Fender/Warmoth Telecaster build - gearing up

[GilgaFrank]

I scored a nice ebay bargain before christmas, a 2012 Fender Telecaster body, with Fender and Seymour Duncan pickups ...

The seller had made some odd changes, he said he rubbed the body down with "ooooooo.1 grade wool on the back to get Rid of the stickyness". Now, I don't know about you but I've never had a problem with guitar bodies feeling sticky, especially not the modern Fender satin finishes but there's no visible change to the body so I can live with that. Harder to understand is the swirly sandpaper marks on the pickguard, possibly an amateurish attempt at "relicing" (or "ruining" as I call it).

A neck has been ordered and is currently "in process", along with a pickguard.

Massive stainless steel frets, that's how I roll. And yes, clear gloss finish. I'm not a fan of unfinished necks, satin necks, sanded necks. Sperzel locking tuners with the graduated posts, duly ordered from ebay and ready for when the Warmoth order arrives.

Looking forward to this one but I'm thinking of changing the Duncan Quarterpounder for a Bare Knuckle Flat 50 or maybe something from my local pickup guru, Creamery Pickups.

 

[mayfly]

Nice!  What's that nut in the neck pocket for?  Is that another 'modification' by the original owner?

 

[GilgaFrank]

That's the Fender Microtilt mechnism, it won't serve any purpose with a Warmoth neck as they don't have the microtilt plate at the heel.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

The only time I've ever experienced a "Sticky" guitar is when the owner lives off of Taco Bell and it comes out of their pores & sits on the guitar, hardware, pickups & all never to be cleaned until it hits a tech's workbench.

I'm wiped off some nasty stuff over the past 30+ years.

 

[GilgaFrank]

Ah yes, it's always unpleasant to be asked to work on a guitar covered in grime, sweat, dust, oil, dead skin cells and other filth. My personal deal breaker is nictoine stains. If your guitar is covered in brown cigarette tar then I'm afraid you're going to have to find someone else to work on it.

 

[Cagey]

It's also possible the thing has been refinished, perhaps with something less than ideal or with less than professional application. For instance, all of the "oil" finishes (tru-oil, tung oil, linseed oil, danish oil, varnish, etc.) are somewhat soft relative to lacquer or polyurethane. Any of those could be easily construed as "sticky". Then, there are those who feel that gloss finishes are "sticky" even if they're diamond-hard. Usually, they're the guys who perspire a bit more than some of us do. In that case, it's not that the finish is sticky, it's that the hands are too grippy.

If it's just nasty, then naphtha is your huckleberry. It'll cut just about any surface contamination without affecting the underlying finish. Unless it's one of those dreaded "oil" finishes.

 

[bagman67]

As I look at it, I'm trying to decide for myself whether I think a prior owner did an intentional scorch-job because he thought it would look cool,or if he removed a finish with a heatgun and scorched it inadvertently.  The location of the glue joint suggests this was body would have received an opaque paint job at the factory.


Nevertheless, nice score!  Have fun with it!

 

[GilgaFrank]

Seller tells me this is the original natural finish, it's not a stripped poly finish.

I had assumed some of the dark marks were "burns" from power tools but it seems that's just the natural variation in the wood. I've got a nice deep red Wudtone finish kit lying round somewhere but as this is grain sealed and has a good solid finish I think that can wait til the next project.

 

[GilgaFrank]

Word from the seller regarding the dark marks to the body. It's been a slow process getting to the truth about this ...

Hi yeh it's a relic job with a heat gun will be light surface burns

So that's a few scorch marks to simulate the natural scorching process that we've all seen on any guitar over three years old.

At least I've got plenty of sandpaper. And this arrived today, a Bare Knuckle Flat 50. So the Seymour Duncan can go on ebay. Or I might just throw it out.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

I sense plenty of Texattitude with this one. :glasses10:

I reckon it'll scorch hotter that goat's butt in a pepper patch! :evil4:

 

[Cagey]

Hi yeh it's a relic job with a heat gun will be light surface burns

So that's a few scorch marks to simulate the natural scorching process that we've all seen on any guitar over three years old.

That's why your better guitars come with complimentary oven mitts. Cuts down on product injury liability torts.

 

[GilgaFrank]

Seller tells me the body is a "great piece of alder".

I'm just going to stop asking questions now.

 

[bagman67]

Whatever you do, don't ask the seller if he's an art student.

 

[GilgaFrank]

I almost want to ask him why he wasn't selling the neck with it. My theory is he's scalloped it and utterly wrecked it, then sold the body to me for peanuts.

Moral of the story: don't think you can improve a guitar by attacking it with power tools.

 

[DangerousR6]

Nice project you got in store...

 

[bagman67]

If you are dumping the Seymour, shoot me a private message.  I like the Quarter Pound pup.  I have a present need for a Tele bridge pickup, if you want to trade for something, or if the price is right.  I have a gold neck position Phat Cat, for example, that's just gathering dust... never been installed, not once.

 

[Fat Pete]

You guys saying you don't usually end your shows like this?

 

[GilgaFrank]

Get with the times.

 

[Logrinn]

:toothy12: :toothy12: :toothy12:

 

[GilgaFrank]

And now the sanding begins, I'm attacking it with 120 grit to clean out the scorch marks. Ten minutes of sanding and we're looking better already ...