Jon's 3rd build: DTL-1

[Simon Barden]

Or trouser belt.

[Ricky]

If I were to fix that, I would do it another way.
Gluing and clamping may hold for a short while but the joint would remain with a 'parting' force at the glue line. It will fail.

I would cut a slot across the split on the end-grain and insert a biscuit (sometimes called a 'Dutchman'). A normal dutchman is rebated into the surface but inset to the end-grain would be less obvious and stronger. Then fill the existing split with epoxy mixed with sand-dust.

Just search google for 'woodwork dutchman'.

Cheers
Ricky

[ozzbike]

From personal experience with timber mate and similar styled products. The use of these items with too much water can and has caused joined wood to swell and split. Joined timber does not really do well with lots of water.

The consistency of the timber filler you want is like thick custard, slightly thicker than a thick shake.

Just be careful with water around holes as well....it can cause swelling and if there are veneers and or laminates at play they can even lift off.

Honestly, I did this once in the past.....leave the body to dry for about a week. I wedged a sanded down end of a guitar pick into the crack....used a toothpick to apply some good quality glue....like Tite Bond.....original or 2...not the exterior one as it is waterproof and will not allow you to clean up.

Then I used ratchet straps wrap around the body to pull it tight. I put waxed paper, grease proof paper, over the seam of the glue. Then put some small piles of business cards under the metal pieces of the straps to stop any marks.

I used three straps all wound around the body....I have also seen strips cut from bicycle tyre tubes....stretched and tied or pegged to secure them.

I left mine for about 2 days like this.

Just got up and checked it....and you can see the change in grain between the two pieces of wood....but no crack. That guitar was re-joined 5 years ago.

I wish you luck....you will be fine....short of having to split the body and re-glueing it.

[jonwhitear]

PBG have replaced the body without question - their customer service really is good.

I feel a bit silly now - more recent posts suggest that the split was probably fixable. I think what I'll do with that body is to finish it to the point that it's sealed (i.e. a coat or so of TruOil) and then put it aside. I haven't decided whether I'll try to remove the filler I used and to glue it. If it's still OK in a few months, I probably won't be able to resist making a guitar out of it, in which case I'll go back to PBG with my tail between my legs and pay them for the replacement, and try to scrounge up the rest of the parts for a guitar from somewhere! I don't really need two TLs, but hey.

In the meantime, I have the new body. The plan is to still do a transparent blue nitro finish, so I'll go through the process of timbermate and sanding. The new body has a little damage to the lower horn that doesn't look like a dent, so I don't think it'll come out with the steam iron, though I haven't tried that yet. Any ideas how to address this other than filling it? (I'm not going to rush into that so quickly this time.) It's also got a couple of cracks on the edge that look like they've been covered in glue.



Unfortunately the neck bolt holes don't line up with the holes I have already drilled in the neck. I could try plugging and re-drilling the holes in the body to see if I can get them to line up with the neck, but I can't think of a way to do that reliably. The alternative would be to plug the holes in the neck and just re-drill them. I'd welcome any recommendations!

[McCreed]

If I were doing that build, I would just sand out that ding in the horn. I would also have a go at sanding those cracks in the end grain as well. The don't look that deep and it would be good to at least make sure that all the glue (or filler???) is gone from there.

With the horn, I know it will alter the traditional tele shape a bit, but I personally prefer making the edges & horns more rounded than standard strats & teles anyway, but that's just me...

[Simon Barden]

What McCreed said.

Plug the holes in the neck itself and re-drill those.

[McCreed]

And, what Simon said about plugging the neck...

I meant to comment on that in the previous post but Mrs. McCreed called me for dinner!!!

[jonwhitear]

If I were doing that build, I would just sand out that ding in the horn.

Thanks McCreed - I don't know why I didn't think of that ;-)

[jonwhitear]

Plug the holes in the neck itself and re-drill those.

I needed to make a "handle" to hold the body while I paint it, so I figured I'd use that as template to transfer the neck bolt hole positions from the old body to the new one, and if that didn't work, I could just plug and re-drill.

So I fitted the "handle" to old body, put marks on it using the neck bolts through the holes, drilled them out, fitted the handle to new body, used the holes and bolts to make marks on the new body, and then drilled them out.



That seems to have worked OK. Before I mark out where the bridge goes, I'd be grateful for confirmation that my neck placement is OK. The neck is a very snug fit in the pocket, though the treble side of the pocket isn't a straight route, so there's a bit of a gap. Also, the neck itself slightly overhangs the body on the bass side.



Does this look OK, or should I try to reshape the pocket? I should have noticed this before I drilled the bolt holes, but that's hindsight for you.

Cheers, Jon.

[Fretworn]

Most important thing is the string alignment between nut and bridge.

Is the neck finished yet? If it isn’t finished you may find that once it is finished it will be too tight, so you may need to tidy up the bass side of the pocket. The neck slightly overhanging the body on the treble side shouldn’t affect playability, it is just a minor aesthetic issue.