Had the kit for about 2 weeks now, as I'm building a work bench in the garage for the job. Today, I start sanding!
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Had the kit for about 2 weeks now, as I'm building a work bench in the garage for the job. Today, I start sanding!
Sanding the bench ?? ( sorry someone had to :D )
Purpose built Guitar Bench? NOICE!
Hi Ian welcome to the forum. Can we please see pics of the workbench and progress on the tele build ?
YEAH!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
BENCH SHOTS!
i'm building a garage at the moment.
the moment it has a roof on it I'm going to build a bench
isnt this just the BEST!
I fear we may need to start a bench thread.Quote:
Originally Posted by OliSam
Haha, a man has the ability to adapt no matter the danger... i.e. kitchen table as a work bench! I rest my case...Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
Ha...you're right....I meant the Tele though.Quote:
Originally Posted by dave.king1
Pics of the bench coming up:o....but first....
I understand the meaning of sand, sand, and then sand some more, but when do I know it's time to move on?
When my partner thought I was doing shift-work down at Baker's Delight.Quote:
Originally Posted by ianrodness
cheers, Mark.
enjoy the build - and we need pics!
okay...pics of the bench....Attachment 20675 and Tele Attachment 20676
Keep in mind, I'm no carpenter. This is a pretty simple bench. I do plan on installing a vice somehow to hold the neck and body while I work. The drawers were re-purposed from an old kitchen cabinet, and I already had the peg board. I've installed 2 new outlets on either side of the bench, and the work light above.
So my question is, how do I know when I've finished sanding? I do have a small amount of experience with wood, and the surface feels uniform, and quite smooth to the touch. I've given a couple of passes with an orbital sander with 120 grit, 3 passes with 220, and hand sanded with 400. Then went back to 220 because the edges of the top and back felt a bit rougher than the rest. Tonight, I'll give it another pass of 220 with the orbital, and then hand sand with the 400 again.
Any advice would be really helpful, and I'm pretty stoked to continue.
Thanks guys!!
Ah Sanding.
If you are already at 220, i'd hold fire and wipe down with some Gum turpentine as this will highlight any wonky bits (Spindle sander marks, glue globs etc).
I tend to sand manually (masochistic tendencies) using a length of timber that is flat, as wide or slightly wider than the body, with self stick paper adhered to it. For flat faced bodies like TL, ST, and SV style guitars even though it can feel uniform and flat, you might find once colour or finish goes on, it ain't as flat as you first thought. Better to iron that out before filling or colour goes on.
once you gone over the whole body and you are satisfied that all your glue marks, sanding scrapes and other greeblies are sorted, move up the grades stopping once you've reached the finish level appropriate to what you're going to do e.g.:
- Stains, stop at 220 or 240 grit else you may have issues getting good colour penetration.
- Paint, after filling stop at about 600 grit and start your primer/undercoating.
Please note, that this is just what I do, based on having read through a lot of other threads, and having taken advice from others who have executed some fantastic finishes. (i'm looking at you @Phrozin, @WazKelly, @WOkkaboy, @Dedman, @ZeroMick, @Andy40, @FredA & Others). I encourage you to pull up and read through as many threads as you can, as there is a plethora of advice out there in the builds, tips, techniques and tricks that folk won't remember but can really help.
Hope this has assisted. Cheers,
EDIT: Oh and that is a fantastic workspace. Nice Job!
HA! If i started a kit on our kitchen bench, the Bride of FrankenWashie would impale me on the kit neck..Quote:
Originally Posted by nitroburner1000
fantastic advice. Thanks for the offering. I'll start reading now. Does gum turpentine = mineral spirits?
Hi Ian, nice workbench setup looks great. Gum turpentine is different to mineral or methylated spirits. Gum turps is much safer to use than standard mineral turps. Grab a bottle from most hardwares, photo below.
With sanding as Franky said depends if you plan to stain or paint the body ? I find orbital sanders leave marks on the body so I use an orbital sander to 240 grit and hand sand with 240 and 320 grit with a sanding block.
As Franky says everyone has a different method that works for them. You have the right idea, run your fingers over the body after a wipe of gum turps and you should feel any areas that need more sanding. Ususally the end grain on the bottom of the body and cutways top of the body need the most amount of sanding to remove the machine marks. Always sand with the grain. Going from 220 grit to 400 grit is too bigger jump. You should be using closer grits when sanding to finer grades. Best of luck !
http://www.recochem.com.au/files/pro...ne-155x325.jpg
As Wokka has shown, that is the stuff. It pongs a bit, but it is not as pervasive an chemical type smell as mineral turpentine. Usual precautions though, well ventilated area, no ignition sources, use disposable nitrile gloves and wear a half mask respirator (Particularly if you have breathing or respiratory issues or are susceptible to such).
ON another safety note, while the Basswood is not so bad, i would also still wear a P2 dust mask while sanding it, especially with mechanical sanders. The Big Green shed does 10 packs at a good price. I tend now to wear a dust mask even when sawing these days.
good advice Franky. I like the smell of gum turps. It's not as good as the smell of Dingotone though haha
This is great advice - thanks for the heads up!! I'll be sure to post my progress.
I should clarify as you are in Ontario, "The Big Green shed" is Bunnings, an Australian Big Box hardware chain. Your equivalent is probably Home Hardware or Lowes I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by ianrodness
Post updates and questions and one or more of the Forumites will post some helpful advice. It's a fantastic little community here; everyone wants to see people pull off a speccy build or realise their dream guitar and they are all more than happy to help out. I think we've a fair few members in your neck of the woods these days as well.
Good advice Frankie with the longer piece of timber used as a sanding block on a dead flat deck. I just use a trusty small cork sanding block but your idea has merit if covering vast distances.
Haha @ frankie, And just to put my 2 cents worth in, or dimes worth, i use an orbital to remove large blemishes and machine marks, then work up the grades to your desired finish. An awesome painters trick is to shine a strong light at a very low angle across the surface you are sanding. It will show up every tiny blemish, even orbital sander swirl marks.. Fantastic for when final finish is high gloss.
Attachment 20722oh man....I think I've just discovered that my bridge P/U doesn't fit into the cavity. what do I do?
Sadly this seems to be an issue with all the TL kits, I had to route the cavity about 6mm forward on the Tuff Dog and on the previous one with a 3 saddle bridge I was able to get away with longer saddle screws to get them further forwardQuote:
Originally Posted by ianrodness
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...l=1#post134425
Hey Ian,
just to clarify:
Does the pickup itself not fit its routed cavity,
or,
when installed in the bridge plate, the pickup wont sit in its routed cavity?
I know there were issues in some of the TL kits with the cavity sitting too far back in relation to the through holes.
if it is just a case of the PUP not quite fitting into the PUP rout, then a little work with a Dremel and a small sanding cylinder bit should allow you to correct this.
If it is the second case, it may need to have some remedial routing work done, if you have the capability and equipment.
Best bet is to document in photos and the guys who have done a number of TL builds may be able to advise.
EDIT: What Dave.King said!
just uploaded a photo...maybe that will answer your question?
Yep, looks like a little sander work, or some careful routing work to adjust that cavity. Is that a vintage Pickup? Looks cool!Quote:
Originally Posted by ianrodness
Looking at the photo close up, you may just want to try wrapping some 40 or 60 grit paper around a large dowel (16, 20 or 25mm) and just tickling the corners out a fraction and that may be enough to get it in (the photo seems to show it overlapping one side by a fraction).
if its more than a couple of mm out then it may be router time.
If you've some sharp round ended woodworking gouges, they may do the trick in the absence of a router, if not then the safest, but slowest method would be using low number sand paper and adjusting each side of the cavity gradually to get a good fit. once you get your corners sorted out then you can use the same paper on a flat small block to even out the straight sides for a neat fit.
Before you get to that though I'd be tempted just to do a mock up, with PUP in the bridge plate and your neck clamped in place to see if there are any issues similar to Dave King's description. probably best you find these out now if they exist. Hope that helps
okay Dave, I've put the bridge up against the plate, and after viewing your post,Attachment 20723 I think I know what you mean. I'm now thoroughly terrified.....here's mine.
The 2 mounting screws at the bottom won't even hit wood at this point.
Whoops. That will be a slight adjustment via a router per Dave's original reply.Quote:
Originally Posted by ianrodness
Do you have access to a router? even a small palm router would be enough for the job if you did it in stages.
I do luckily have a router. Having to route the body of a guitar in my first build - holy shit!!!! But how do I now secure the bridge to the body?? there's no wood underneath 2 of the screw holes?
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
We'll get you through it mate, it could be worse. I elected to strip the fretboard and reshape the neck tenon of my first build, having not done any form of wood work since highschool.Quote:
Originally Posted by ianrodness
The good part about it, is you can make up a template in 6mm or 9mm MDF based on your existing routed cavity. You then adjust that template, to suit the actual pickup, and then you can rout both the required adjustments at the same time.
What you will need to get though is a router bit with a guide bearing above the cutter head. Probably a 1/2" or 3/8" one would give you a nice fit to the curves of the cavity.
EDIT: The screws should locate into threads on the PUP to give you height adjustment relative to the strings I would assume? Or am i wrong in saying that for the TL Kits? TL Veterans, Assemble! Your wisdom required!
Have you checked your scale length? Before you start modifying/routing the cavity it's best to clamp the neck in place and check your scale measurements, then you can be certain where the bridge needs to sit and adjust if/as needed.
Yes...realized this morning that this was the case....whew.Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankenWashie
As a rough guide, the bridge plate normally sits about 2-3mm back from the edge of the pickguard. It doesn't butt right up to it (look at pictures of Fender Teles for guidance), though the control plate does sit right against the pickguard in its semi-circular cut-out.
The bridge plate only has the four mounting screws at the rear of the plate; the three around the cut-out are just pick-up mounting holes, so there shouldn't be any wood underneath them.
But you may need to enlarge the pickup rout a bit. Even Fender routs can be on the small side if you fit an aftermarket pickup with a slightly larger footprint. As people have said, a Dremel type tool with a drum-sanding bit if handy here and will save using a router. Just mark with pencil where the front edge of the bridge plate is, so that you don't enlarge beyond the front edge and leave a visible gap.
thanks for the input Simon - much appreciated! This is the mock up - I'm kind digging this colour too. More sanding, then I'll start the route.Attachment 20763
As Weirdy said the scale length is most important bit to get right. Once that has been established you will know if the Bridge PUP rout needs work.
so here's the route doneAttachment 20799 - not as difficult as I imagined. P/U's are fitting nicely now. As far as scale length.....I've measured from the nut to 12th fret = 12 11/16 inches, so measured the same from the 12th to the saddle - lots of play in the saddles, so just wanted to make sure I'm on the right track. I know the scale length of a tele is 25.5, and 2 x 12 11/16 is a bit longer, but this should be fine, right?
Should be good Ian.
FWIW I normally set the bridge position with the high E saddle about 80% fully extended and on a F type guitar the saddles move further back from there so the E6 is around 6mm closer to the back than the E1 so you have plenty to work with
A Dave, said the top E saddle will be the one furthest forward, so if you set the top E saddle to around 80% (or say with 5mm of thread still showing), and measure from the top E nut slot (board side) to the top E saddle with double the nut to 12th fret distance, you should be fine for position and saddle adjustment. It's then just a question of getting the middle of the bridge on the neck centre line.
so I did this last night.Attachment 21341
Should I worry about it?