:

Attachment 18640

Attachment 18641

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Hey Gorath,

Sorry I have't got to reply on this for a while. I don't get a lot of time to post these days.

I would take the DT off the fretboard using a Stanley knife blade, then smooth out with some 1200 grit, then Dingo wax the fretboard. To Dingowax, I dig out a little bit and ply it in my fingers till it gets a bit soft and warm, then apply to a rag, then apply thinly to the fret board, then rub excess off with a rag and buff to shine.

Good luck

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Hey Gorath,

Sorry I have't got to reply on this for a while. I don't get a lot of time to post these days.

I would take the DT off the fretboard using a Stanley knife blade, then smooth out with some 1200 grit, then Dingo wax the fretboard. To Dingowax, I dig out a little bit and ply it in my fingers till it gets a bit soft and warm, then apply to a rag, then apply thinly to the fret board, then rub excess off with a rag and buff to shine.

Good luck

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Thanks Andy, I'll give that a go on the fretboard.

What should I do with the rest of the neck? Polish/buff?

welcome and cool Tele. Yep, polish and buff the rest, looks good.
The DT wont hurt the fret board, it's just that it will show wear as you play it. Maple necked fenders have their lacquered, so no big deal

And Wolfgang's come with bare maple on their fret boards thus requiring lots of lemon oil every string change.

Everyone one will have a differing opinion on how to finish a maple board and entirely up to what you prefer. From those shots it was hard to tell if there is any shine yet? Same polishing method for the body to be done on the neck and on my J Bass where I finished the maple board, also used micro mesh and car polish to bring up the shine on all surfaces. Just need to be a bit more delicate on the fret board and not too aggressive with the frets either.

I'd do the rest of the neck like Waz.

Thanks guys. Have some more questions regarding my progress on this Tele if I may:

1) I remember reading somewhere that after you've applied your final coats of Dingotone and are finished with you, you need to let the body cure for a good two weeks or so before waxing/polishing/buffing. I applied my last final coat about four or five days ago and it seems pretty dry. Is the two week thing right? I just can't find where I read it.

2) As the body seems quite dry, I'm going to put the copper shielding in the cavities. Do I glue the copper shielding to the sides of the cavities to hold it in place?

The copper tape should come with a conductive adhesive backing, so it just sticks to the wood on its own. You'll need to overlap it to ensure electrical continuity. If you've got the copper tape with a non-conducting adhesive, then you'll have to add a blob of solder at each joint. But if so, it really is easier to just order a roll of the conductive-backed tape. Apart from having to take the strings and most of the bridge and scratchplate off again, you can do the shielding at any time. It should take around an hour to do (I know because I did it to a Tele of mine yesterday).

The control plate cover is grounded, so you just need to let some of the copper overlap the edges of the control cavity at the two ends (not the sides, as there's not much of an overlap there, and you don't want it to show) to connect the foil to ground. Likewise, the bridge plate should be grounded, so run some of the copper in the bridge pickup rout over the back end of the rout so that it will make contact with the underside of the bridge plate.

The neck pickup rout is the only area where you'll need to run a ground wire to the back of a pot in the control cavity and solder it to the copper in the neck rout. Alternatively, if there's no visible gap between the control plate and the pickguard, you could simply continue with a strip of copper tape running from the control cavity shielding across to the neck pickup rout. You can then also tape all across the underside of the pickguard to act as a large ground plane, which will all help absorb RFI noise.

And any final finish benefits from waiting as long as you can before polishing, so you will get a better result by waiting another week.

Thanks Simon. I did do the shielding today and found my question about the copper being redundant as it had the adhesive back. Used all of it on the guitar cavities:

Attachment 18724

Guitar

You may need to cut some of that shielding back a little bit as it may stick out the sides of the cover plates. But you can easily trim it with a sharp knife or razor blade. The top and bottom of the bridge pup rout for instance, as there's often a small gap there anyway. But it will be obvious once you put the bridge and control cover on.

DB would tell you that just because a finish feels dry doesn't mean it is deeper down. That is why he recommends at least two weeks, more if you don't have optimal drying conditions. Dingotone doesn't have added chemical drying agents as these are fairly toxic, so it's best not to rush.

Yeah I think I'll trim it back with a razor.