My first build: DTL-1

[gpjt]

For everyone who's been so kindly supporting me over this build, some good news!



All of the strings are perfectly centred over the slugs -- the bass E looks a bit off in the photo, but that's just parallax.

For the amusement of those more able than I am, and the possible education of fellow newbies, here's what I did to get it all straight this time.

Following Simon's advice earlier on, I had kept the centre hole and only dowelled the side ones. So, I screwed the bridge in place with that hole and lined it up with the line I had drawn along the nut side of the bridge when I did this previously and messed up:



You notice that the line is a couple of mils away from the bridge? I drew the line along the edge of the bridge last time around, so it should have been flush. I was puzzled about that for a moment, and then realised that the reason I messed up last time wasn't because of my crappy drilling. Well, not *only* because of my crappy drilling.

Last time, when I put the bridge in place in order to work out where the side holes should go, I used the centre screw, just like this time. But I'd left it a bit loose so that it was easier to pivot the bridge from side to side to get it just right. What I'd forgotten was that the hole for the screw is bevelled so that the screw head can be flush when it's fully done up. Which means that when the screw isn't reasonably tight, the bridge as a whole can move about 2mm forward or backward. When I put the bass and top E strings in place to check that it was straight, even the minimal tension on them was enough to move the bridge forward that 2mm -- which meant that both of the marks I'd made to drill were 2mm forward of where they should have been. No wonder it didn't work!

(That said, the hole I drilled on the bass side last time around was more like 3mm forward and 1mm off laterally, so there was drilling incompetence involved as well as incompetence in marking where to drill. But even if I'd been drilling in the marked places, it could never have worked.)

So, I tightened the screw as much as I could while leaving a little play so that I could pivot it to set it straight, put the bass and top Es on again, and started the drilling again. This time, it was all manual tools. Firstly, I marked the centres as well as I could with the 0.5mm drill bit, then put that bit in my new £7 pin vice...



The vice showed its discount nature when I tried to use it with the 1mm bit, though, and kept slipping. No matter, on to my other new toy:



It was pretty pricey for a hand drill, at just short of £28, but worth every penny. Really solid, no play in it -- it just works perfectly. Very very happy with it. Amazon UK link for anyone who's interested (though in the light of the problems I've been having so far, perhaps I'm not the best person to be giving tool recommendations).

So anyway, I used that to work my way up in half mil increments doing each hole alternately until one of the holes was 3mm diameter, then put the screw into that one, and finished the other and put the screw in that one too. And it all worked perfectly.

As I was a bit concerned that, with all of the dowelling and drilling and redowelling and whatever, the bridge might not be very strongly attached, I decided to string the guitar up fully with the baling wire that came with the kit, and get it in tune so that it was at full tension. If the whole thing was going to fly off I'd rather it happened before I spent time finishing everything. I did so (as per the photo at the top) and left it for three days. The only issue was that the top string parted ways with its ball end (ouch) when it was somewhere around a C, so the nice Ernie Ball one was brought into service.

Not a creak for three days, and when I dismantled everything today, all looked well:

[gpjt]

So, lesson learned. Doing the drilling really slowly and carefully took me about an hour. But doing it badly the first time around took about two minutes of drilling in the wrong place times two attempts, plus about three hours of dowelling things up to fix the mess.

I think that the electric drill makes me kind of trigger-happy and too keen to get it all done quickly. With the manual tools I'm forced to take my time and get it right. And TBH I enjoyed it more too.

Nothing to do with the tools, of course -- I know that other people use electric drills without problems, and there's nothing wrong with my drill, a decent-enough Bosch. But for me, the electric is banished to the DIY toolbox for the duration of this build. In time I'll probably get the patience or skill to use it properly for stuff that doesn't involve plaster dust and rawlplugs.

[McCreed]

Glad you got it sorted, and everything looks nicely aligned there now.

I have a hand drill that I use all the time in builds and repairs. I consider it an essential tool for anyone, regardless of experience or skill level. There are heaps of times when it is just the best tool for the job.

A little tip for when you're gradually stepping up your drill hole size (and this applies whether a hand or electric drill IMO) is with each step up in bit size, set the new size bit in the existing hole and slowly turn the drill in reverse a few rotations. (with only light downward pressure on your drill)
This helps the tip of the bit "seat" into the existing hole and centre itself. Then proceed with your clockwise drilling direction.

[gpjt]

That sounds like a useful trick, thanks! There were a couple of the step-ups when I found myself off-centre, but some gentle sideways pressure on the drill for the next one addressed it each time. It's good to know how to avoid having to do that in the future.

[gpjt]

Gosh, two weeks off sick and this thread got pushed to the third page! Glad to see everyone's using lockdown time so productively :-)

In between bouts of feeling sorry for myself, I've managed to sand down the neck and body, then fill the old tuner screw holes with Osmo maple/birch filler (the one that auditioned best):



Next, time to put on some finish. Three coats so far, Wudtone's Honey for the body, and their Aged Vintage Yellow for the neck:



(Sorry again about those tiles...)

The filled holes are still visible, but it looks like each coat hides them a bit more; here's a photo from after the first coat:



I'm leaving 48 hours between each coat, so it may be a while before I'm done here... Will probably stop the colour coats after the next ones, as it's reaching the kind of shade I want (so there will be plenty left over), but the clear top coat I think will need to be done with as many thin coats as I can manage.

[gpjt]

The next thing to consider is how to put some kind of branding on the headstock. First I need to come up with a name (the other half has forbidden "Covidcaster") and then decide how to get it on there. One tempting option is to just stamp it in there with punches like these, then put some ink in there, perhaps a bit of superglue on top to seal, and then whack on the top clear coat after that. Might give it a rough look appropriate for these vaguely apocalyptic times...

[gpjt]

Hmm. Muddy Waters played a Telecaster. "Rollin' Stone" is a great song. "Stonecaster"?

[McCreed]

First, glad to hear you're feeling better and hope it was just a "normal" flu not the dreaded Covid.

Second, you absolutely must keeping apologising for those tiles!!! I mean, like every time they appear in a post!

Third... looking good! Nice colour. The old tuner holes don't look bad at all and once you get the new tuners on there nearly no one (but you) will even notice.

As for your letter stamping idea, I'm unfamiliar with the Wudtone products, is it a sealer/topcoat or just a stain/dye sort of thing? I ask because if it is polymerised to set hard, I think the stamping would be problematic now.

Coming along nicely though. I'm disappointed that SWMBO vetoed the Covidcaster, however, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that someone else is doing it somewhere!

[gpjt]

First, glad to hear you're feeling better and hope it was just a "normal" flu not the dreaded Covid.

Second, you absolutely must keeping apologising for those tiles!!! I mean, like every time they appear in a post!

Thanks! Y'know, the illness might have been an allergic reaction to the tiles (for the repeated appearance of which you have my most pathetic, abject and grovelling apologies... )

Third... looking good! Nice colour. The old tuner holes don't look bad at all and once you get the new tuners on there nearly no one (but you) will even notice.

Yup, I think you're right there. For the next build I'll have to remember to ask to have them not drilled, though.

As for your letter stamping idea, I'm unfamiliar with the Wudtone products, is it a sealer/topcoat or just a stain/dye sort of thing? I ask because if it is polymerised to set hard, I think the stamping would be problematic now.

Hmm, good point. It's an oil-based dye coat, then a clear coat on top, both of them wipe-on and self-levelling -- so not just a stain/dye. Are you thinking that it might shatter or craze or something similar if I used the stamps? As the coat is wipe-on, perhaps that wouldn't be the end of the world, I could always sand back the front of the headstock and then re-coat -- though of course that would add on another week or two at two days per coat...

Coming along nicely though. I'm disappointed that SWMBO vetoed the Covidcaster, however, I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that someone else is doing it somewhere!

I hope so! Getting kind of keen on Stonecaster, though.

[McCreed]

Are you thinking that it might shatter or craze or something similar if I used the stamps?

Yes, that was my thought. Depending on it's hardness, I'd be concerned about it chipping. However, as you pointed out, sanding & re-coating is doable if it did happen.