# Building Spruce & Khaya Baritone Tele



## mister V (Dec 27, 2013)

Hi all! So first I'll show you what I've got right now, then add some description about this build.

_These are my templates - one for the front of the body, one for the back, and one for the neck_




_Here are the woods - two pieces of spruce (it was one big piece) and a piece of Khaya Mahogany_




_Spruce's grain. It took almost an hour to find a piece of spruce with good grain and without knots. Damned knots were everywhere, I put aside about 30 pieces before I found this one._




_Roughly shaped neck_




_Shaping the neck with the template_




_And that is the progress for today_




And now about the build.

-Telecaster shape, the body is larger than a normal tele's body. The difference is about 2-3%. I draw it so because it's baritone for the low tunings - and I am the one who believe in something like "the more wood you use - the thicker sound you'll get".
-30" scale
-Spruce body, 40 mm thick
-Mahogany neck-through
-Rosewood fretboard (you can see the piece of rosewood in the first pic)
-Gotoh hardtail and Gotoh locking tuners, cosmo black
-One humbucker in bridge position (maybe it'll be an EMG, don't have anything for the low tunings right now)

Spruce is just an experiment. The first plan was wenge neck + khaya body, but my piece of wenge was in the garage for the 6 months and warped a little bit in few spots, and warped seriously in one spot. I'll use this wenge for something else later. The straight part still allows to make a neck, but not for the baritone neckthrough. So I decided to try out a spruce body because this is the wood I can get not so far from my home, and I wanted to start this build before the New Year and the holidays. By the way it was not that easy at all to find a good piece of spruce.

Also I decided to move the experimental way and to make the whole neck (fretboard, profile, central part of the heel) before gluing up the pieces of body to it. Didn't try this before.

So the next step is a truss rod, gluing the fretboard, shaping the fretboard, making the profile and the part of the heel.

*Edit: *I made wrong template for the front of the body, I mean, wrong if I want to make the whole neck with the fretboard, then glue up sides of the body, then make the body shape. So There are some changes in plan, but nothing serious. 

(I work on this build not every day, so there will be updates every time as I have any progress. Looking forward to spend half of the tomorrow with the build.)


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## mister V (Dec 30, 2013)

Here is the today's progress: 
-the fretboard is done (well, it's cut to shape, there will be some sanding before gluing it up, and there is an extra inch of length because I don't know, do I want to left it so or to cut it off); 
-the front of the neck is sanded (to make it flat for the precise truss rod channel routing and as preparation for the upcoming gluing of the fretboard); 
-the truss rod is cut (this thing is totally unbendable) and a truss rod channel is routed;
-the headstock front side is recessed (cut off ~3 mm, so with the fretboard there will be about 11 mm from the level of fretboard's front side to the level of headstock front side).

_Rough sanding_




_Some more precise sanding_




_Oh, now without all this dirt I see it's really Khaya_




_Roughly cut to shape fretboard_




_Rosewood. Nice piece I'v got._




_Cutting to shape the fretboard. I use the neck itself as a template._




_Fretboard laying at it's place_




_Super simple jig for routing the truss rod channel_




_Truss rod at it's place_




_Truss rod close-up. I just like this photo._




_Rough recessing of the headstock front side_




_A little bit sanded front side of the headstock_




The next step is to cut off some wood from the back of the neck (the whole neck now is the same thickness that the body will be) and to prepare the body halves for gluing up.

(I made a mistake with my body front template and I won't be able to use it if I make the whole neck with the fretboard as I wanted before. So The fretboard is ready, but it won't be glued up as it was planned. First the body will be cut to it's shape.)


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## Turk (Dec 30, 2013)

That is a beautiful piece of rosewood you have there. I look forward to seeing how this build turns out, as baritone telecasters have always interested me.


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## Pikka Bird (Dec 31, 2013)

A rather massive truss rod. Is it just a solid steel bar?

This all looks like very clean work so far, I am also looking forward to seeing this progress.


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## mister V (Dec 31, 2013)

Pikka Bird said:


> A rather massive truss rod. Is it just a solid steel bar?



Yes, it is just a simple solid steel bar. All the woods I use are very lightweight, so the weight of the truss rod is not a problem. I have few adjustable truss rods, but for normal scale length, so I decided to use something as non-adjustable truss rod, but as unbendable as possible. 

There is a chance that I will not install frets, because I never tried the fret work, and need to do a build with a bolt-on neck for my first fret work attempt. And for fretless neck there is no need in adjustable truss rod, the main goal is just to keep neck as straight as possible.


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## mister V (Jan 1, 2014)

Yesterday's super-little progress - I cut off some wood from the back of the neck and headstock. It was a New Year's evening, so I wanted to do no work at all, but then just couldn't resist.

_Some handsaw job first - the headstock is too wide to cut it with my... bandsaw... ehhhm... I don't know how this power tool is named in english _




_The further cut with (bandsaw?). Help me please, what is the right name for such saw?_




_Rough cut of the back of the neck is done_


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## HaMMerHeD (Jan 1, 2014)

That's just a hand saw. A band saw uses a closed loop saw blade moving across 2 or more wheels in a continuous revolution.

Hand saw:






Band saw:





--

It's a nice looking project. Spruce is fun to work with. I have no experience with Khaya, but I suspect it is similar to Honduran mahogany for working, which is good.


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## eddiewarlock (Jan 1, 2014)

Looks good. Only 2 things: I would have slotted the fretboard before gluing it to the neck. And i would have used a dual action truss rod.

Other than that, it looks like you'll have a hell of a guitar


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## Prophetable (Jan 1, 2014)

Jig Saw


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## BlackMastodon (Jan 1, 2014)

That is one really long neck, what's the scale length going to be?


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## JamesM (Jan 1, 2014)

^It'a 30" scale and a neck-through, so it has to be really long.


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## AwDeOh (Jan 1, 2014)

See Saw:


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## Stan P (Jan 1, 2014)

Love the concept! Would be very interested to hear the outcome!


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## mister V (Jan 2, 2014)

HaMMerHeD said:


> That's just a hand saw. A band saw uses a closed loop saw blade moving across 2 or more wheels in a continuous revolution.
> 
> Hand saw:
> 
> ...



I know what is the handsaw - the question was about the Bosch saw on the next pic  

I can get here only Khaya mahogany, never dealt with Honduran ones. It is very chip-ish - little pieces came off very easily, so you should be gentle with the edges. It is soft (not like spruce, of course) also. My belt sander sands Khaya like butter.


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## mister V (Jan 2, 2014)

eddiewarlock said:


> Looks good. Only 2 things: I would have slotted the fretboard before gluing it to the neck. And i would have used a dual action truss rod.
> 
> Other than that, it looks like you'll have a hell of a guitar



I will slot the fretboard and install the side dots before gluing. I said about truss rod choice above - I just have not a truss rod for 30" scale, only 3 for 25,5" (dual action). This project is for fun, my way to spend the holidays, so I don't mind to use a non-adjustable truss rod here. Will be a little experiment.


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## mister V (Jan 2, 2014)

BlackMastodon said:


> That is one really long neck, what's the scale length going to be?



The scale will be 30" (may be +/-0,5", after the final measuring and the bridge position marking). But it is the neck throuh, and there is about 2" of extra length on the bottom side where the body will ends, that will be cut off during the body shaping.


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## HaMMerHeD (Jan 2, 2014)

mister V said:


> I know what is the handsaw - the question was about the Bosch saw on the next pic
> 
> I can get here only Khaya mahogany, never dealt with Honduran ones. It is very chip-ish - little pieces came off very easily, so you should be gentle with the edges. It is soft (not like spruce, of course) also. My belt sander sands Khaya like butter.



Ah, sorry. Didn't even see the jigsaw.


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## mister V (Jan 3, 2014)

And here is the yesterday's progress: 

_Gluing the body halves_




_Rough shaping_




_And some more rough shaping_




_Shaping with the router and template_




_Only half of the body shaping is done, because the body is too thick for 1 run with router_


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## mister V (Jan 3, 2014)

Some today's progress:

_Marking the holes for tuners_




_Drilling - half way from one side and half way from another, that is what you have to do when you don't have a drill press_




_Three holes done_




_Roughly sanding the back, then the front_




_Continuing with more gentle sanding_




_And an overview, #1..._




_...and #2_




Next steps will be the pickup cavity and the electronics cavity routing, marking the bridge's place and drilling the strings' holes, sanding the edges of the body and making the bevels, the forearm and belly cuts. Maybe something more but I'm not sure about the time I'll have for this work.


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## Navid (Jan 3, 2014)

Great skill with hand and jig saw. I wish I was that good.

How did you make your templates? They're extremely well done.


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## mister V (Jan 3, 2014)

Navid said:


> How did you make your templates? They're extremely well done.



If to speak about all the steps, then:
1)Found the original Tele blueprint 1:1
2)Made my own vector drawings (I use .dwg format), using the blueprint (with some changes, of course)
3)Sent these .dwg-s to the guys that work with laser and cut different plastics
4)Came to their shop on the next day, gave them the money and took my templates away



So these are the laser-cut templates. Very precise, you just have to do a good vector drawing.


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## mister V (Jan 6, 2014)

_Marking the points where the holes for bridge, strings and pots will be_








_Holes for strings and pots are half-way drilled_




_Changed plans about the pickup - I'll use the 81-7 EMG, so there is no template, and I have to use some simple jigs for routing_




_Not that bad. The cavity is super-tight, so there will be some additional sanding later. The pickup on the photo is not touching the bottom, it just stuck in the hole on the half of the way down_


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## mister V (Jan 6, 2014)

A lot of work is done today:

_Marking the holes for the ferrules, starting routing of the electronics cavity_




_Electronics cavity with recesses for controls_




_The way I do the recess for electronics cavity cap_




_Holes for the ferrules and cleaned electronics cavity_




_More neck sanding_




_Router bit for making bevels_




_Drill bit that I use for the heel carving (there are more of them, different forms and for rough and more gentle rasping)_




_The heel is roughly carved_




_Bevel close-up, not sanded yet_




_Router bit for making a very flat D profile_




_Roughly routed neck profile_




_Sanding both sides of the headstock_




_The result for today - part 1..._




_...and part 2_


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## pondman (Jan 6, 2014)

Super nice ,super neat .


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## schwiz (Jan 6, 2014)

You seriously have great craftsmanship. Your templates also looked really nice... they had to help a lot with neatness when it came time for routing. Sub'd. Nice work.


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## mister V (Jan 7, 2014)

Very little amount of work is done today:
Side dots, frets' position marks, hole and a recess for jack in the electronics cavity.

































So as you already guessed there will be no frets, I will epoxy the fretboard and this tele will be fretless. I decided to make marks on the virtual frets positions as simple 2 mm dots. The final scale is 30,3".
Why no frets - I never tried to do the fret work, so as first try I'll start a special project with bolt-on neck somewhere in the spring maybe. Don't want to try the fret work on the neck-through build.

I will be away for 5 days - a little vacation with my girlfriend, so the next update will be there in 5-6 days.


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## mister V (Jan 9, 2014)

Well, long story short the vacation was canceled, and I am back at my workbench.
Some work that was done today:

_The bottom of the truss rod channel was sanded down a little bit to make sure the truss rod won't be above the neck's front side level and there will be no gaps when gluing on the fretboard_




_Side dots were sanded down flush with the fretboard's edge_




_I drew and printed the drawing for marking the belly cut line_




_The most part of the wood from the belly cut was cut off_




Not really much was done today, but there is not so much work left. I hope I'll glue up the fretboard tomorrow, after finishing the belly cut and making the forearm cut and the heel.

Oh, and I spent almost an hour with sanding the pickup cavity before the EMG fitted it properly.


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## Jarmake (Jan 10, 2014)

I love metal teles. In fact, I have one "supertele" coming too. Looking really good so far, you're an excellent builder. Good luck, mate!


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## Neilzord (Jan 10, 2014)

Introducing... The Smallest candle in the world. 





Looks like its coming along well so far!!! These metal telecasters are really growing on me which I never thought I would say!


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## mister V (Jan 10, 2014)

Step by step the work is going on:

_Roughly carving the belly cut and the heel_




_Sanding them with low grit just to sand down serious tear-outs and to check out the shapes_




_Enjoying the result, not that bad_




_Forming the forearm cut - first by hand, then with belt sander..._




_...and again by hand_




_All cuts are done_




Right now I'm going to glue on the fretboard. If all will turn out good, the tomorrow's work will be the neck profile, the heel (final touches), the transition between the fretboard and the headstock, and The Great Sanding - preparation for the finishing works.


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## callankirk (Jan 10, 2014)

Great work so far dude! I've never been a big fretless fan, so I might be a bit biased toward fretting it, but I think you should give fretwork a try. It really isn't that hard - just make sure you cut your slots well, cut them straight, and then install them properly. Leveling and recrowning isn't a hard job to do either. But, if you decide to keep it fretless, cool! This is coming along REALLY well!


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## mister V (Jan 10, 2014)

callankirk said:


> Great work so far dude! This is coming along REALLY well!



Thanks!



callankirk said:


> I've never been a big fretless fan, so I might be a bit biased toward fretting it, but I think you should give fretwork a try. It really isn't that hard - just make sure you cut your slots well, cut them straight, and then install them properly. Leveling and recrowning isn't a hard job to do either. But, if you decide to keep it fretless, cool!



(edit: sorry I didn't undestand that you've read my explanation above before I wrote the answer below)

This is not about me as a fan of fretless instruments. I mentioned above the main reason - I have no experience with fretting and any fret work at all, and I decided not to try my first fretting work with a not so simple neck-through build. For my first attempt with fretting I will start a special project later - spruce body, one piece bolt-on neck (just the main points, no full plan for this potential build yet).

And here is a second reason to go fretless - I want to try epoxying. No experience with it either, but I have some scrap rosewood to try.

The point I didn't mentioned before - the body will be stained with non-transparent color, right now I have a beautiful black metallic on the shelf, but the choosing of color is still in process. The neck will be only clear-coated, no stain.
My girlfriend wants for this Tele to be orange. I don't mind that, so it can be orange if I'll find a good orange somewhere.

_Update:_ just clamped the fretboard to glue up to the neck. There is a problem, I have a gap between fretboard and neck, but not "holy moly I can put my finger here!!!", it is a very small gap, and it is on the both sides, so I think I didn't clean up the truss rod channel well.
Well, we'll see the result after making the profile and final sanding. If the gap will be not that noticeable - then I have special wax pencil (mahogany color) for solving the problems like this.

New pics - tomorrow.


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## mister V (Jan 11, 2014)

The finish line of the build is closer and closer, but the steps are slower and slower...

_Fretboard, neck and clamps_




_Fretboard on it's place, +/- 0,5 mm, the final sanding is required to make the fretboard edges flush with neck's edges. The difference in widths is very hard-noticeable by eye or by fingertip_




And here is the work that took a hell's pit of time - fretboard-to-headstock transition:

_Here you can see my super-secret tool for sanding the places like this transition_








_...and 1 000 000 hours later:_








All that's left is the neck profile, and sanding-sanding-sanding.

*Edit:* you can notice the gigantic thickness of the neck - yes, you are right, it is abnormally thick. The neck will be ~27 mm thick after sanding. Thanks to the Khaya mahogany that I don't recommend to use for necks. Well, I don't recommend you it at all. Don't know all the right words in English but in general it requires super-duper gentle touches, chips off very easy, get dings-dents, cuts very poorly even with a very sharp tools, is very soft. I damned all I could and couldn't when I was doing the holes for tuners, when I was doing the holes for ferrules, when I was routing the pickup cavity, when I was doing literally anything.

On the other hand, the spruce is a pleasure to work with, I will definitely work with it in other builds.


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## TemjinStrife (Jan 11, 2014)

If you are building a fretless, you should definitely put a Sustainer/Sustainiac system in there.

Looks great!


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## Necris (Jan 11, 2014)

Fretless baritone Tele, you have great taste, sir.


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## mister V (Jan 12, 2014)

No interesting photos for today, because all came to the sanding, not so exciting thing to take pics of.

Spent a lot of time with the heel, and it is still not done, but very close to what I imagine it should be. Right now I'm going to work a little with neck profile. Khaya sands down very easy and fast, so there are no problems with making the profile.

The transition between the fretboard and the headstock is done and cleaned up, will take a pic later.

I bought two acrylic paints - the neon orange (the one my girlfriend wants the guitar to be), and the neon green (my choice, but I don't mind the neon orange as well). Also I bought an acrylic primer. Don't know about the clear coat, I have a gloss clear coat "for furniture", and it is stated on the can that it can be laid down on any paints. So I don't see a need to search for acrylic gloss clear coating.

Will show you a pic with a piece of spruce with both paints tested on later. I like both.


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## mister V (Jan 12, 2014)

And some more progress:

_Checking out the bridge and nut (virtual, I have to cut the slot for it) positions_




_Working with the heel (and with the neck profile)_




_Back of the neck to back of the headstock transition_




_More heel and neck profile..._




_...and more..._




_...and now I can say that I'm satisfied with it's shape (the heel), but there is some more work with shaping the neck's profile_




The neck is now 26 mm on the first fret and ~27,5 at the point before the heel, but there will be the fretboard sanding that will take off about ~0,5 mm I think (the fretboard is already roughly sanded so there is left the high grit sanding only)


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## Goatchrist (Jan 13, 2014)

Very cool!

Love your idea with the rooting templates and your use of these tools in generall.

Definitely gonna steal that idea in the future!


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## mister V (Jan 14, 2014)

Aaaaand all the wood work is done.

Not so much pics because I sanded, sanded, sanded, ... all the time that was not so exciting to take pics of for you. And a little set of pics with the result of all the work that was done.

_Working with neck profile_




_Last touches to the neck-to-the-back-of-the-headstock transition_




_"Shelf" for the nut. Not at the place I planned it to be, I'll tell you why after the pics_




And after all sanding:

























The white thing on the back of the body is putty - I used it at few spots with tear-outs and serious dents.

I made a mistake when did my scheme for the fret marks - I forgot that there will be a transition from the fretboard to the headstock. So I found out the place where the nut should be right at the last few mm of the fretboard before the transition. And instead of the standard tele nut placing I had to make a "shelf" at the end of the fretboard. Not a big tragedy, it just makes the transition not so beautiful as I expected it to be.

Now it is time to clean the guitar, to mask with the tape all that should not be stained with primer and to hang the guitar at the right place so I can start the finishing works.


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## mister V (Jan 14, 2014)

A little update - first layer of acrylic primer is already there:

_My super guitar-holding system_




_I chose white primer because the color will be neon orange, and it is recommended for bright colors to use bright primers for bright and shiny result_








One more layer later, then sanding to get a smooth surface, then it will be time for the neon orange.


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## mister V (Jan 15, 2014)

I applied the second coat of primer about two hours ago, so I can start the sanding closer to the midnight (midnight here in Moscow, I mean) and then apply the first coat of paint.

This is my first finishing work, so there is a chance to fail it on any stage, but all is OK yet  I decided to try the "right" finishing steps that means using of primer, then paint, then clear coat. The most scaring part for me is applying the clear coat and the wet sanding after it is fully cured. Will see if these all turn out good.

_Update: the primer still is not ready for sanding, so new update will be tomorrow (sanding, applying the first coat of paint)_


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## mister V (Jan 15, 2014)

So here comes the first problem with finish. The acrylic primer that I bought is totally like rubber when dried. So it is almost impossible to sand - if I take the 300 grit paper and higher - it don't do anything to the primer. Even the 200 grit. And the grit less then 100 can just tear the pieces of primer out, not sand it.

Have anyone dealt with such primers, that are like rubber? How to make the surface smooth after applying such primer?

I'm ok even with the surface I have right now, I can paint it and cover with clear coat and I don't mind that it will be as far from perfect as the Chinese Great Wall from Moscow. But I wonder how to work with this primer, and are all acrylic primers like this?


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## mister V (Jan 16, 2014)

I put up with the very poor quality of the finish that I am doing. I sanded the most giant imperfections on the primer and started the painting. Here you can see two layers of neon orange applied. The color is just eye-bursting, I love it.

The surface is very rough, having the troubles with the primer that I mentioned above, I decided to go the easiest way and just to continue the general finishing plan without re-doing anything. I just will not polish the clear coat (it will be impossible to make a good flat surface). All I want is to protect the spruce, and this orange color, of course. If this time I make a very poor finish, well, I'll try to do the better one the next time.


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## Prophetable (Jan 16, 2014)

I like that super-neon hunter orange. This is a pretty fun looking guitar.


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## mister V (Jan 17, 2014)

Prophetable said:


> I like that super-neon hunter orange. This is a pretty fun looking guitar.



My camera can't catch the real color, but that is close to it. Very bright and super-duper neon  I like it.

I applied the forth coat of paint, and now I can say that the primer's white spots and stripes that were visible here and there totally disappeared. I'll make one more thin layer, then gently sand the worst spots and then it will be the clear-coating time.

By the way, this paint dries almost in few minutes when applied as a thin layer. And after an hour you can take the guitar in hands or put it on something, the paint will be cured enough.


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## mister V (Jan 17, 2014)

I said the wrong thing above. Not the time for the clear-coating, but the time for epoxying the fretboard! Because I need to epoxy it first and then to make very slight bevels. At this moment the fretboard's edges are very sharp, but I need the straight edges for using the masking tape to prevent epoxy runs.

So i will epoxy the fretboard, then make slight bevels, then mask the board and apply the clear coats with the smooth transition from clear to epoxy on the fretboard's bevels. This is the plan, and i hope all will turn out good and as planned.


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## schwiz (Jan 17, 2014)

This is turning out pretty awesome thus far... and I've said that your craftsmanship looks impeccable, but man, I was so bummed when you said this was going to be fretless. I was really looking forward to some fretting pics and whatnot.


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## mister V (Jan 17, 2014)

schwiz said:


> This is turning out pretty awesome thus far... and I've said that your craftsmanship looks impeccable, but man, I was so bummed when you said this was going to be fretless. I was really looking forward to some fretting pics and whatnot.



Well, don't worry, because the next build will be 100% fretted  Specially for me to learn the fretwork. I didn't want to ruin the build with failing the fretting work, especially considering the neck-through construction. 
Nonetheless I found another way to ruin the build - to fail the finishing works, haha. Joking, of course. There is nothing serious and all is about the aesthetics - the finish will protect the spruce, it have an awesome color (to my taste), the only bad thing is the surface quality that will be far from smooth, and considering this point there will be no polishing.


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## pondman (Jan 17, 2014)

Superb ! 
A Neon Orange Tele


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## mister V (Jan 17, 2014)

So here you see me fixing some little problems with paint - I took off the masking tape not that gentle as I had to, and now I have few spots where the wood is looking through, and one narrow and long (~ 1 inch) paint tear-out.

Found one more problem. I have few different masking tapes. One is a special one for making the border line while painting (it is blue) and works very well. And one of the other two, that I use fore simple masking for wide areas, have a too strong sticky side. And this tape tore out a lot of little (very little, very-very little) pieces of Khaya. Damn, the neck was already sanded up to 1000 grit or even higher.

After fixing the paint I will start the preparations for epoxying the fretboard.


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## mister V (Jan 18, 2014)

I think the preparations for the epoxying were more difficult, than the epoxying itself. Here are some pics:

_Sanding the fretboard again, because it turned very dirty for some reason - so 320, 600, 1000 grit journey was repeated once more_




_The thing that the manufacturer promise to be the copy of Crystal Resin. If all will be ok the cured fretboard will be like glass. With some sanding, I think_




_The simple construction to prevent the epoxy runs - was done not so fast, I tried to make it without the spots with the tape pieces getting one on another_




_No pics of the fretboard with epoxy on it - after applying I immediately covered the whole guitar with the box to prevent the epoxy from anything flying around getting on it_




Now I have to wait for epoxy to cure (the can says it will take ~60 hours). Then I will make the slight bevels on the fretboard, sand the still uncovered guitar parts (back and sides of the neck and the headstock) with high grit sandpaper and hang the guitar for the clear coat applying.


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## mister V (Jan 18, 2014)

_Little update:_ can't find the right hight for the headstock side of the fretboard. The epoxy migrates higher and lower, and very-very slow, so I change the things I use to support the neck and wait what happens, then if epoxy migrates to the body side, I put something under the body, and so on. Now I can't go sleep, because I need to look after the epoxy. Hope to find the stable position.


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## pondman (Jan 18, 2014)

Its late and i've had a few beers - are you trying to glue the fretboard to the neck ? If you are you'll need to clamp it .
Apologies if I've got it wrong. Loving this one btw.


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## mister V (Jan 18, 2014)

It seems that I finally found the right angle of the headstock to prevent the epoxy migrating. Still looking after it very attentively. There are few uneven spots, but I hope the thickness of the epoxy layer is enough to sand it dead straight after curing without getting too close to the wood.


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## mister V (Jan 18, 2014)

pondman said:


> Its late and i've had a few beers - are you trying to glue the fretboard to the neck ? If you are you'll need to clamp it .
> Apologies if I've got it wrong. Loving this one btw.



No  I'm not gluing the fretboard.

This build is fretless, and I am making the fretboard coating with epoxy (well, the thing that is named Crystal resin and pretends to be glass-like after curing).

I think that sometimes it is hard to understand some sentences in my posts regarding to my poor English, so I'm sorry for that.


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## DredFul (Jan 18, 2014)

mister V said:


> No  I'm not gluing the fretboard.
> 
> This build is fretless, and I am making the fretboard coating with epoxy (well, the thing that is named Crystal resin and pretends to be glass-like after curing).
> 
> I think that sometimes it is hard to understand some sentences in my posts regarding to my poor English, so I'm sorry for that.



I think it's the beers he had  I understand you loud and clear!


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## pondman (Jan 19, 2014)

Oh bollox  and a bad hangover.


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## Prophetable (Jan 19, 2014)

Haha, it brought me some entertainment.


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## pondman (Jan 19, 2014)

Loving this build MrV.


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## mister V (Jan 20, 2014)

pondman said:


> Loving this build MrV.



Thanks  Btw I like your Parker 8 very much, forgot to write something in your thread, awesome guitar you've done!

And back to my Tele. Nothing really interesting here. 36 hours passed by, and the can says the full curing will come in 50-60 hours. Yesterday my test drops (I made few test drops near the guitar to see how they will cure) were like rubber, today they are more like plastic, but still are a little bit flexible.

*Update: *removed the masking tape. There is only one place with little epoxy run, but it ran right under the tape and this spot is flat, so no problems at all. Epoxy is now totally like plastic, I can touch it, but the drops that I test to check the epoxy' condition still are a little bit flexible, so I wait for the full curing. I'll start the sanding tomorrow, and today there is some little work with headstock edges that should be cleaned because they have some very little primer runs.


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## mister V (Jan 20, 2014)

While the fretboard is curing, I decided to add one more thing. This is the totally experimental guitar, so what an experiment is it without adding a kill switch? The controls now are tone, volume and kill switch, but if all will turn out good, I am looking forward to get a EMG with coil-splitting function and the controls will be volume, 2 pos. coil-splitting switch and kill switch.


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## DJTanZen (Jan 20, 2014)

What about a truss rod? or did i overlook it?


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## Coreysaur (Jan 20, 2014)

DJTanZen said:


> What about a truss rod? or did i overlook it?



There`s truss rod, only non-adjustable one.


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## mister V (Jan 20, 2014)

DJTanZen said:


> What about a truss rod? or did i overlook it?



Like *Coreysaur* said above, there is a non-adjustable truss rod, you can check the post #2 in this thread to see it. I decided to use it regarding to this build fretlessness - for the fretless neck the main goal is to be as dead straight as it is possible. So I have a huge and almost unbendable piece of steel and extended neck thickness (~27 mm, I will check it after sanding the epoxy) to be sure I will have a minimal neck curvature after stringing the guitar.


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## mister V (Jan 25, 2014)

Unfortunately this is the last update for this build.

_Starting the sanding of the epoxy_




_It eats sandpaper pieces one by one_




_Somewhere on the half-way of the sanding process_




_And then crrrrrack - my hand on which I leaned and that was on the fretboard right after the headstock, slipped aside, and almost half of my weight crashed down on the poor headstock. And the way it laid - with the piece of spruce right at the nut to support the neck while sanding... Well, crrrrack, as it was mentioned before._




So, I have few things to blame here. The way I organized the place for sanding, with the headstock lying with no support. My awkwardness. And Khaya. Don't know is it all Khaya like the piece that I had. But I said it somewhere above, it was a very bad choice for neck. Don't know all the right words, I think, "weak" and "soft" will be enough, and the word "bad" to describe my thought in general 

It was not just the headstock that came off, here were a lot of little and not so little pieces, splinters, strips, and big cracks down the neck and into the body. Total mess.

Well, even after that I won't throw away my workbench and tools. God damn it, this is the fifth project that I failed. Don't have a right mood to tell you about the other failed projects. I am looking forward to start another build somewhere in march, maybe sooner, maybe later.

I apologize for the situation if someone was hoping to see this build finished, thank you all for your attention, likes and comments!


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## Danukenator (Jan 25, 2014)

.... dude. I messed up in the early stages of a build and it just blows. I can't imagine how much this sucks.

I look forward to your next build, this one was killer.


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## Prophetable (Jan 25, 2014)

Well, despite the final result this was a fun build to watch come together. You'll have me checking every update on your next build just like you did on this one. Thanks!


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## XxJoshxX (Jan 25, 2014)

Nooooooooooooooo!
This build was looking awesome. Maybe you could bring it back as a headless?


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## mister V (Jan 27, 2014)

XxJoshxX said:


> Nooooooooooooooo!
> Maybe you could bring it back as a headless?



The mess with the back of the neck was too serious to use the rest of the guitar, in any way. Damage ran through the entire neck, to the ferules' holes.

Nonetheless now I know that I will use Khaya for necks never again - not sure that I will use it even for the bodies, because I disliked the work with this wood too much. The only "+" was sanding, it sands like knife pierces butter. Hmmm, and very beautiful grain, another "+".

Right now I have some changes in my building plans. Before starting the bolt-on neck guitar project, I want to try a fretless bass. May be bolt-on, may be neck-through. I failed some guitar projects so now it is time for trying a first bass build. In this month I will buy all the hardware (second-handed, except the truss rod) and make the templates. I have enough epoxy for the fretboard and want to use it, this is another reason for building fretless bass. Looking forward to start the build at the end of February/beginning of the March.


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## Neilzord (Jan 27, 2014)

As said I'm sorry this build went wrong. But it kept my attention upto that point and I', sure whatever you build next will too! Onwards and Upwards!


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## vansinn (Jan 27, 2014)

Indeed, very sad, but I guess any luthier will experience an ooups..
Couldn't you at least trim off the neck woods and reuse the fretboard?


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## schwiz (Jan 27, 2014)

So bummed!! Sorry to see that the headstock snapped


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## MoshJosh (Jan 27, 2014)

AHHH! That sucks! But as said above this was a fun build to watch and I'm stoked for the next one


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## DJTanZen (Jan 28, 2014)

i was so excited


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## skeels (Jan 28, 2014)

I know exactly how you feel man. You kick yourself when you mess up something that you put so much time and effort into. 

Dont worry though! Just keep moving forward- from what I've seen, you have great ideas and if you just keep going you are going to make yourself something that blows your mind!


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## mister V (Feb 5, 2014)

Thank you all for your comments above!

I already started the new project, a fun and very experimental one - the body is done and is hanging in the corner, the acrylic clear is curing. So when the clear coats cure enough and I will continue to work, I start a thread. I think I have some kind of disease - I can't let my workbench staying clean. I just have to do something with wood, plywood, various leftovers and what else I can find in the corner behind the workbench.


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## penguin_316 (Feb 5, 2014)

You don't have to scrap that project. Glue it well and clamp it up nice and snug. Sand it and if you do it right, you wont even have a glue line...(or a very small one).
Also, just like a broken bone that heals, the newly glued break will be stronger than previously. At least at that joint...


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## Walterson (Feb 6, 2014)

mister V said:


>



Ouch.... sorry to see this mess. Do a scarf joint next time. Thats much more stable. I can stand on my necks (yes, I have tried it) and it does not hurt the headstock at all.

This it how my scarfed jointed headstocks look like:


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## mietschie (Feb 6, 2014)

Walterson said:


> This it how my scarfed jointed headstocks look like:



Good sir, what guitar is this picture from, pretty please?


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## FIXXXER (Feb 6, 2014)

man i really liked the idea of this build, sorry it turned out so badly!

good luck on the next project!


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## Walterson (Feb 7, 2014)

mietschie said:


> Good sir, what guitar is this picture from, pretty please?



from one of my "toone-style" builds:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/walterson-guitars/tags/no008/


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## constepatdyak (Feb 7, 2014)

Walterson said:


> Ouch.... sorry to see this mess. Do a scarf joint next time. Thats much more stable. I can stand on my necks (yes, I have tried it) and it does not hurt the headstock at all.
> 
> This it how my scarfed jointed headstocks look like:



God damn that looks so beautiful


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## pondman (Feb 7, 2014)

Aw man what a shame , I was really enjoying this build . 
I know exactly how you feel , I've been there a few times. Whats the next one going to be ?


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## DredFul (Feb 7, 2014)

Walterson said:


> This it how my scarfed jointed headstocks look like:



I first thought that was a Mayones


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## mister V (Feb 8, 2014)

pondman said:


> Whats the next one going to be ?



I have three things in my mind. 
The first one is a very (really very) experimental build, that is almost done at this moment, but shhhhhh, we should not talk about it, I will make a thread only when all the work is done 
The second thing is a project specially for me to try the fretwork - something simple, strat or tele with bolt-on neck.
The third one is a fretless bass, because I want to use the epoxy for the fretless fretboard and to try how the result feels. It will be a single-cut, that is for sure.

When I will put aside enough money, I buy some wood for few builds and immediately start the two builds that I described above. Not sure how soon I will be able to make new templates and to buy some timber (well, not only that, but generally: when I will have enough money for all the things I need for starting two new builds).


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