Telestrator build

[Peter Wilcox]

I've learned most of the little I know about electric instrument building by copying Fender's instruments - Strats, Teles, J and P basses. Now, I hope to never build one of those again, but I have lots of left over parts, so I thought for my final Fenderish build I'll make a guitar using some of those parts. If I post the progress here, maybe it will keep me going.

On hand:
16" 2 piece alder body I glued up a couple of years ago for a Tele
Strat maple neck I made several years ago with an ipe fretboard with a couple of cracks, so I never used it
Quilted maple 1/16" veneer I resawed from a 1/4" half drop top
Cheap import trem bridge
Various other hardware - Tele control cover, jack plate, 5 way switch, covered 2 lead humbucker pups (Chinese), tuners, neck plate

[Peter Wilcox]

Band sawed and template routed the body, then made the arm bevel with belt sander. I rounded off the sharp beveled edge before gluing on the veneer to avoid having to heat bend a sharp angle. The thickish veneer conforms OK to the rounded edge.

[Peter Wilcox]

Veneer rough cut.

Glued and clamped.

Edge view.

[Bob Francis]

Peter
Please keep this thread alive.
Bob

[Peter Wilcox]

Hi Bob - here's some more food for the thread.

[Peter Wilcox]

A few routing hiccups, but they'll be hidden.

[Peter Wilcox]

Today I did the top and bottom roundovers and drilled all the major holes. Tomorrow work on the neck. If the weather holds I can start the nitro finishing next week (I have to do it outside). If not, it will probably be next year.

I found some 4 lead humbuckers so I can take advantage of the 5 position switch and split the coils.

[Peter Wilcox]

Leveled and crowned the frets, and dressed the ends, using flat and triangular files, then sanded with 500 and 1500, and finally polished with metal polish on a rag.

[Dan Smith]

Looking great Peter!
What type of glue did you use for the veneer?
Titebond, or a non-water based glue?
I've had veneer crack while drying using Titebond.
Thanks,
Dan

[Hans Bezemer]

You're on a roll, Peter!

Keep it going, starts to look cool.

[Peter Wilcox]

What type of glue did you use for the veneer?
Titebond, or a non-water based glue?
I've had veneer crack while drying using Titebond.
Thanks,
Dan

Dan, I just used Elmer's yellow carpenter's glue, what I use for most things. I think it's the same type as Titebond original. This is the third home-made maple veneer I've done, and no problem with cracking. These are thick veneers, about 1/16", so maybe that helps.

[Dan Smith]

What type of glue did you use for the veneer?
Titebond, or a non-water based glue?
I've had veneer crack while drying using Titebond.
Thanks,
Dan

Dan, I just used Elmer's yellow carpenter's glue, what I use for most things. I think it's the same type as Titebond original. This is the third home-made maple veneer I've done, and no problem with cracking. These are thick veneers, about 1/16", so maybe that helps.

Thanks Peter!
Dan

[Peter Wilcox]

Defects in the body wood needed to be filled - Z-poxy.

[Peter Wilcox]

I wanted to wipe on a coat of amber colored shellac to the top, but it would make the dark parts of the maple figure too warm a brown for my taste. First I wiped with a wet rag to raise the grain, then wiped on a dilute wash of violet dye in alcohol. I got the dye from the thrift store several years ago - I figure it should be fairly light-fast. I then sanded back lightly to increase the contrast (but it didn't increase much.)

[Peter Wilcox]

Then I wiped on a 2lb cut of garnet shellac, and when that dried sprayed 5 clear coats of lacquer.

More tomorrow if the weather holds.

[Peter Wilcox]

Flattened the clear coats, then sprayed the sides with brown/black lacquer.

[Peter Wilcox]

Sanded off the overspray down to the clear.

The weather is turning foul, so I won't be working on this for a few days.

[Dan Smith]

The sanding is a great way to avoid putting tape on the body to mask it.
Thanks for the tip.
The Maple color is really nice.
Looks great Peter!
Dan

[Bob Francis]

What a tasty guitar!
Thanks Peter

[Peter Wilcox]

Thanks Dan and Bob.

The sun came out today and temp 52 degrees with minimal wind so I did a little more. I decided the back looked too plain and the border too sharp. I could have made a sunburst, but decided to try to make the back patterned. I'd have liked to create an Escher type tessellation, but that is beyond me. I found a pattern online, simplified it, and made a stencil.

Then I applied it over and over, with an airbrush. I didn't get everything lined up exactly, and there were some defects and overspray which I repaired as best I could. But what the heck, it's the back.

I sprayed on 5 coats of clear. Now to sand flat and polish.