Thread: New Build - 1st from Scratch

Started applying the preliminary coats of wipe on poly. Here are the first shots with 2 coats done.

The finishing schedule continues.

I apply one coat in the morning and one in the evening. Due to the wet cold weather in Sydney at the moment, I can only afford to lay down 2 coats per day.

After the 3rd coat I sanded lightly with 600grit, and applied the 4th. Sanded again with 600 grit and did coat 5. Just sanded again and wiped on the 6th coat. Now starting to see some buildup. My testing with this method, means it will cost me about 20 coats before I reach an acceptable full level. I know it sounds wasteful, but I really want a decent ploy coating that will rub out nice and shiny.

Results after 6 coats - 6th still wet.

Looks great Manny, you've come a long way...

Originally Posted by Poppa

Looks great Manny, you've come a long way...

Cheers Bob.

Ill see you at Mac after the bank holiday.

Manny

Finishing schedule just about finished now, after 2 weeks and 20 coats later. There was sanding and leveling on the front side after each coat with 600-1200 grit. 20 for the front, 10 for the flatter back. 5 on the neck.

Next we let it sit and cure for a week or 3 before we buff up with 2000 Grit wet and dry and polish.

Here are some shots:







Here are a couple of shots of the neck with a few coats of poly and the frets levelled and polished along with the aluminium dot markers.




And I also made a neck pickup ring out of the same Tiger Oak I used for teh cap.



Needs a few more coats and polishing and its done.

Almost there now. You can see the neck has the nut installed and Im ready to string up and set the string height and slot the nut. Ill wait until at least a week of poly hardening before I attach teh neck and string her up for final setup. This week Ill start wiring up the electrics - J5 style, with the single neck, hot HB in teh bridge, 3 way toggle and 2 x 250Ohm pots.

cheers

Manny

We are getting there....decal time.

Here's the logo I drummed up for the headstock. Printed on decal paper.



Below is the serial number that will go on the back of the headstock. It comprises the Country the guitar was made in( proudly AUS), the year (2010) and my sons birth month as I will give this to him then (10), and lastly the very first build (0001).



Thats all for now.

Cheers

Manny

Logo is wild, its just what im looking for, bastard!

OK, Im nearly there. Tonight I attached the neck and strung her up. The nut slots are perfect....and then as I expected, some buzzing. Frets 15-20 are high. I have leveled them, and dont want to completely flatten them if i keep sanding them.

Now I need advice. Ive raised the saddles and clearance from pickups is good. To me it looks like the neck pocket may need a slight shave, about a millimeter or 2 max. Before I shave teh neck pocket, should I try and apply some neck relief via a truss rod adjustment? I want it spot on before I work on intonation and final setup.

Here are some progress shots. Nut ends need trimming, and electricals arent wired yet. It could use some volume knobs too. LOL.

Looking forward to some advise.

Cheers

Manny

I think your saying that strings are too low?
Not sure what i can offer in assistance (im only a novice) but, when i built my Tele, i used the measurements from the plan and felt the bridge was a adjusted a bit to high for my liking to stop the buzz. So i took 2.5mm out of the neck pocket. Its now at a normal level.
Id just make sure that your neck is adjusted to dead straight and take your assumptions from there. I used a 100cm steel rule to get a rough idea how much to take out. Is the pocket level, parallel with the body?

Greg

Originally Posted by Groundhangers

I think your saying that strings are too low?
Not sure what i can offer in assistance (im only a novice) but, when i built my Tele, i used the measurements from the plan and felt the bridge was a adjusted a bit to high for my liking to stop the buzz. So i took 2.5mm out of the neck pocket. Its now at a normal level.
Id just make sure that your neck is adjusted to dead straight and take your assumptions from there. I used a 100cm steel rule to get a rough idea how much to take out. Is the pocket level, parallel with the body?

Greg

Greg, I don't want to adjust the truss rod. The neck is dead straight and I think Ill look at what you did, and shave about 2 mm off the neck pocket (which is not angled at all). The base of the neck looks about 1-2mm higher out of that pocket than it should be. And that should allow me to lower the bridge saddles a bit as they are too high at the moment.

Cheers

Manny

Yeh the Tele pockets are a bit shallower than most. Is the neck the same thickness as a Fender? Maybe its a bit chunkier? I found the neck i used was 1mm thicker than an original, i took a mil off that too. It came out fine, no big deal.

Originally Posted by Groundhangers

Yeh the Tele pockets are a bit shallower than most. Is the neck the same thickness as a Fender? Maybe its a bit chunkier? I found the neck i used was 1mm thicker than an original, i took a mil off that too. It came out fine, no big deal.

The neck is slightly chunker than a fender. I found a couple of dodgy frets, which will help when I reseast them. I will have to deepen teh neck pocket by a fraction. Im confident I can fix the action. Today I re-inspected teh neck, and there's only buzzing on a couple of frets on a couple of strings now. I do want to lowere the saddles by a couple of mill, hence the deeper pocket.

Well, I found the source of the buzzing. The frets werent level and there were one or two higher ones. I also found 2 frets that had lifted up slightly. I read that the string tension can sometimes move the fretboard and cause a fret to pop slightly. i removed and refretted.

I did have to deepen the pocket by 2 mm, and presto....no more buzz. And the action is a lot better.

Excellent result! Sometimes you just got to think over thing for a few day, thats what ive found anyway. Nice job. How does it sound plugged in?