Black Tele Build

[seeaxe]

I had come across some kwila and though it would make a good solid body electric and so laminated it up to the right size, with some veneer strips, which I thought looked good and which helped to line things up well.

I had a hankering to build an all black tele with a maple neck, as I had seen a picture of one with gold hardware that looked really cool. I had some right hand gold hardware and pickups I had used on my first tele (Rimucaster) and had since found some proper lefty hardware, so I decided to pull the first one to bits and make a new, right hand tele.

Interestingly, the veneer strips seem to show through the finish. After the first 8 coats of gloss black, I could see them, so I waited for the paint to harden, then wet and dried until I could not see them and put some more black on. Once the paint dried, I could still see them. By this time I had finished my can of black, so sanded back again to remove all traces of the veneer lines and put about 10 coats of gloss lacquer over the black.

Guess what – you can still see the lines! Not to worry, when I do the final sand back and polish, I think they will not show then. This one needs to cure for a while, so in the mean time I will fret the neck and sort out the electronics.

It will have a black pick guard when it’s finished, the white one is a spare I had in the shed.

Here are some pictures, thanks for looking.

Heres the body still in the rotisserie spray jig

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The neck - I love working with rock maple

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The white one looks pretty good though!

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The all black (not meant to be All-Black) concept.

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[Nick]

Those lines will dissappear Richard when you rub back the finish. You've got alot of coats on there though so make sure it is well cured before rubbing back otherwise it will continue to shrink after you've polished it & Bazzinga...your line will return
Can't go wrong with black & gold, it always looks classy in my books, nice looking neck by the way where did you get it from? I can't quite read the sticker on the headstock.

[seeaxe]

Thanks Nick.

In the past I have left the guitar 6 weeks before I start to sand back and polish the finsh. I find it hard to wait that long becasue I am busting a gut to see what it will look like. That means this wont be finished until Christmas.

In the meantime I will be fretting the neck. I want to get some gold fret wire from LMI to match the hardware. And buying myself a decent soldering iron.

I made the neck myself using rock maple from Timspec in Auckland and its got a zero fret and an Allied truss rod in it. The label is my attempt at a decal - I gave myself 6 out of 10 for that.

Ill post some decent pics in thr gallery when its finally done.

[Kim]

Great work Richard, the neck is very nice indeed black and gold...the old JPS theme...remember the formula 1 team? BMW followed up with a black and gold JPS theme as well, always a classy look.

Cheers

KIm

[DarwinStrings]

Seems that look was so popular the made cigarette packets in the same theme Kim

The neck - I love working with rock maple

Same Richard, even though there are more stable choices I could make I still love to make neck out of it and especially love it on a Telecaster.

Jim

Richard please turn up the Tele!

[seeaxe]

You are showing your age, chaps!! Not too many people would know what a JPS is! (they would probably think it was a variant of a PRS)

I think the idea with the JPS colour scheme on cigarette packets was to reflect the inside of smokers lungs! Except I am not sure what the gold bits were meant to be. The F1 cars did look very cool though, saw one of those in the flesh at Brands Hatch, back in the day.

Thanks for the comments, looking forward to hearing it myself.

Cheers

[Nick]

For the amount of 'layers' you've applied Richard, I'd leave it the full 6 weeks just to ensure that there will be no further shrinkage & a full depth cure, but the beauty of you owning the finished product will be that you can strip the hardware off & polish some more if further shrinkage takes place

Ah yes those JPS cars, dead sexy in that livery & Colin Chapman....a man ahead of his time

[kiwigeo]

I think the idea with the JPS colour scheme on cigarette packets was to reflect the inside of smokers lungs! Except I am not sure what the gold bits were meant to be.

The gold bits are the same colour as the handles and hinges on a coffin.

[seeaxe]

New year progress report

I polished the body the other day, put in the shielding tape I had ordered........not quite enough, so ordered some more. That might get here after the public holidays, so not much progress after that.

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I fretted the neck (thanks for the gold fretwire Nick, very nice) and found I had not been careful enough sanding the fret board radius so all the frets had to come out again. In re-sanding, of course I went through the paua position marking dots and had to order some more of those too.

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So the usual one steps forwards, two back

At least a few things got done in the garden

Cheers and Happy New Year, especially the troops in Queensland, seems you either get to choose too dry or too wet, but not much in between. Here's hoping you have a better 2011.

[Allen]

Looks great Richard, and your patience really is really going to pay off. It seems to come more easily for me the older I get, but certainly wasn't always like that. No point in getting upset by little set backs. Just find something else to do in the meantime is always the best medicine.

And your right about the weather here. Seems it hasn't stopped raining for the last 6 months, and that was suppose to be the dry season. God help us during this wet.

[Nick]

Should look good when you've finished her Richard & as for the slight "whoops", they're all considered 'learning tools' the first time If you repeat it on another guitar however!

[Tim Mason]

My favourite solid body guitar Thanks for bringing this Tele into the world! I love these things, beautifully shaped slabs of musical wood (i have an old '85 Ibanez Tele copy, 2 buckers and just magical)

This one is looking good so far

Looks like a nice fat neck too...?

[seeaxe]

Thanks guys, for the comments

I wish I could say I wont make the same mistake again, Nick, but knowing me....

Tim, yes, I agree, my first electric was a Les Paul copy, basically because I grew up listening to Jimmy Page in his later years (after he had switched from a Tele), but over the many years of playing guitars I have come to understand the truth, Teles are cooler!.

I think it is one of those design icons, it is so simple and so good that while people will forever fiddle around with them, the quintessential, original single coil tele with all its buzzes and pops will always endure. Interestingly, the Strat is even more iconic as even after 60 years, its still pretty much exactly the same as the day it was invented. Imagine if someone had designed a car so good in 1955 that we were all still driving them (beetle owners - I know, I know,)

Waiting on the delivery guy now for the dots and tape, there's only so much gardening a man can stand............ At least I am landscaping in front of the man cave/guitar shed while I am waiting. I am trying to develop some level, non muddy space outside the shed so I can build an outside work area, and do some of the messier jobs (like sanding) out there.

Cheers,
Richard