FINISHED: WezV Tele build

WezV

the neck has a rather dry and streaky fretboard, but nothing that can't be worked with

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030582_zpsd8a74cb2.jpg

big issue number one (this may be down to it being chucked over my gates), there are a couple of divots between the first fret and nut. I can fix these easily so I am not too worried, a bit annoying though.  You can also see the nut is high, but its where i would expect a pre-slotted nut to be before any set-up work

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030584_zpsa3fbe329.jpg

Transitions are reasonably good, usually they stand out as being under done on cheap guitars

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030587_zps30abf6ac.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030588_zpsa09bb7f3.jpg

so the maple is a bit speckly, but look.... flame.... if you squint a bit.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030590_zps36f9dcfe.jpg

neck pocket fit

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030591_zps99445906.jpg

things like this annoy me.  the plate and plastic pad came together like this.  the plate is the wrong way round and I only noticed when screwing it in ( i just though it looked cheaply plated

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030592_zps035da75e.jpg

that's better

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030593_zps6a4331b4.jpg

hmm, so they changed to a 3 screw bridge which annoyingly means removing the middle saddle.  also notice the bridge has holes for string through body on behind bridge.  nice to have options

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030595_zps931173fc.jpg

thank god they decided to forego with the traditional tele jack socket

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030597_zps7ec22142.jpg

Cheap pots and switches but again the wire is actually usable

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030598_zpsc46f9401.jpg

tuners and string trees (not going to mount the trees just yet).  the tuners work okay but at least two of them are already showing signs of irregular gears.  they could improve with a little use and last a few years.   They are usable but i would recommend an upgrade - but i bet most of you already decided that was happening

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030602_zps97e1424d.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030604_zpsa90c0c91.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030605_zps987e440d.jpg

WezV

terrible strings - these should be thrown away

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030606_zpsda4e574a.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030607_zps8edb3476.jpg

bridge came like this

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030610_zpsc1d9fddf.jpg

so the only bit of set-up I am doing at this stage is putting them in a better place

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030612_zps05e02b07.jpg

weight of the assembled kit (minus string trees)... a bit tubby for a basswood tele but not unwieldy

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030615_zpsb01cd1a2.jpg

and the one big issue that does not have an easy fix (other than replacing parts)

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030617_zps95c6967b.jpg

note that the 4screw bridge shown on the website is much more evenly spaced

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/Capture_zps805df17b.jpg

I would cause a fuss, but i fully intend to replace the bridge anyway and always did

anyway, other than that one issue it went together well and is ready for set-up - but could be taken out for a slide gig straight away

I am happy with what i got for the price, a good base for modding

WezV

juansolo said:

WezV said:

I have had that top about 10 years and offered it to loads of people along the way but none have gone for it.  I think I have a matching headplate for it too

To be fair, the English walnut I chose from your stash out-prettied it But it is lovely.

I know, I have some great woods in my stash from spending a few years buying every nice or unusual bit I saw.   Need to get back on that at some point as I am starting to work through them all

ThePrettyDamned

To be honest, that's far from awful, and for what, 60 quid? Bargain.  

It's a bit tubby for basswood maybe, but it's so cheap... I think this could turn out to be pretty decent with a couple of hardware upgrades.

Thanks for the step-by-step of quality - I'll stick with stock pickups and begin by changing the tuners, other electronics and bridge on mine.

TTony

Thanks for the detailed assessment @WezV

sinbaadi

Easy to switch to a 4 screw bridge?  Or not so easy?

I guess my concern is whether the two existing outer holes will be in the right places.

WezV

i don't mind that they have gone for 3 mounting screws instead of 4, i just mentioned it to highlight the change.  

The easiest fix for the string spacing issue will be new saddles without the grooves in the wrong place, i have a few sets of spare saddles so i will see what fits before i upgrade the bridge and will post here with the results

the biggest decision with a new bridge is whether to go string through or toploader.  obviously string through is more of a challenge if you have not done it before

sinbaadi

OK, but if I were to want to switch to a 6 saddle bridge, for example, should I be looking for one with the same screw layout, or is it simply a case of drilling the two inner screw holes with a 4 screw bridge?

WezV

to be honest, they vary and I don't think this bridge matches the 2 most common layouts.  Its best to assume the existing holes won't be in the right place, then you won't be disappointed.

I will probably still upgrade the whole bridge on mine so i will run through the process when I do 

imalone

You don't clamp the neck while bolting it on? Or is that just because it's a quick try-out?

WezV

Why would I?

I only clamp a bolt-on neck in position when drilling the holes into the neck.  they are already drilled here

WezV

SO i did some saddle swapping, I found a few 2/3rd complete sets of saddles.  all different types so mix and matching was out of the questions.

Then finally found a complete compensated set, unfotunately they are compensated for a left handed guitar.   i decided to try these anyway.  It won't intonate but it does show that replacing the saddles will be the cheapest fix for the string spacing issue

I detuned but didnt bother to take the strings off

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030621_zps2f3b5328.jpg

Did the wiring too

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030626_zps376fb804.jpg

notice the black wire going off at a tangent.   that should be under the bridge.  I didn't bother when i assembled yesterday.  luckily this is a tele and that bridge wire isn't needed.  the bridge is mounted to the pickup which has a brass baseplate and is wired to ground

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030578_zps84f32b6f.jpg

how does it sound?    certainly not terrible.  The pickups sounded like a tele, not the best tele in the world but I am surprised they do manage to get in the right ballpark.  they are usable.  bare in mind i am a bit of a pickup snob so this amounts to high praise  

imalone

WezV said:

Why would I?

I only clamp a bolt-on neck in position when drilling the holes into the neck.  they are already drilled here

That's a rather good point. As you were.

WezV

Right.  I have done the fretwork and as promised I have done it using only things that can be found in a local hardware shop... no specialist tools used here .   That is not to say i don't recommend using the proper tools.  I have most of them and do use them, but you can get good results without.   This isn't how I normally do fret jobs, but it is how i did it when first started out mucking around with my own guitars.

Even so, I would put these results up against most factory guitars.

Minimum tools:

masking tape

Permanent marker

Straight edge

truss rod tool

Leveller 

Empty drinks can & scissors

Wet & Dry paper (240 to 1000g)

Fine wire wool

PREP

So, the first step was to check the straightness of the neck.  I used a 1m aluminium ruler for this.  Its not as good as my precision straight edge but it allowed me to adjust the neck till it was straight.  I hold the edge of the ruler down the centre of the fretboard.  I had a bit of backbow but luckily these kits are equipped with 2-way truss rods, so a little turn lefty loosey  and all was good to go

I decided not to mask the board for this, but it really is best practice to do it.

I mark the top of every fret with the marker.  You can see I am using a proper fret shield, but its just thin aluminium and 2 strips cut from an old drinks can will work just as well.  If you have masked the board obviously its not an issue, but we do use the sheild again later

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030628_zpscc0369bc.jpg

why do we mask the board?

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030630_zpsbd6e208d.jpg

LEVELLING

This is the leveler I will be using

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030631_zps37b1d9e6.jpg

Its a fine mill file and I have checked its straight.   For those gasping at the crudeness its worth noting Bob Benedetto demonstrates using a mill file as a leveler.   if its good enough for £30k archtops its good enough for a £65 kit.   You could also use a decent sharpening stone as long as its not used for anything else.  

 

WezV

i run it along the string paths like this

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030633_zps0d834903.jpg

This is after one pass on the treble side, you can see a nice even thin line of filed metal on top of each fret.   The key here is really light passes, you shouldn't need to add too much pressure..   If you are using a sharpenign stone you will have a coarse and fine side, stick with the fine.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030634_zpsef4577c4.jpg

Its not so even at the other end:

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030637_zps8612a4a9.jpg

these are uneven frets, the file didn't even touch the 18th fret

We carry on doing light passes until we have touched the top of every fret

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030645_zps7e4d5e54.jpg

difficult to take a pic of, but the above pic shows that we took a lot more metal off the 12th to barely touch the 11th.  Its a sign of uneven fretting again.  at this stage they are all level but that 12th is far to flat to be usable.

I was quite happy with this neck other than 1 or 2 spots.     Because it didn't take much leveling I don't really need to re-crown, but that 12th fret clearly needs some work

WezV

CROWNING & DRESSING

So here is the tool i will be using for recrowning.  Its a triangular needle file

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030647_zps10cf6416.jpg

I have recoloured the fret and i will use the needle file to reshape the fret till i just leave a thin green line down the middle.  A proper crowning file does this much quicker but this way will work fine with a bit of care.  

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030649_zps756405af.jpg

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030654_zps306b870f.jpg

I am not going to bother re-crowning the rest and you will see why in a minute.  I am also going to skip dressing the ends, although if you grind off one edge of that triangle file above you have a perfectly fine dressing file and there is plenty of info on how to do that elsewhere

I am not dressing the ends for this, but it doesn't mean they are being ignored.   First step is to wrap some 240g paper around a firm sanding block and sand up and down each edge.  I tend to start on the angle of the fret ends and roll it into the fretboard edge with subsequent passes.

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030660_zpscb2a9f81.jpg

You can see I am catching wood here too so don't do it this way on a lacquered board... or keep it well masked

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030661_zps17ef1d2b.jpg

Now look at the way I am holding this block

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030664_zps12743e06.jpg

its a very firm foam block but I am putting enough pressure on it to make it slightly curved.  I am now going to use it like this on the front face.   Light passes at this stage, you just want it catching the top of the frets and helping to even out the crown, you are not re-levelling

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030665_zps1efb0a9d.jpg

re-colour the frets before you do this stage and you will see the file marks gradually disappear

rinse and repeat this process on the edges and face of the fretboard up to 1000 grit and you will be left with this

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030671_zpsbe4f8638.jpg

after a bit of clean-up with fine wire wool it looks like this

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e31/WezV/P1030677_zpsb7f2c5d2.jpg

You can keep going  (and i do) right up to 12000 grit micro mesh and metal polish for a real mirror shine, but it will play well enough at this stage

Andyjr1515

Great thread, WezV  

TTony

Nice write-up @WezV - thanks!

imalone

Thanks!

sinbaadi

Thanks Wez, on my phone and can't see the pics at the moment for some reason so I'll have a good look when I get home.
The neck on mine seems okay and straight, but a couple of frets simply don't seem set in as far or as evenly as others. I'm wondering if they need tapping in before attempting anything else? Or is that a bad move?....