Pine Tele Build

[solfege]

I've finally gone from the 'assemble parts' stage to the 'begin finishing the body and putting the guitar together' stage on this one, so it seems like an auspicious time to make a thread.

Here's the body in its raw state, which I got when GuitarMill had a sale a few months ago. One pine Tele body with standard routing.



And here is the body with its very first coat of untinted super blonde Shellac, which I'm mostly using as a sealer before I start putting down the actual color coats, which are going to be the same shellac, but with a cocktail of Transtint dyes added, aiming for a nice warm aged amber look.



I was thinking about trying to use a version of the vinegar and steel wool (and copper) aging process that Epizootics used on his brother's guitar, but my test strips with the sort of yellow pine that the body's made of never got to that nice blue-black tone his fir body developed, so I ditched that idea and I'm going with the backup plan. I may try a subtle burst with the Transtint dyes, or I may do the back and sides darker than the top, but that's to be determined as things progress.

The rest of the build is an Allparts maple neck that I bought from a Reverb seller with amber nitro already on it (and which I might mess around with to make it a bit less orange, or maybe I'll just let it age naturally), and standard blackguard Tele appointments, Bakelite guard and all.

Pickups will be a Broadcaster set that Tim from Sunday Handwound is making for me, A3 magnets, lacquer potted, all very traditional, aiming for about 10k for the bridge and 7 for the neck. I'm planning on starting with 250k pots, though with a no-load tone pot, and a .047 cap (with a .022 backup in case the first one is too dark). But I expect that I may end up playing around with the wiring a fair bit (one cool thing about Teles is how easy this is) as I get a sense of what the beast can do.

Basically, I've never had a Tele, so I'm starting with something in the ballpark of traditional Tele, but set up with the idea that it'll play nice with amps and settings that I like for my JM and my Jag.

[Maggieo]

That's a great looking body. Pine makes for kick-ass Teles.

[solfege]

That's a great looking body. Pine makes for kick-ass Teles.

Your Hahn was part of the inspiration for this, actually. Though I think what I'm building is going to be pretty unlike that guitar (string through, hotter pickups) otherwise.

Also, it's insane how nice the body is for the 150 bucks or so I payed for it.

[solfege]

Front with a second coat of the plain shellac.

[solfege]

Got two coats of the plain shellac on, then did a quick leveling sand with 400 grit. The nice thing about using shellac flakes is that they're not waxy, so you can sand it pretty well. Put one more coat on, French polish style (little circles) and will let that cure up for the night.

One thing I'm noticing is that the pine sucks up *way* more shellac than the ash body on my Jag did. I've already used an ounce or so ( I mixed up 4) on these three sealing coats.

[Invader Zim]

I highly recommend 4 way switching:

[Maggieo]

Got two coats of the plain shellac on, then did a quick leveling sand with 400 grit. The nice thing about using shellac flakes is that they're not waxy, so you can sand it pretty well. Put one more coat on, French polish style (little circles) and will let that cure up for the night.

One thing I'm noticing is that the pine sucks up *way* more shellac than the ash body on my Jag did. I've already used an ounce or so ( I mixed up 4) on these three sealing coats.

That's what Rick Kelly did on my Bowery Pine Tele, and IMO it looks as amazing as it sounds and plays. And I think he did the neck with just shellac and some tint, too.


Fano Alt de Facto TC6 and Rick Kelly Bowery Pine Tele, August 10, 2017 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr


Kelly Bowery Pine Tele, January 23, 2012 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

[solfege]

I'm probably gonna end up someplace like that, yeah. It looks very nice!

Though I had a minor disaster trying to bush the shellac rather than French polish just now. Will go back to the tried and true way, after sanding back some runs.

[Maggieo]

I'm probably gonna end up someplace like that, yeah. It looks very nice!

Though I had a minor disaster trying to bush the shellac rather than French polish just now. Will go back to the tried and true way, after sanding back some runs.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure he used, like, one layer of grain filler.

[solfege]

I'm probably gonna end up someplace like that, yeah. It looks very nice!

Though I had a minor disaster trying to bush the shellac rather than French polish just now. Will go back to the tried and true way, after sanding back some runs.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure he used, like, one layer of grain filler.

Yeah, I did that with the sealer, mostly. Unfortunately the Transtint isn't working out quite as well as it did on my Jag. I've got some blotchiness that I don't like and I'm trying to decide if it's salvageable or if I need to sand it back and potentially mix up another batch of shellac.

Edit to add: I think I saved it. We'll see in the morning when I can look in daylight.

[Maggieo]

FWIW, my Hahn is sprayed with, like, three coats of nitro. So, there's always that route.


Hahn Jim Campilongo Model C Bridge, May 12, 2018 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

[solfege]

I'm not really proud of this finish job, and there's a real chance I might strip it down and redo it, but I kind of like the overall color I've gotten -- especially how it works with the neck -- and most of what I think is really bad is hidden by the pickguard or is on the back.



So... maybe I'll just rock it and see how it ages.

For posterity's sake, here's naked pictures of the body that show most of my screw ups.





I'm definitely holding off on tru oil for a bit in case I wanna redo it completely.

[Maggieo]

That's looking pretty good to me.

[solfege]

That's looking pretty good to me.

Thanks. I'm in the dangerous territory where I need to get a drill press to finish mounting the neck / the pickups aren't here yet, so i *could* just refinish it, but happily I need to get my Syllabi together next week for the start of the term and that might just make me leave well enough alone.

[epizootics]

Hey man, sorry to hear the steel wool thing didn't pan out...Did it just go very dark on you? If so, I have an inkling getting rid of the steel wool and simply dipping copper shavings in vinegar might do the trick. But then again, chemical stains aren't the most predictable in use.

It looks like that pine is one thirsty son-of-a-birch. I've had similar problems with cherry. Sometimes you need to feed the wood with as much clear shellac as you can before adding any dye at all in the mix, until the wood stops absorbing everything you throw at it. The other thing I do is to do my French polishing the wrong way: going in straight lines instead of the little circles. You still need a pad with a smooth, convex bottom for that, so the sides of the pad don't mess up the finish left and right of your straight lines. It seems to help with blotchers.

The cool thing with shellac is that it's not too bad to sand back and start over. If I want to be real quick I use a smoothing plane to shave off that thin layer of finish.

On the other hand, it does look good the way it is, like a piece of countryside furniture, which suits the idea of a Telecaster! After it gets a few dings, you won't think of it any more. But I know that nagging feeling a finish you're not satisfied with can create.