Scratch my plate and I'll scratch yours. . .

Ordered the black scratch plate the day, its 1ply solid black, most black scratchplates have a white ply in the middle which is not what the original had, it was pure black. Also the 52 tele had only five screw holes and most online have eight, I managed to find a shop online that sells loads of scratchplates and found a five hole one so went for that one.

I know I'm being a bit fussy like, but I don't give a stuff, I want it to look like the original since the neck is gonna be a different colour I want the rest of it to look convincing.

The holes for the scratchplate in the body haven't been pre-drilled so I'll have to do that me sel, wont be hard like but the less holes I need to drill the better I reckon.

Final draft . . .

Ive mocked up the final draft of what it would look like if I went blonde with the dark fret board. I think it looks good, I know its not the vintage look but I like it better I think. So I'm sticking to the original plan and going to paint it butterscotch or the nearest I can get to butterscotch without having to buy fender endorsed paint which means I avoid re-mortgaging the old house.

The telecaster has landed . . .

It arrived yesterday afternoon, had it delivered to work so I wouldnt have to go to the post office to pick it up. Its looks mint, the body is good quality wood, with no finish as I thought it would be, the neck again is unfinished and even the fretboard is unfinished so I'll have to look into the best way the finish a fretboard - cant wait to get started.

The bad thing is I'm a few parts missing:
1. The jack socket and wire
2. The casing that goes around to jack socket

I'm annoined about that like, Ive tried phoning them all day and no ones answering the effing phone. Ive emailed them so hopefully Ill hear from them and they'll send the missing parts out.

Not a major problem as I'll probably not start putting it together untill the body and neck have been finished - a few weeks probably.

If I dont hear from them I can buy them canny cheap online but its the principle, they say the 'Kit includes all parts to build a complete, playable guitar' well the way it was delivered I'd find it hard to play it.

Also the wires do need soldering, the website says 'Electronics are complete and ready for installation. No soldering required just clip the wires together.' I cant see any clips in the kit like and I cant imagine the wires will stay in place just by twisting the wires together.

There are no instructions for the electronics as well but I've found a few schematics on-line for telecaster wiring which dont look too hard. The main wiring for the pickups, switch, volume and tone control is done, they all need all joining together.

But apart from that all the gear looks in pretty good nick, all the holes are pre-drilled, so its a case of staining the body and neck (still dont know how Im gonna do that) then put it together.

We shall see. . .

Gis a look . . .

When I have some time Im going to try and do a mock up of what the guitar would look like with a dark fret board, see if I should just go a head with the original plan, dont know how Im going to do it like but I'll have a bash, cant be that hard can it, a printer, a pair of scissors and pit-stick - jobs a good un.


While Im on I might try and design my mish mash Frankenstein guitar:
1. Telecaster with a Mustang headstock
2. Telecaster with comfort grooves like a strat
3. Gibson 335 with Rickenbacker sound holes and scratch plate
4. Fender Jazzmaster solid body with Rickenbacker Horns
5. Gibson 335 bottom half and Gibson F5 mandolin top half, including the F5 headstock - imagine that!!!!!

I'll see what I can come up with . . .

It dont matter if its black or white . . .

. . . or does it?

I was looking at the website last night and realised that the fret board is dark, the original 1951 butterscotch telecaster has a light fretboard, so even if I get an exact match for the body colour then its not going to look right as the bloody fretboard will be the wrong colour. Damn it!!!

There are Fenders in butterscotch with dark fret boards with a white scratchplate, but it does look as good in fact it looks absolute gash in my opinion.

Im going to have a think about changing me mind about the colour of the body, but to me theres only one colour of telecaster thats worth playing and thats the butterscotch body, black scratchplate and light fretboard.

Back to the drawing board as they say. . .

Still no sign of the delivery but they have taken money out of my bank so hopefully the order is being processed.

Wind your neck in . . .

I'm going to have a similar problem with finishing the neck. Until it arrives I dont know if the neck will need finishing or not, Im guessing it will. A few questions have cropped up:
What colour should I do it? What do I use to finish it? Will the fret board need finishing?

The best site Ive seen online is the manchester guitar tech, they have just sprayed a few thin coats of tinted lacquer, to make it look vintage (no brand of tinted lacquer is mentioned) then buffed it up with what looks like a T-Cut like polish (they call it a proprietary rubbing compound - the brand they use is called Safe-cut) This looks like a pretty good way to go about it.

Biggest problem: Ive got very little space to spray it.

Other problems: Where on earth do you get a tinted lacquer from? What brand do I use? What kind of tint is needed to get that vintage look? I cant just go to homebase or B+Q and ask for tinted lacquer can I?

Dad knows best . . .

I think I might be getting a head of me sel a bit. . .

The kit hasn't arrived yet but Ive already started to buy varnish, which I think I may have panic bought in error. I was at B+Q with me Da, we were looking for Bee's wax for his new doors and I saw the varnish section, which was the start of me downfall.

Ive thought a lot about how Im going to colour the body, which I'll post about later and hopefully come up with a plan of action. I saw some Ronseal varnish, medium oak, gloss finish. They had on display loads of strips of wood that had been coloured with the different varnishes and the medium oak was very similar to the butterscotch colour Im after. Me Da reckons it'll be fine to varnish it, after all it's just a piece of wood and should be treated like wood.

He's got some experience of making his own furniture (from scratch, not some lame kit) and he used some nice oak and waxed it and the finish looks mint.

So then I thought I'll just wax it and get the nice finish me Da got but I dont want that rubbery feel you get with wax. Then me Dad said to varnish it as you normally varnish wood and it looks good and you get a tough durable finish so as Dads know best I bought it, its not going to brake the bank like, but I should have waited. The excitement is starting to kick in, I hope I dont rush in and end up having to start again like some little child that cant wait to play with his new toy and ends up braking it.

Looking online at others guitar builds, every one has painted theirs differently, there's not a standard way of colouring a guitar body, people have used sanding sealers, primers, spray paint, polyurethane, rubbing compound and lacquer. . .

. . . no mention of varnish.

Back to black . . .

The oringinal butterscotch telecaster had a black scratch plate, so I'll need to buy a black one as the 'kit' comes with a white one. I have seen versions of the butterscotch with a white plate, but it doesn't have the impact the black on does.

Next issue: The scratch plate's come in different ply's, most are three ply, a sandwich of black, white and black plastic.

The original 1951 tele had a single ply black plate, or a 3 ply with three layers of black, so no white layer in the middle.

So Im on the hunt for a 1 ply black plate or a 3 ply all black plate.

Theres a number of sites that sell guitar parts, but cant find the single colour plate.
Seen one on ebay I've got me eye on.

Still no sign of the delivery, but it has been bank holiday.

Purchase . . .

I've gone for the telecaster kit, I love that shape, my first guitar was a lake placid blue telecaster, I loved it, then I sold it to me cousin to raise some cash when I was at Uni, worst decision of me life.
Delivery 1-2 business days. Will post when it arrives.

Few things:

1. Need to deicide what colour to paint it?

Easy, going to try and do it this colour, its called butterscotch or butterscotch blonde, it was the colour the original 1951 telecaster was painted. I will need to get a black scratch plate as the one I bought is white. Found a few sites that I can buy a black one from pretty inexpensively.

2. Need to cut the head stock!

The standard headstock is a paddle shape and allows you to cut it to shape, I'll go for standard tele shape I think. If I go any different it'll look daft. I've found a template for a tele shape headstock online.

I'm going to just bite the bullet and buy a coping saw and trace the template on to the headstock and just hand saw it, thats the plan at the moment, thinks may change when it arrives.

Problems come in many shapes . . .

Right, had a look online, just done a broad google search for 'build your own guitar'. Found a few people who've made their own guitar from scratch.

It looks canny hard.

There's gonna be a lot to think about, just the body is throwing up alot of questions already:

1. Shape
Should I go original and design my own shape or should I just get a template for a known shape? Some of the original shapes I've seen look absolute gash, I dont think I have the creative ability to design a guitar shape that will look good. It would probably end up looking like a Frankenstein mishmash of all my favourite guitar shapes in one, although Kurt Cobain did with that Jagstang shape didn't he??


2. Type of wood
Ash, Alder, Maple, Mahogony which one? There are loads of different types of wood for different tone quality. The main problem that keeps coming up is where the eff am I going to get a slab of quality wood from. Some one bought some off of ebay and there a few sites that sell them but cant find any prices.

3. How am I going to cut the wood?
Another problem is even if I manage to get a hold of a slab of grade A maple and I design a timeless shape how am I going to cut it. This is going to have to involve power tools, I havent got the skill to hand saw a complicated shape out of a thick chunk of wood. Power tools = cash

I'll stop there. . .

. . . found a site that sells kits, the body is already cut to shape, the neck is cut with a fret board, all holes are pre-drilled, the electrics are already done. All you do is finish it, paint it, and put it together.

www.themusicking.co.uk

They sell most guitar shapes and the prices varies depending on the shape.

I guess this is a sensible option since I have very little woodwork skills that I can brag about.

Just need to decide which one to go for.

Its called direction. . .

I'm looking to build my own guitar. I've always wanted to do this since CDT lessons at school but I never got the opportunity. Ended up making a crappy little balsa wood chair = mint eh!!!
I mean it cant be that hard to build a guitar can it, a piece of wood, few wires, a neck, strings, jobs a good un.

Well this is just to keep tabs on the build mainly for my own benefit, so I can remember what I've done and where I go wrong. I've got a very limited budget so cost is gonna be a major stumbling block. Also Ive got limited time, mainly after work. Also I've got limited space, Ive got no garage or large space to build it in. Still cant be that hard can it!!