My first build.

[casper100]

Hello everyone. I wanted to show off my first build.
Vintage telecaster Warmoth swamp ash body. I planed 4mm off the top and glued a three piece Pale Moon Ebony 4mm top I made to the top.
Finish is Rubio monocoat Pure on the top, with Rubio Sheen plus and N3 nano ceramic coat on top.
Back and sides is Rubio intense black stain followed by Rubio 2C black, Sheen Plus and N3 nano.
Pick guard is Ash finished the same as the back.
Seymour Duncan Quarter pounder pickups. Dylan talks tone prewired switch plate. Schaller locking tuners on a Warmoth roasted flame maple neck.

Had a great time with my first build and it plays great.

 

[rockandroller]

MAGNIFICENT!!

 

[Hodgo]

Wooooow that top is gorgeous!!!

 

[casper100]

Thanks!
My wife was born in Laos and Pale Moon Ebony comes from Laos.
Used a router sled to take the 4mm off the top. Jointed and glued the three piece top together, then to the top. Luckily the measurements worked out.

 

[Hagwood]

Great job on that top, looks fantastic !

Haven't thought of using monocoat on a guitar, but I use it a lot on furniture. May have to try that, thanks.

 

[casper100]

I can say already that the 4 coats of Blacktail N3 Nano ceramic coat was worth the investment. I have been hitting the pickguard hard for a couple of weeks now and I do not see a single scratch.

 

[jwf]

Holy cow. Great job! Pale Moon Ebony is just so striking.

 

[casper100]

Holy cow. Great job! Pale Moon Ebony is just so striking.

I think I got a good set from exoticwoodzone.com. It gets used more for fretboards than bodies but there are some good examples on reverb

 

[Don O]

I think I got a good set from exoticwoodzone.com. It gets used more for fretboards than bodies but there are some good examples on reverb

I have a Mayones with it on the fretboard. Very interesting wood.

 

[casper100]

I have a Mayones with it on the fretboard. Very interesting wood.

View attachment 64570

Beautiful.

 

[rauchman]

WOW, that is gorgeous!

You wrote that you planed down the surface of the body to add an ebony top layer. Am I correct in assuming that you also had to reroute the top layer for pickups, bridge, neck pocket, etc.? How did you get it all to line up correctly?

By the way......killer job on this.

 

[casper100]

WOW, that is gorgeous!

You wrote that you planed down the surface of the body to add an ebony top layer. Am I correct in assuming that you also had to reroute the top layer for pickups, bridge, neck pocket, etc.? How did you get it all to line up correctly?

By the way......killer job on this.

I bought a telecaster template from Stewmac. It didn't line up perfectly, but it gave me a good starting point. In the picture of the unfinished body with the top glued on, you can see white pencil mark from where I traced the template. I just made sure to enter the routing holes in the middle, then used a flush trim router bit with a bearing to route the pockets. Luckily, the string through holes lined up perfectly. The hole for the bridge ground wire I had to guess a bit on, but either way it was going to go all the way to the switch pocket and whatever I did would be covered by the bridge. The harder part was routing for the binding. I bought a body with binding, knowing I was going to take it off so I would have a guide, but in the end, I had some tear out of the ebony top. The upper horn tore out pretty severely, and I had to mix and match some scraps to find the right scrap for repair. Ended up invisible after about a week of work. Then black binding around that.

 

[Heavy Rock]

Man, this pale moon ebony, I wasn't aware of its existence until very recently. Looks amazing!

 

[Hagwood]

You have inspired me to use Rubio on my next build. Rosewood top that I was thinking of just doing Danish Oil on, but after seeing this I'm excited to try Rubio on a guitar. Have used it on furniture and love it, not sure why I never thought of it for guitar. Ordered some pre-color for the swamp ash back, and already have some Pure 2C. Thanks for the idea !!

 

[casper100]

You have inspired me to use Rubio on my next build. Rosewood top that I was thinking of just doing Danish Oil on, but after seeing this I'm excited to try Rubio on a guitar. Have used it on furniture and love it, not sure why I never thought of it for guitar. Ordered some pre-color for the swamp ash back, and already have some Pure 2C. Thanks for the idea !!

Cool! Sometimes it takes someone that doesn't know what they are doing to come up with new ideas, lol. I just figured when I screwed it up, it would be easy to fix and I've used Rubio on other projects, so you use what you know.

I know this is overkill, but because a guitar body is so small, I used 3 coats of 2C, three coats of Rubio Sheen Plus, 4 coats of N3 Nano hard coat and 4 coats of N3 Nano top coat. I have not seen a single scratch or problem, even on the Ash pickguard I made after lots of playing.

 

[Hagwood]

Cool! Sometimes it takes someone that doesn't know what they are doing to come up with new ideas, lol. I just figured when I screwed it up, it would be easy to fix and I've used Rubio on other projects, so you use what you know.

I know this is overkill, but because a guitar body is so small, I used 3 coats of 2C, three coats of Rubio Sheen Plus, 4 coats of N3 Nano hard coat and 4 coats of N3 Nano top coat. I have not seen a single scratch or problem, even on the Ash pickguard I made after lots of playing.

Thanks for the details !