Mark Wybierala's five day 'Silverface' grill cloth and the tolex-covered Strat [Pictures] - created 07-21-2011

Wybierala, Mark - 07/21/2011.18:35:47
Full Time Instrument Tech

I had this made in Mexico strat body given to me some time ago. While cruising the internet, I was inspired by the work of someone else on a Telecaster and although I've tried, I can't find the craftperson's name who did the work that I found. The point is that this is not my original idea but its the first Stratocaster that I've seen something like this done to.

The project begins by using my dremel to create a pair of routes around the body.

Spray paint some of the body flat black

I stapled Fender silverface era speaker grill cloth face down to a plywood base taking great care to make sure that the horizontal and vertical lines of the cloth were straight. I then sprayed it with 3M contact cement.

Not to drag this out too far, this is my first guitar upholstery job and I was guessing at the best way to get it done. The grill cloth and the tolex edges go into the slot that I made with the dremel and I secure these edges in place with teflon insulated wire that is both friction wedged in place and superglued.

The finished project

Yep, the light works via a stereo jack that applies ground to a 9V powered LED.

The finished product is so cool. I want one.

Wow.! that is really cool.! do you have more pictures..?

Clever and well done.

But I build acoustics. How can I apply this technique?

Here you go. The grill cloth and the tolex were actually was not at their limit to go around the curvatures that I set up with the groove. Both materials were very forgiving.

and another...

One more

Love it! That thing's got MOJO written all over it!

That is such a fun guitar! What you could have included is a small on-board amp and a speaker, but that might be too obvious. Maybe it's cooler the way you did it.

Anybody placing bets on Fender itself actually DOING one of these in next year's catalog?

The perfect accessory for this guitar? An all-wood amplifier enclosure with a nice sunburst finish.

Nice job, Mark!

That has to be one of the best looking guitars I have seen in a while! Great idea and done even better!

Very clever! Good work, Mark!

What a cracking idea, and really well executed too.

Beautiful.

Cutting out that whole finishing/polishing process sure shortens build time, doesn't it.

Wouldn't it be great to eliminate the standard finishes. No breathing apparatus, no cleaning spray equipment, no runs, sags.......great job Mark.

How cool is that! For some reason it reminds me of those leather covers Elvis, Ricky Nelson and others used back in the 1950's...ultra cool.

I gotta tell you, this is one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time. Now, my mind starts to wander, and I can see a tweed, or a blond with an oxblood grille cloth. Or a brown with one of those yellow straw type grilles. VERY cool.

BTW, absolutely LOVE the light.

Will, you bet! I already have the materials and a more effective way of doing things. These telecasters are 1 1/8" pine body centers with 1/4" front and back birch ply caps. Each gets upholstered and then glued as a sandwich. I have the tweed, the brown, and more black tolex. I called Fender and they have ceased selling or allowing others to sell their amplifier logos so I'll be hitting ebay when my collection runs out -- I need the proper logo and knobs for the time period. AT the moment, the unupholstered bodied are just screwed together for routing and alignment. I really want to thank everyone here for their encouraging words. From you folks, this means a lot to me.

I really love the light! Could you go into a little bit more detail on how you did that?

Thanks

Just one further thought.... What about bridge contact with the body? A layer of grille cloth or tweed could really absorb a lot of string energy.

THE LIGHT:

I got my LED wiring info and math from this page: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/led.htm

As far as the LED is concerned, be careful at the mouser website because there are two or three similar part#s that are not the same item and cost quite a bit more than the #1.60 the correct LED should. I had a problem with the website steering me to the wrong item when I tried to order more of them. You want the 11,000mcd Super White.

My LED has been running for over 24 hours now with no decrease in brightness. I'm leaving it on to get an idea of how long in will stay lit.

BRIDGE CONTACT: A strat bridge's main contact point is against the pivot screws and when properly adjusted per the original intended design, the bridge plate is not in contact with the body at all. On the telecaster, there may be an vibration isolation issue but who knows, it may be a good thing -- or not... Tone Happens.

That is cool. The light is a perfect touch.... but the knobs should go to 11... lol!

11,000mcd is pretty darn bright! I buy the 7000mcd white LEDs for about $.35 apiece. They have a 30 degree beam, which is plenty wide for lighting up a jewel. I use them on Fender amps like the Blues Junior, which have a dopey little red LED instead of a proper jewel:

Mouser's part number is 593-VAOL-5GWY4

Very, very cool and unique! Very imaginative!

Bill, Much thanks. For me it was a shot in the dark to get the brightest LED I could find and you are correct that the LED I'm using is a little overkill. Thanks for the part#.

That looks awesome! I would be tempted to mount a small speaker and install a micro-amp into that and make it a true guitar-amp/combo.

Mark, i agree with the others.

Way cool.

Two things thought, you say silverface. Imho, if you would want to silverface it even more. It would be amazing to have an aluminium pickguard, with all the controls names writen in black, with the name of the guitar and the suround in turquoise, all that with the proper font. And instead of your teflon wire, using silver piping would be way ace. :o)

Right on Max, more detail. I love the faux amp look, the big logo.

Nice look Mark!

I love it (and am secretly jealouse I didn't think of it). Fabric finishes are so much fun. The tweed Tele is the coolest!

Very cool idea. Great job!

Super Cool - I love it!

Very cool guitar! Nice work Mark.

One of those little

"oh yeah"

discoveries you make later after trying it yourself: don't wear short sleeves when playing.

Depending on your playing style and the time spent strumming, the inside of your forearm could get abraded by the logo and fabric. You're going to look like you fell off your bicycle.

Still the slickest thing I've seen in weeks though...

Mark, As others have already commented, that is one of the coolest things I have seen in a while. I may be tempted to copy the concept. I have a question about how you created the slots around the edges. You said you used a Dremel. What kind of a tool guide did you use?

Steve, I marked the edge of the intended slot with pinstriping tape and just followed it freehand. The cutting bit I used is a wheel with teeth about 3/8" across and maybe 1/16" wide. It is fairly easy to control. I did my best to keep the bit at a 90 degree angle to the surface and did the entire slot in about four passes and then doubled the width taking advantage of this opportunity to refine the first slot. If I had lost control of the tool, it would be an easy repair with superglue because none of this shows anyway. The three piece method I'm using for the telecasters is far easier. I build a telecaster body composed of a 1-1/4" solid pine body with a pair of 1/4" thick hardwood plywood sheets screwed in place to either side. When the cutting routing and edge treatments are done and I have a generally completed telecaster body, I just unscrew the top and the back. I take the oppoortunity here to route for wiring paths. I upholster each piece separately. I run a router around the perimeter of the center of the body about 3/32nds deep and 1/2" inward from the edge to provide a place for the pulled over tolex or tweed material. All of the gathering and bunching of material is hidden. I mask off the internal faces to 1/2" of the edge so I can spray contact cement. When the upholstering is done, I remove the masking and brush on Titebond and clamp it all together. This is the method that I used on the tweed telecaster which is still in work.

Bill M..., You may have had a good point about the string energy being absorbed. The silverface telecaster is now completed and it sounds awful. The guitar is as dead as can be and has absolutely no mojo what so ever. On this guitar, the typical telecaster bridge sits right on the tolex and the string-through ferrules are actually sitting in a tolex lined hole. The pickups installed are of questionable origin but my intuition tells me that it is the guitar that is at fault. I can easily pull off the bridge, cut out a square of tolex and use a slightly smaller footprint transition plate of 3/64" steel so I can still have the tolex edge hidden under the bridge. That would be step#1. I'll also be replacing the pickups. The string ferrules however will require some thought if I need to address them. It may also be the pine body but I've never heard anything bad about pine -- I used it for economy on the telecasters. If nothing else, the guitars certainly look good on a wall and people pay good money for art -- but that is not why we are here is it. I've never actually abandonned one of my guitars for lack of mojo. This might be my first -- tone happens...

I took the stratocaster out to an epic all day jam last Sunday and it is just dripping with mojo. Both guitars were a hit with the crowd.

I was thinking that you could embed threaded posts into the guitar under the bridge screw holes and use machine screws to hold the bridge, so it's actually resting on the tops of the posts instead of the tweed. Or you could just cut away the tweed and let it butt up against the bridge, so it can screw all the way down to the body. You might have to seal the ends of the tweed with CA or something, so it doesn't fray.

Since the ferrules are contacting wood in their holes, I wouldn't think that having the ferrule lip resting on the tweed would hurt too much, but you never know.

Still, it's a fantastic-looking guitar, even if it's not a player.

> Or you could just cut away the tweed and let it butt up against the bridge, so it can screw all the way down to the body

I'd be doing this I think. I can't prove it but I think the signature Tele sound comes from having the whole baseplate in tight contact with the body top.

Agree too about the ferrules - unless the ferrule holes are deeper and a larger diameter than the ferrules, and they are applying all their force through the fabric, I suspect this is not where the problem lies.

Those are awesomely cool...