Telecaster build (and questions)

RedRabbit

After picking up a telecaster body nearly 2 years ago I've finally completed the build.  I've a few issues with it but I'll get to them shortly.

Unfortunately the only before shot I have is this

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2013-07-02 18.09.29.jpg

The body is from booboo guitars on ebay.  As their name suggests they are bodies with slight flaws but the only flaws on this one were a couple of knots in the wood.  They weren't anywhere I'd have to drill and I was planning a black finish so wasn't really too bothered by them.

The finish I was going for was the Wudtone Black Magic Woman which is meant to come out like this (from their website)

http://www.wudtone.com/shop/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/2-1024x628.jpg

I didn't get the finish I wanted but I have to say that the Wudtone kit was easy to use and the quality of the finish is great.

No progress pics I'm afraid but this the (almost) finished product

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.55.31.jpg

This finish is slightly darker in the flesh but it's certainly not what I was expecting.  I still quite like it so I'm not that bothered.

I know some will tell be I've put the control plate on the wrong way but it makes more sense for me.  Apologies to the purists!

Not sure there's much to comment on.  The tuners are Axetec's locking tuners which work very nicely and I'm probably going to put locking tuners on my main guitars.  Pickups are IronGear Steel Twin's which I picked up from @thecolourbox. ; I've only put it through my Blackstar Fly 3 to make sure everything was wired up correctly (think there's a problem but I'll get to that).

The problems

Other than the required setup (slight back bow on the neck) there are a couple of issues that are bugging me.

First issue - the neck pickup is much quieter than the bridge I'm assuming there's a problem with how I've wired it.

Second issue - this is the big one as I'm not sure what the problem is or how to fix it.  The high doesn't run parallel to the neck and by the 21st fret it's almost off the fingerboard

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.56.48.jpg

It's fine at the nut

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.56.25.jpg

and the low E is fine.  To me it looks as though all the stings are drifting off to the left.  String spacing over the bridge pickup looks okay (if anything the low E is slightly to the right)

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5256888/2015-05-31 08.56.54.jpg

I'm not sure is it's the bridge or the neck or something else.  Any ideas?

Corvus

You can often fix that by loosening the screws a bit, pull the neck over and nip them up again. The screws should pass through the body so it doesn't hurt to enlarge the holes slightly - doesn't need much to give enough room. If the neck resists shifting over, or moves back after a while, it'd be something to look at.
Might find the scratchplate resists the neck being moved, might need a little bit of work on the cutout. Couple of mins job though once the plate is off.

The body looks good, antique-y looking, nice one.

TTony

RedRabbit said:

As Mr Corvus says, the only other thing you *might* need to do is to sand a tiny bit off the bass side of the neck pocket if that's why the neck refuses to move over that way.

Re the Wudtone - I had a problem with the finish on one of mine being a little anaemic compared to what I'd expected.  I ended up sanding it off and starting again (I'm not in any way suggesting that you do this - just a tip for next time), and really forcing the base coat colour into the wood.  Not just rubbing it on, and not flooding the top with stain, but really rubbing it *IN*, small amounts at a time.  I found that it then built up a much deeper/richer colour.

It can also be a bit fussy about the state of the bare wood.  Make sure that there's no remnant of any finish left on the wood before you apply the Wudtone.

I've never really found a traditional single-coil Tele neck pickup that I like - they always seem to sound weedy.  

RedRabbit

TTony said:

As Mr Corvus says, the only other thing you *might* need to do is to sand a tiny bit off the bass side of the neck pocket if that's why the neck refuses to move over that way.

Re the Wudtone - I had a problem with the finish on one of mine being a little anaemic compared to what I'd expected.  I ended up sanding it off and starting again (I'm not in any way suggesting that you do this - just a tip for next time), and really forcing the base coat colour into the wood.  Not just rubbing it on, and not flooding the top with stain, but really rubbing it *IN*, small amounts at a time.  I found that it then built up a much deeper/richer colour.

It can also be a bit fussy about the state of the bare wood.  Make sure that there's no remnant of any finish left on the wood before you apply the Wudtone.

I've never really found a traditional single-coil Tele neck pickup that I like - they always seem to sound weedy.  

The neck's pretty tight so I suspect I'll be getting the dremel out for this one.

Before I applied the finish I found an old post of yours about applying the first coat (the BMW kit has a deep colour coat that goes on first) so I was mindful of forcing the finish in.  I don't know if it'd make a difference but the Wudtone instructions do recommend you use the kit within a certain amount of time (3 months I think) and I'd had mine sitting around for over a year?

The body has was meant to be a new and unfinished but who knows.  If there's another partscaster in my future I'll be getting the body from Guitar Build or GSPBasses.  I'd be more than willing to give Wudtone another go though.  As I said above, the quality of the finish really is great.

guitarcookie1

I've had mixed results with wudtone.

I used dark tease on my Flying V build which turned out to be dark brown rather than the faded, dirty look of a Washburn N4 that I was hoping for (probably down to me using it for the first time & not really knowing what to do).

My current Tele deluxe build has carmine gipsy on it which I thought would be a deep red but in fact is more of a burnt orange (which is good).

RedRabbit

Had a quick mess with it this afternoon.  Pulling gently on the neck improved things even without loosening the screws.  It seems to be staying in place so I'll have a proper go at it tomorrow.

Having now played it through my main amp the volume disparity between the neck and bridge isn't as great as through the little Blackstar.  I think Lower the bridge pickup should be able to sort it.  The difference before was large enough that I didn't think it would be that simple.

There are a couple of other small issues - nut too high, need to order another string tree to stop the G string popping out of it's slot (was expecting it on the B&E strings but not the G), neck needs a bit of relief - but it's playable enough to get an idea of what the finished product will sound and play like.

The neck is very similar to my strat so no surprises there.  Even unplugged there's a lot of "twang" and it comes through well on both pickups.  Swapping the pickups from single to double coil doesn't have as much effect on the sound as I expected.  You get the expected reduction in treble and a bit more more power, it just isn't as pronounced as I thought it would be.  Still very usable though and actually makes it pretty versatile.  The neck pickup with both coils engaged can do a passable Sweet Child of Mine intro. 

Sarge

Looks nice despite not what you were hoping for.
Before you go all gung-ho with a dremel, try a shim in the lower bass side of the neck pocket, I've found just pulling the neck to one side and tightening can ease it's way back after a few hours playing, a shim should stop that.

guitarcookie1

I've just looked at this thread again and seen the pics (on my phone earlier) and the finish you've got is exactly what I was hoping to get with the dark tease on my vee, nice job; looks great