Jon's 3rd build: DTL-1

[McCreed]

Yes I think so. There may be traces left on the edges, but you’d have to look pretty hard to find them.

Good result! Look forward to seeing it all together.

[jonwhitear]

Here are a couple of photos of where I'm up to. I wet sanded 1200 -> 1500 -> 2000, and then polished with Meguires.



I'm happy with the finish. It's not smooth by any means, but I quite like the grain texture coming through.

The pickup routes needed a bit of dremelition to get both the bridge and pick guard in the right spots. Next job is to drill the screw holes for the pick guard, and then trim the edges around the neck route so the neck fits. I'm planning on taping the 'guard in place and using a pin vice to drill the holes - any hints/tricks on how to make sure they're centred? As far as trimming the guard, I'm thinking of fixing it in place, using a piece of aluminium drink can to protect the wall of the neck route, and using the dremel with a sanding 'drum' attachment to run along the edge, hopefully without melting it.

[McCreed]

The pickup routes needed a bit of dremelition...

Great word!!! I like it!
And that body looks great too.

I'm planning on taping the 'guard in place and using a pin vice to drill the holes - any hints/tricks on how to make sure they're centred?

Pin vise should be fine, but I don't know if tape will keep it stable enough. I'd fit a couple of the screws to hold it, then move on to the neck pocket contour, then go back and finish the screw holes. That's not SOP, just the way my brain works! I do small screw holes (like p/g, truss rod cover etc) with my old school "egg beater" hand drill.

re: centring - Just a good eyeball and an awl or prick punch is all you really need. If you want to be pedantic, an appropriately sized transfer punch will do it perfectly. Not everybody has a transfer punch set*, but I happen to, and use them for a number tasks. (they're absolutely great for marking neck holes in the heel from the body)

*NOTE: Brad Point Bits are just as handy for this too!

As far as trimming the guard, I'm thinking of fixing it in place, using a piece of aluminium drink can to protect the wall of the neck route, and using the dremel with a sanding 'drum' attachment to run along the edge, hopefully without melting it.

Personally I wouldn't go with a dremel. Even at minimum rpm's it can melt ABS/PVC etc and sanding drums are typically too coarse. I do all my p/g mods or alterations by hand. It really doesn't take any longer and I have much more control of how much material I'm taking off and where. Things can go sideways very quickly with a power tool (even just a dremel).

For just shaping the neck pocket contour, a round file, flat file and a stanley knife blade (as a scraper) will get you where you need to go. Scraping is often the best alternative for working with ABS/PVC. I even do my bevels this way.

[XP Rider]

Wow, Jon, that is one flashy guitar body!! Kinda puts my metallic blue in the shade, but we will see how both turn out in the end.

[Trevor Davies]

Love the grain and the blue colour. Looking good.

[jonwhitear]

Thanks guys.

re: centring - Just a good eyeball and an awl or prick punch is all you really need. If you want to be pedantic, an appropriately sized transfer punch will do it perfectly. Not everybody has a transfer punch set*, but I happen to, and use them for a number tasks. (they're absolutely great for marking neck holes in the heel from the body)

I went with the punch and pin vice, and that worked fine, thanks.

Personally I wouldn't go with a dremel. Even at minimum rpm's it can melt ABS/PVC etc and sanding drums are typically too coarse. I do all my p/g mods or alterations by hand. It really doesn't take any longer and I have much more control of how much material I'm taking off and where. Things can go sideways very quickly with a power tool (even just a dremel).

For just shaping the neck pocket contour, a round file, flat file and a stanley knife blade (as a scraper) will get you where you need to go. Scraping is often the best alternative for working with ABS/PVC. I even do my bevels this way.

Good advice. I used a stanley knife blade, and just scraped away the excess. Took a while, but delivered a good result.

[FrankenWashie]

That’s really nice Jon, love the colour!

[McCreed]

I went with the punch and pin vice, and that worked fine, thanks.

Just curious, do you have transfer punches, or did you just use a standard centre punch?

Good advice. I used a stanley knife blade, and just scraped away the excess. Took a while, but delivered a good result.

That's great. Depending on how material I need to remove, I'll tackle the bulk of it with the files, then use the blade/scraper to finish it off and get nice clean lines. A fresh, sharp blade is best so you get "chatter".

[jonwhitear]

Just curious, do you have transfer punches, or did you just use a standard centre punch?

Centre punch and a steady hand ;-)

That's great. Depending on how material I need to remove, I'll tackle the bulk of it with the files, then use the blade/scraper to finish it off and get nice clean lines. A fresh, sharp blade is best so you get "chatter".

I didn't have much to trim off. I did get a bit of chatter with my old blade, but it's still a pretty good result.

[jonwhitear]

Here are a few photos of the finished guitar. I've also put some in the March GOTM thread. It plays really nicely - after an initial setup it has a good low action and I love these Tonerider pickups. I'll let it settle for a while and then fine tune it. Being a solid piece of ash, it's also really quite heavy, though most of the time it's on my knee, so that doesn't matter so much.

I had a bit of a nightmare with the headstock logo - the first attempt was all going well until I sanded through the Tru-oil and through the logo, so had to start again. The logo is a reverse printed waterslide decal, coloured in with blue ink. The bone nut is slightly narrower than the slot, so I've shimmed it with a couple of pieces of veneer for the time being.





I've also adjusted the ferrule holes slightly with the dremel and more veneer shims to get the ferrules to line up nicely, following a post elsewhere by McCreed.

I upgraded the switch to a 4-way Oak Grigsby, wired as neck - parallel - serial - bridge, and they really are four quite different sounds. The parallel sound is something else - presumably typical telecaster middle position sound that I'm just not used to. The bridge pickup is rather bright, and does benefit from rolling the tone off a little. I am amazed at how different this guitar sounds to my '80s Fender strat.

Overall I'm really happy with how this has turned out, especially given that this is my third build, and my first with a sprayed finish. The nitro was surprisingly forgiving, although rather expensive - my lack of experience meant a fair amount of lacquer ended up as overspray, rather than on the guitar.

Now.... what's next? ;-)