100+ year old barn wood telecaster

[ZekeM]

oh that sucks I was hoping to see some pics of aged hardware today. Good luck on your quest. The decreasing intellegence of the average man has made it hard to find good quality stuff these days.

[RogerC]

I picked up some full-strength muriatic on my lunch break today, so I should have the hardware aged tonight. From my research I learned that it usually only takes about 20 minutes to get the job done, so I should have pics of all that later this evening.

[thebolo]

Be careful with that full strength muriatic acid, it is nasty stuff. I remember my dad got some to clean the toilet with once. When we opened the bottle it smoked....Just make sure you have adequate ventilation.

[RogerC]

Thanks, bolo. I did all of tonight's operations outside, so no worries about the ventilation. And yes, the bottle smoked when i opened it. It was pretty scary, but I also had on gloves and was very conscious of what I was doing. I definitely didn't want to risk anything.

Here's tonight's progress report...

The body is completely finished with 9 coats of Deft satin






And I went ahead and screen printed the logo on the headstock after last night's 2 coats of tung oil. I also applied 2 more coats tonight and hope to get at least 3 more on tomorrow. I'd like a minimum of 6 coats. Why 6? not sure, it's just a random number i picked




Oh, and the new batch of acid worked like a charm!






I've still got the control plate and knobs in the solution because they weren't aging quite as quickly. I hit the control plate with 320 again to get more to the raw metal. those pieces should be ready in a little while. Now it's just a waiting game to get my neck finished, then I get to wire it up. Dang, it's going to be really hard to let this one go.

[RogerC]

Got the last coat of tung oil on the neck at about 7:30 this morning, then had to go to a couple of basketball games. Once I got back, it had been about 6 hours since I put the last coat on, but the label says to let it cure for 12 hours. I'm not nearly that patient, so I put the neck in the bathroom with the heater on and left it for about another hour. It wasn't tacky anymore, so I hit it up with some steel wool. this is definitely the nicest neck I've built so far. And since I had the neck and hardware done, I couldn't resist bolting it all together for some outside shots...











I just need to wire it up, make the nut, and set it up.

[steveyam]

You realise you're going to have to go into production don't you?

[rbbambino]

This takes "opening up" to a whole new level, but I guess electrics don't really open up anyway .. You've done a great job and quick!!

[steveyam]

Originally Posted by RogerC

And I went ahead and screen printed the logo on the headstock after last night's 2 coats of tung oil. I also applied 2 more coats tonight and hope to get at least 3 more on tomorrow. I'd like a minimum of 6 coats. Why 6? not sure, it's just a random number i picked

Nice logo and name, but I still reckon 'Barn door' guitars would have been better!

[cpeehler7]

This is one of the coolest, and strangest build threads! I've never been much of a telecaster guy myself, but I think you're starting to change that. That's such a cool looking guitar, having one would be great because no one else has one. It's such a unique guitar. Well if you're still building the second one I hope it turns out as nice as this one.

[RogerC]

Originally Posted by steveyam

You realise you're going to have to go into production don't you?

Thanks, Steve. I'd love to start taking commissions, but I've got quite a few skills that I need to polish up before I start that.

Originally Posted by rbbambino

This takes "opening up" to a whole new level, but I guess electrics don't really open up anyway .. You've done a great job and quick!!

Thansk, RB

Originally Posted by steveyam

Nice logo and name, but I still reckon 'Barn door' guitars would have been better!

That is a great name. I actually came up with my current brand a few years ago and was using it for something else entirely

Originally Posted by cpeehler7

This is one of the coolest, and strangest build threads! I've never been much of a telecaster guy myself, but I think you're starting to change that. That's such a cool looking guitar, having one would be great because no one else has one. It's such a unique guitar. Well if you're still building the second one I hope it turns out as nice as this one.

Thanks, C. I do plan to build more of these. As a matter of fact, there are quite a few really old, dilapidated buildings in my county. I'd love to do a "Payne County" series of guitars all made from the old buildings around here.

[tifosi62]

Cool guitar.

Why is there a pickup selector switch on a guitar with a single pickup?
How do you have it wired?

John C.

[steveyam]

Originally Posted by tifosi62

Cool guitar.

Why is there a pickup selector switch on a guitar with a single pickup?
How do you have it wired?

John C.

The old single pickup Fender Esquire had a capacitor that could be switched in to make the tone more 'bassy'. Obviously I can't speak for this build, but here's the configuration:

Pos. 1 - bridge pup w/vol & no tone contol
Pos. 2 - bridge pup w/vol & tone control (standard Tele controls but in the middle position)
Pos. 3 - bridge pup w/vol and signal is run through a cap & resistor (generally referred to as the "fixed bassy" position)

[RogerC]

Yep, Steve nailed it.

[tifosi62]

Thanks guys. The different ways to wire things always amazes me.

[RogerC]

Got the tuners aged. They were a little too shiny, so I sanded the knobs then applied some stain. After that, I put them in the acid. It's subtle, but really sets the headstock off nicely.