First build: lefty TL-1L telecaster

[ElleBrooke]

fender3x: in the picture it's mounted to my cutting worktable. Inside where it's going to sit for the next week while I clear coat it, it's mounted to my 6ft stainless steel work table. Should be pretty stable... I hope...

colin2121: this is definitely an addictive hobby. I burned and painted a ukelele in practice for the telecaster, and I already want to do more. I have a third instrument coming in next month, so that's exciting! It's not a PBG, because they were closed for custom orders, but I wish it were, bc the community here is awesome!

vh2580: thank you so much! I really wanted to do a wing. My cutting skills are not yet up to it. And my son really liked the rounded headstock. I will probably burn a rose and vines on it though. Still working on the design. I've got some to sketch in between poly coats.

[fender3x]

...this is definitely an addictive hobby. I burned and painted a ukelele in practice for the telecaster, and I already want to do more. I have a third instrument coming in next month, so that's exciting! It's not a PBG, because they were closed for custom orders, but I wish it were, bc the community here is awesome!

So true on both counts. I am on build #5 or 6 (depending on how you count)...and just ordered a neck yesterday even though I don't have a body for it yet...but it was a great deal ;-)

The forum is great, and remains a terrific resource even if you are not building a PB kit. Only PB kits are eligible for the GOTM, but the members welcome other builds on this part of the forum:

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...splay.php?f=53

Lot's of folks seem to graduate to scratch builds (TD has a good thread going). Since my first, I have mostly built from parts, and often mismatched them. My current favorite bass has a PB custom ordered neck with a body made of paulownia (for lightness) and parts from all over the planet. Folks have been great about patiently answering all my questions no mater what the provenance of my builds has been.

[Trevor Davies]

I ended up building a rotisserie spit out of some lumber and pvc piping. I found a video tutorial online, and the guy did it in 20 min. It took me 2 days and several trips to the hardware store, BUT i now have the guitar mounted and ready for a bazillion layers of polyurethane. This is going to make things so much easier! Thanks again, Trevor Davies for that link to the spits.

Nice work.

[Trevor Davies]

" Originally Posted by ElleBrooke View Post
...this is definitely an addictive hobby."

+1 for being addictive. I thought scratch builds would slow me down a bit - but No!

[LexLuthier]

I had to show this thread off to the boss (wife). Seriously it's so cool.

[ElleBrooke]

Aw. Thank you!

I usually wood burn and paint much smaller things (boxes, ornaments, wall hangings), so this guitar has been a bit of a stretch of my skills. But, how else are you going to grow if you don't challenge yourself? I do have a lot more pictures and a couple short videos of it on my Instagram page. It's going to have to cure now, so I probably won't have a lot of updates until the headstock/neck is done, and I can polish the body. And then it will be Luc's turn, and you guys can talk to him about all technical stuff that, I am sure, he will have questions about.

[ElleBrooke]

Looking at necks....

It appears that (professional, on the market) necks that are painted/stained on the backside also have binding to separate the color from the fretboard. I was considering painting the back of the neck to match the body, then lightly staining the fretboard before sealing it all up, but there's not a nice delineation between the neck and fretboard. It's a maple neck and fretboard, so it needs to be sealed. But I'm not sure whether I should colorize the back and headstock, or just leave it natural and paint the headstock only? Today I'm going to wood burn the headstock. But then it's painting time (at least the face of the headstock). What are you guys' thoughts on painting vs natural?

[ElleBrooke]

I finished the wood burning and painting the headstock, took some pictures, and still can't decide whether to go natural with satin poly, or to paint the back metallic daek purple and stain the frets first... It would be simpler to just go straight to poly next, but the real question is which will look better? These pics aren't the greatest bc it's rainy so very little light today.

Headstock:



Front:



Back:



So what do you guys think? Natural, satin neck or paint it the dark metallic purple?

[fender3x]

I am not sure that I understand correctly. The parts that are raw wood will need a finish. That means the finderboard and back of the neck at the very least. Satin is good ;-) Depending on the paint some people don't use a clear coat over paint. most people here do, I think. I always put clear coat over paint, and none of my guitars have such intricate and beautiful artwork to protect. Guitars get manhandled, so I'd want something to protect the art if it were mine.

Hopefully McCreed will chime in, he knows a lot more than I do....if it were me, I'd test on a small piece of maple painted like the guitar/headstock. I'd use a couple of coats of platina shellac as a seal coat between the paint and clear coat. Sprayed if possible. If that works, I'd use a clear coat that doesn't yellow. Most solvent based clears go on yellow and get yellower over time. Water-based clear coats tend to go on clear and not to yellow very much over time, but they can react with white paint. If the shellac works as a sealer, great. If you don't like the way that looks on your test piece...I am not sure what to use as top coat on the painted parts...if anything.

[Trevor Davies]

IMO - I think natural with the satin finish for the back of the neck looks great. It goes well with the wings.

Something to consider - some necks have the truss rod nut access hole painted or coloured the same as the neck, or with a contrasting colour.