History
About 30 years ago, I took an attempt at building my own electric guitar. Before we go any further, (spoiler alert) it was a spectacular failure. The approach I took was to make the entire guitar from scratch - big mistake. About 10 years later, I refinished an Ibanez guitar using spray paint and polyurathane (with a brush). The finish was pretty bad looking, and I learned that a brush is no way to finish a guitar. So, attempt #2 took place in 2003. This time I purchased a kit and set off to work.Starting Point (2003)
The kit came from Saga (a well-known kit manufacturer). It included the body, neck (the adjustment screw, and fretboard were already attached), and all of the chrome hardware. The neck had a slight twist in it (looking down the fretboard, the entire neck seemed to twist to the left) which was a little concerning, but I had hopes that a little tuning on the adjustment knob in the neck might help. I decided I wanted something in a dark green with gold hardware, so I dumped all of the existing hardware in the trash and went to work on the internet locating gold replacements for everything.Body
The body is basswood with a poly coating over the top. I planned on having no pick guard - just the painted wood and components. I gave it three coats of primer, followed by 6 coats of color, and 5 coats of clear. The primer and color were auto paint. I've used that in the past on a truck I once owned, and was really impressed with the hardness and durability of the auto paint versus the laquer you buy for general home use. The clear was a durable laquer. After each coat, I sanded it with 1000-grid sandpaper. After the final clear coat, I sanded with 1000-grit, followed by 1500-grit, and finally rubbing compound. The shine wasn't what you would find in the store, but it had a beautiful lustre. Once dry (or so I thought - more on this point later), I soldered all of the components on, and mounted everything to the body.
Neck and Head
The neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. The head was unfinished, so I got to add a little of my own design. I finally settled on a recurve design. I took an old CD, and one of my daughter's toys to create the arcs. It ended up looking more like a bird than I thought it would - a point about which I am less than enthusiastic, but it's definitely my own design. I used the same primer/color/clear paint & process on the front of the head. The neck and back of the head received only a few coats of clearcoat (of course, no paint at all on the fretboard). I selected a coat of arms for the logo on the head, another design choice that I didn't really care for once it was done. The sound is beautiful. It has that twang that separates telecasters, is well balanced, and is a real joy to play. It especially sounds amazing through my Deluxe Reverb. The twist in the neck disappeared over time, as well. I'm not really sure if it was the adjustment screw, or just having the tension of strings pulling on it.
2015 Refinish
A few weeks after the original build in 2003, I bought a gig bag for the guitar, and thinking the finish was completely dry, started storing it in the bag. Some months later, I noticed an odd reflection down at the bottom of the body. A closer look revealed that the texture of the gig bag had become impressed in the lacquer clear coat. I also got tired of the coat of arms logo, so it was time for action. I tried buffing it back out with rubbing compound, but the indentations were entirely too deep. So, off to work sanding. I took it down to the color coats, and started to build it back up from there. The body needed a small bit of additional color - fortunately, I had the last of the original can of paint left over. I also stripped the head, decal and all, down to the paint, and built that back up. This time, I settled on something as simple as my signature, using a gold metallic paint pen.
This time, I built some guitar wall hangars, and the tele has been hanging for a couple of months on the wall, rather than in the bag.
Setup
Playing for over 30 years, I have a pretty good grasp of tuning. I never did take the time to learn how to properly set up a guitar, however. I recently found an old video by Mark Arnquist from 1986 explaining the process. After going through that video, I set up the guitar properly, and it plays as well as any guitar I've ever played.
