Guitars

[betocool]

Line 6 are awesome in my opinion! I used to have their Variax 700, I just loved that guitar, the feeling and looks were sensational. As well as one of their amps, a 150W one. Alas, I sold the amp because it was too much, and I had to sell the guitar because I needed funds.

 

I'd love to re-body a Line 6 guitar into a Tele or something like that.

[Reverend Johnny Heathen]

Line 6 are strictly novelty items - but are vastly underrated and do what they do very well imo...

[Tweaky]

I've never tried a Line 6 Pod, I have a Behringher rack mount unit that is similar, they work well in recordings, but I've never been able to get a great sound out of it when hooked up to a amp.

 

I bought one of those Line 6 M-13 pedal boards, and have two expression pedals hooked up to it, for getting a sound effect quickly without all the stuffing about with changing the order and rewiring of individual effect pedals, they really can't be beat.

 

Sure they don't sound exactly like the effects they are emulating [most are pretty darn close], but then again to buy all the 109 different individual effects that are in that M-13 unit would cost me well over $10k [if I could find them all], plus I would need to wire them all up....I really couldn't be bothered even if I could.

[betocool]

Awriiiight!!! Time to bump up this here baby!

 

Allow me to introduce my latest (and incidentally, first) guitar build. I've been wanting to have an Esquire for bloody ages. And a good one is expensive. The way and amount of my playing does not justify spending megabucks on an Esquire, but I still want it... so... having toyed with the idea of building a guitar for ages as well, I started in March. Plus my wife got me "Build your own guitar (or so)" book from Martin Koch for my last birthday, that means, no excuses and permission from SWMBO granted.

 

I used cheap wood, jarrah for the neck and pine for the body. All bought at Bunnings. Reasoning being, if it's a proper screw-up and it all goes belly up, in that case I'm not too fussed. I'm not too fussed about the tone either, and reading about jarrah and pine in different fora, the overall opinion was... "give it a try, YMMV".

 

Weekends when I had some time, slow afternoons when the kids were not around, I started the neck, using a plunge router, a rasp, a bastard file and sanding paper. That took some time. The trussrod cavity was a bastard, as well as the hole in the neck, but I managed somehow (lots of cursing there). Some minor imperfections however, nothing that an amateur like me can't live with. The body I did gluing two thick slabs of pine, and routing, rasping, filing and sanding too. The neck pocket came out alright, a nice snug fit.

 

I had to fret the neck twice, once, do a mock build, notice all frets were very irregular, and then take them out, make the fret slots a bit deeper, and bang them in again. But now they're good. Some holes I did a bit too deep, but hey, lots of lessons learned. Next time I'll get me a fret saw. Very carefully putting the dot inlays, it worked. I finished the neck a month or two ago, the back and head painted with water based satin varnish, the front just oiled with lemon oil. Will have to oil it very regularly or change oils.

 

The body doesn't look too difficult, does it, and yet, routing everything right and getting the dimensions correct (as much as one can do) is still time consuming. Give it a few coats (many) of yellow enamel, flatten it, and then some varnish on. Buff it and finish it with some car swirl removers and it feels smooth as silk. There's still (quite) some blemishes on the paint job, but I take it as part of the learning process. Must not rush it next time. Still it feels quite nice, a tad rough, but not bad.

 

I finished building it today, wired all, and lo and behold, it doesn't just sound... it ROCKS! It has a nice phat sound to it. From nice and mellow, a la Shine On, to some crunchy Queen like Tie Your Mother Down. The strings are a bit fatter on the bass, cobalt, and the sustain on the bass is awesome! When I crank up the amp all the way to eleven, you can feel everything you touch on the guitar. I don't know if that's good or bad, it just is.

 

Still needs some fine tuning, the nut action is a bit high, so I'll have to file them down a bit, too difficult to play barre chords properly. I'll have to re-oil the fretboard too, and see how all settles for the next couple of days. The blemishes on the finish, I can live with that, from a normal distance you can hardly see them. Bottom line, I'm happy as a pig in sheet (and some more NSFW expletives as well!).

 

For my next build I'll upgrade the plunge router, get a drill stand, and a fret saw I think. Also, very important, never buy "fast" drill bits again! Hot damn! They just rip through wood like no tomorrow! Had to fix a few mistakes like that. Next time, nice and slow does it. All experience to take into account for the future.

 

Ok, enough chatter. Here's the pics, or it never happened!

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

 

[zenikoy]

36 minutes ago, betocool said:

Awriiiight!!! Time to bump up this here baby!

 

Allow me to introduce my latest (and incidentally, first) guitar build. I've been wanting to have an Esquire for bloody ages. And a good one is expensive. The way and amount of my playing does not justify spending megabucks on an Esquire, but I still want it... so... having toyed with the idea of building a guitar for ages as well, I started in March. Plus my wife got me "Build your own guitar (or so)" book from Martin Koch for my last birthday, that means, no excuses and permission from SWMBO granted.

 

I used cheap wood, jarrah for the neck and pine for the body. All bought at Bunnings. Reasoning being, if it's a proper screw-up and it all goes belly up, in that case I'm not too fussed. I'm not too fussed about the tone either, and reading about jarrah and pine in different fora, the overall opinion was... "give it a try, YMMV".

 

Weekends when I had some time, slow afternoons when the kids were not around, I started the neck, using a plunge router, a rasp, a bastard file and sanding paper. That took some time. The trussrod cavity was a bastard, as well as the hole in the neck, but I managed somehow (lots of cursing there). Some minor imperfections however, nothing that an amateur like me can't live with. The body I did gluing two thick slabs of pine, and routing, rasping, filing and sanding too. The neck pocket came out alright, a nice snug fit.

 

I had to fret the neck twice, once, do a mock build, notice all frets were very irregular, and then take them out, make the fret slots a bit deeper, and bang them in again. But now they're good. Some holes I did a bit too deep, but hey, lots of lessons learned. Next time I'll get me a fret saw. Very carefully putting the dot inlays, it worked. I finished the neck a month or two ago, the back and head painted with water based satin varnish, the front just oiled with lemon oil. Will have to oil it very regularly or change oils.

 

The body doesn't look too difficult, does it, and yet, routing everything right and getting the dimensions correct (as much as one can do) is still time consuming. Give it a few coats (many) of yellow enamel, flatten it, and then some varnish on. Buff it and finish it with some car swirl removers and it feels smooth as silk. There's still (quite) some blemishes on the paint job, but I take it as part of the learning process. Must not rush it next time. Still it feels quite nice, a tad rough, but not bad.

 

I finished building it today, wired all, and lo and behold, it doesn't just sound... it ROCKS! It has a nice phat sound to it. From nice and mellow, a la Shine On, to some crunchy Queen like Tie Your Mother Down. The strings are a bit fatter on the bass, cobalt, and the sustain on the bass is awesome! When I crank up the amp all the way to eleven, you can feel everything you touch on the guitar. I don't know if that's good or bad, it just is.

 

Still needs some fine tuning, the nut action is a bit high, so I'll have to file them down a bit, too difficult to play barre chords properly. I'll have to re-oil the fretboard too, and see how all settles for the next couple of days. The blemishes on the finish, I can live with that, from a normal distance you can hardly see them. Bottom line, I'm happy as a pig in sheet (and some more NSFW expletives as well!).

 

For my next build I'll upgrade the plunge router, get a drill stand, and a fret saw I think. Also, very important, never buy "fast" drill bits again! Hot damn! They just rip through wood like no tomorrow! Had to fix a few mistakes like that. Next time, nice and slow does it. All experience to take into account for the future.

 

Ok, enough chatter. Here's the pics, or it never happened!

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

 

 

 

You built that from scratch..... on the first go?

Edited September 22, 2016 by enikoy

[betocool]

48 minutes ago, enikoy said:

 

You built that from scratch..... on the first go?

 

Yes, I did.

 

You don't see the flaws on the pics, if you played it you'd probably say "Ok, yes, it's a first build".

 

Still... looks pretty awesome from here

[Tweaky]

That looks great for a first build, congratulations, well done.

Did you build it from plans, or from measuring another Tele.

I wouldn't go too heavy on the lemon oil if I were you, as you said some of the fret slots were a tad deep [I'm looking at that last photo of the back of the neck / body joint ] if the oil get's into those then there is a pretty high chance the frets will come lose, and you won't be able to 'Un-oil' the wood, so no glue will fix the problem,

[zenikoy]

1 hour ago, betocool said:

 

Yes, I did.

 

You don't see the flaws on the pics, if you played it you'd probably say "Ok, yes, it's a first build".

 

Still... looks pretty awesome from here

 

Fantastic stuff. Just the idea of building a neck has my head in a spin. Congrats!

[Jake]

Awriiiight!!! Time to bump up this here baby!

 

Allow me to introduce my latest (and incidentally, first) guitar build. I've been wanting to have an Esquire for bloody ages. And a good one is expensive. The way and amount of my playing does not justify spending megabucks on an Esquire, but I still want it... so... having toyed with the idea of building a guitar for ages as well, I started in March. Plus my wife got me "Build your own guitar (or so)" book from Martin Koch for my last birthday, that means, no excuses and permission from SWMBO granted.

 

I used cheap wood, jarrah for the neck and pine for the body. All bought at Bunnings. Reasoning being, if it's a proper screw-up and it all goes belly up, in that case I'm not too fussed. I'm not too fussed about the tone either, and reading about jarrah and pine in different fora, the overall opinion was... "give it a try, YMMV".

 

Weekends when I had some time, slow afternoons when the kids were not around, I started the neck, using a plunge router, a rasp, a bastard file and sanding paper. That took some time. The trussrod cavity was a bastard, as well as the hole in the neck, but I managed somehow (lots of cursing there). Some minor imperfections however, nothing that an amateur like me can't live with. The body I did gluing two thick slabs of pine, and routing, rasping, filing and sanding too. The neck pocket came out alright, a nice snug fit.

 

I had to fret the neck twice, once, do a mock build, notice all frets were very irregular, and then take them out, make the fret slots a bit deeper, and bang them in again. But now they're good. Some holes I did a bit too deep, but hey, lots of lessons learned. Next time I'll get me a fret saw. Very carefully putting the dot inlays, it worked. I finished the neck a month or two ago, the back and head painted with water based satin varnish, the front just oiled with lemon oil. Will have to oil it very regularly or change oils.

 

The body doesn't look too difficult, does it, and yet, routing everything right and getting the dimensions correct (as much as one can do) is still time consuming. Give it a few coats (many) of yellow enamel, flatten it, and then some varnish on. Buff it and finish it with some car swirl removers and it feels smooth as silk. There's still (quite) some blemishes on the paint job, but I take it as part of the learning process. Must not rush it next time. Still it feels quite nice, a tad rough, but not bad.

 

I finished building it today, wired all, and lo and behold, it doesn't just sound... it ROCKS! It has a nice phat sound to it. From nice and mellow, a la Shine On, to some crunchy Queen like Tie Your Mother Down. The strings are a bit fatter on the bass, cobalt, and the sustain on the bass is awesome! When I crank up the amp all the way to eleven, you can feel everything you touch on the guitar. I don't know if that's good or bad, it just is.

 

Still needs some fine tuning, the nut action is a bit high, so I'll have to file them down a bit, too difficult to play barre chords properly. I'll have to re-oil the fretboard too, and see how all settles for the next couple of days. The blemishes on the finish, I can live with that, from a normal distance you can hardly see them. Bottom line, I'm happy as a pig in sheet (and some more NSFW expletives as well!).

 

For my next build I'll upgrade the plunge router, get a drill stand, and a fret saw I think. Also, very important, never buy "fast" drill bits again! Hot damn! They just rip through wood like no tomorrow! Had to fix a few mistakes like that. Next time, nice and slow does it. All experience to take into account for the future.

 

Ok, enough chatter. Here's the pics, or it never happened!

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

 

That's bloody awesome Betocool, well done! So wonderful to see this on our forum, I bet you had a blast doing it too.

As coincidence would have it I have just spent the past week devouring all output of David Fletcher in Sydney who has basically youtubed how to build electric guitars perfectly.

I am currently putting together a Partscaster, which is a project to help me recover from my recent hand surgery. But next year I plan to build a Strat from scratch using the timber from my own Silky Oak. Should be fun. Was thinking of making a thread about it anyway.

Here's a pic taken today, still waiting on pickups, plus I have to paint the body.

[Guest jakeyb77]

3 hours ago, betocool said:

Awriiiight!!! Time to bump up this here baby!

 

Allow me to introduce my latest (and incidentally, first) guitar build. I've been wanting to have an Esquire for bloody ages. And a good one is expensive. The way and amount of my playing does not justify spending megabucks on an Esquire, but I still want it... so... having toyed with the idea of building a guitar for ages as well, I started in March. Plus my wife got me "Build your own guitar (or so)" book from Martin Koch for my last birthday, that means, no excuses and permission from SWMBO granted.

 

I used cheap wood, jarrah for the neck and pine for the body. All bought at Bunnings. Reasoning being, if it's a proper screw-up and it all goes belly up, in that case I'm not too fussed. I'm not too fussed about the tone either, and reading about jarrah and pine in different fora, the overall opinion was... "give it a try, YMMV".

 

Weekends when I had some time, slow afternoons when the kids were not around, I started the neck, using a plunge router, a rasp, a bastard file and sanding paper. That took some time. The trussrod cavity was a bastard, as well as the hole in the neck, but I managed somehow (lots of cursing there). Some minor imperfections however, nothing that an amateur like me can't live with. The body I did gluing two thick slabs of pine, and routing, rasping, filing and sanding too. The neck pocket came out alright, a nice snug fit.

 

I had to fret the neck twice, once, do a mock build, notice all frets were very irregular, and then take them out, make the fret slots a bit deeper, and bang them in again. But now they're good. Some holes I did a bit too deep, but hey, lots of lessons learned. Next time I'll get me a fret saw. Very carefully putting the dot inlays, it worked. I finished the neck a month or two ago, the back and head painted with water based satin varnish, the front just oiled with lemon oil. Will have to oil it very regularly or change oils.

 

The body doesn't look too difficult, does it, and yet, routing everything right and getting the dimensions correct (as much as one can do) is still time consuming. Give it a few coats (many) of yellow enamel, flatten it, and then some varnish on. Buff it and finish it with some car swirl removers and it feels smooth as silk. There's still (quite) some blemishes on the paint job, but I take it as part of the learning process. Must not rush it next time. Still it feels quite nice, a tad rough, but not bad.

 

I finished building it today, wired all, and lo and behold, it doesn't just sound... it ROCKS! It has a nice phat sound to it. From nice and mellow, a la Shine On, to some crunchy Queen like Tie Your Mother Down. The strings are a bit fatter on the bass, cobalt, and the sustain on the bass is awesome! When I crank up the amp all the way to eleven, you can feel everything you touch on the guitar. I don't know if that's good or bad, it just is.

 

Still needs some fine tuning, the nut action is a bit high, so I'll have to file them down a bit, too difficult to play barre chords properly. I'll have to re-oil the fretboard too, and see how all settles for the next couple of days. The blemishes on the finish, I can live with that, from a normal distance you can hardly see them. Bottom line, I'm happy as a pig in sheet (and some more NSFW expletives as well!).

 

For my next build I'll upgrade the plunge router, get a drill stand, and a fret saw I think. Also, very important, never buy "fast" drill bits again! Hot damn! They just rip through wood like no tomorrow! Had to fix a few mistakes like that. Next time, nice and slow does it. All experience to take into account for the future.

 

Ok, enough chatter. Here's the pics, or it never happened!

 

Cheers,

 

Alberto

 

 

Nice work!! 

A Butterscoth Tele was my second guitar. 

[betocool]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for all the good comments, advice and kudos! It was a rewarding project after all. Last weekend I had the parts painted and disassembled and all of a sudden today I'm the owner of an Esquire replica in the colour I wanted. That is pretty cool!

 

@Tweaky, I downloaded a plan from the Interweb, but the neck was from a blueprint that came in the book I got. Basically I positioned the bridge during the first mock build to make sure that all strings are going nicely, and then the rest I took it from there. I had to cut the pickguard after the body, neck and bridge were ready, because a standard Tele pickguard wouldn't have fit nice.

 

@enikoy Yes, the neck was a bit of a struggle, but I got there in the end. Lots of elbow grease involved. But given time and patience it's doable. Bloody skunk stripe in the back was a pain...

 

@Jake That looks pretty neat! What are you going to paint it like? I'll have a look at the video. There's lots of good information on the interweb, the luthiertalk forum and TDPRI forum.

 

@Jakeyb77 There's this picture of David Gilmour playing a Butterscotch Tele during the Pulse shows back in '94, in the rain. After I started playing guitar, saw that picture again and I thought "I really want one of those!".

[Jake]

@betocool Seafoam Green. I have also ordered a Warmoth maple neck, so the Squire is a placeholder and will go to another project.

[LogicprObe]

Good stuff!

 

Looks nearly as good as my Squire Tele that I paid paid $600 for!

[betocool]

49 minutes ago, Jake said:

@betocool Seafoam Green. I have also ordered a Warmoth maple neck, so the Squire is a placeholder and will go to another project.

 

I'm looking at that video right now. Man! It's awesome! Wish I'd had that before!

[Jake]

 

I'm looking at that video right now. Man! It's awesome! Wish I'd had that before!

The great thing is that he shows it is possible for mere mortals to produce great things. He also runs 5 day guitar building courses which I will try and do sometime.

Have a look at his laminated top guitar, the finished product is absolutely gorgeous.

[Jake]

You've done a lovely job on your Tele by the way. You must be very pleased with it. What's next?
 

[betocool]

7 hours ago, Jake said:

The great thing is that he shows it is possible for mere mortals to produce great things. He also runs 5 day guitar building courses which I will try and do sometime.

Have a look at his laminated top guitar, the finished product is absolutely gorgeous.

 

Instead of watching a movie I was hooked last night with the 6 or so videos from the neck, and the first for the body. Gonna be looking and more tonight I think. True about what you say, however, he does have a routing table and a bandsaw...

 

3 hours ago, Jake said:

You've done a lovely job on your Tele by the way. You must be very pleased with it. What's next?
 

 

Thanks! I'm thinking a sort of hybrid Rickenbacker style guitar, hollow-ish body with a longer, thinner neck, or a modified Red Special, like, without the tremolo and all the fuss about the inner layers but cool on the electronics. Those are other guitars I really like. Buf first, I have to lower the nut height a bit, the action is way too high on the first fret. Still, I'm very pleased indeed!

[Jake]

I'm about to buy a router table, jointer and bandsaw, thanks to these vids.

[betocool]

Ha! Cool stuff! I'll definitively get the drill press, and a new/better plunge router (this build I used Ozito). The rest will be with a jigsaw and trying to line up to a straight ruler as much as possible...

[Jake]

I found this online, gonna help so much!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[betocool]

And yet... it's missing the scale length...

[Two Flies]

[LogicprObe]

On 23/09/2016 at 3:14 PM, Jake said:

I'm about to buy a router table, jointer and bandsaw, thanks to these vids.

 

Watch your fingers!

[Jake]

 

Watch your fingers!

How hard can it be?

[LogicprObe]

Have you retired or something, Jake.

 

Making sausages.........guitars..........what next!?