Mini-Tele - Part 3: A splash of color

Subtle...

As previously mentioned - my son asked for a gold guitar.  

I said, "Everything gold?"

He said, "Everything!"

I said, "...okay."

I said, "...are you sure?"

He said, "I'm sure!"

(editor's note - when I told him the humbucker wasn't going to be gold - he got upset)

Okay.  Here we go!

Gold digger

Two things:

1) I've never spray painted a guitar before.  This is my fifth build (sixth if you count the incomplete Les Paul that still sits on top of my fridge) and I've finished all of them with stain, dye, or shellac under a Nitro finish.  I've got nothing against paint - it's just that all of my builds to date have been made with fairly attractive wood that I wanted to showcase and not hide under paint.  So this is new territory for me (read: plenty of NEW mistakes for me to make).

2) The medium of a blog is rife with dishonesty.  I didn't take a lot of photos of the process of painting the guitar.  So, it looks like this went swimmingly.  I can attest that it did not.  Also, time is a plaything in the blog medium.  This thing sat for months in my garage waiting for me to get my backside in gear and finish it.

Lies, damn lies, and statistics...

In brief:  I painted this with a generic gold color I purchased at Lowes and neither I nor my son was all that impressed.  It was only after stumbling on a really metallic gold paint (by accident in A.C. Moore) that we got to the color you see now.  Then, as I was preparing to spray a lacquer finish on it - I decided to wipe it down with some naphtha.  ...It had loads of dust (and cobwebs) on it from sitting all summer in my garage and I wanted a clean surface to spray on.  Yeah, it turns out that naphtha will strip spray-paint off like nobody's business.  So, I had to paint the guitar a third time.  Only this time the temperature had dropped and I was spraying in temps way too cold for rattle cans.  So, I'm not confident in how well the paint bonded to the previous coats.

When I finally did get to spraying lacquer - I was using a new brand - Watco - Lacquer, Gloss, Spray

...Let's just say - I'll never be using that brand again.  Stick with Behlan's Stringed Instrument Lacquer, kids.  It works!

I had already started spraying the neck with Behlans so I decided to not mix the streams with a different lacquer on the neck.  In the end, the body got 8 to 10 coats of Watco and the neck got 8 to 10 coats of Behlans.  The neck looks great (even though I used steel wool to dull the finish) and the body looks barely passable.  I never even finished polishing the body as weird black spots were starting to show up under the finish as I waxed on/waxed off.  This could have been the spray-paint I used, the temperature at which I sprayed things, or the lacquer.  Seeing as the neck had none of these issues and the only difference was what lacquer I used - you be the judge.

How you doin'?

With regards to the neck.  I did a fair amount of work to it.  I received it with a badly damaged finish (which I expected for $25).  I sanded off the existing finish and also reshaped the neck a bit.
Knowing that this will be a first guitar and not likely to be used for more than a year or two in this household - I went for comfort over perfection.  I skinny-ed down the neck at the 1st and 2nd frets
so that it would fit in my son's hand and perhaps make it possible for him to play first position (e.g. cowboy) chords.

Can't complain

I also worked on the fret ends quite a bit.  The fret ends were sticking out like barbed wire - so I filed those down and polished the frets as well.  I did a little fret leveling but not much.  If he gets to the point where he's ready to start ripping out an Angus Young solo - I'll dress these frets to perfection.  For now, the neck fits in his hand, won't cut him, and is mostly in tune.

Had some work done?

I also inlaid an Irish coin into the headstock because for some reason that has become my thing.  In this case, this is the first time I've used legal tender.  This is a 10 cent Euro coin.  I used it because it is gold colored.  It was a fabulous piece of good luck that I had a drill bit that was almost the exact size of this coin.  I'm happy with this part of the build.

So, while it's not perfect - the guitar now has a finish.  It's time to assemble it!

Mini-Tele Part 2: Cultural Appropriation

Theft

Never let it be said that a DIY blog about building guitars can't be socially relevant.

Yeah, I can't believe I typed that sentence either...

So what are we looking at?  It's a neck plate, dummy.  No really, it's used for screwing the neck onto a guitar body. And speaking of screwing - it is also a bit of Welsh culture and Druid mythology that I'm taking without asking.  So, for all you Welsh Druids out there - I'm gonna steal your culture.  Look out!

What you are actually looking at is the Druid symbol of the Welsh word - Awen.  Awen means "inspiration" - usually of a poetic nature.  I guess the Druids liked the word and decided it needed a symbol to go with it.  And who are we to judge?

Great Expectations

I thought it would make an interesting image on a neck plate and back in 2015 planned for it to go on the first guitar I finished that year - hence the 2015-001.

(Editor's note - no guitars were finished in 2015).

It just so happened to be a gold neck plate - so it's perfect for this build.  Better late than never!

I like the cut of his jib

Speaking of necks - we're gonna need a place to put that thing.  I routed out the neck pocket on this body blank using the process I have used on the last couple of builds that I've worked on:  Trace the outline of the neck shape on a piece of particle-board (or plywood) and cut out that shape with a jigsaw.  Then use that shape as a tracing template for my router.  What you can't see in the above picture is that everything to the left of that last fret is the overhang.  The thickness of the whole neck minus the thickness of the overhang is how deep the neck pocket needs to be routed - so that the overhang sits flush to the body.

Flush

As is quite typical at this point - things fit pretty well.  The neck fits in the pocket nice and tight and the neck is straight and level.  It's only later - when I start monkeying with things - that I'll mess it up!

"Aren't you a little short for a StormTrooper?"

 As you can see - this is a short-scale thing we're building here.  A normal guitar has a scale length (the distance from the bridge to the nut) - or total string length of 24.75 to 25.5 inches.  This puppy will be about 20.5 inches.  Also, the width and depth of the neck are much smaller than a normal neck.  Hopefully, this will make it easier for little hands to hold it.

Diggin' Holes

In addition to the neck pocket, I also routed out the hole for the pickup.  I'm going to go with a Humbucker for this build for two reasons: I already have one left-over from another build and humbuckers are quieter than single-coil pickups (as in they don't hum as much - hence hum-bucker).
I already have a humbucker routing template so this went fairly quick.

Diggin' More Holes

 I also drilled the hole for the input jack (where the guitar cable plugs into the body). If you look at the center of the hole you'll see a little light.  That's the pickup cavity in the previous picture.
The below picture is a detail shot of this.  I chose to go really primitive with the electronics for this build as I didn't want to overwhelm my Son with switches and knobs and I didn't want to overwhelm myself with soldering headaches.

Holes inside holes.

When I'm done with this build it will have one pickup, one volume knob, and an input jack.  Low-tech but just enough to do some damage.

Sticking your neck out - Part 2

Where to begin...

The neck that I chose for this build is about as close as you can get to a 'Les Paul' style with it still being a bolt-on.  The scale length is 24.75 inches and it has 24 frets - which are both characteristics of a Les Paul guitar.  It feels a bit thinner than a Les Paul neck but not too far off.  A purist would say 'pshaw!' but as I'm not building a replica - I see no reason to get my pantyhose in a twist.  It's close enough.  If that doesn't appeal to you - the woodpile is by the exit.

What?  Looks good to me!

As I hinted in my last post - this neck (along with all the others) will need quite a bit of work - some necessary some cosmetic - before it can be played.  I know for sure I will have to:

• Fill the existing screw holes
• Drill new holes to match the body blank and neck plate I have chosen
• Change the headstock shape to a more 'Les Paul' style
• Fix that chip in the fretboard at the 24th fret
• Final/finish sand
• Tape off the fretboard
• Stain and shellac the neck
• Finish with nitrocellulose spray
• Let dry for 3 weeks - then sand/polish
• Level/crown/polish the existing frets
• Clean/polish fret board
• Install a nut
• Install tuners

I'd also like to do the following:

• Add a lamination to the headstock that matches the body wood (the maple headstock kind of stands out)
• Inlay an Irish 20p coin on the headstock (it's my thing ...until I come up with a logo)
• Bind the headstock to match the body
• Change the fret marker inlays (the diamonds).  Nothing wrong with them.  I just have something better in mind.

I may have no choice but to:

• Re-fret the neck.  Which is a big fat pain in the butt - but it may have to happen...

What's wrong with my shape?
What do you mean I, "stand out?"

Here's where we start:

One of the synonyms for what I'm doing here is, "reaming"
I'm just going to leave you with that thought.

This neck came with screw holes already on the back.  I might have been able to reuse them but more likely I would have just been fighting them when it came time to screw the neck onto the body of my guitar.  It's best not to bump into an old hole (or make it bigger) when attaching the neck.  Better to fill them and start over.  I enlarged the existing holes so that I could glue some dowels in to seal them up for good.

Don't be fooled - nothing in my shop is level.
Even that Level has a twist in it.

I tried to level the neck as much as possible so that the holes wouldn't be angled.  I also put a foam pad under the neck so it would rock a little less.  ...at the end of the day - you're filling holes not launching rockets - so, see what works for you.

Perfect!  Don't change a thing!

Once the holes have been enlarged put a few drops of glue in there and tap in some pre-cut dowel pieces to fill the holes.  You can use wood glue or superglue (CA).  Wood glue gives you more working time but also takes longer to cure.  CA glue cures in minutes (if not sooner) so don't dally!
I used CA glue as I was in a hurry on this particular evening.

One note: I used a fret hammer to tap these in as they are like 3/16th of an inch and prone to breaking (as you can clearly see in the above picture). All this is a way of saying that a construction hammer may be a bit of an overkill for this job.  I also find it helpful to taper one end so that it fits in the hole better.

I'll cut a b--ch!
Branch!  I meant branch.

This little guy with the micro teeth is a flush cut saw.  It works great for delicate little cutting jobs just like this one.  It's not so hot for anything substantial as the blade is quite flexible but you can put it right up against a flat surface and it will cut fairly flush to that surface.

Like so...

After you are done cutting you can clean up the surface with a sharp chisel, hand plane or card scraper.  Then move on to sandpaper.  If you go right to sand paper - you may create valleys or peaks that weren't there before.  I used a card scraper and then some 100 grit sandpaper.

No one will ever see it!

How's that fit looking?

Wait a minute...

So, here's the thing.  The dowels felt pretty flush.  But the neck isn't sitting in the pocket all that evenly.  I wasn't convinced it was the change I had just made was the cause of this (hubris, much?).
So I took a straight edge to the neck.  Yep, the heel of the neck itself wasn't completely square.

For that matter - neither was my neck pocket.  I could still see little scratches from the router blade.
So, ignoring what I just said above about valleys and peaks - how does one sand something flat? There are a couple of ways...

Son of a..!

The best way to flatten the neck heel is to tape a piece of sandpaper to the top of your workbench or table saw and run the heel slowly across that with even pressure.  Just a minute or two of that (using 100 grit paper) was enough to flatten the heel so that it looked decent with a straight edge.

For the neck pocket - it's best to find something you know is square (or straight).  I used a 1 by 1 inch square dowel that I was reasonably sure wasn't warped and wrapped sand paper around it.  Press firmly and evenly while making slow passes.  

I saw another idea on the Fender website that I will try in the future: tape the sand paper to two sides of the square block but leave the other sides without sandpaper - that way you can sand up to a finished (or already squared) edge without taking any more wood off on that surface.  Simple but smart.

Looks ugly.  Feels real nice!

Don't be put off by how it looks.  Those rings around the dowels are dried glue and the pen mark is just so I know where the cut away starts.  That sucker is flat and smooth.  You can't feel the dowels at all.

That'll do pig.  That'll do.

Those two processes seem to have squared things up quite nicely.  The neck fits pretty snug in the pocket both on the sides and now on the bottom.  I need to see if there is anything that needs to be done to the 'back wall" of the pocket (closest to the neck pickup) as that was the sloppiest part of my template.

Lacey!

For now, things look good.  I should probably screw this sucker into the body.

(for those playing the home game, that was the ninth double entendre in this post.)

I'm kidding.  I don't keep count...

Bling a Ling Ling

When it comes to guitars - a little flash never hurt anyone.  One of my favorite ways to customize a guitar is with a custom neck plate.  The funny thing is that in the normal course of playing a guitar neither you nor an audience member can see the neck plate - so it's more of a mental thing for the player than anything else.

I've used a couple of different vendors for custom neck plates over the years.  The most recent one is http://www.customneckplate.com/  You provide them with a decent quality image and you get back something like this:

Celtic Love knot

I don't normally go for the gold.  But I figured it would be a nice compliment to the warm tones/figure of the Mahogany wood. A cool new feature of this vendor is the ability to put serial numbers on the neck plates.

...whether or not I actually finish these three guitars in 2015 is anyone's guess.

...okay I wouldn't put a lot of money on it...

Awen - Welsh symbol for inspiration.

See kids!  This is what trolling around on the internet for hours at a time will get you:  You spend your money of some really strange stuff.  

Another fun tip: When you type "Celtic Symbol" into Google you get a lot of craptastic tattoo pictures but sometimes you strike gold.  I liked this symbol - the Awen - from the moment I saw it.  It doesn't really appear to be "Celtic" but I like what it stands for and since I'm about  1/16th Welsh -  let's run with it!

Three.  It's the magic number...

I'm pretty sure that the Celtic knot is going on the Les Paul and the Awen symbol is going on the PRS (whenever I get back to that build).  But where is that black neck plate going to go...?
Hmmm...
...I do wonder...