I bought the cheapest kit I could find on eBay - let's see if this was a good idea

[ThatCluelessGerman]

So, hi experienced guitar builder folks

Let me first say that I have already ordered a PitBull kit in April, but as it is on backorder, I expect it to turn up here in Mid June at the earliest. So I thought, why not get some other kit right now and practice a little, so I don't screw up on the "real" kit?

So I picked a burl top telecaster kit from "Muslady". I must admit that I never really lusted for a telecaster, but as I wanted to start quickly, the choice of readily available kits in my country is scarce. I eyed the Les Paul kits quite badly, but in these crazy times I just felt I can't drop 300€ on a pretty Les Paul kit with no building experience.

Also, I'm not a fan of fretboards with trapeze inlays (that reduces the choice of kit dramatically ;-) ), and I thought the gold hardware that came with the telecaster is something different. So, for 100€ incl. shipping, I took the risk and ordered the kit.

There is not too much info regarding the Muslady telecaster on the interwebz, but I found a YT video from a guy that built it and he criticized that the burl veneer had quite a few holes, which is also very visible in the product photo.

So my plan is to fill these missing bits with copper powder & clear epoxy. I'm not sure this will work out as intended, and also I need to wait until my kit arrives to judge if it even makes sense, but that is the plan.
The guitar comes with a white pickguard which I hope to be able to copper leaf and then age with vinegar and salt.

I also got a bunch of wood stains and wood filler. I'm not really sure what I want to do with this guitar in regards to staining, I hoped to leave the top alone (just do the copper fills) and then grain fill the back and neck (?) and then just use tru oil as a finish.

Not sure if this all will work out, but I have already found loads of great information here so I'll stick around.

I'll update when the kit arrives. I ordered it tuesday evening, the tracking says it should be here tomorrow. Excited!

Kind regards,

the clueless & inexperienced German

[king casey]

Not sure if this all will work out, but I have already found loads of great information here so I'll stick around.

G'day ThatcluelessGerman. Sounds like a good plan.
I had the good fortune to find a couple of Pawn shop casualties to do the same.

cheers, CluelessMark.

[Joe Garfield]

Gutentag, Heir German!

I did a similar thing: ordered a custom kit and a cheaper in-stock kit to get some experience. That one is stuck in shipping delays und still ich haben es nicht so now I’m even considering another kit from USA to hold me over :/

I think the Burly wood with the holes and copper will look awesome! It seems to go along well with the Tele style body.

Keep us posted! Und Willkommen!

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Much to my surprise, the parcel dude just dropped a few parcels, including the guitar!

First, her royal highness had to inspect the goods.



Passed the pug inspection, so unpacking.



The box had little to no packaging. I was a bit shocked first but everything turned out completely fine!



The body looks pretty nice actually. You can see the veneer is missing in a few spots, three of them are bigger. However, the veneer is really paper thin, so I am not sure what is the best way to fill the holes?
Would epoxy with copper powder be too runny, should I mix wood filler with the copper powder? Would that even look good? Otherwise, I have seen no glue spots, no dings and - omg, no holes! Drilling all the holes myself freaks me out a little right now.



The neck looks quite good. It fits well into the hole, with a little wiggle room to the sides.
The frets are a bit rough, I don't know if they had already some work done or not. I will have to find out later ;-)



This is how it sits with the pick guard. I think it's ok?

To be honest, with no experience so far, I think the build quality is surprisingly good. The wood looks really nice, I expected a lot of dings and scratches. But so far, I can't complain! But alas, I'm a person that buys IKEA furniture, so, I probably don't have a feel for quality wood yet

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Here is the hardware. I don't know much about pickups and stuff. I think the gold looks funky and the switch and knobs work fine without any wiggle room. The back plate has some corrosion, which I like, because I wanted to go for a little vintage/rough look anyway on the hardware.

I also like that it comes with the nut unglued! I think I'll replace it anyway and so I don't have to scrape it out, yay!



Here is the other stuff I have so far. A lot of dyes (because I don't know what colour I want on my other builds ), steel wool, true oil, copper leaf (daaamn is that stuff thin!) and such. I also have some sandpaper coming in the mail.
I'm a bit embarrassed because I ordered *everything* online, but currently, it's not easy to get all this in the shops due to the corona thing. Entry to the hardware store is strictly regulated and I don't want to queue forever just to find out they're out of stock for everything I want, so... I hope this will normalize soon.

Still waiting for the epoxy, copper powder and wood filler.

Now.... what is the best place to start?

My first questions are: How can I best check the body for glue stains? Wiping with a damp cloth or wiping with alcohol?
And, what is the best way on maple to make the grain on the back and sides "pop"? Should I fill with dark wood filler or should I stain dark and sand back?



Edit: Just quickly sketched out my idea for the headstock. I know, it's not a typical telecaster shape, but to be honest: I don't like them. They just look weird to me. So this is a compromise between the shape I like better (like my Ibanez), but a bit rounder, like a telecaster.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

So far, I decided to copper plate the backside of the pickguard for practice and it needs to be copper taped anyway, right?

I think it's looking pretty cool. I like the rougher / burnished look and I'm going to age the front side after leafing anyway.
I did two layers of leafing, not sure if it needs more or if that is ok.





Now about the front... The veneer has open grain in a few places and I'm not sure what the best way to go is here.
I want the front finish to be kind of smooth, so I think I need to fill in these places, right? Would it look nice to use a darker shade of filler or should I use light filler here? Also, should I apply the copper fills in the burl holes first or the wood filler in the grain?

[ThatCluelessGerman]

OK, last step for today: I finally got the wood filler and started to fill in some of the super tiny grain holes and scratches. Sanded down with 400 grid and then re-applied where needed. The big holes are going to be filled with the copper, but I doubt it would look good with the pinholes, so...

I hope sanding it with 400 grid is okay. The paper thin veneer scares me.



Now quickly need to tiny everything up before my other half returns from work....

[jugglindan]

I like the headstock design. I have never been a fan of the tele headstock either.

Sorry I can't answer any of your other questions. I have no experience with any of those things.

Sent from my moto g(7) using Tapatalk

[king casey]

If it were me, I'd be putting the guitar together.
Putting the neck on and setting the bridge position etc.
Getting a guitar into a good playing shape first and not having to worry about ruining my finish.
Having all the construction problems out of the way saves tears later.

cheers, Mark.

[impala59]

If it were me, I'd be putting the guitar together.
Putting the neck on and setting the bridge position etc.
Getting a guitar into a good playing shape first and not having to worry about ruining my finish.
Having all the construction problems out of the way saves tears later.

cheers, Mark.

+ 1 for the above, get a rough set up with the kit strings (they can be sacrificed for decent strings later) Let the instrument settle then when you are happy just unscrew everything and put on your finish with confidence in the build once finished