BariTele gone Jazzcaster

[ragamuffin]

EDIT: So I've decided not to use the (beautiful) baritone neck for this build. I tried to bond with the baritone but it just wasn't happening. New name for this project: the T(ea)-Master

I’d been wanting to do a baritone Tele build for a while, a few weeks back I put in the neck order, and just the other day I got that beautiful shipping notice!

Wenge baritone neck with an ebony board, stainless frets, no inlays.

For now it will be going on my surf green Squier tele body, but in the future it will get a body of its own. I’m thinking a Jazzcaster or ‘72 custom shape with a black pick guard, in either a natural finish or something pink.  arty07:

 

[stratamania]

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[ragamuffin]

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Ah, fixed it! Neck is supposed to come on Friday  :blob7:

 

[rgand]

Mmmmmm, wenge with ebony. That's going to be a beautiful neck.

 

[Rick_Hardslab]

Excited to see how it looks!

 

[ragamuffin]

Received the neck about two weeks back! It's a beauty and I managed to get it burnished up and assembled, but due to life being life and me being out of town for the past week I haven't had much time to play it or been able to get any good pics yet.  :sad1:

But i's a gorgeous piece of wood and woodwork, and damn does it "sustain for days" as they say. Maybe it's somewhat due to the baritone scale-length, but this neck has some of the best sustain I've experienced with an electric!

Pics to come in the next few days if it doesn't rain all week! (my indoor lighting doesn't do it much justice)

 

[ragamuffin]

Here we have it! I managed to get some good pics (for me anyway) of the shaft and headstock grain, and a somewhat-ok-ish shot of the full guitar. It really is a beautiful piece of wood, I think I got pretty bit lucky as a lot of wenge just isn't this pretty!  :toothy10: :hello2:


I'm having a lot of fun with this guitar, I may try to add a bass rolloff/contour knob, mainly for the series wiring position.

And as for the body; I thought maybe I'd stick with the current (Squier) body, but I've discovered that the bridge is drilled just slightly off, which I guess gives me an excuse to upgrade.  :dontknow: I'm thinking an ash jazzcaster body is in my future, and I think I'll be attempting the finish. Either natural/slightly tinted, or maybe a subtle grey or aqua colored stain.

 

[bagman67]

That's a very handsome axe.  Nice work indeed!  Particularly handsome figuring along the thumb-side shoulder of that neck.  Wenge can do some beautiful things.

 

[rgand]

That's certainly a spectacualr neck. It pushes me towards wenge for a future purchase. The whole guitar is beautiful. I like the darker neck with the lighter body. Congrats.

 

[BroccoliRob]

That first image is making my brain feel totally freaked up. The perspective makes the neck look as long as a sexy leg on an amazonian princess. #McLovin'It

 

[BigSteve22]

Beautiful neck, goes great with that body color, congrats!  :icon_thumright:

 

[ragamuffin]

Well I've been testing some stains on ash, and may have accidentally gone ahead and ordered a body and a matte black pickguard to go with it :toothy10:

I'm still testing the options, but I'm thinking the finish will be a subtle stain using a tea concentrate that I cooked up, coated in either tru-oil or some other satin-y wipe on/brush on finish. I did as similar finish with good results on a small pine shelf that  I built. Anyways, I am very excite!

 

[stratamania]

If you click on the Tele Build in my signature there is a build thread including Tea stain, not ebonized as it was not mixed with vinegar but you might find some of it interesting.

 

[ragamuffin]

If you click on the Tele Build in my signature there is a build thread including Tea stain, not ebonized as it was not mixed with vinegar but you might find some of it interesting.

I saw it, great build! I'm a tea lover so I thought it would be cool to incorporate that into the project. I think I'm going to go for a fairly natural look similar to yours, just a tad darker/ brown-er. I think (still testing testing stain/finish) that I'm going to leave the grain open and use a satin/matte wipe on top coat.

 

[stratamania]

Thanks, look forward to seeing what you do.

 

[ragamuffin]

Did some stain/finish testing, I think I'll go with natural or a very light tea stain.

Here is my board with natural, 3 coats, and about three coat increments, (last couple are darker than they look in the photo).

Then sprayed with a light coat of waterbased poly (keeps the brush on finish from messing with the tea stain), and two brushed coats of General Finishes Endurvar flat. While I like the tea stain, I think natural is more the look I'm going for. I may try a single coat of tea stain.

Also, looking at it up close the open grain doesn't look great, I'll have to try some grain filler.
Next round: grain filler natural vs grain filler and 1 coat of tea. arty07:

 

[rgand]

Looks good. My preference would be for the third one from the left. It has just the right amount of tint to still have that natural look.

 

[bagman67]

My vote is for third-from-the-left also.  Very excited to see how this ultimately pans out, but you're off to a wonderful start and middle-part.

 

[ragamuffin]

So this is my mockup of pretty close to what I think I want the body to look like, but with three knobs, what do you guys think about knob color; chrome, satin black, or maybe some fancy custom wenge knobs to match the neck? (second pic) Or maybe something like brass to match the brass to match the brass saddles and goldfoil pickup?

Still working on the finish/stain tests, I'm also going to give Tru-oil a try

 

[rgand]

My choice of knobs would be black but you don't have to please me. Choose what you like the best and that's the proper choice.