Tele build dreams

I haven't bought a kit yet, but I want sure where else to put my ideas for my build.

As I'll probably be time poor for at least the next few years, I'm considering a build with natural or brownish tones for sealer, filler and finish. I love flexibility of true oil and I'm willing to put more time in for that... It's messing around with colours and dyes that I know will take me forever. I'm fickle with that sort of thing so I think it's best to avoid thing down the colour maze too much.

I found a natural tele pic and I'm thinking of going something like this.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/DQPRd

Im thinking a a medium brown or walnut coloured filler with a tru oil French Polish. An amber tint from the oil didn't worry me. What about sealer though? Will shellac do the job?


I'll be using GTL-1 kit, upgrading the tuners as Ill need to get them straight away for the great price. I'll upgrade everything else over time as the mood strikes me.

It'll be a first build so not having to worry about dye will hopefully make it a bit easier.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks guys!

Derek.

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Originally Posted by Derek82

I haven't bought a kit yet, but I want sure where else to put my ideas for my build.

As I'll probably be time poor for at least the next few years, I'm considering a build with natural or brownish tones for sealer, filler and finish. I love flexibility of true oil and I'm willing to put more time in for that... It's messing around with colours and dyes that I know will take me forever. I'm fickle with that sort of thing so I think it's best to avoid thing down the colour maze too much.

I found a natural tele pic and I'm thinking of going something like this.

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/DQPRd

Im thinking a a medium brown or walnut coloured filler with a tru oil French Polish. An amber tint from the oil didn't worry me. What about sealer though? Will shellac do the job?


I'll be using GTL-1 kit, upgrading the tuners as Ill need to get them straight away for the great price. I'll upgrade everything else over time as the mood strikes me.

It'll be a first build so not having to worry about dye will hopefully make it a bit easier.

Am I on the right track?

Thanks guys!

Derek.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

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I forgot to say I'll be getting a maple fretboard kit as the jury is still out on blackwood.

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Yep - all sounding good. You may not need to seal the wood - you can use Tru Oil directly onto the wood - I did a bass a couple of years ago in Tru Oil and its not showing any adverse effects of not being sealed.

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Originally Posted by Brendan

Yep - all sounding good. You may not need to seal the wood - you can use Tru Oil directly onto the wood - I did a bass a couple of years ago in Tru Oil and its not showing any adverse effects of not being sealed.

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Oh cool. Should it still be ok with the ash body? I was thinking sand, seal, sand, grain fill, sand, tru oil.

Hopefully I wouldn't loose much grain filler?

Thanks Brendan!

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Originally Posted by Derek82

Oh cool. Should it still be ok with the ash body? I was thinking sand, seal, sand, grain fill, sand, tru oil.

Hopefully I wouldn't loose much grain filler?

Thanks Brendan!

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I’ve finished a mandolin in that way, though I sanded, grain filled, sanded, then sealed (with shellac), then I think from memory I started laying down coats of Tru Oil at that point because it was about as flat as it needed to be. It came up really well. You can also use the TO itself as both a grain filler (up to a point - you still really need grain filler of some kind) and as a sealer by laying down half a dozen pretty thick coats and then when they’re really hard and dry, wet sanding with more TO and 400 grit sandpaper (and then repeat this process a few times until the grain is all filled). It’s the method I’ve used on both my LP 1S kit and my MPL Megacaster. It works well, and you’d be surprised how well it fills the grain. It’s just a slow way to work if you are using it to grain fill as you spend half your life waiting for oil to dry

I used Tru-Oil's own sealer on my custom ES-1 kit. Saved having to use a lot of Tru-Oil coats just as a sealer.

Hi..your ideas sound great and always nice highlighting the grain with deptth and warmth. :) (guitar in pic you shared looks good) You can use shellac as a sealer post the grain fill and sand: ie sand, grain filled, sand, then seal (with shellac). I was tinkering today with tint and shellac (10% stain) and it gives a nice finish. Not sure how are you with time but trying techniques on samples of wood can help..just a thought :)

Thanks guys. Is it ok to seal before you grain fill? Will that make much of a difference to the end result between sealing before or after using a grain filler?

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If you want to stain, then you really need to grain fill, then stain, then seal. The sealer needs to come last because it will stop the wood taking up any stain.

If you are painting, then it's still more common to grain fill before sealing, but it's not mandatory; e.g. the Gibson 'TV yellow' finishes were grain filled with a mahogany shaded filler after a thin sealer and a coat of white was applied (and then sprayed with a yellowish 'clear' coat).

Thanks Simon, I'll keep that in mind. I don't think I'll do any staining . The more I see these recent natural telecasters, the more I like them.

Another thing about sealer and tru oil vs only using tru oil, across various places on the Internet, some people have said using oil as the clear coat and the sealer will make the grain pop more? Has anyone experienced this?

I need to say thanks again to everyone for the information shared. It's like one question answered only raises two more questions. I think this'll take a while. Haha.

I plan to cut some off the body for comfort contours. At least a belly cut any way, that might give me some small scrap to work with. I feel a bit odd about taking anything off the face for an arm contour though. Not sure how I'll go with that. I'm guessing I'll need a small green shed worth of scrap for all the mistakes I expect I'll make.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I used Tru-Oil's own sealer on my custom ES-1 kit. Saved having to use a lot of Tru-Oil coats just as a sealer.

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This is also a very good idea. I haven’t used it, but if it works and it saves time then it’s totally worth it

It goes on like Tru-Oil, but has a nastier solvent in it, so best used outside. You'll only need the smallest 3oz container. I probably should have used two coats as whilst everything seemed smooth, there has been some sinkage of the Tru-Oil.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

It goes on like Tru-Oil, but has a nastier solvent in it, so best used outside. You'll only need the smallest 3oz container. I probably should have used two coats as whilst everything seemed smooth, there has been some sinkage of the Tru-Oil.

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Good to know, thanks Simon. Might buy some next pay

Ok so I'm thinking... Walnut or brazillian cherry coloured timbermate to fill the grain, then to seal either a shellac or birchwood casey sealer (whichever will tint the wood less). I don't mind tint, I'd just like to minimise it if possible, then a tru oil French Polish with a rub of 0000 steel wool every coat or every second coat.

To keep it consistent I'm going to use the tru oil on the neck as well but aim for a satin finish. I'll use the same sealer on the maple neck and fb if necessary. I'll have to do more reading on this. Steel wool will probably be my friend to do satin on this I think?

I left out the sanding bits because I'm lazy.

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I can recommend Micro Mesh pads for the polishing stage. They get very smooth and don't leave metal fibers in the finish.

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Originally Posted by ILRGuitars

I can recommend Micro Mesh pads for the polishing stage. They get very smooth and don't leave metal fibers in the finish.

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Oh yes! I remember hearing about using those somewhere on YouTube. Great idea! Thanks!

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