My Precisionguitarkits Thinline Tele build

[PapaC]

Just finished. Nice kit. Fit and finish of the body, and neck was excellent. It did have a couple high frets, so I did a level, and crown on them just to be sure.

Hardware, and pickups are all Fender vintage. Bone nut. Hand rubbed water-based dyes for the sunburst. Approximately 35 coats of True oil for the finish which if I did this again, I would spray on a finish. Oil is finicky, and has to cure for over a month to be even somewhat durable. But, for not having the capability to spray on, it worked.

Their Tele necks come with 12” radius, but I’m okay with that as it plays quite nice, and sounds great.

Considering a USA Thinline is north of $2K, and I’m into this for round $600, I’m very pleased.

[jonfields45]

The finish is beautiful. What was your process?

[PapaC]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

The finish is beautiful. What was your process?

Thank you Jon. For the color I used General Finishes water-based dye stain. I bought four colors: Amber, Empire Red, Orange, and Medium Brown. I bought a 2x4 piece of maple plywood to practice on, and mixed colors until I had what wanted. I laid down the base color, then the outside darkest color, then a ring between them of mostly Orange. You then use a rag dipped in water and start blending. Lots of YouTube videos on this, and it’s pretty forgiving. As you can see, the back/sides are all one color. Amber, with just enough Med Brown to get the darker shade.

For the Tru Oil finish: First thing I did was build this jig out of PVC so I could do all sides at once-



I cut a bunch of pieces of lint free cloth approx 4x4. Take a piece of paper towel (I used the blue shop towels as they are tougher). Wrap a piece inside the rag, pour the Tru Oil on a small dollop at a time, and rub it on evenly. Then take a whole piece of shop towel folded twice, into a square, and drag across the oil with the grain, re-folding as necessary to keep a clean edge.

This results in a very THIN coat. You don’t want to try and rush by going thick, and this way you can do 3-4 coats a day. Sanded every 5 coats with 1000 grit using a large pink eraser for a sanding block, and mineral spirits for lube.

You can go as many coats as you want. I ended up with probably 35-40 thin coats.

I then let it cure for 24 hours, then sanded lightly up to 2000 grit. To finish, I carefully used Maquiars’ rubbing compound, and finally Maquiars’ polishing compound (Yes, the auto stuff). The rubbing compound is where you really start to see the shine come out. But…

Be careful sanding, and polishing. If you burn through in a spot, you have to sand/blend, and start more coats again. Ask me how I know. If you can, the best Tru Oil results I’ve seen pictures of are the guys that thin the oil and spray on the last couple coats. I just don’t have a sprayer.

I also let mine cure for over a month before assembling the guitar.

Oh yeah, the neck;

Headstock was finished the same, but with fewer coats. The back of the neck, and finger board got three coats, and then rubbed with 0000 steel wool. Came out nice and slippery

[Dru Edwards]

Carl, that is stunning! Even the headstock has an amazing burst. It looks like a custom shop guitar... which I guess it is. You have talent.

[Bluside]

A phenomenal job. Very impressive. Thanks for sharing your technique.

[Shepsdad]

Oh my! That’s a beautiful guitar!

[roylor4]

Beautiful work. Does it sound as good as it looks?

[PapaC]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Beautiful work. Does it sound as good as it looks?

Yes, absolutely! I just came downstairs from playing it for three hours straight. It’s that easy to play. Tone is subjective as we all know, and that was the big if with a kit build like this. How will it sound. I use a delay and compression when playing clean and it just sings, and yet it will rock the overdrive when asked to.

I shielded all electronics cavities with copper tape, made sure solder joints were hot, etc. and there is no buzzing, or noise at all from the pickups. I’m very happy with it. My only con so far is I have to use a grabby strap if I stand due to mild neck dive. But really it’s not a big issue, and I mostly play at home anyway.

Thank you all for the kind words.

[Song]

A work of art!
imo most beautiful tele ever!

That Kustom cabinet looks cool too!

[bls82261]

Great job. Beautiful!

[Glennwillow]

Hi Carl,

You did a great job on this guitar! It looks terrific! Very impressed!

- Glenn

[Bluside]

I'm going to steal your idea for making a stand to do body finishing. I wish I had something like that when I built mine.

[jricc]

Beautiful build and finish!

[antvas1963]

Wow, that finish came out nice. Great job.

[Jerry D]

Very nice. And, you have an only-one-in-the-world guitar!