Custom Tele Build (White w/black binding) - Detailed info for UK/Europe buyers

[stratamania]

The body looks very nice. Have you considered going without a pickguard ?

Cheers! I did consider it but I actually prefer the look of the Tele with a pickguard. Hopefully I will do a good job of it!!

OK, no worries. Just take your time and it should turn out fine.

 

[stubhead]

Two buckers in a Tele?  Hmm....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZBeerUD-zc

Pretty much a classic "here is your ass in a paper sack, or at least the smoking ashes of your ass in a paper sack. Ol' friend".... :evil4:

By that time Beck had spent a few years going toe-to-toe with Jan Hammer & John McLaughlin, among others. The expressions are priceless - Jeff Beck looking at Clapton during the first verse like he was a bug on a microscope slide.... The original, classic, "tele-gib" made by Seymour Duncan, which he used to weasel Beck's Yardbirds-era Fender Esquire out of him.

If your skills are less than refined, I would reluctantly but highly recommend going to a pro for the final nut-cutting adjustment and to kiss the bite off the fret corners. You don't want it to play less than stellar? I personally like to let a neck settle through at least one set of seasonal changes before I do a full dress, if I can stand it. I like pretty high action, so I can almost always stand it. The UK is known for being pretty weather-y, still? Those guitars with a brand new "Plek'd" neck.... well, it's STILL GOING TO SETTLE, and if they'd give a certificate to have it Plek'd after a year you'd have a better LIFETIME git. With a bit of back-channel inquiries here you should be able to find a UK guy who will JUST do the nut; 2) Just CHECK if there's any high fret bits that need a touch; 3) take the teeth off the fret ends. If you haven't yet bought and memorized Dan Erlewine's "Guitar Player Repair Guide" do so immediately:

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair-Guide-3rd/dp/0879309210/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1415625783&sr=1-3&keywords=Dan+Erlewine

At the very, very least you will save hundreds of dollars over the years being able to speak "guitarese" with technicians, and if you have some ambition and time and patience it can take you a long, long ways - like, if you really want to "do nuts" buy three to start, right? How does anyone know a nut's too low till they make a nut too low.... :sad1: I have lobbied Warmoth to make that book a REQUIREMENT for, like, the license to buy a neck & body.... nobody ever listens to me. hmph. :guitaristgif: And I'm always so-oo right.

 

[James _R]

That is going to be a beautiful instrument! I'm really looking forward to seeing it done! Another member here (Updown) did a similar build with a Strat that set up my lust for that combination. Very attractive.

Cheers Cagey!

You seem to be the man in the know, so i have a question for you....

I'm doing the 'easy' jobs whilst i wait for my dad's tools to be able to the bigger ones. I looked at the ferrules last night and they are going to take a bit of persuading. I'm thinking that some of the finish needs to be removed from the edge of each ferrule hole. Any tips? Is it a simple case of using a rat-tail file and getting rid of a bit of finish and then tapping them home? Should I try the soldering iron trick or is that only for nitro lacquered finishes? Videos ive seen show it working like a charm but the last thing i want to do is damage that gorgeous finish!

Cheers  :glasses9:

 

[bagman67]

Well, don't just force it in there.  You could end up buckling the finish and separating a nice chip off the body.  Your rat-tail file may carry the day, or if you want to be more gentle, a pencil or skewer wrapped in sandpaper.


I haven't tried the soldering-iron trick, so no opinion there.

 

[Cagey]

Just for starters, string ferrules are supposed to be a very tight fit. Even on a naked body, you'd have trouble just pushing them in easily.

Now, get your mind out of the gutter... <grin>

All the properly cured typical guitar finishes will chip. Fact of life. They're brittle, and that's all there is to it. No helping it. But, it's not the end of the world. As it works out, the design of most parts is such that they'll cover that sort of thing. That's why they put little flanges on them, or use a washer, etc. You can take a rat tail file after the holes, but chances are that'll chip the paint, too. Some folks use sandpaper around a small dowel to avoid that, and it works to a degree, but you're working too hard. All you need to do is press the little rascals in, and it'll be fine. Any chipping that occurs will get covered up. It's not like you're going to take out dime-size divots.

As for how to press them in, far and away the easiest way is with a drill press. Open the chuck to where it's roughly the diameter of the ferrule, raise the stage to get it close enough to hold the thing fairly square, then just drive it in. Works like a charm. No need to file or sand or anything. You need a big enough press to do it - a 12" swing is minimum - but those are pretty common.

If you don't have a drill press that size or access to one, then you're down to the hammer method. Kinda risky, but certainly doable. Start with a small hammer just to start seating the thing, then get a pillow block of some sort. Even a shim or a magazine will work. A bigger hammer is then used to drive the thing in.

Or, you can do the soldering iron trick, but I don't recommend it. All it's good for is melting finish (which is unnecessary) and it's risky. The hole is still tight, so you still need to hammer the things, so I'm not sure what anybody thinks they're accomplishing.

 

[bagman67]

My vote is for a deadblow hammer, if you are gonna go that route.  Less likelihood of a glancing blow and then a hammer strike in your nice white finish.

 

[stratamania]

If you don't have a drill press here's how I did it.

http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=23725.msg347876#msg347876

 

[Cagey]

My vote is for a deadblow hammer, if you are gonna go that route.  Less likelihood of a glancing blow and then a hammer strike in your nice white finish.

That's why I used to use a magazine as a pillow block. Covers up enough area that you're unlikely to damage anything if you miss your target, but non-compressive enough to transmit the blow to the object of your affections.

I have to say this, though... if you're going to hammer on your guitar's body, be sure the surface you're laying the thing on is firm, but clean. Otherwise, the body will just take abuse to little effect, and any defects in the surface will end up as defects in the finish.

 

[stratamania]

To add the firm but clean surface with a little give to it is good advice and what I also used. The hammer I used with the punch was actually a rubber mallet. You basically have a deadblow combination right there. Oh and you go gently it isn't knocking a nail into 2x4 it requires more finesse.

 

[James _R]

Thanks for all your advice guys!!

I decided to bite the bullet and just go for it. The drill press would have been ideal but I don't have access to one, so I went down the good old hammer route. I didn't use a rat-tail as the grade of the file was too rough and I didn't want to bugger up the ferrule holes and take out more finish than was needed. I tried the wrapping sandpaper around a pencil (and then screwdriver) but found a simpler route better. I just tore off a small strip of fine grade sandpaper and rolled it into a tube. The rigidity of the paper meant the paper stayed as a nice firm cylinder and I could be a bit more delicate and accurate with my sanding. After 20 mins of careful sanding, all 6 holes were done. I gauged it by making sure the same amount of paint was sanded away on each ferrule hole (exposing the wood underneath inside).

As for tapping it in - I went with what i had to hand, so used a small hammer and a screwdriver (!). I lined the blunt handle end up against the ferrule (having pushed it in so it stood up straight in the hole) and then hit the rim of the screwdriver handle to drive the ferrule in (screwdriver blade facing up and away from the guitar). This meant the force of the blow was spread over a larger area. I found that I could ensure the ferrule when in straight by hitting the rim edge of the handle in different places, adjusting with each 'blow'.

Managed to knock them all in straight without chipping or cracking the finish. Winner!!







Not exactly a hard job I know, but it's still satisfying to do these jobs myself!

Next on the agenda is 1) Drilling the holes in the headstock for my schaller locking tuners 2) Drilling holes for strap locks and then 3) making the custom pickguard so I can then crack on with the hardest part for me - the electronics!! (which i have questions about and will post in the pickup thread).

Love this guitar, love this forum!  :toothy10:

 

[Cagey]

See? All that worry about nothing. Those ferrules wanted to be in there.

I am your density!​

 

[James _R]

Haha cheers Cagey. Always love a Back to the Future reference.

Yeah i was worried but it's only because this is my first build, i spent a fair chunk of money and i'm generally fairly mediocre with practical making/mending things like this!

With all of your help, you'll make a passable guitar tinkerer of me yet

Onwards and upwards!!!

 

[stubhead]

Now that it's way too late, I will mention there ARE two really different sizes of ferrules too, which has made for much hilarity & devastation over the years.

The rigidity of the paper meant the paper stayed as a nice firm cylinder and I could be a bit more delicate and accurate with my sanding. After 20 mins of careful sanding, all 6 holes were done.

This is an example of both why you'll never make it as a professional luthier, because you're working for about 15c an hour and professionals who work for 15c an hour starve to death; and why, interestingly enough, you/we/it can probably make our own guitars better than a "professional luthier" because of that very fact*, until you get to around the "$7,000-for-a-Fender-copy" level of the D'Pergos and DeTemples. Although the sheer bullshit you have to wade through to decipher their websites devalue them gits a few grand each, IMO.

Time is NOT money/it's a frikkin' HOBBY, hobbies are SUPPOSED TO TAKE TIME. Do you think cockroaches and rats ever worry about EFFICIENCY?!? That's why they're winning...

be sure the surface you're laying the thing on is firm, but clean.

Never, ever glue down some carpet to a work surface or use some cutesy li'l "neck rest" without a rag on it... you can get carpet samples cheap/free from any carpet store, and THROW THEM AWAY a lot. And lay down beater bath towels and WASH them a lot and VACUUM a lot. The reason being that, that sanding shrapnel of yours is slow creeping death to finishes, you're already infested ( ) etc. Ugly raggy old CLEAN stuff is always better than spiffy new creepdeath filth. If you're going to be doing seriously nice work (might as well), you have to plan where that stuff is going to first, before it even starts going there. Or it will surely go other places too. I'm just extremely lucky I like scratched guitars better.... not relic'd - just scratched. :toothy12:

*(The same sort of thing is true of: umm, building custom wall units, treating your crib for bugs, cooking your FOOD, teaching your CHILDREN etc. Specialization/HenryFord/production-as-concept introduced universal suckdom into everything it touches, as well as introducing the idea that you're dumber than owls about everything and you need a "specialist" to change your every (mental) diaper. Weirdly enough {not} HF really was a jerk too, of the fascism/sterilization/"cleansing" branch of "somewhat" major jerkdom.)

jez anutter ardnarry guitar syte...

 

[James _R]

You're dead right Stubhead - I'll certainly never be a luthier! But as you say, this is a hobby/project and the sick pleasure is taken from the countless hours of meticulous sanding and tinkering that otherwise we would be unable to experience. I've no doubt this project will take me quite a while to complete competently!

I'm just sticking with laying my guitar on the material it came shipped in. If it's good enough for Warmoth to ship it in, it's good enough for me.

I'm also keeping solder well away from my guitar by mocking up the control holes on a bit of pickguard material to get the spacing right (as i have a rear routed body and hence no control plate to affix the parts to). Until i need to solder the pickups in place i will be keeping my soldering iron well away from anything white and shiny!

Heck, I'm even going so far as to drill all holes needed onto a spare piece of wood to ensure the hole sizes/depths are right before committing to drilling the guitar for real. Some might say i'm paranoid. I prefer cautious...

 

[stubhead]

There's a whole of of process/procedure type stuff to remove some nerves. You can lay cardboard on a body, tape it with the blue tape, even little pieces of plywood or clipboards over cardboard, if you've got to do some spot work on a real shiny, finished guitar you can wrap the whole damn thing up in plastic wrap like a big old chicken and snip a hole where the work is and tape down the edges of the little peephole. What time you spend early is made up for by not having to be some precious in the midst... again it's just knowing where everything's going before you start, have all the tools all there, and the containers, too much coffee made. LISTS are a great help.

 

[James _R]

Question - I need to sort out making my pickguard before i can crack on with the electronics. I've started to cut the shape out using a hack saw but I feel like there's no way i can be accurate enough when it comes to cutting out the shape properly. Obviously i will need to sand the pickguard material to get the right shape and get a nice finish.

I was thinking of getting a set of drill bit sanders in order to make the curves i need (as well as the edge camber). Anyone had any experience using drill bit sanders? Any tips?

(something like this, nice and cheap!)
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+Tool+Accessories/d80/Power+Sanding/sd1790/Drum+Sanding+Kit/p15110

 

[Cagey]

Those drum sanders are handy things, but usually the grit on them is pretty rough. Cuts fast, but you don't always want that, especially on something as thin and fragile as pickguard material. You can do a helluva lotta damage in a hurry.

I'll tell ya - unless you're making a 'guard you can't buy, you're working way too hard. It's a helluva lotta work and a helluva lotta mess. I'd grab a garbage bag and walk the streets looking for returnable bottles and cans to finance buying one before I'd try to make one myself. I'm not kidding. I was young and stupid at one time (still stupid) and learned the hard way. There are folks who are set up to do that sort of work, and you wanna encourage them with your business.

 

[Cagey]

Incidentally, if it is a custom 'guard, you might want to review this site's offerings. Lotta people have had good luck with them. You can send them an outline and they'll return you a professionally made part.

 

[stubhead]

I have a pile of different colors around, it's useful to me as I'm slowly adopting a swimming pool mentality - make plates that can hold different combinations of pickups, and move them around.

Hacksaws are OK, but if you load them with a tugsten carbide blade they'll cruise through any plastic or wood.  Sandvik makes a great one, I bought a case* of "BAHCO 3816-300" not long ago that kick pootie. Hey! They're British! Don't pay $10 for one, there are some seriously silly sellers... half that, maybe. There's some RemGrit ones on (US :sad1 Ebay, 3 for $7.50, that's more like it. These also cut of both forward and backward strokes, everybody KNOWS that regular hacksaw blades are destroyed by breaking off their teeth going backward - right? (FILES TOO!)

Wide blades only cut straight lines, so you have to figure out how close you can get inside each inside curve with a combination of straight cuts. A 'map' even. Depending on your vise/clamping arrangements, you may need to support the plastic along the side of the cut by clamping it between some scrap wood. The saw cuts so quickly that the time spent moving the bracing takes longer than the cutting! The hard part of it is, it cuts so easy a little too much enthusiasm can be ruinous. (For pickguards only, it might be worth it to keep one of the tungsten carbide wire-all-around "rod" hacksaw blades, they break if you bear down on them on hard stuff but pickguards ain't.)

Wood rasps do OK on the finer stuff, but the evilest 50-grit wet/dry sand paper is my favorite - FAST - wrapped around something sturdy you can probably take off 1/4" with five really bearing-down strokes, and you can wrap it around whatever shaped thingie you need.

Any sort of speedy power sander is highly likely to melt the plastic and gum up permanently. Dremels + plastic will destroy just about any tip you stick in there... I've never managed to do that hand-sanding, but these carbide saw blades WILL gunk up instantly if they cross through... masking tape! And masking tape is important. A little brass brush or file brush is easiest to clean them off, any sort of Goo Gone or just vegetable oil will dissolve it messily but the brushes are fast. EVERYbody already KNOWS you always brush off your saws and (especially) files when you're done for the day, right? The dust and gunk traps the moisture, and moisture makes rust.

*(Files too, I HATE working 2wice as hard bearing down on some crapped-out old file... I was buying a doublecut coarse bastard file at least every two years, at whatever price I'd pay when I was mad enough at my fracked old one.... files are DISPOSABLE. They're like TOILET PAPER, you don't SAVE them. I don't. Tools like that are about 1/2 price in bulk.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_%28tool%29

 

[Jumble Jumble]

Hi James,

I'm also in the UK and not far from Hertfordshire. Depends which part of course...

I've just moved out of London and into St Neots, Cambridgeshire. Are you far away?