Thinline tele build thread

Megii

Finally decided to do this - life is too short, and it's just an idea I had that wouldn't go away. So basically, a '69 style thinline tele, not least because I think that is a very pretty design) but with a humbucker size pickup in the neck. I already had a nice flame maple neck kicking around, bought from Northwest Guitars some time ago. Could not find a nice thinline body for sale with the specs I wanted, so I got in touch with @GSPBASSES, and this lovely thing has just arrived:






Am planning for some sort of transparent blue dye Tru Oil finish. Have got a GFS Surf 90 pickup to use in the neck slot, and a nice Mojo Broadcaster pickup for the bridge. Still need to buy a few bits including the bridge unit, which I'm thinking probably a Gotoh. Hardward will be nickel. Anyhow, build thread underway!

Winny_Pooh

Nice wood

Georg_Figel

the body looks great

Megii

Georg_Figel said:

the body looks great

Thank you - it is indeed very nicely made with some attractive grain and figuring. It's ash (obviously), and given it is a fully chambered thinline style, I asked for the wood to be somewhat on the denser side. All seems very good anyhow.

The project is off to a slowish start, but I did spend an hour or two yesterday widening the sides of the neck pocket - just used sandpaper, both hand held and with a small block. Got there in the end, and now the neck is a nice fit, which allows me to get some idea of the finished guitar. Still planning to dye the body a not too dark transparent blue and then a thin-ish Tru Oil finish over that. Must get the dye and the rest of the hardware ordered!

DannyP

Lovely. Have you are a decision about pickups yet?

Megii

DannyP said:

Lovely. Have you are a decision about pickups yet?

Thank you @DannyP ; - the bridge pickup is definitely going to be a Mojo Broadcaster type (alnico 3, about 11K) that I bought on this forum some time ago for (if I remember right) £25 - bit of a bargain there, I'm sure a great pickup, and it needs using. Re the neck, I was thinking of using a GFS Surf 90 that I have spare - not the most high end of pickups, but I once had this installed in another guitar, and really liked it a lot. On the other hand, that might be a bit on the bright side in this build, with the maple neck and ash body, so possibly some kind of humbucker size P90. I'll be hoping to get a good clean single coil kind of sound for jazz use from the neck pickup, without wanting to replicate the old school mellow archtop kind of sound. I guess I'll at least try the Surf 90 to start with, and see how that goes.

DannyP

Cool! Doesn't matter what the pickups cost if they sound good

Did you not consider having the GFS body routed for a regular soapbar?

Or are you keeping options open for a humbucker?

Megii

DannyP said:

Cool! Doesn't matter what the pickups cost if they sound good

Did you not consider having the GFS body routed for a regular soapbar?

Or are you keeping options open for a humbucker?

Cheers @DannyP - I never had a GFS body, just the GFS Surf 90 pickup, which is a humbucker size. The body you see above (made to order by this forum's GSPBASSES) was always going to be routed for a humbucker size pickup - partly because that works for the Surf 90, and also because that gives me other options if I want to try them, including of course an actual humbucker. I think a full size P90 would be too wide for the 69 thinline-style scratchplate, and I did want to use that, if only for the look. But one day I may well wish to aquire some kind of guitar with P90s - that will be one for the future though. 

Megii

So, just ordered:

Jack socket holder/jack (modern electro style, nickel)
Nickel plated brass string ferrules
Gotoh BS-TC1S telecaster bridge unit (vintage style, but with cutaway side walls, compensated brass saddles), nickel plate
Staggered locking machine heads, nickel
2 x nickel finish control knobs
2 x 300K log CTS pots
Scratchplate fixing screws, nickel
Nickel finish neck plate & fixing screws
Crimson Guitars Phthalo Blue dye
Small bottle of Tru Oil

Used Axecaster where I could, the rest from Axesrus, apart from the dye and Tru Oil. Any other bits needed I already have, but still comes to about £140 - these things do add up unfortunately...

DannyP

Sorry GSP not GFS, getting confused!

Megii

DannyP said:

Sorry GSP not GFS, getting confused!

I figured that was what you meant - easily done anyhow, no worries, and cheers for your interest in the build.

Sarge

Be aware that blue stain will go a teal ish colour under Tru Oil, I think its a beautiful colour but you may not. 

Megii

Sarge said:

Be aware that blue stain will go a teal ish colour under Tru Oil, I think its a beautiful colour but you may not. 

Cheers @Sarge - that did occur to me, and I don't mind really as long as I end up with something one would call a shade of blue - if it ends up green, then that wouldn't be so good. I will try to keep the number of coats of Tru Oil on the low side also.

Sarge

Megii said:

Sarge said:

Be aware that blue stain will go a teal ish colour under Tru Oil, I think its a beautiful colour but you may not. 

Cheers @Sarge - that did occur to me, and I don't mind really as long as I end up with something one would call a shade of blue - if it ends up green, then that wouldn't be so good. I will try to keep the number of coats of Tru Oil on the low side also.

I doubt it could go green as Tru Oil only has an amber tint, here's a Westone Thunder body I did in blue stain before and after Tru Oil... 

  https://photos.app.goo.gl/mxKNzPuTDVpFBYzb7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1EERCLFHWVYdf5oRA

Megii

Sarge said:

Megii said:

Sarge said:

Be aware that blue stain will go a teal ish colour under Tru Oil, I think its a beautiful colour but you may not. 

Cheers @Sarge - that did occur to me, and I don't mind really as long as I end up with something one would call a shade of blue - if it ends up green, then that wouldn't be so good. I will try to keep the number of coats of Tru Oil on the low side also.

I doubt it could go green as Tru Oil only has an amber tint, here's a Westone Thunder body I did in blue stain before and after Tru Oil... 

  https://photos.app.goo.gl/mxKNzPuTDVpFBYzb7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1EERCLFHWVYdf5oRA

That looks fantastic to the extent I might want to copy it - may I ask what dye you used there @Sarge ? Appreciate the photos, helpful and reassuring also, cheers.

Sarge

Megii said:

Sarge said:

Megii said:

Sarge said:

Be aware that blue stain will go a teal ish colour under Tru Oil, I think its a beautiful colour but you may not. 

Cheers @Sarge - that did occur to me, and I don't mind really as long as I end up with something one would call a shade of blue - if it ends up green, then that wouldn't be so good. I will try to keep the number of coats of Tru Oil on the low side also.

I doubt it could go green as Tru Oil only has an amber tint, here's a Westone Thunder body I did in blue stain before and after Tru Oil... 

  https://photos.app.goo.gl/mxKNzPuTDVpFBYzb7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1EERCLFHWVYdf5oRA

That looks fantastic to the extent I might want to copy it - may I ask what dye you used there @Sarge ? Appreciate the photos, helpful and reassuring also, cheers.

No problem buddy, I used Bolgers water based, I find it to be very decent and vibrant enough, plus a little goes a very long way. 

https://bolgers.co.uk/products/bolgers-water-based-wood-dye-500ml

Megii

Sarge said:

Megii said:

Sarge said:

Megii said:

Sarge said:

Be aware that blue stain will go a teal ish colour under Tru Oil, I think its a beautiful colour but you may not. 

Cheers @Sarge - that did occur to me, and I don't mind really as long as I end up with something one would call a shade of blue - if it ends up green, then that wouldn't be so good. I will try to keep the number of coats of Tru Oil on the low side also.

I doubt it could go green as Tru Oil only has an amber tint, here's a Westone Thunder body I did in blue stain before and after Tru Oil... 

  https://photos.app.goo.gl/mxKNzPuTDVpFBYzb7

https://photos.app.goo.gl/1EERCLFHWVYdf5oRA

That looks fantastic to the extent I might want to copy it - may I ask what dye you used there @Sarge ? Appreciate the photos, helpful and reassuring also, cheers.

No problem buddy, I used Bolgers water based, I find it to be very decent and vibrant enough, plus a little goes a very long way. 

https://bolgers.co.uk/products/bolgers-water-based-wood-dye-500ml

Top man, thank you, that's great!

Andyjr1515

Pleased to see you back on the build, @Megii ;

It's going to look good!

rze99

Nice work and unlike the single coil and P90 combo

Megii

Andyjr1515 said:

Pleased to see you back on the build, @Megii ;

It's going to look good!

rze99 said:

Nice work and unlike the single coil and P90 combo

Thanks guys, really still in the easy planning and getting the parts together stage re the pics above, but should be good. @Andyjr1515 as you know I am just a putter-togetherer of parts and have very limited woodworking skills, unlike yourself, but doing these kind of things still gives me the feeling of creating something, and  I do appreciate the welcome back to the building scene - I guess I couldn't stay away from it forever.

Anyhow, just a little more work on the build today - bridge fitted, and neck heel positioned and marked for the fixing screw holes with a couple of outside strings fitted to check alignment. I am going to have to do a bit of filing to the scratchplate, and possibly just a slight enlargement to the right side of the neck pickup cavity to be able to get the best positioning for the neck pickup. But you can see the look of the GFS Surf 90 pickup - it's kind of a vague variation on a Dynasonic kind of thing, with big alnico 2 polepieces. I bought a set of Axesrus's staggered aluminium locking tuners for this build, and am highly impressed by the quality and look of them - really great tuning machines. The bridge unit is a Gotoh, which has compensated brass saddles, and cutaways in the side walls of the ashtray, to give unhindered picking access - it seems nice I must say.

sawyer

It's looking cool in natural ash!