TD's Scratchy Thinline

[Trevor Davies]

The scratchy thinline and the pine scratch teles have been resting for a while after their tru-oil coats. They have also had a polish with Maguire’s Ultimate cutting compound and finished with Scratch X. Then rested for a few more days.

Today I have put the neck onto the thinline, added the tuners and the strap buttons.
Placed and screwed down the bridge.
I also shifted the controls onto the pickguard. I had to file the guard around the neck pocket to get a nicer fit.
All seems OK so far.
Next is the soldering!

What I have noticed is that the thinline pickguard will be a bit of a pain to solder/fit. I cannot have the neck pup mounted on the guard before it is soldered to the switch - I should have routed a channel from the neck pup cavity to the control cavity (rather than the drilled channel).

[Simon Barden]

The channel will be hidden by the guard, so there’s nothing stopping you from routing out a channel now. I’ve had to widen channels and control cavities after they had finish on, and I’ve then tended to use shielding paint on the bare wood (and then the rest of the cavities) to smarten things up and also provide shielding. But foil would do a similar job if you haven’t got shielding paint.

[McCreed]

I agree with Simon that routing it now would not be a big deal. When I've routed finished bodies, I have masked the body (and the base of the router) to prevent any scratching. If you're not going to shield as Simon suggested, the routing can be touched up easily enough with some stain. No need to apply any clear.

Also, are you going to leave the inside of the "worm hole" cavity unfinished? I think it would look good with a touch of diluted body colour. The bare wood just jumps out at me. Just my unsolicited 2 cents .

Looking great though! Nice work.

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks Simon and McCreed.

I routed a channel on the pine body and will add a coat or two of TO to seal it. I have also modified my template for next time! I'm not too fazed about the look as it will, as Simon says, all be hidden under the pickguard. I'll see how I go with the wiring of the thinline before I try a channel.

About the inside of the worm hole - I have sealed it all with TO before the top went on. I will live with it as is. Next time I can either make the holes a bit smaller so as to let in less light, or stain them before the top goes on, or both. Live and Learn - that's what this build is about

[Trevor Davies]

So I managed to put all the electronics together without having to add a channel - yeah.

The soldering is done, pickguard screwed on, strings put on and rough tuned, string trees added. Now just let it all settle for a few days and then I can do the setup.

[vh2580]

Looks the Goods Trevor. I like the body hole design

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks Tony.
Now that I have a idea about my thinline process I will look out for some nicer wood.

[McCreed]

Very noice!

[Trevor Davies]

I'm calling my first "thinline" done. I have completed the setup for string action and intonation.

The body thickness is 36 mm - so a thin-thinline - next time I will make sure it is a bit thicker.

The pickguard is a purchased one off ebay ( since from 1 blank sheet I can only make 2 guards and the purchased ones are half the price of the blank sheet !!). It fits well as I designed neck pocket around the guard.

I have used the plastic backing to the neckplate as I did not want the necks screws coming though the fretboard or splitting the fretboard. In reality there was quite a bit of room.

The logo and name are vinyl cut with a Cricut machine. The date is stamped, filled with ebony timbermate, sanded back etc.

So now I'm looking out for some "nice" wood to make a number 2.

[Simon Barden]

Nice!

Now, why not have a go at building your own neck for one?