Thinline Cabronita: Colour Coats

With the Ash Stratocaster still on the bench awaiting a bone nut blank, I had a chance to get back to the Thinline Cabronita which has been languishing with a single coat of primer for the last week or so.

After a very light wet sand with 800 grit wet/dry paper, I gave the body 2 more coats of primer and hung it overnight. Man, that body looked and felt pretty nice I can tell you! I could have stopped at matt white for this build without any qualms at all.

Wet sanding with 800 grit and a last coats of primer

With the primer dry I gave these last coats another light wet sand and then it was time for the colour coats. Just like I did for my Surf Monster Telecaster build, I have decided to go seafoam green for this Cabronita. That means getting the cans of MTN94 Luminous Green back out of the cupboard. I gotta say I really do love this colour, and it was a pleasure to be spraying it again!

The first coats of MTN94 RV6027 - Luminous Green

As usual, the MTN94 didn't disappoint. The first coat I laid down was a mist coat with much of the primer showing through. After drying for an hour in front of the IR lamp, I was able to lay down a second, more substantial coat. The results (shown above) are pretty damn pleasing I must say. That green just pops, and will look even better with some clear and a white pickguard :).

Anyway, the body went back under the IR lamp for the rest of the afternoon. I'm gonna let these coats lie for a couple of days now to make sure they are completely dry. I don't want any problems when the clear coats go on! One more coat of colour and I'll be able to lightly wet sand some of the orange peel away, then a final coat before moving to clear! That will be in a couple of days time. Hopefully!!

Thinline Cabronita: Bridge and Tremolo

With bad weather making more clear coats on the Ash Stratocaster build impossible today, I got on and positioned the roller bridge and tremolo on the Ash Cabronita build. Firstly, I consulted the Stewmac Fret Position Calculator to determine the correct location of the bridge posts. With a scale length of 648mm (324mm from the nut to the middle of the 12th fret), the distance of each bridge post from the nut was quickly established - the bass post being 1.5 to 3mm further than the treble post for the purposes of compensation.

The bridge is placed for correct intonation and the Tremolo is fitted.

To determine the lateral position of the bridge posts (side to side) the two E strings were installed across the bridge and up the neck. The bridge was moved side to side until the strings travelled straight up the neck equidistant from each side of the neck. With the position of each post established, a transfer punch marked the correct location and the post holes were drilled using a Brad Point bit in my electric hand drill. The trick is to keep the drill as straight as possible in both dimensions whilst drilling.

Looking amazing - even the white undercoat.

The posts were carefully hammered home with the bridge in place (to stop the posts going in crooked) and soon everything was in. That left just the tremolo to position, and I did this by eye, making sure the strings travelled straight from the tremolo and over the bridge rollers, and that the tremolo itself was perpendicular to the base of the guitar.

In addition to the bridge and tremolo, I also got the headstock vinyl decal installed. A few coats of Tru-Oil will be required to lock the decal in place, but the headstock is basically done now.

The decal is on the headstock and she's looking hot.

The 10 coats of Tru-Oil that I've laid down on the neck are feeling very nice indeed. This baby is going to play beautifully. All in all I'm really liking the look of this build - even with the white undercoat. I'm still deciding on colours, but it's clear that the solid colour was a great choice. I'm really excited about seeing this build come together. The xTrem from GFS feels really nice (much more fluid than my Bigsby B70) and all the chrome really pops.

Thinline Cabronita: Primer

I just got back from Europe yesterday and went straight to the man cave - jet lagged and all. After 2 weeks away, I just have to get something done on something! Turns out, that something was the Thinline Cabronita, which I have decided to paint a solid colour. The decision was kinda made for me when my initial sanding attempts showed that the factory had filled all the grain with some kind of vinyl sealer. Rather than try to sand it all out to allow the stain to take, I opted for a solid paint job. I'm still thinking about colours, but I'm looking at a 50s rockabilly palette, so maybe Studebaker Green or 50s fender light yellow. Something like that anyway.

In the meantime, I set about getting the body ready for paint, and that meant primer. I got out the tried and trusted Rustguard white primer and laid down 2 coats. She's already looking great. Tomorrow I'll give her a light wet-sand with 800 grit and lay down a couple more coats and then see what I have.

White primer is looking great and brimming with possibilities.

Just looking at my primer, I think my decision for to use a solid colour on this axe was a good one :).

While the primer was drying, I also started sanding the neck with 240 grit. Here again I found that the factory had sealed the neck already, but half an hour with 240 grit paper finally removed the last of it. I really want to give the neck some amber stain, so removing the sealer here was really worth the effort.

The neck sans sealer is now ready for 360, 400, 600 and 800 grits.

With the sealer removed, the neck now just needs finer sanding down to 800 grit before the stain and Tru-Oil can go on. I've just now realised that I've primed the body without drilling the post holes for the roller bridge (bummer), so that will have to be done before more primer coats go on. Ahh the impetuousness of the jet-lag addled brain!

Black Ash Telecaster: Shimming the Neck

After a few weeks of playing my Black Ash Telecaster, despite loving the sound and the action, there were a couple of issues that I wanted to fix to improve the overall playing experience. It was high time that I got this baby back on the workbench!

First of all, the expensive Bourne mini-pots that I bought for this project not only stick out from the control plate too far (they have no second nut to adjust their height) the tone pot has busted completely and now turns of its own volition 360 degrees. What a piece of shit. Never gonna go there again!

Secondly, and more importantly, (i mean who touches the volume and tone anyway? ha!), whilst the action I was able to achieve on the guitar is very satisfying, it came at the expense of very low saddles at the bridge. These very low saddles meant that their height adjustment screws stuck up so far that I kept scratching my hand on them every time I tried to palm mute the strings.

Low Bridge saddles means high adjustment screws. Ouch!

And so, the solution to this little issue, of course, is to shim the neck to bring the default height of the bridge saddles up!

Shimming the neck is really very easy. The first step is to cut a piece of shimming material. Depending on how much you need to raise the heel of the neck, you can use many different materials, from a piece of wood veneer, to a sheet of paper, or anything that isn't going to compress easily. In my case I like to use a piece of milk-bottle plastic. It's about as thick as a business card, it's very stiff and it won't compact under pressure. I cut the material to fit the neck heel and make it small enough so that it can't be seen from the open side of the neck.

Step 1: Plastic shimming material, cut to size.

The second step is to unscrew the neck completely. There is no need to remove the strings, just loosen them right off. You only need the strings loose enough to allow the neck heel to come away from the body.

Step 2: Neck is removed with the strings still connected to the bridge.

Next, with the screws sticking out a little into the neck pocket, press the shim onto the screws so that they push through the material and hold it. When I use plastic like this, I also like to take the shim back off and use a razor blade to trim off the plastic sticking up around the holes I just made. This makes it a lot easier to get your neck sitting flat again in the pocket.

Step 3: Push the screws through the shim to create the holes.

Lastly, screw the neck back on with the shim in place. Be careful to screw each of the neck bolts down evenly (a little at a time) to make sure the neck heel sits flat. When you finally tighten the screws, do the non-shimmed end first to make sure these are on the deck before tightening the shimmed end. If you don't, you might find the neck sitting up further in the pocket than your shim intended.

Problem: The neck is sitting further up at the heel than the shim intended.

With the shimming process complete, I needed only to adjust the height of the saddles to get the action back into sweet, sweet, sweet territory. Now the saddle height is such that the adjustment screws are only just peeking out of the top. 

The adjustment screws are now at a comfortable height.

My killer Ash Telecaster is now even more comfortable to play and I couldn't be happier! Now to give those Bourne pots a good going over. That's a few bucks I'll never see again!

Thinline Cabronita: Another Rockabilly Beast

Well, I've been sitting on this little beauty for a few months now, waiting for a few other projects to clear. Now, finally, I have some scope to get back to it! You see, at the start of 2014 I contacted a Chinese kit manufacturer through Aliexpress to build me a custom kit. Pretty straightforward right? Broadly speaking, my specifications were to deliver a Thinline Telecaster Cabronita with an Ash body, a spalted maple cap, and binding around the top.

In June 2014 I finally took delivery of the kit and, whilst it bore only a fleeting resemblance to my initial brief, it did posses the broad strokes of what I was after.

The body could be Ash (I'm still not 100% sure what the wood actually is), and it's certainly a good approximation of a Thinine Cabronita. There is some nice grain in the piece of timber used to fashion the body (yes a one piece body - wow!) despite there being no spalted maple cap. Furthermore, instead of a control cavity in-back as requested, the controls are reached via a largish hole under the pickguard. This means that the pickguard stays, in some form or another, no matter what. Quite a blow given how nice the wood looks.

This being said, the top of the guitar is a nice solid piece of wood - not the ply sheeting that you often see - and seems to have been taken from the same single piece that the rest of the body came from. You can see how nice and thick it is at the F-hole - you've gotta be happy with that right? So in summary, while it's not the guitar I ordered, I'm quite happy with what I received. This kit is a one of a kind man - there's no way in hell I could get this configuration again by specifically asking for it! So all in all it's been a happy accident.

A week ago, with this kit firmly in my focus now, I went on a shopping spree at Guitarfetish to grab some parts. I had in mind a Telecaster Rockabilly beast, and this meant a vintage tremolo and a some single coil pickups. I thought I'd give the GFS X-Trem tremolo a go to see whether it could live up to the marketing hype. I also forwent the obligatory GFS Surf 90 pickups in favour of GFS Mean 90s. I have 2 builds now with Surf 90s and while they are a beautiful pickup, I thought the over wound Mean 90s might give me a little more grunt. Add to this a roller bridge and some roller string trees and we're in business.

Anyway, all this junk from GFS turned up on my door step today which meant that it was time to do a quick mockup and see how it all looked on the body.

It's possible that the pickup cavities may need to be deepened just slightly as I'm using flat chrome humbucker surrounds, but apart from that everything fits beautifully and really looks the goods. I must say I'm pretty happy with how she looks, and I'm actually pretty excited about this baby now - all I have to do is pick a finish for it so I can get started. I've been agonising over a colour choice for the last 5 months and to tell you the truth I'm no closer to a decision...

Black Ash Telecaster: She's Done!

Well today I put the finishing touches on the Black Ash Telecaster. I got myself a bone nut blank, shaped it for the Telecaster nut slot and filed the string slots. All in all it took me only about half an hour.

Amazingly, with the nut in and the slot heights adjusted for correct string height at the first fret, the imagined problems with high-action just melted away. I've got the saddles almost right to the bottom of their travel range, but she plays really nicely without any fret buzz. Possibly I could have gone down a little lower with a neck shim, but all in all I'm really happy with how she feels.

The Tru-Oil neck feels nice and fast, and I'm very happy with the Dingotone Guitar Wax on the fretboard. Maybe not as slick as Dr Ducks Axe Wax, but I know that it's keeping the colour locked in. So-too the Tonerider "Hot Classic" pickups sound great. They deliver a real punch when over-driven, and still sound crystal clear in clean mode. With just a touch of reverb this thing sounds just beautiful!

All in all I'm very pleased with this build. I've always wanted a black Tele, and now I have a great sounding, great looking shoe-gazer that I can thrash around the man-cave to my hearts content!

Black Ash Telecaster: Shielding for Slugs

Sitting at home today, willing the postman to deliver unto me some shielding tape so that my raft of current builds could continue, I remembered something that I had read in one of the guitar building forums around the place. It was postulated that copper tape sold as "slug barrier" tape could be used just as efffectively to shield a guitar as "sold for purpose" copper shielding. That couldn't be true could it??

Well, with this in mind, and with no postman in sight, I decided to head to my local Masters (big-chain hardware) and see if there was any truth to it - if slug barrier tape could indeed be the answer to my short-term shielding woes. Luckily I managed to find some - 10 metres for 8 bucks. It seemed like a bargain, but would it serve for shielding?

Well, I got the stuff home and proceeded to run a few quick tests to see how it performed. What I really needed to know was:

1. Do overlapping pieces form a continuous conductive surface?
Well, yes they do! I used three lengths stuck down to a piece of pine with a 0.5cm overlap. The surface did indeed register conductivity on my multimeter with a resistance of 0 Ohms. Great so far!

2. Can I solder directly to the tape and does the solder joint conduct?
Well, yes absolutely! The solder went straight on to the tape without any problems at all. A little flux was all that was needed (I use flux-cored solder) and the solder stuck fast with a nice clean joint.

In summary, the barrier tape performed identically to the tape I've been buying from ebay and other suppliers as "double sided conductive" shielding tape. Amazing!

With my 10 metres of tape in hand I dove straight into shielding the pickup and control cavities of the Black Ash Telecaster. The tape went on without any problems at all. Ground wires were easily soldered to the cavity walls to join all the cavities electrically, and then the bridge cavity was joined to the bridge using an underside bare wire.

To wire this beasty I'm using 250K Bournes mini-pots, an Orange Drop capacitor and a 4-way Oak-Grigsby switch. First time I've tried a 4-way switch on a Telecaster, but that's not surprising given it's only the second one I've ever built ;). I'm hoping it will extend the range of tones she will be able to produce - especially the new "series" setting. The circuit for the 4-way wiring scheme can be found on DIYGuitarMods and is shown below.

As it stands, the wiring of the control plate is all but completed (you can see it in the photo above) following the schema in the diagram. All that remains is for me to attach the pickups to the switch and to connect the output jack to its wires. This will be tomorrow's job, in addition to looking at the neck angle. With the bridge now in place it looks suspiciously like a shim is going to be needed - bummer.

Black Ash Telecaster: Moving the Bridge

Well, today I had every intention of getting the remainder of the hardware installed on the Black Ash Telecaster. But, unfortunately, it was not to be. When I did my mock build of the Telecaster prior to starting the finish, I did so with a humbucker in the neck position. As such, the bridge was positioned such that the strings travelled correctly over the poles of the humbucker and up the neck.

Now that I've decided to use a traditional Telecaster pickguard, it turns out the bridge was not perfectly placed to run parallel to the bottom edge of the guard (and wasn't centred either). It looked bloody horrible to tell you the truth. The only thing to do was to move the bridge, and that meant drilling out the original bridge screw holes and plugging them with 6mm oak dowel. Not the best thing to have to do once the finish is completed, but at least the bridge is large enough to cover the damage!

The job was, at least, completed with a minimum of fuss. I sanded the dowel a little with 180 grit paper to make it slide more easily into the 6mm hole, and used Titebond to glue each plug in place. Each plug required a tap with the hammer to get it all the way in, but in the end each sat nice and flush with the top of the guitar.

With the plugs in place, I was able to line up and install both the scratchplate and the control cover. All in all I reckon she's looking pretty bloody good - although in the photo below the bridge is just sitting on top of the plugs.

Once the Titebond has dried overnight, I'll get the bridge lined up again (using both the neck and pickguard as reference this time) and get it screwed down. Then I'll just have the wiring to go. Unfortunately I'm still waiting for shielding tape, so this may still be a while away.

Black Ash Telecaster: Tonerider Hot Classics

I have decided to upgrade the pickups on the Black Ask Telecaster build to Tonerider "Hot Classics". I've heard great things about these relatively inexpensive beasties, and so I ordered a set from my friends at Pitbull Guitars. The mailman dropped them on my doorstep this morning!

With a couple of holes drilled in the pickguard to mount the neck pickup (I never liked to idea of having to screw into the guitar body) one half of the upgrade was completed in no time. The bridge pickup, however, was another story!

Unfortunately, the bridge route on the kit was a little smaller than standard. It was perfect for the pickup supplied with the kit, but the Tonerider was just a smidge too big for it. I've had the same issue before - the bridge route on the Surf Telecaster build had to be enlarged to fit the 63 Tele Vintage Wound Professional Series pickup as well. It seems to be a common issue with Chinese made kits!

Anyway, I set about widening the bridge pickup route using my trusty router and the template from Stewmac.

It certainly wasn't the best time to start routing the body - what with the finish just being completed and all - but hey, needs must! I stuck the template down with double sided tape and away I went. It all went pretty smoothly to be honest and the route was complete in no time.

The results are nice and clean (my nice Tru-Oil finish survived!). Now the assembly can continue - as soon as my shielding tape arrives that is!!

Black Ash Telecaster: Red Tortoiseshell or Red Pearloid?

Well, it's been a few days without progress on any and all guitars. Bloody work is getting in the way of my building obsession. If I didn't need it to pay for guitar kits, maybe I'd chuck the whole IT thing in. Oh well - suck it up dude!

On the plus side, my alternate pickguard arrived from Pitbull today and I now have a choice to make. Tortoiseshell or Pearloid? They both look very similar, although the pearloid is a little darker in real life than it looks in the photo.

Well, what do you guys think? Ok, so there isn't much difference, but for my money it's the tortoiseshell (on the left).

Now if only I could find some time to finish off this body with a cut and polish, I could get the cavities shielded and this baby assembled. Soon. Hopefully.

Postscript 17/10/2014: Well it looks like overwhelming support for the tortoiseshell! I have gone ahead and ordered soume bourne 250K pots, an orange-drop cap and some Tonerider Hot Classics (pickups) for this baby. I can't wait to get her all wired up and to hear that rock twang!

Black Ash Telecaster: Headstock Decal and Pickguard

A little more progress this week on the Black Ash Tele. The neck is now finished - I've applied 8 thin coats of Tru-Oil on there, with a little wet-sanding (800 and 1500 grits) between the last couple of coats. Man, it's feeling nice and smooth and fast! I've also applied my headstock decal and it's looking pretty cool. I really like the black text on the amber finish.

I received a red tortoiseshell pickguard in the mail yesterday and did a quick mockup to see what it looks like. It needs some work around the neck to fit it properly, but that's no sweat. I'm waiting on a red pearloid pickgurd as an alternate to the tortoiseshell, and once that arrives I'll have to choose between the two of them. Once the choice is made I'll get out the file and improve the fit around the neck.

As it is, I think the red tortoiseshell is looking pretty damn nice! It's going to be tough to beat. I love the colour balance between the black, the red and the amber neck.

I'm getting pretty excited now - I can't wait to get this baby finished and to plug her in! It's shaping up to be either a Mental Wilko Johnston model or an Introverted Shoegazer - whatever floats your boat baby!

Black Ash Telecaster: Headstock Shaping & Neck Dye

Today I put the body to one side for a while, and started finishing the neck of the Black Ash Telecaster. I decided to go for a traditional Fender "yellow neck" look to contrast with the black body. Using my usual 'modern Telecaster' headstock pattern from the headstock templates pdf, I quickly got the headstock shaped and the whole neck sanded with 180, 240, 360 and 400 grit paper. At 400 grit, I raised the grain a couple of times and knocked it back down again with a gentle wipe of 400.

For the colour coats I used a weak solution of Colortone Vintage Amber, and applied it to the headstock, neck and fretboard. This is the first time I have dyed a fretboard, so it's kind of an experiment. I love the look, but have never been able to work out how to seal it effectively and still provide a good playing surface.

For clear coats I used two products. On the headstock and neck I applied my tried and trusted standby - Tru-Oil from Birchwood-Casey. On the fretboard I didn't want to use Tru-Oil (I've read some horror stories of fretboard wear and tear with Tru-Oil applied). Instead, I used some Dingotone Guitar Wax - hopefully this will be effective in sealing in the dye and providing a nice playing surface.

I have always loved the way Tru-Oil necks feel to play. The Dingotone Wax already feels really nice on the fretboard, so the combination of the two should result in a beautifully smooth playing axe. Expectation is now very high! A few more coats of Tru-Oil on the neck and this baby will be ready to assemble...

Black Ash Telecaster: Tru-Oil Coats

After a relaxing 3 week holiday in Middle Earth, I have finally got back to the man cave! Feeling the pangs of withdrawal from my building addiction, I was immediately rushed to the man cave for a little guitar building therapy. Whew..!

Before I went away, I managed to sand the body of the black Ash Telecaster back with 180, 240 and 320 grit to remove the remainder of the glue spots mentioned in my previous post. Another coat of black Colortone dye was then applied and the glue spots all but disappeared. However, no matter how much I sanded, I just couldn't remove those small "grain" marks on the front of the body!

Leaving these marks for the moment, I applied a soak coat of Tru-Oil to the body followed by 5 more thin coats. I then applied two more thin coats of Tru-Oil with black Colortone dye (concentrate) mixed in. It turns out, at least in the case of black dye, that this works unbelievably well! In fact, the resulting mixture smelled remarkably like Wudtone. Hmm, I might be on to something there ;). The marks on the front of the body have been substantially reduced using the coloured oil and I'm pretty bloody happy with the result.

Anyway, back in the man cave today I lightly wet sanded the oil with 800 grit sand paper and applied two more thin coats of un-dyed Tru-Oil. The resulting finish is really starting to look good.

To be honest, I don't think the body is going to need much more. I really like the way the ash grain texture can still be seen and felt, and the semi-gloss finish really enhances this effect. Time to get started on the neck!

Black Ash Telecaster: Trace Dye & Glue Spots

Having finally sanded the body of the Black Ash Telecaster with 180, 240 and 360 grit, she was ready to accept some colour. And so, without further ado, it was on with the first pass of black Colortone dye.

In general the colour looked great and was showcasing the grain nicely, but a couple of areas required immediate attention. These amounted to glue spots and other irregularities that just weren't accepting colour. The glue spots could be sanded out quite easily with 180 grit paper.

However, those lines on the front (photo 3) didn't seem to be glue. Do be honest I dont know what they were. They kinda following the grain and have proven to be very stubborn. No amount of sanding could budge them! I'm thinking that I might hit these with a little dye mixed with the Tru-Oil when it comes time for the clear coats. Did you know you could mix Colortone dye with Tru-Oil?? Well you can, but that's for the next installment!