Bridge pick up. . .

Necking on. . .

The next day the next was attatched. Again pretty straight forward. The neck sloted into the pre cut pocket on the body and was bolted on with four screws and a metal bracket.




When I first got it the neck fit perfectly into the pocket, but six months of sitting in the conservatory, where it gets really hot in the summer and really cold in the summer, something either swelled or contracted which ment it no longer fit. I managed to get it in with out having to chisle anything though.

I used a match stick through the holes to check they were lined up properly.





Once screwed on there was a little gap between the neck and the body which I was a bit worried about. This can affect the transfer of energy from the strings to the body and reduce the amount of sustain. I couldnt get the screws any tighter, me mate Paul had a go and couldnt either, I was worried about knacking up the screw heads.



So we removed the screws halfway and rescrewed them in which pulled the neck and body closer together making the join more flush.



Jobs a good'un, starting to look more loike a guitar.

Machine heads. . .

The next day a started to assemble the head stock. The machine heads were canny easy to put on, straight through the pre-drilled hole, a washer and a bolt then tighten. Then a screw secures it to the underside.

and on they went:

All done.

Bit of a buff. . .

Sick of the bad weather I scrapped the plan to put more clear coats on and just got on with it.

From now on I promise not to mention any of the following words: spraying, coats, clear or lacquer. Which might make reading this garbage a bit less dull.

Right, I got me sel some T-Cut type paste (for taking scratches out of cars) and started to buff the body.

I wasn't sure it would do anything to be honest but I was chuffed with the result, I guess its like sanding with really fine paper, I should have started with a low grade paper then worked me way up to get a shine but I couldn't be boshed to mess about so I went straight for this stuff. I spent about three or four hours in front of the tele one night and buffed seven shades out of it.

The shine before buffing:



The shine after buffing:



End result: A decent shine but the lack of clear lacquer coats that a sprayed will make it more likely to get bashed but I've made me peace with that.

Reet. . .

I got a bit sick of waiting for good weather so Ive just got on with it.

Since the last post I managed to get about 5 coats of clear on and got a finish that I was pretty happy with. I was showing off on this telecaster forum that I go on to ask questions and they all said it wasnt very good!!

I got an 'orange peel' effect that they said was pretty normal but it needed wetsanding and more clear coats applied and they said to repeat that till I had a pure flat surface ready for polishing.

Look at the shine on that!!! If you look closely you can see an effect like the skin of an orange.

So I wetsanded the clear coat, which took the shine off but did make it nice and flat. I used white spirit as a lube instead of water as I was worried about water getting in the screw holes and warping the wood.

I got a bit carried away with getting a flat surface and sanded through pretty much all the clear coat like a proper der brain!

I did get a nice flat surface but no shine and no clear coat left (which lets you keep sanding to get a nice shine without sanding through the colour coat and protects the guitar from knocks and dings).

After wetsanding: very little clear coat left and the shine has totally gone.

I followed their advice and put another couple of clear coats on (which took about a month since the weather hasnt been good) This time no 'orange peel' just a few dust specks in the finish. I'm supposed to keep repeating this process until I have a flat shiny finish.