Project #4, Cork Sniffer

[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?

[FrankenWashie]

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!

[Simon Barden]

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.

[Andyxlh]

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 😊

[Sonic Mountain]

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.

[wazkelly]

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

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[cork sniffer]

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).

[DarkMark]

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

[cork sniffer]

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

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.

[Simon Barden]

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.