Lockdown Telecaster

mikenetic

Years ago I bought a used US Telecaster that had led a bit of a hard life. Still, at a time when I wasn't playing very much it kept me going. 

Long story short, I've previously attempted to renovate this but it wasn't a great job, certainly not to the standard I wanted. So the parts languished in my attic for a good while. I find myself with some time, more skills, and (I think) all the things I need to get this back together.

May as well pop a thread up here in case people are interested, and also it'll keep me motivated to get it done.

Progress so far:

This is where we started. A box of dusty slightly shabby bits.



The frets had some fairly significant wear, so I decided to get a basic fret toolset and have a go at sorting them out. If I did that first and screwed it up, at least I hadn't wasted any more time and money. I watched some tutorials and had a go. From other hobbies I own a Dremel and a three-stage clay polishing kit used on steel. Once I'd got the frets level and reshaped I finished with the polisher.

It went better than I expected, which was a promising start.



I've sanded down the body and neck and I'm making progress on them. Will post some pictures when they're ready.

Sarge

Nice start. I suspect we'll see many threads of this ilk starting during this isolation period, not a bad thing at all  

YellowLedBetterMan

looking good. May I ask where you got the fret kit/which one it is?

PeteC

love a Tele - great start on getting it sorted. 

mikenetic

YellowLedBetterMan said:

looking good. May I ask where you got the fret kit/which one it is?

I just got hold of a pretty bog standard £10 kit from Amazon (tend to be a file & a couple of fingerboard protectors), and also bought a cheap fret leveling beam, the ones with different grades of paper on them. Neither of them were top-end, but they did the job fine, I just took it very steady.

mikenetic

What I really screwed up last time on the guitar was the surface finish. I just couldn't seem to get the varnishing right.

So I stripped all the old finish off, worked through the different paper grits and redyed the body with what I had left of a bottle of Crimson Guitar's black stain. It's pretty opaque after a couple of coats, and in my experience it's a case of rapidly diminishing returns if you apply more. I wanted some of the grain to still show.


Since my last rebuild attempt I actually bought a Baja Tele from the forum, which I really like. Because the body is routed quite flexibly, I've decided to drop a humbucker in the neck - mainly because I've not owned a Tele with that pickup configuration, so why not try with this?

It's going to get finished with Osmo Top Oil which I have left over from a kitchen worktop install. I'm kind of going with what I have, and I know people on here have used PolyX with a lot of success. As I understand it the formulation is similar. 

mikenetic

Made some good progress over the last few days. The neck has had 4 coats of Crimson Guitar Finishing Oil.

Now, there's a bit of a mystery about the neck.  When I put the serial number (removed by me in a prior attempt to refinish this thing) into the Fender site it came back as a Strat, but it's definitely a Tele neck. Given the guitar and all the bumpf that came with it I strongly suspect it might be an error rather than suspect. Regardless, it's a nice neck!

Anyhow, the neck is now very smooth and satiny. First coat of oil was rubbed in using 1200 wet & dry, and then it was cloth application after that. There are a few micro scratches if you hold it up to the light in a very shallow angle, but you can't feel them. For the purposes of this project, that's good enough.





Base of the neck and what I assume is a part code. Dated Jan 2005 on the butt of the neck.

mikenetic

Parts have arrived. I probably would have been able to start assembly, but unfortunately I managed to make some lovely scratches in the wax when I was giving it a buff, so I needed to flat back, patch and redo. Did I mention I wasn't very good at finishing...

The grain isn't quite as pronounced in actuality as the photos, but it gives an idea of how it shows through the stain. The wax tends to lift a bit of the dye out for the first coat or two.

SteveF

I really like the distressed black finish and it goes really nicely with the pick guard. Looks like it’s going to be a nice finished article

mikenetic

All done bar the strap buttons. I appear to have misplaced one, so I'm waiting for a new pair in the post. Osmo wax is an easy finish to work with but I've found it's very, very, soft. Also, the neck pocket is a bit of a loose fit. However, it set up fine and plays well. So I'm quite happy. I think I'm going to keep it as it is for a while, then I might look for a different finish long term. Something a bit more robust.

mikenetic

So after having it set up for a bit the limitations of a wax finish became apparent. Nice to try it out though, and this is a bit of a test bed. A few cans of @SteveRobinson finest nitro later and this is where I've got to. Dakota red with gloss clear coat. I've not had much experience with spray can or nitro work before, but it went surprisingly well, overall.

Now I just have to wait a month to sand and polish...

SteveRobinson

Nice thank you.

Depending how well you prepped and how much lacquer you have on you may not have to wait so long before flatting back.

mikenetic

Hi @SteveRobinson - it was sealed, primed and three colour coats applied about 10 days ago, then I sprayed 1 final colour coat, one light and five heavier wet coats of gloss over two days this weekend. I'm not in any particular hurry as I have other guitars to play.

I'm a bit paranoid about sanding through after the work I've put in, so I'm happy to err on the side of caution when it comes to cure times.

Any advice appreciated!

SteveRobinson

It's the thickness of your clearcoat that is the important factor, but it also depends how well you prepped and applied the paint.

It's very easy to sand through so just be careful, especially at the corners. 

mikenetic

Well, I left it three weeks to cure and today spent an afternoon polishing up the finish. Started with 1200, then up to 1800, T-Cut and a final polish. I did everything by hand apart from the final polish, where I used my cheapo random orbital polisher.

The finish turned out way, way, better than I was expecting. I'm very happy with the result - so thanks to everyone on the forum who posts tips and guides.

Thumbshifter

It's sooo easy to sand through if you're not careful. Nice job! Now go and get it dinged up... :-)

mikenetic

All done. Built back up and set up. Delighted with how this has all gone - it plays very nicely. The confidence and knowledge I've picked up from this here forum made the whole process a lot less intimidating.

chotu495

That looks very nice   

Top work!

usedtobe

That looks really good!