Nick’s Telecaster build thread.

Painting? Routing? Set-up tips? Or just straight-up making a guitar from scratch? Post here, and post pics!

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cooter
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Post by cooter »

Classy tele. 8)
Smells like Rock n' Roll
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Nick
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Post by Nick »

Lots of progress today. Tuners came in and I started polishing (previously sanded to 1500/2000 grit). Ran to walmart after an appointment earlier and bought a bottle of Turtle Wax Clean Finish Polishing Compound and a few hand applicators. GDI, polishing by hand is painful and slow but it is rewarding and a good workout.

I should have probably just stuck to the polish today but I was anxious and needed a break from polishing so I decided to install the tuners. I bought some cheap Kaish aged button tuners from ebay for about $18 shipped, they were advertised as fitting 8-8.5mm which should have been a sign, I'm pretty sure the bushings were just standard 8.8mm like the Klusons I had installed on my Cyclone II. I was trying to avoid boring out the tuner holes but since I wanted this build for experience I decided I should just do it myself with the tools I had, which ended up being a cylindrical rasp file and a step bit on a screwdriver. Unfortunately my step bit only goes from 8mm to 10mm, and I really needed a 9mm setting. Once the holes were big enough*, I pressed in the bushings with a C clamp, placing one of my cat's tshirts under the back of the headstock for cushion. *Unfortunately, some of the holes were a little too snug, plus roasted maple being a bit more brittle than regular baked maple, I ended up with a few hairline cracks on the E and D string tuners. They don't seem to go all the way through to the back of the headstock, and I didn't brute force it too hard, so I'm hoping it's good. Not really noticeable unless under direct bright light like in the picture.

After drilling all the holes in the headstock for the tuning machines, I polished some more until I got tired again, then decided while I had the drill out to go ahead and drill the rest of the holes (neck, pickguard, control plate, strap buttons. I still don't have a string tree for it yet but will wait until I decide what to do with the headstock decal. No rush on the string tree. I was thinking of just mocking everything up but taking it apart again for more polish, but honestly I think the front is done. There are a few swirl marks still but in a very broken in way. The back and sides can still be worked on with the neck on for the most part. Concerning the finish there are a few spots that got sanded/polished through on the edges, will post more detailed shots of everything when it's done for real.

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Currently weighing in at 6lbs 7oz without a neck pickup. Love <7lb guitars.

Also please note my phone camera has a speck on it that appears on the right side of every vertical photo, there's not really a small black spot on the guitar or a rip in my grill cloth.
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cooter
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Post by cooter »

That looks great.
Smells like Rock n' Roll
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Hurb
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Post by Hurb »

looking really great Nick!
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Post by Noirie. »

Aye looks proper class.
theshadowofseattle wrote:less being WOKE
more being STOKED
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Post by paul_ »

I’ve almost built this exact Tele several times in the past year. I have a spare AllParts ‘62 neck and have filled online shopping carts with a white/cream body usually an “Eden� from eBay) and all other necessary bits to see how handily I can construct a clone/backup for “The Colonel,� a Steve Croppery Tele I built about 10 years back with the same type AllParts neck and an AV pickup (the best Tele bridge pickups for that ballsy 60s Tele bridge sound, IMO). The update pics were cool to see because I’ve visualized the marginally-cheaper (I spent over $600 doing the first one) backup so many times and this is more or less exactly how I’d expect it to look with the cream Eden body.
Aug wrote:which one of you bastards sent me an ebay question asking if you can get teh kurdtz with that 64 mustang? :x
robertOG wrote:fran & paul are some of the original gangstas of the JS days when you'd have to say "phuck"
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dots
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Post by dots »

kinda reminds me of the doog-caster build, very similar color scheme.

impressive looks, nick. love it!