Lyn #17 - Bret's Red Tele

Hey Guys, sorry for my overly long absence, I haven't been feeling much like doing anything of late and haven't even kept up with the Forums. Shame on me!

This is a kit that I bought over a year ago for a very good friend and I have only now started the build. Shame on me again!

This one is for Bret (my left handed mate) who has always been there for me during the tough times. I have already built him one guitar, but he has always wanted a red Tele with Pearloid scratch plate, but being a “lefty” his choices were always rather limited and there never seemed to be one available in the shops when he was looking and he always ended up walking out with either nothing or something different.

Seeing he's been such a good friend I thought I'd bling it up a bit with the following:

Grover Tuners (Thanks Adam for the great discount you offer on upgrades)
Gotoh Bridge, Jack plate, String Trees, Control Plate and Knobs
CTS left handed pots and lever.
Sprague Vitimin-Q Paper-in-Oil Cap
Bone Nut
TonerRider Pickups. (My favourite affordable pups)

Since I started making guitars a few years ago I have fallen in love with wood and have never painted any of my guitars, preferring instead the appeal and beauty of natural wood. So this will be my first attempt at painting. Wish me luck.

Step #1 – is always the dummy build.

It is also (for me at least) one of the most stressful jobs. This is where you make sure that everything fits right, and more importantly, making sure that the neck is square and the bridge is located correctly so that the scale length is right. Do all the measuring and drilling now and then forget about it and enjoy the fun parts of the build.

Once you have located the bridge correctly its time to drill the holes for the string-through bridge. As with all my builds I will not be using any power tools, only my trusty old hand tools.

So with the Bridge located exactly I use it as template to mark the string-through holes on the upper body.


Attachment 30325
The top of the guitar. I start with a fine Brad Point Bit for its accuracy and then drill a hole about half way through the body with a regular bit. The tricky part is to drill the 2 outer holes all the way through the body. Make sure the drill is as vertical as possible. This is where a hand drill is preferable to a power drill as a hand drill does not “get away” from you like a power drill. Ask me how I know??


Attachment 30326
A bit shabby, but this will be covered by the Bridge.


Attachment 30327
The back of the guitar. This is the important part. With the 2 outer holes already drilled through to the back, all you have to do now is space out the remaining 4 holes and drill them though until they meet up with the holes you previously drilled through the front. They don't have to line up perfectly with the holes from the front but as long as they are spaced out fairly evenly they should look OK.

Obviously the holes in the back are larger as they have to take the string ferrules, so I find a Brace and Bit is a better way to drill these holes.


Attachment 30328
Definitely not as accurate and pretty as a drill press, but you have to make do with the tools you’ve got. Seeing as this guitar is being painted the minor tear-outs can be fixed with a bit of putty before painting.

That's the tricky bits done.

Attachment 30329
The rest is pretty straight forward and before you know it the Dummy Build is complete with everything screwed in place, for now.

Stay tuned
rob

Good to see you back Robin, a bit of honest toil is an excellent dog tamer and well done your mate for being there.

As per many tuits on YouTube I use the bridge as the template for the string through holes, I the top holes as you have but only put outer holes right through as guide holes and then drop a couple of small pop rivets in which the bridge sits nice and snug on and the do the final through drilling of the other 4 holes

Love your work Rob. Good to see another on the way.

Mate, gotta love a telecaster build,m looking forward to this one.:cool:

@Dave
Thanks mate. Yeah, about time I kicked that damn mutt out of here. And you're right about good friends, sometimes they have no idea how much they help.

Good tip with the pop rivets, never even thought about positioning the bridge on the back of the guitar. I must like doing things the hard way. lol.

@G-Axe and Andy
Thanks for the encouragement guys. Gee its almost like coming home.

Nice to see you back Robin, your builds are always great viewing though they do make me feel like a lazy yuppie.

Welcome back robin, I do enjoy your diaries. You are the only other member here that I know of that has a nylon string build.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

Nice to see you back Robin, your builds are always great viewing though they do make me feel like a lazy yuppie.

---

Lol I agree. Great to see everything done with hand tools...while I'm busily working away at removing human error through automation and jigs.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sonic Mountain

Lol I agree. Great to see everything done with hand tools...while I'm busily working away at removing human error through automation and jigs.

---

I know right?! I’m trying to avoid impulse buying a bandsaw. 😳

Welcome back Robin.

Great to see you back on deck Robin! Looking forward to the build immensely.

@Frankie
Thanks mate, but nothing special with this build. Just a standard TL.

@Mark
Thanks Mark. Won't be much of a diary. I hope your Nylon String build goes ok. Hey we might even start a trend. lol.

@Sonic
It's not human error, it's embellishing it with character.

@Fretty and Brendan
Thanks guys, good to be back.

Next job is the headstock and neck.

Bret knows that I don’t usually do “F” style headstocks but he specifically asked for one, so I obliged.

Hopefully it is in keeping the vintage he was aiming at, but hey, its too late now.


Attachment 30369
Rough it out with my (t)rusty old coping saw

Attachment 30370
Then tart it up a bit and its done.

Then onto the fretboard.

Before working on the frets you have to make sure that the neck is straight. For this you’ll need a notched straight edge. You can buy one from a Luthier supply store for about $100 …….

OR…….

Go to the Big Green Shed and pick up their most expensive 1m spirit level (about $100), then take it to where they sell aluminium bars and use it to pick out a straight piece of 50 x 3mm x 1m Aluminium Flat Bar. Then return the $100 spirit level to its shelf and walk out with $15 worth of aluminium.


Attachment 30371

Attachment 30372
Carefully measure the frets and use a rat-tail file to notch them out, and for $15 you can make 2 double sided straight edges. (One side for your F's and t'other for your G's).

Using the straight edge and the truss rod adjustments you can now accurately straighten the neck.

Then onto the the frets.

rob

The Frets.

Attachment 30420
Once the neck is straight tape it up and highlight the crown of each fret with a felt marker pen

Attachment 30421
Then out with the radius sanding block

Attachment 30422
Start sanding away the black marker with long slow sweeps of the sanding block. In this shot I am only about halfway done. When finished I try and remove the ink from the crown of each fret, leaving a little of the marker down the sides.

Attachment 30423
Once you have leveled the frets you now have to re-crown them, so out with the fret file. I use a similar method with the felt pen but this time you are tying to leave the faintest of lines at the crown of the fret and remove the marker from the sides.

Attachment 30424
One last check with the Fret Rocker and its out with the 400, 600, 800 wet and dry and a final polish with 000 and then 0000 steel wool, and the frets should be finished.

This guitar is my first attempt at painting, and it has not been all clear sailing. But as all my build diaries are "warts and all" we will see how I go.

Finding the correct technique for spraying with rattle cans was more difficult than I thought.

If you hold the can too close you get runs, too far away and the paint tends to splatter, combine this with 30+ temps and high humidity (the directions on the can recommend not to paint in these conditions!!) and spray painting in the open in Brisbane can be a bit of a challenge.

My first 2 efforts were so bad I sanded them back to the primer, bought another can of paint, and started again. Third attempt was OK’ish so I sanded it back to a smooth flat finish before applying the clear coat.


Attachment 30451
That’s the best I could do. That’s 8 coats of paint, but I will be sanding a few of those away to prep for the clear coat.


Attachment 30452
A fair bit of orange peel going on here


Attachment 30453
But I was able to sand it back with 600 grit to get a smooth flat finish ready for the clear coats.


Attachment 30454
That’s 12 coats of clear, now just got to wait for it to cure.


Attachment 30455
I’m hoping that I can sand through enough coats of the clear to get rid of the orange peel. Time will tell

Looks good Robin. That is an acceptable amount of orange peel for a rattle can job and with 12 coats should cut back absolutely fine. Give it plenty of time to go hard before you cut it back. You've done well to avoid any clouding with that heat and humidity.

I would recommend taping on any edges when you start cutting back as these get knocked back the quickest and you can easily break through. If you tape them and then concentrate on the flat areas they will take care of themselves during the final buffing stages.

If you go to the same green shed you can get a Craftright stainless steel 600mm and 300mm rule for $4.98 and there is less walking involved. Just use a fine round file and you know it is straight, that's how I made mine.

@Sonic,
Thanks for the encouragement. Thanks also for the tip about taping the edges, I would never have thought of that. And cutting through the edges was a major concern.

When you say give it time to harden before cutting back, how long are we talking? Its been just over a week but I was thinking about 2 weeks? With my nose right up against it I can just smell the paint.

Thanks mate

@Dikkybee,
Good call on the straight edge, its a better solution than mine. But either way we both saved the best part of $100 by not buying a special Luthiers Tool, but we get the same results.

Cheers
rob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by robin

@Sonic,
Thanks for the encouragement. Thanks also for the tip about taping the edges, I would never have thought of that. And cutting through the edges was a major concern.

When you say give it time to harden before cutting back, how long are we talking? Its been just over a week but I was thinking about 2 weeks? With my nose right up against it I can just smell the paint.

Thanks mate

---

With the current weather I think 2 weeks should do it. You are on the right track, if you can't smell any solvent it should be fine. It's always a bit of a battle with patience for me, but the longer you can leave it the better. It can also help to put a fan on it to speed things up a bit. It's going to look great all buffed up.

Thanks again Sonic. Good to know I'm in the ballpark. These days I hang it on the clothes line, bit of sun, bit of breeze.

Patience, not my strong suit either. lol.

Thanks mate

Well its been a month and the clear coat is still not ready to be sanded back.

It has finished gassing off, but is still not passing the fingernail test. I'm beginning to fear that painting it when it was over 30 degrees and high humidity might not have been the smartest thing I've ever done. But I'm prepared to leave it a bit longer to see if it finally gets hard enough.

In the meantime I have Tru-Oiled the neck, fretboard and headstock and will sand that back to a high gloss when I do the body.

Attachment 31008
That's the headstock done for now.

Now its just a waiting game until I can work on the body.

cheers
rob

Hey guys its me again. Finally finished. As I have been struggling a bit lately and there has been no updates so this will be a bit of a data dump.

Well what a nightmare. I started this build 18 months ago but its finally finished. Luckily Bret was in no hurry and he left me alone.

Now where was I when I last updated this thread? That's right, waiting for the paint to go off. So I waited and waited and waited.......

I would periodically try pressing my finger nail into the paint and each time was depressed to see the tell-tale mark left in the paint. I began to wonder if the paint would ever cure. If Bret ever takes off the Scratch Plate he will wonder what the hell all those small indentations are. lol.

I ended up leaving it hanging under the house for six months. Apparently Gibson leave their guitars hanging for about 6 months after spraying, so I guess I'm in good company. By this stage I had lost interest in finishing the guitar, but some months later I gave it the usual test and there was no indentation, so I reluctantly decided to carry on.

I very carefully knocked back the finish with 1200, 1600 and 2000 grit paper and then used some micro mesh pads and then finish it off with Brasso.

Attachment 38046
Mmmm, Orange peel

Attachment 38047
After sanding back

Attachment 38048
Final finish, I'm happy with that.

Attachment 38049
My secret weapon, Brasso!

Attachment 38050
Cavity Shielding done.

Now to start assembly

Cheers
rob

Because I had applied so many coats of paint and clear finish the string through holes in the back of the guitar had been slightly filled in and the ferrules would not fit. I was reluctant to try and drill out the holes in case it chipped my VERY precious paint job. So I heated up my soldering iron put the ferrule over the bunged up hole, and pressed the ferrule gently into place. I could almost feel the paint melt as the ferrule gently slid into the hole. Thanks Mr Google!

Attachment 38051
Whew, dodged a bullet there

Attachment 38052
Ferrules all in place.


Next the wiring. I had bought a pre-assembled, pre-soldered kit so all I had to do was connect the pups and output jack. Easy huh? So you would think, but I still managed to screw it up. I was so convinced that I had got my stuff right I suspected faulty components and chased down that rabbit hole for far too long with resultant frustration. Troubleshooting 101 - check the easy things first.

Anyhoo finally got the wiring sorted so the rest of the assembly was pretty straight forward.

rob

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by robin

I ended up leaving it hanging under the house for six months. Apparently Gibson leave their guitars hanging for about 6 months after spraying, so I guess I'm in good company.

---

Wow. Looks great and no top clear coat? edit: Doh!! just read that you put clear coat on it.


Glad I read this as I was about to ditch my current paint plan due to non-drying issues.
So I'll empty a couple of cans and then leave it hanging in the garage for 6 months.

cheers, Mark.

Hey Mark, this is the first guitar that I have painted so i am pretty sure that I did something wrong during the process. I am sure that a 6 month curing period is not the norm.

But I have learnt a lot from this experience, and that is, I'M NEVER GOING TO PAINT A GUITAR AGAIN..............EVER!!

Hi Robin. I can understand that.
I've had a few paint jobs under my belt now but the black JM-1 just didn't seem to dry.
All previous paint has dried quite quickly.
Managed to score 4 cans of red from SuperCheap auto for a bargain and after first application the drying is not happening.
So I'll just leave it in the garage for 6 months and forget about it.

cheers, Mark.

So, here she is finished.

Because she has been built for a friend who helped me out in my darkest times, I wanted her to be something special. So she got all the good stuff.

Grover locking tuners
Gotoh Bridge
Gotoh Neck Plate, Control Plate, Knobs and Strap Buttons
CTS Pots and Switch
ToneRider Hot Classic pups
Bone Nut

By far the most blinged up guitar I have made. Could probably have bought a nice store bought guitar for the same price.

FRONT
Attachment 38053

Attachment 38054

BACK
Attachment 38055

Attachment 38056

HEADSTOCK
Attachment 38057

I set it up as best I could but being a lefty it just feels WRONG but apparently she is spot on. The best part is that Bret finally has the guitar he has always wanted. He has taken delivery of Lyn #17 and he is very happy with her. He has a high-end MIA Fender and a MusicMan to compare her with and he says that she plays every bit as good as either of them.

Gotta be happy with that.

Cheers
rob.

Looks fantastic!

Yes, looks wonderful.

The downside of lots of coats of colour or clear is that it does take a long time to dry hard (great title for a Bruce Willis movie ;) ) as the surface dries and prevents the costs underneath from drying out properly, let alone fully curing. It’s not helped by putting too thick a coat on each time. I know I haven’t got it right yet. I’ll probably start leaving longer between coats and do them thinner on future builds.

Gibson certainly don’t leave their guitars hanging for 6 months. Probably two weeks max. Otherwise you’d have half a year’s worth of guitar production hanging around, and no large company can afford to do that! But you are talking about 6-12 months for a nitro finish to fully cure to maximum hardness.

Quote:

---

I know I haven’t got it right yet. I’ll probably start leaving longer between coats and do them thinner on future builds.

---

Hopefully I don't cause cross-thread confusion here...

But I commented in another post last night on drying issues, and described what occurred with my last build (scroll to post #57) taking 7-8 weeks to harden.

In my post, I stated that I was unsure why it happened, but in hindsight, I think I should have allowed more flash time between coats. It's worth mentioning that despite the finish being "hard" now, there is still some gassing off taking place, as I can smell it if I put my nose close to the body.

I'm still enrolled in this Continued Education Program called life.

@McCreed

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by McCreed

I'm still enrolled in this Continued Education Program called life.

---

Yeah, I think I failed that class.

Thanks for your insight about flash time. I prob should have left it longer between coats. I followed the instructions but it was very hot and humid when I painted the guitar and I don't think I allowed for those extreme conditions. We live and learn.

@Colin
Thanks mate