Project #4, Cork Sniffer

While project #3 (resonator) is hanging and curing it's time to get a start on my wife's 12 string Tele.
She Who Must Be Obeyed said, "Strat style cut away on the back, clear natural finish on the front and white to compliment the black binding on neck, back & sides.
It's been suggested that spalted guitars can suffer from moisture, to seal it properly I should use poly rather than Tru-Oil. Any comment on that suggestion appreciated. Also what do most do with maple fingerboards, poly over and polish off the frets later?

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My Oh My, that is lovely. Wonderful spalt pattern, and it will work well visually around the standard Tele bridge too. Nice score, that's sure to keep SWMBO happy!

On the neck: Yes, over everything except the nut, then scrape the finish off afterwards (probably best done a day after the last coat so it's not too hard). I've seen the head of a large flat head nail used, with a round cut-out in the head that's fret shaped, made witha round needle file. Though if you leave any fret levelling until after the finish is on, then you'll can get rid of it then as the levelling and fret profiling files will take it off, but it might add a bit more work to that task if it's dried hard by then, so best to ret and remove when the finish is quite soft. Probably best to use a sharp blade the cut into the finish at the base of each fret at a 45° angle first, to avoid taking any fretboard finish with it.

I think Tru-Oil should be fine when it's fully cured, provided there's a thick enough coat on, but I had instances when wet sanding it that water was creeping in in some places, causing the wood to swell and the finish to crack/bulge slightly. So either wait at least a couple of weeks, ideally longer, before wet sanding to minimise any risk, or use poly to be safe.

Wow I'm impressed that the Boss knows exactly what she wants!
I used a sharp scalpel blade to score around the frets gently and scrape the clear off of them, a little fine steel wool to remove the rest of the clearcoat, followed by a polish with Mothers alloy polish to bring up a shine 😊

Nice looking kit. As others have said the clear cleans up pretty easily from the frets. I’ll be interested to see how it goes.

Nice spalted top. Wondering what plans you have for neck pickup and whether a scratch plate will be used?

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F/Washie, Simon, Andy, Sonic & Waz,
Thanks for the positive comments and the advice regarding fret cleanup. You collectively have affirmed what I had in mind.
Our son has suggested a Jazzmaster pickup in the neck and we're strongly thinking it could happen. I must have a closer look at my J/M to see if one will fill the hole and work WITHOUT a scratch plate.
About 6 weeks ago when Aust Post delivered I took this to get the vibe (yes I know the switch plate is A about face, her call how it will end up).

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She has made some great choices...and obviously so have you! Wish my wife would ask me to build a guitar.

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

She has made some great choices...and obviously so have you! Wish my wife would ask me to build a guitar.

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Funny how interests / hobbies can take hold. When I took up with Mrs Cork Sniffer back in 1969 she was 16 and could knock out popular tunes of the day on her acoustic, I listened but hobby wise did other things. Move forward to about 1992, our son took guitar up and as kids do he became proficient quickly. It wasn't until 3 or 4 years ago that THIS old man decided to join the (guitar) family. Old men take for ever to gain the most modest playing skills :-(
Photo, her favourite guitar 1980 620/12 taken the day my boy got his 2017.

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The problem with Jazzmaster pickups in your situation is the four mounting lugs that stick out of the rectangular body. Your neck rout is very close to the end of the neck, and you may not get away with squeezing two semi-circular routs for them without leaving a central bit of wood sticking up without any support from the sides. You'd need around a 5mm depth (measuring off a handy spare Jazzmaster pickup cover), with the centres 40mm apart, so you'd need to do some careful measuring. However, the routing doesn't need to be that deep, as the JM pickups are a lot shallower than a humbucker and you won't need to rout (or Dremel drum sand) all the way to the bottom of the existing cavity. In fact you may benefit from filling in the cavity a bit.

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Originally Posted by cork sniffer

Funny how interests / hobbies can take hold. When I took up with Mrs Cork Sniffer back in 1969 she was 16 and could knock out popular tunes of the day on her acoustic, I listened but hobby wise did other things. Move forward to about 1992, our son took guitar up and as kids do he became proficient quickly. It wasn't until 3 or 4 years ago that THIS old man decided to join the (guitar) family. Old men take for ever to gain the most modest playing skills :-(
Photo, her favourite guitar 1980 620/12 taken the day my boy got his 2017.

Attachment 26787

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Oh my, those sneaky 12 headstocks, the 620/12 is the only Rick I’ve ever wanted. Much envy..

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

the 620/12 is the only Rick I’ve ever wanted. Much envy..

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If you ever get one get a newer one with the slots cut all of the way through the headstock. Changing strings on my wife's 1980 is hard and takes WAY TOO long :-(

Gorgeous looking Ric's and good tip about buying a later version.

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The factory butchered the neck pickup rout. I'd check that the provided bridge is going to allow you to set up the strings evenly. My 12 string ST has similar bridge pieces and I'm at the point of converting it back to a 6 string and keeping the neck to use on another guitar build with an aftermarket 12 string bridge of a different style.

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

The factory butchered the neck pickup rout. I'd check that the provided bridge is going to allow you to set up the strings evenly. My 12 string ST has similar bridge pieces and I'm at the point of converting it back to a 6 string and keeping the neck to use on another guitar build with an aftermarket 12 string bridge of a different style.

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Thanks for your comment.
Is this what you are referring to?
Holes in body lined up with holes in bridge (red X's) leaved strings offset on the neck.

Attachment 26803

If so it looks like an easy fix. Plug the body holes and move bridge south then re drill.
Yes??? Hopefully :-) or not :-(

Attachment 26804

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Originally Posted by cork sniffer

If you ever get one get a newer one with the slots cut all of the way through the headstock. Changing strings on my wife's 1980 is hard and takes WAY TOO long :-(

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Good to know, at this stage we won't be buying one for a wee while...

Yeah that should work - I messed up mine on the first pass, but it was easy enough to plug and re-drill. Annoying for you as its come form the factory like that. Are you going with a scratch plate on this? I'd also check that fit and how the bridge sits in it before re-drilling.

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Yeah that should work - I messed up mine on the first pass, but it was easy enough to plug and re-drill. Annoying for you as its come form the factory like that. Are you going with a scratch plate on this? I'd also check that fit and how the bridge sits in it before re-drilling.

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I've developed a habit now, over the previous 3 builds to get it PLAYING first. Then surface finish. Then fiddle with it to make it feel and sound just right. The plan is if I can get a neck pickup fitting in a tidy way then no scratch plate. Later today I'll investigate possibilities of a Jazzmaster pickup.

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Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Yeah that should work - I messed up mine on the first pass, but it was easy enough to plug and re-drill. Annoying for you as its come form the factory like that. Are you going with a scratch plate on this? I'd also check that fit and how the bridge sits in it before re-drilling.

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What do you mean by "how the bridge sits in"?

I think Sonic means how well the bridge then lines up with the cut-out in a standard Tele scratchplate, as the position of the scratchplate is determined by the neck, which it fits around closely, whilst the bridge should be 2-3mm away from the edge of the bridge cut-out but centrally located within it.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

I think Sonic means how well the bridge then lines up with the cut-out in a standard Tele scratchplate, as the position of the scratchplate is determined by the neck, which it fits around closely, whilst the bridge should be 2-3mm away from the edge of the bridge cut-out but centrally located within it.

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I see. Given my hope not to cover the spalted face with a scratch plate I hadn't considered that problem...
Just checked, bad fit when bridge moved south. If a scratch plate becomes necessary I'll have to buy a blank and make from scratch (pun intended). Thanks for clearing that up, as said earlier I'm reasonably new to most of this stuff and appreciate the free flow of information.

Onto page three and still only looking at it ;-)
That's good really, clear up the bugs BEFORE I take my 14lb hammer to it.
How about if I put on free beer and a few of you come on over, I'll stand back and watch the experts ... no, no takers, oh well I tried.

Bit of a long drive for just a few beers and laughs......otherwise I might have been a likely starter.