DTL-1 Ash body. First build

[Johnny Bravo]

I haven't used BLO, so can't really comment on how it compares to TO. I'd say a reasonable number of coats is as many as you want to do - if you're just wanting to seal the wood, rather than aiming for a high gloss, you can probably get away with ~5.

cheers, JW

[Johnny Bravo]

Well, this has been a labour of love and I'll admit, I've struggled to find the motivation to finish this project (and keep this blog up to date for the one or two of you who might read it).

Trying to finish the neck and have come up against a problem using the boiled linseed oil (good grief, if only I knew then what I know now I wouldn't have bothered).

I won't lie - the feeling of the oiled neck is quite nice and I've not had any suggestion of the "tackiness" that people worry about. I imagine that ultra fine wet and dry at the end would make this feel fantastic.

So, i've got this problem.


The maple on the neck seems to be profoundly different to the maple on the fretboard and no matter what I do, the colouring is clearly different. The fretboard seems to absorb very little of the oil (which I've tinted with oil paint) in comparison to the neck - as you can see, it is still very bleached whereas the neck is starting to take the colour nicely.

Is there some kinda "napalm" or other solution here?

Can I still go the nitrocellulose lacquer over the top or is the oil now going to stuff that up for me? Is the oil even possible to sand back?

And if can do the lacquer, I think I'd like a vintage colour amber - just not the crazy orange that I've seen. Are there any suggestions for a good fender telecaster vintage amber lacquer?

I feel like I'm stuck here - can't go forward and can't go back.

[RocknRolf]

Hi Johnny, still reading along.
Unfortunately, I can't help you with this one as I am unfamiliar with these products.

I am sure though someone else will.

Cheers

[Johnny Bravo]

I'm sorry to be asking such a fundamental question but I am genuinely confused.

I'm swapping out the PBG three-way selector for what I understand is a slightly better one.

I'm just doing a "standard wiring" (using a Seymour Duncan wiring diagram) but my brain is exploding.



For orientation, the volume and tone are below the selector in this image.

I'm comfortable with what's happening with the bridging wire between the four lugs (as shown in green) and where it goes to the volume.

But doesn't attaching the neck pick up to the top lug in the image mean that the neck pick up is selected when the selector is to the rear of the guitar (which would be counter-intuitive as I would want to move the selector toward the neck to select the neck pickup)?

Or is there some quirk that my poor foolish brain can't comprehend?

Hopefully someone can sort me out fairly quickly with my simpleton question

[McCreed]

Black arrow = Neck

White arrow = Bridge

It works differently than a strat 5-way, and in simple terms, because of the way the switch is jumpered (your green line) it makes the lugs work relative to the pickup location. Hope that makes sense...


In regard to your earlier post (sorry, I thought I commented before) I believe the only way you would successfully get nitro over BLO, would be to apply enough shellac over it to seal it. Just be aware that shellac will have some amber tint to it as well, so you'll want to consider how that will work with a tinted nitro over it.

I have very limited experience using BLO as I have seen too many problems with it when used by others and have no interest in it. I like satin poly for my necks, and have just stayed with it (I moved away from lacquer FWTW).

[Johnny Bravo]

Black arrow = Neck

White arrow = Bridge

It works differently than a strat 5-way, and in simple terms, because of the way the switch is jumpered (your green line) it makes the lugs work relative to the pickup location. Hope that makes sense...


In regard to your earlier post (sorry, I thought I commented before) I believe the only way you would successfully get nitro over BLO, would be to apply enough shellac over it to seal it. Just be aware that shellac will have some amber tint to it as well, so you'll want to consider how that will work with a tinted nitro over it.

I have very limited experience using BLO as I have seen too many problems with it when used by others and have no interest in it. I like satin poly for my necks, and have just stayed with it (I moved away from lacquer FWTW).

Really grateful - thank you, McCreed.

In essence, "Follow the wiring diagram, Johnny"

I would love to understand wiring more and would be grateful for any resources to review, in order to get a better understanding (my understanding of circuits was a rudimentary couple of classes in Year 11 Physics).

Thank you for your thoughts on the BLO, anyway, McCreed. It ended up being an odd path - I finally gave up in frustration and paid a local luthier to spray the neck with some amber (but that of itself was a nightmare, as the oil was difficult to sand back and involved lots of turps and hard work). Interestingly, I still ended up with an obvious "two-tone" effect between the maple fretboard and the maple neck (which is basically where I was heading anyway with the BLO, tinted with oil paint). So, it looks like I was unlikely to get the one colour that I wanted. Oh well, lessons learned.

And this is something which I might look out for in future - I understand the different construction b/w maple neck/maple fretboard vs solid maple neck (ie to accommodate the truss road) but I prefer the solid/one-piece maple with the truss rod routing and inlay on the back, I think.

Thankfully the next guitar I do will have a rosewood fretboard, so the issue will be moot.

Thanks again.

[Johnny Bravo]

Add to my list of "d'uh" questions.

I'm in the home stretch of wiring and onto the pickups.

The right hand lug of the volume pot (which is soldered to the top) already has three wires coming from it. Is there any problem with simply attaching the ground wires of the pick ups to another point on top of the volume pot?



Or do I need to have 5 wires all coming off the same lug?

Thanks in anticipation.

[McCreed]

No dumb questions other than the one you didn't ask!

Basically, ground is ground... As long as you have continuity between all your ground wires and points, you're good.

For example you could have one pickup grounded to the back of the volume pot, and one to the to the back of tone pot as long as there is connectivity between the two pots either through the control plate, shielding or a wire physically bridging the two pot casings.

Whilst there are some electronic considerations, having all your grounds going to the same point (or pot) makes it easier if you need to de-solder for some reason. And it's a bit tidier IMO (FWTW).

[Trevor Davies]

Hi Johnny,

Since the top of the pot is metal and a conductor, the ground wires can go anywhere on top of the pot. They do not need to be on the lug.

They will probably require quite a bit of heat from the soldering iron to get the solder to melt.

[Johnny Bravo]

Thank you both, Trevor and McCreed.

I'm somewhat relieved - that will be so much easier to just make a nice dob of solder on the volume pot and just attach the two ground wires to that.

Huzzah.

Thanks again and hope you both had a great weekend.

Cheers