Blue Burst Telecaster project.
- Thread starter Gilmore
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partialdoctor
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Youre very organized! Good luck!
partialdoctor said:
Well the table is not quite as tighty now as I began using the tools.
I will take at least a week or two to complete this, no hurry.
The first thing I did was to install the tuner bushings, and I already hit a roadblock. The bushings are a little bit larger than the hole, so I had to find a round file and make it a little bit bigger almost 1 mm. No big deal, probably because of the finish inside the holes. It took a while to do this because I don´t have a reamer, but they fit fine now.
Next i will complete installing the tuners, and then I will install the ferrules and the bridge, and string it up and see how the neck behaves.
DangerousR6
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Looks good, now......ready steady.....GO!!!! :headbang:
Good tips.
I just do very little every day, just more enjoyable doing it like that, then I won´t get tired or frustrated. Though sometimes it´s tempting to carry on and do something, but I know that will end in disaster, and spoil the fun.
One thing about the frets. Should I scrape the finish of the frets before I start leveling and polish, or just begin the leveling process with the finish on the frets? They are totally covered with laquer.
I just do very little every day, just more enjoyable doing it like that, then I won´t get tired or frustrated. Though sometimes it´s tempting to carry on and do something, but I know that will end in disaster, and spoil the fun.
One thing about the frets. Should I scrape the finish of the frets before I start leveling and polish, or just begin the leveling process with the finish on the frets? They are totally covered with laquer.
Cagey
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Scrape it off, or you may get false readings from your various measuring/checking tools. It doesn't need to be on the frets anyway; it's for the wood. You don't need to work too hard at it, though. The levelling file(s) will take the top off, and the crowning/dressing files will get much of the sides. By the time you're to the polishing stage, you should be in good shape. Highly recommend you tape off the fretboard, though. It'll only eat up 15 or 20 minutes of your life, and it'll quite likely save you a lot more work later.
For example...
Some things you can see, others you can't. For instance, you can't see all the scratch marks perpendicular to the grain that would have ended up on the fretboard's face, because there's tape on there to protect it. You can see where the polishing wheel discolored the tape on a few frets up from the 12th. That probably wouldn't have affected this fretboard much because it's ebony, but on a finished maple 'board, it would have been cause for much profanity <grin>
For example...
Some things you can see, others you can't. For instance, you can't see all the scratch marks perpendicular to the grain that would have ended up on the fretboard's face, because there's tape on there to protect it. You can see where the polishing wheel discolored the tape on a few frets up from the 12th. That probably wouldn't have affected this fretboard much because it's ebony, but on a finished maple 'board, it would have been cause for much profanity <grin>
DangerousR6
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Wow, you got one of those blue fretboards there did ya Kevin.... :laughing7:Cagey said:Scrape it off, or you may get false readings from your various measuring/checking tools. It doesn't need to be on the frets anyway; it's for the wood. You don't need to work too hard at it, though. The levelling file(s) will take the top off, and the crowning/dressing files will get much of the sides. By the time you're to the polishing stage, you should be in good shape. Highly recommend you tape off the fretboard, though. It'll only eat up 15 or 20 minutes of your life, and it'll quite likely save you a lot more work later.
For example...
Some things you can see, others you can't. For instance, you can't see all the scratch marks perpendicular to the grain that would have ended up on the fretboard's face, because there's tape on there to protect it. You can see where the polishing wheel discolored the tape on a few frets up from the 12th. That probably wouldn't have affected this fretboard much because it's ebony, but on a finished maple 'board, it would have been cause for much profanity <grin>
Hi
I just finished scraping the laquer of the frets and I also lightly polished them.
I´m going to go ahead and assamble the guitar and do the fret level later. The neck needs leveling, but I´m going to let the neck settle in a bit first. The neck looks stunning after I polished the frets.
Now there is one thing that is stopping me. I was going to install the neckpickup to the picguard when I discovered that it should screw to the body and the pickguard comes on top afterwards, because those are Vintage spec pickups. But the pickguard has mounting holes in it so I went out and bought screws I could use for mounting. I first mounted the pickup to the body without the guard, but that didn´t look good and it´s also ugly to use the guard with the empty mounting holes , so I discovered I could use a mounting ring for Tele (I didn´t think of that before).
So now I can´t decide if I´m going to use the pickguard with the pickup mounted to it, or order a black mounting ring from Stewmac and us that one. Now I feel bad about covering that beautiful Burst with black plastic, but that is the original look I was after in the first place, but now I´m not sure......I´m going to think about it for a while.....what would you guys do??
I just finished scraping the laquer of the frets and I also lightly polished them.
I´m going to go ahead and assamble the guitar and do the fret level later. The neck needs leveling, but I´m going to let the neck settle in a bit first. The neck looks stunning after I polished the frets.
Now there is one thing that is stopping me. I was going to install the neckpickup to the picguard when I discovered that it should screw to the body and the pickguard comes on top afterwards, because those are Vintage spec pickups. But the pickguard has mounting holes in it so I went out and bought screws I could use for mounting. I first mounted the pickup to the body without the guard, but that didn´t look good and it´s also ugly to use the guard with the empty mounting holes , so I discovered I could use a mounting ring for Tele (I didn´t think of that before).
So now I can´t decide if I´m going to use the pickguard with the pickup mounted to it, or order a black mounting ring from Stewmac and us that one. Now I feel bad about covering that beautiful Burst with black plastic, but that is the original look I was after in the first place, but now I´m not sure......I´m going to think about it for a while.....what would you guys do??
The guitar is completed!!! :icon_thumright:
It looks and sounds, just like I hoped it would......or even better. This neck is a dream to play, I will level it later, but right now it plays better then most of my other guitars. The pickups are fantastic, I can get sounds that I can not get from my other guitars....I have been missing out.....don´t understand why I didn´t show interest in Telecasters before.
I´m using 0.47uf tone cap, but I think I will try 0.22uf later, because I don´t find the tone rolle off very useful with the 0.47uf, it´s too bassy when I roll off the tone. I also don´t have much confident in those tiny Warmoth caps I bought .
I bought chrome metal decal, but I´m not sure if I will put it on, I´m going to sit on that for a while. Also I have not put the string trees on, I really don´t think the guitar will benefit from them. I cut the nut slot pretty good, and the angle is fine. I also played my Strat with the tree off, and I didn´t feel any differance, I will be glad if I can get away with skipping the string tree(s).
I will post some pictures tomorrow, If I can find the time to take some good photos of the guitar outside.
It looks and sounds, just like I hoped it would......or even better. This neck is a dream to play, I will level it later, but right now it plays better then most of my other guitars. The pickups are fantastic, I can get sounds that I can not get from my other guitars....I have been missing out.....don´t understand why I didn´t show interest in Telecasters before.
I´m using 0.47uf tone cap, but I think I will try 0.22uf later, because I don´t find the tone rolle off very useful with the 0.47uf, it´s too bassy when I roll off the tone. I also don´t have much confident in those tiny Warmoth caps I bought .
I bought chrome metal decal, but I´m not sure if I will put it on, I´m going to sit on that for a while. Also I have not put the string trees on, I really don´t think the guitar will benefit from them. I cut the nut slot pretty good, and the angle is fine. I also played my Strat with the tree off, and I didn´t feel any differance, I will be glad if I can get away with skipping the string tree(s).
I will post some pictures tomorrow, If I can find the time to take some good photos of the guitar outside.
Cagey
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.047uf is way too much capacitor for a guitar, even the most ice-picky Tele. It'll eat whatever high end you've got, and start munching on your mids as well. .022uf will make you much happier. And don't worry about those tiny caps Warmoth sources. They're tiny because technology has improved to the point where they don't have to make them huge to get a 50WVDC rating, which is already hundreds of times bigger than it needs to be. Going to 20 million times bigger isn't going to get you anything, no matter what all the cool kids say.
PaulXerxen (nexrex) said:
I used the pickguard, and I´m glad I did, that is the vibe I was after this time, next time It will be something else. I´m just so fixed on those old school looks.
Yes the 0.47 is killing the highs, sounds fine with tone on 10 but muddy if I turn down. I got 0.22 Warmoth caps, so good to know that they do the job.
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