Shan's Lefty Righty Tele Build.

[Greg_L]

I'd guess that nut is too high. Nothing that can't be fixed though.

Yea. It's already on the list of stuff that needs attention. I have no idea wtf is going on with that rounded out bit right under where the nut is sitting. I've not seen anything like that before. I am assuming it is going to affect sound transfer so i am thinking i gotta pop that nut off and fill in that stupid gap with something and then reseat the nut In addition to getting it to the right height.

If i fix that rounded out gap the way i see it going in my head the height may adjust itself.

Yeah if you just square some shoulders in the round part the nut might drop in real close to the right height.

[WhiskeyJack]

Yea. It's already on the list of stuff that needs attention. I have no idea wtf is going on with that rounded out bit right under where the nut is sitting. I've not seen anything like that before. I am assuming it is going to affect sound transfer so i am thinking i gotta pop that nut off and fill in that stupid gap with something and then reseat the nut In addition to getting it to the right height.

If i fix that rounded out gap the way i see it going in my head the height may adjust itself.

Yeah if you just square some shoulders in the round part the nut might drop in real close to the right height.

Bingo! failing all that i will use my newfound razorblading skills and trim it down. Or maybe invest in a nice bone nut all you turds seem to rage about. no sense keeping a shitty plastic one with glue all over it if i have to go through all that stuff.

EDIT: now that i think of it. [mention]muttley[/mention] i have a really big set of moose antlers in my garage i have ot cut up for my dogs for to chew on, would antler material make a good nut?

[muttley]

[mention]WhiskeyJack[/mention] I know you chucked those pics at me last week and sorry I didnt reply but I was out of the country at the time. Dont worry too much about the nut and setup until you have the rest of it done and solid. Cutting the nut in is part of the final setup and you need everything else right before you finish that off.

You can sand the fret board later down the road as part of the fret polishing and thats what I do. Only with 800 grit through 1200 grit when polishing the frets and that helps the general feel. Again thats kind of one of the last things to do. You are getting ahead of the game here and over thinking stuff to do down the road. Concentrate on one task at a time in a linear fashion rather than a scatter gun approach..

[muttley]

I'd guess that nut is too high. Nothing that can't be fixed though.

Yea. It's already on the list of stuff that needs attention. I have no idea wtf is going on with that rounded out bit right under where the nut is sitting. I've not seen anything like that before. I am assuming it is going to affect sound transfer so i am thinking i gotta pop that nut off and fill in that stupid gap with something and then reseat the nut In addition to getting it to the right height.

If i fix that rounded out gap the way i see it going in my head the height may adjust itself.

yes, that needs doing but later.. you can do it with a sharp knife and a fine chisel slightly narrower than the the slot. Dont try it with files unless you are super confident. The bottom of the slot should fit the bottom of the nut perfectly. You would then lower the nut height by sanding the bottom of the nut once you have the radius and slot depth right.

[muttley]

Yeah if you just square some shoulders in the round part the nut might drop in real close to the right height.

Bingo! failing all that i will use my newfound razorblading skills and trim it down. Or maybe invest in a nice bone nut all you turds seem to rage about. no sense keeping a shitty plastic one with glue all over it if i have to go through all that stuff.

EDIT: now that i think of it. @muttley i have a really big set of moose antlers in my garage i have ot cut up for my dogs for to chew on, would antler material make a good nut?

Yeh it would. if you want it to look white or even you cut it to size and bleach it. You may have to go through a few pieces to find a decent bit because antler has flaws in it that bone doesnt but it works pretty well. Bone is dirt cheap though and a lot less hassle cos its off the shelf cut close to size.

[WhiskeyJack]

than a scatter gun approach..

This is my Achilles heel. I am horrible at the linear one thing at a time thing. I currently have about 77 carts to put in front of one horse. As they say. Me being the horse here. I will realign accordingly. Thanks for all this advice mutt it is greatly appreciated.

[Greg_L]

This is my Achilles heel. I am horrible at the linear one thing at a time thing. I currently have about 77 carts to put in front of one horse. As they say. Me being the horse here. I will realign accordingly. Thanks for all this advice mutt it is greatly appreciated.

I had to fight this with my amp build. I had to train myself to compartmentalize and only tackle one thing at a time or it'd be overwhelming. An amp broken down into all of it's pieces is mind boggling. But if you put it into little chunks of little tasks, then it's much more manageable. I expect your guitar build can be treated the same way. Don't even think about anything but the specific task at hand. A bunch of tiny steps will get you to the finish line better than trying to jump there all at once.

[WhiskeyJack]

This is my Achilles heel. I am horrible at the linear one thing at a time thing. I currently have about 77 carts to put in front of one horse. As they say. Me being the horse here. I will realign accordingly. Thanks for all this advice mutt it is greatly appreciated.

I had to fight this with my amp build. I had to train myself to compartmentalize and only tackle one thing at a time or it'd be overwhelming. An amp broken down into all of it's pieces is mind boggling. But if you put it into little chunks of little tasks, then it's much more manageable. I expect your guitar build can be treated the same way. Don't even think about anything but the specific task at hand. A bunch of tiny steps will get you to the finish line better than trying to jump there all at once.

JD once told me to just makes lists and cross stuff off. I started doing that but then it got to big and i startted scatter gunning again lol. I am getting better though. All sagely advice. My plan for when i get back next week is to just start on the body and go from there. Focus on the sanding and stuff. The neck can be worked on while the body does it's thing.

[WhiskeyJack]

[mention]muttley[/mention]

I have questions. I have been sanding this thing down and i am at the 320 grit and it's coming together nicely but i have a few issues.

First, i am worried that i may have screwed myself here by sanding the binding? It looks pretty visibly scratched up now. In my mind i figure if i keep going a few more finer grits those scratches will disappear when i do the final clear coats. I had planned to sand the body down to 600 grit. When i wiped it with water it looked way better. But i had no choice in this instances but to sand the binding because this thing came coated in a really thick coat of poly resin protectant. So to get that off i had to go at it with a 180 grit until all the poly resin removed. What do you think?




Secondly, the sides of the guitar the grain is really fuzzy and textured in some spots still at this point. Not sure this picture does it any justice? I am thinking there is a technique or something i am missing that can clean this up a little bit?




Guidance ?

[muttley]

The binding will be fine, work it to 600 and it will be golden.

The fuzzy grain may be helped with grain filler which also acts to bind the grain together to give a flat smooth finish. I often wet the grain to lift it and let it dry before sanding. Final few rub outs are done dry. TBH I finish mostly with sharp cabinet scrappers. They cut rather than abrade the timber so you get a smoother finish. That maybe above your current skill level though as sharpening scrapers is an art in itself.

Remind again what wood it is and what finish you plan to put on it?

[WhiskeyJack]

The binding will be fine, work it to 600 and it will be golden.

The fuzzy grain may be helped with grain filler which also acts to bind the grain together to give a flat smooth finish. I often wet the grain to lift it and let it dry before sanding. Final few rub outs are done dry. TBH I finish mostly with sharp cabinet scrappers. They cut rather than abrade the timber so you get a smoother finish. That maybe above your current skill level though as sharpening scrapers is an art in itself.

Remind again what wood it is and what finish you plan to put on it?

I bought some razor blades to use in place of a cabinet scraper the last time i had an issue with this project and they worked great and while the technique didn't come to me immediately it was like a light switch once what i was doing just sort of popped. I could probably give it a try with those maybe? I have actually already used the razor blade scrape thing over the pilot holes on the body becasue they were still quite bitty.

The body is basswood and the finish on the sides will be done in a linseed oil based colored tint will and left to cure and then a satin lacquer will go over top of that.

[muttley]

Basswood is mostly used on solid colour finishes and some of the heavier sprayed sunbursts or tinted lacquers. It doesnt take staining or clear coating that well. I think I remember you doing some testers which is good. I would use a good sanding sealer first as that will help even out the way the colour stain would bite. Basswood can be quite blotchy because of irregular grain which is what you are probably experiencing now.

[WhiskeyJack]

Basswood is mostly used on solid colour finishes and some of the heavier sprayed sunbursts or tinted lacquers. It doesnt take staining or clear coating that well. I think I remember you doing some testers which is good. I would use a good sanding sealer first as that will help even out the way the colour stain would bite. Basswood can be quite blotchy because of irregular grain which is what you are probably experiencing now.

For sure. the top is going to be a solid color metallic. All the test scraps i did with and without sanding sealer looked like shit regardless, the sealed stuff was a much lightrer shade and less blotchy, the unsealed was really rich looking but also really blotchy. so it's what i have to work with. Basswood wasn't ideal but my only option sadly.

thanks mutt. i keep going at it to 600 grist and if the side isn't too bitty i'l fine tune it with the razor blades as best i can. I don't have it in the budget to get a cabinet scraper right now.

[muttley]

I make my own scrapers from old saw blades. For that sort of stuff you want a pretty thin gauge steel and it needs to be hard to keep an edge.. If I have time early next week I will do a video run through on how to make, polish and sharpen one properly and then how to use them. I'm working on some stuff that is all scraping and binding right now.

[Armistice]

Basswood is mostly used on solid colour finishes and some of the heavier sprayed sunbursts or tinted lacquers. It doesnt take staining or clear coating that well. I think I remember you doing some testers which is good. I would use a good sanding sealer first as that will help even out the way the colour stain would bite. Basswood can be quite blotchy because of irregular grain which is what you are probably experiencing now.

For sure. the top is going to be a solid color metallic. All the test scraps i did with and without sanding sealer looked like shit regardless, the sealed stuff was a much lightrer shade and less blotchy, the unsealed was really rich looking but also really blotchy. so it's what i have to work with. Basswood wasn't ideal but my only option sadly.

thanks mutt. i keep going at it to 600 grist and if the side isn't too bitty i'l fine tune it with the razor blades as best i can. I don't have it in the budget to get a cabinet scraper right now.

Deck. Build yer deck. Guitars can wait...

[WhiskeyJack]

For sure. the top is going to be a solid color metallic. All the test scraps i did with and without sanding sealer looked like shit regardless, the sealed stuff was a much lightrer shade and less blotchy, the unsealed was really rich looking but also really blotchy. so it's what i have to work with. Basswood wasn't ideal but my only option sadly.

thanks mutt. i keep going at it to 600 grist and if the side isn't too bitty i'l fine tune it with the razor blades as best i can. I don't have it in the budget to get a cabinet scraper right now.

Deck. Build yer deck. Guitars can wait...

Yes 10-4. Its my main focus right now guitar is on hold for now or for rainy days.

[WhiskeyJack]

Ok back at this now that my shop is warm enough to be in and my deck is largely done.( A total shitshow for another thread.)

@muttley what have i done wrong here?! See below.

I have sanded from 180grit all they way up through to 600 and given it a final scrape with razor blades as cabinet scrapers arent in the budget currently.

I want to say that maybe i didnt sandout something as well as i should have in the rougher grits given the looks of those lines running parallel to the binding? Odd as it all feels smooth. If i gently run a razor blade across it parallell it doesnt seem to fetch on any of those scratches like you think it might. It seems like it is running over glass?

Should i go back to 180grit and start over until they are gone?! Or is this just an end grain thing?!

[muttley]

End grain is always the trickiest. Its hard to get sanding marks down in those places. I use scrapers exclusively but they will also leave some score marks. Without going back over what I recommended before, did you raise the grain by wetting it with a light wash with a wet cloth? I do that when I get close to the final finish then let it dry. It will raise the grain a bit and you sand back with whatever grit you are on at the time. I usually do that from about 400 to 800 grit... Bottom line is that if you are going to seal and clear coat you should be good but if you are looking to stain or dye then it could be an issue... Hard to tell without seeing it in person.

[WhiskeyJack]

End grain is always the trickiest. Its hard to get sanding marks down in those places. I use scrapers exclusively but they will also leave some score marks. Without going back over what I recommended before, did you raise the grain by wetting it with a light wash with a wet cloth? I do that when I get close to the final finish then let it dry. It will raise the grain a bit and you sand back with whatever grit you are on at the time. I usually do that from about 400 to 800 grit... Bottom line is that if you are going to seal and clear coat you should be good but if you are looking to stain or dye then it could be an issue... Hard to tell without seeing it in person.

Thanks mutt. Yes i did exactly that. I actually started wetting the surface at 320. And then moving through to 600. Amd wetting and raising the grain between each. It really helped with that rough bumpy area i showed you before. So that was great.

My vision right now is a 'top' type finish so the back and sides of the guitar will be stained. I know basswood is meh for this but im going to give it a try. It was a 160 dollar guitar kit that has likely dried out by now

I kind of want to go back over this area on the end back to 180 and work my way back up though and see if i cant get those less noticeable. But i just had a barinfart and im going to go make a coffee and head out there. When i wet this down to sand i didnt make note of how that area looked in particular. I just remember as i was wetting it down the whole thing seemed to come alive if you know what i mean. Ill brb.

Also i can't find 800 grit sandpaper around here? Is that normal? Got some 1000 and 1500 yesterday along with more 600. No 800.

[WhiskeyJack]

Ok mutt. My brainfart was just that a fart. The 1st picture seen below is the butt end of this thing dry and the second wet. My thinking was to just rewet it and make note of how bad those lines were as it would give me some indication of how it may look when stain dye and clear coats go on it.

I will try and go back to 180 and seeificant get those less noticeable. May be futile but ill give it the old college try.

Back at it.