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Looking to build my first guitar from scratch


Dub-T-123

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Hey Uncle Fester. I didn’t touch the Tele body last weekend because I’m a bit frustrated with scraping the binding to be honest and just feel more like working with wood right now. 
 

I’m definitely gonna try out the decal on the Tele neck today but I’m not sure if I’m feeling like messing with the binding on the body today. 

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I put the decal on the Tele neck today and I like it overall but I’m still not happy with the quality of the metallic printing on the Rothko and Frost decals. I’ll probably keep it on the Tele but I don’t think I’ll use the ones I have for the double cuts so I’m probably back to square one on that

0qfnRR9.jpg

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On neck #3 today I cut the truss rod channel, headstock angle, and rough side profile. I also thicknessed the playing area of the neck using the MDF jig that is visible in the pic (it tapers down in height)

 

In this pic you see how bad the bandsaw blade has gotten lol. Somebody used the bandsaw for something at shop that really blunted the blade but the burnt parts are all cut away by the router in the next step so it doesn’t really matter. I smell like a bonfire though. 
 

also.. I cut the truss rod channel about 1/32” off center and it looks really apparent in this pic because of the walnut stripes. This is all covered up and close enough to not matter at all but yeah I realize it’s a little off center lol

 

forgot to take a pic after the following router work but I think I got all the most figured parts of the maple in the neck and it’s going to look insane when it’s done

 

W2EMrPh.jpg

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Hey guys. I had to take my truck into the mechanic so no guitar work this weekend sadly. 
 

I do have a question though.. for the past couple months or so I’ve been looking for an original German Floyd Rose in black nickel, nickel, chrome, or even black finish. They seem to be affected by COVID because I haven’t seen the German model in stock ANYWHERE (only the Floyd Rose website has a couple but not in finishes I can use)

 

If anyone knows where I can buy a right handed original German Floyd Rose in a “normal” finish please let me know

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On 2/21/2021 at 7:44 PM, Dub-T-123 said:

They have this disclaimer on their site. 

Please note: We print using ribbons and there is a visible line where the ribbons meet in some designs. On most decals this is not noticeable. The effect is more pronounced on larger blocks of metallic colour.

I’m not sure how much will translate in my pic but it looks worse in person. There’s something wrong with the top edge of the capital “T” in their Gibson type font and the lines from the seams appear visible from any angle in person 

xriYnUt.jpg

I don’t think the clear coat will do anything to hide the seams but should do a test before I complain. Maybe it’s small enough that I’m the only person who would ever notice anyways. What do you think?

I was thinking.. Did you actually contact Rothko and Frost about this issue..  As I say, all the decals I have had have never had this issue..  May be worth sending them that picture I dont thnk its normal from them..  They may just decide to replace it for you?

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Hey Rabs. I did and they told me that the problem should disappear under lacquer. I tried their advice and of course it did not help so I contacted them again. They refunded me but said that they have hundreds of customers who don’t have problems with the lines in the decals.

 

I appreciated the refund and understand their logic but they are just wrong about the clear coat hiding flaws of this nature. It would be like if you scratched a metallic coat and thought spraying a clear coat would make the scratch disappear. It can be made flat on the surface but the scratch will still be visible 

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41 minutes ago, Dub-T-123 said:

Hey Rabs. I did and they told me that the problem should disappear under lacquer. I tried their advice and of course it did not help so I contacted them again. They refunded me but said that they have hundreds of customers who don’t have problems with the lines in the decals.

 

I appreciated the refund and understand their logic but they are just wrong about the clear coat hiding flaws of this nature. It would be like if you scratched a metallic coat and thought spraying a clear coat would make the scratch disappear. It can be made flat on the surface but the scratch will still be visible 

Ohh well.. At least you didnt really lose out on it, but yes very disappointing really for a company with such a great reputation for decals... Ahh, what can you do huh...

I have printed my own actually.. It does work but the issue is that I can never seem to find that really thin decal sheet they use.. The ones I have tried in the past are that much thicker that it really makes a difference.

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I agree Rabs! It was nice of them to give me a refund despite the disclaimer though
 

I gotta say this weekend felt incredibly long and incomplete without working on my guitar projects. I’m tearing it up in PUBG but feeling like a bit of a loser 😛

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On 2/16/2021 at 9:33 PM, Dub-T-123 said:

The glass idea is cool but I don’t know anything about working with glass! That’s not an avenue I’d want to go down right now but if someone gave me a glass pickguard I’d be stoked. Another idea is metal.

 

here’s a pic of the guitar strung and wired up. I used a CTS “vintage taper” 500K volume pot, CTS log taper 250K tone pot, and an NOS PIO Russian .022uF cap I’ve had laying in the parts drawer forever. The pickup is a Lollar P90 and the bridge is a (stupidly expensive but beautiful) “mojo axe” intonated wraparound 

 

JkLTfL1.jpg

I haven't been on here in awhile but it looks excellent Dub. 

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Back at it and it was a fun day. I rounded over the body and sanded it. I went with a 1/4” round over this time.

YZ43ffb.jpg
 

I did some work on the back of the neck/headstock on the spindle sander, cut the truss rod access cavity, and glued maple filler strips into the truss rod channel. I also glued on the headstock wings which is not shown in the photo

1wxU9Fw.jpg

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I cut the fretboard to size, inlayed the front and side, and installed frets today. This time I put PVA glue in the fret slots before pressing the frets in

 

QTpOF9D.jpg

 

The Tele neck got more clear coats over the decal but my boss accidentally stuck his thumb in the finish while it was wet lol. So next week we have more wet sanding and clear coating on that

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Nice...  All looking good..

Just one thing.. We are still waiting for a final pic of the first build yet  🙂

You are just like most of us who do this either for a hobby or a living..  Cant seem to focus on one build at a time  😄 Its perfectly normal from what I have seen... Its like the luthier version of GAS.

I still have loads of stuff I want to try yet.  

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Haha the luthier version of GAS sums it up perfectly! Not sure I can call myself a luthier just yet though

I ended up having too much fun with the Jr after I strung it up. Incidentally that should work out well because it allowed me to make a lot of critical observations which I will apply to the following builds. 
 

I’m still gonna strip it back down to finish the headstock and give the whole thing a proper wet sanding and polishing but here it is at the moment

 

S6xfKev.jpg

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Looks the proper business that [thumbup]

And thats another thing about building and I guess any type of artistic creative form..  Its never perfect and it probably never will be in the eyes of the artist.. Like playing guitar, you can always learn more and always do better..  Never stops really  🙂   Often  its better just to forget it and move on to the next one.

When I first started showing my guitars in public it was something I was very nervous about, people bringing up every tiny flaw I know about them BUT to be honest it rarely came up. People kind of accept what it is you are putting in front of them and dont question every tiny aspect like we tend to (and that goes for all the guitar nerds on here and every other guitar forum).... Mistakes happen, things arent perfect. We are only human, otherwise you may as well just buy a CNC machine and be done with it.

Also something else I came to terms with very early on..  If you are going to be making something, any product for public sale.. You are always going to get one of three reactions.. Some people will like what you have done, some people wont and most people just wont care either way.. Once you get over that it all becomes much easier.

I will never forget the first guitar I sold at a show.. The guy who bought it had visited my stand a few hours before and had tried a couple of my guitars.. His comments were that he just couldnt get the sound out of his head. Didnt ask me what wood it was made from, what pickups were in it, nothing.. He just played it and had to buy it...  I was quite shocked after when I realised he literally asked me nothing about it but I think thats how more people are than we all are about this.

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I only went to the shop for a couple hours today. My Tele neck is pretty much ready to go and the green body is sorta on the back burner so I whipped up another Tele body. 
 

This one is a single piece of poplar and it’s going to be unbound and painted black. The cavities are just roughed in with a forstner bit and chisel at this point. 
 

UkTirbv.jpg

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