My First TELEMASTER (ALL DONE)

[skullservant]

Yeah! No neck holes though.

[FancyMike]

How much? Pics?

[skullservant]

I'll PM you!

[skullservant]

Bridge pickup, neck screws, strap, and strings landed at my OLD address I forgot to delete from Musician's Friend. Now they've got to bounce back to Maryland from Richmond

[skullservant]

I realized I forgot more parts than I originally had thought (ie copper shielding, tele jack cup, new pickguard, string tree. Gotta order that stuff so it can be in the post next week.

Anyways, the body came today, I'm beyond excited. Sanded it down with a medium sanding block, moved down to a fine sanding block, and finished it with 0000 steel wool.

Rough fitting with the Jazzmaster neck:



Mock up with most of the hardware:



Drilled the holes and mounted all of the hardware in the control plate. One switch is for the Super Distortion tap, the other is to put it in and out of phase. Was a tight fit with full size pots but it worked out:



Prestaining:



Going to wait until midnight and then do the ebony stain in one shot. Going to let it dry all night tonight, all day and night tomorrow, and then tru-oil finish the body.

My dad was really proud of me. It's my first real wood-working project and I didn't ask for any help but he was really surprised that I knew what to do and that I had taken everything into consideration with sanding and staining. It was a nice feeling.

[Chankgeez]

Wow, looks good so far. Can't wait to see it when it's finished. I think it's gonna rule.

[skullservant]

I AM SO EXCITED. Thanks for the kind words dude! I hope it rules. I know its not too far off from my Jaguar, but it seems different enough in layout and pickup choice for me to justify having it. And it will be exactly the way I want it to be!!

[Achtane]

Man, this is gonna be excellent. Good jerb so far, dude.
Also, fuck full-size pots. On all my guitars it somehow works out that they NEVER fit where I want them to be.

[skullservant]

They're like hugging the sidewalls of the tele control route. They've got to be at JUST the right angle or they don't fit haha. Oh well. At least I got them to fit I suppose.

Here's where I've ended tonight. First stain is on. I used a partially damp cloth to dry off and wipe away excess stain and in the process some areas are lighter. I love it. I think I MAY do a second coat of stain before I do the tru oil. We will see once this dries!

[skullservant]

I forgot to mention that the body is heavy as shit and I love it. Something like 5 pounds without hardware

[skullservant]

Got 4 coats of Tru-Oil on the back between last night and before work this morning. I kind of like how just 4 coats looks on the back. Might keep it at four, might add a few more.
Started on the front of it tonight, every 1.5 hours I went down and added another coat of Tru-Oil. I'm thinking I might cut the shine down with some steel wool after all is said and done.

[skullservant]

Oh, also have a black/white/black pickguard in the mail from the guy who cut the body. Really excited about that

[Achtane]

Looks awesome!
Almost looks super dark green. Damn. I wanna do this now.

[skullservant]

I'm having so much fun with it! I just applied the 5th coat of oil to the front of it. Going to be able to probably put 3-4 more coats on tonight, I'll see where that gets me.

I can't really much else until the rest of the parts come in though

[rot gut]

what kind of oil are you using?