NPD - New Partscaster Day!

springhead

I've built one Tele partscaster out of mostly cheap and cheerful bits and that guitar now lives in our rehearsal room (mates converted basement).  I wanted to have a Tele at home again, and for something of a better build quality.  I decided on an ash body with a roasted maple/slab rosewood board neck, in a late 50's/early 60's theme. Wasn't necessarily going to build it this year but when I saw that @GSPBASSES Graham was going to use up his woodstock and wind down I asked if he could build me a suitable neck and body.  If Graham doesn't mind me reposting his picture, this is what he made for me:

Lovely woods and beautifully made. 

Graham shipped direct to Jonathan @FelineGuitars for me, and I posted the basic hardware there for Jonathan to do the drilling, fit tuners and nut and do a dry-fit setup.  That resulted in this:

Very nice centre seamed swamp ash body.  My other guitars are natural, sunburst, black and although it's a shame to cover that lovely grain I decided I wanted for the first time ever to have a guitar 'in a colour'.  And that colour was to be Gretsch Cadillac Green!  I sent some photo's to Rich @lamf68 and then shipped him the body for finishing in thin nitro, with the aim being that eventually it'll age and wear and that grain will start to reveal. 

While he was doing that I got to work on an oil finish for the neck using @WezV 's technique.  Here's the neck during that process:

And here's the body when it came back from Rich:

Those are reflections on the surface, not blob's!  It's really hard to photograph, you either get reflections or not the correct colour.  Rich has done a fabulous job and it looks much better in the finished guitar pictures further down.

Shielding the cavities with some air-con self adhesive foil tape.  That bullseye is a reflection of my dining room lamp (I commandeered the table to work on).

And now the pretty much finished article.  It's got some temporary pickups in as I'm hoping to take up Ash's @OilCityPickups offer of a one day pickup winding workshop, so currently it has an IronGear in the bridge and a no name cheap ceramic magnet job in the neck.

The other hardware is:

Kluson bridge (only decent quality top & through body one I could find - I want to have top loading ability).

Kluson cintage style tuners

All the other hardware was from @gavin_axecaster ;;; - CRL switch, CTS pots, nickel plated control plate, neck plate, string tree and strap buttons, parchment 3-ply guard.  Except for some threaded neck insterts from Monty's that Jonathan fitted. So the neck is held on with bolts rather than wood screws.  I thought it would be more resillient that screws for removing the neck (travel, truss rod access) and may or may not have sustain/tone benefits. 

Anyway, here he (perhaps "The Reverend Green" would be an appropriate name?) is:

Rich got exactly the shade of green I was after, and it's beautifully done.  Hopefully that will come across in these photo's.

t>

Stunning flamed maple that Graham used for the neck and the Danish Oil really brought it out.

It's quite loud acoustically, compared to my other electrics, long sustain too.  Both of those qualities are perhaps due to the roasted maple.  Maybe the neck inserts help a little.  Plugged in it sounds good but will benefit from some better pickups.  "She Does It Right" through my homebrew Tweed Deluxe sounds suitably proper!

The neck feels lovely.  I gave Graham rough dimensions of my Strat neck and an idea for the sort of size and shape I was after and he's done a fine job of the carve and shaping.  It's immediately comfy.  Very well installed 6105 vintage tall frets which are a little different for me as my other guitars tend to have jumbo frets.

I think one more trip to Jonathan for final fettling may be in order - it's a little bit buzzy, I'll try and slacken the rod a little and see if that helps.  The neck feels a little bit sticky from the oil.  Didn't have that experience on the other Tele neck I oiled so might have to rub back a little and perhaps wax it?  Any tips would be most welcome!

camf

Very nice indeed. 

munckee

Very lovely, have previously seen Rich's paintwork up close and been very impressed.

Roland

springhead said:

The neck feels a little bit sticky from the oil.  Didn't have that experience on the other Tele neck I oiled so might have to rub back a little and perhaps wax it?  Any tips would be most welcome!

Before you start messing with the finish, which might lead to you removing more than you need, try playing with your hands dusted in talcum powder. Talc is less abrasive than wire wool or emery paper, and can also help to dry out the oil.

springhead

That's interesting, thank you!  I did use a different type of oil this time, I actually found the gun stock oil as per Wez's guide.  Different wood too - roasted maple as opposed to ordinary maple so perhaps there's some reason for it there.  Good tip though, I'll give it a try!