Texas Tele Update. 6-20-09

[tom_k/mo]

Beautiful piece of art Mark, you should be proud.

[guitarnut]

I am always amazed at what you can do! Enjoy the sounds of your labor.

You sure you don't have me confused with someone else?

Seriously, Thanks for the kind words.

Peace,
Mark

[guitarnut]

Beautiful piece of art Mark, you should be proud.

Thanks Tom.

I'm feeling better about the closer I get it to being completed. It amazed me how quickly I went from this huge list of things I still needed to do, to seeing it come together. Almost spiritual. I guess we all go thru that with our projects.

Peace,
Mark

[guitarnut]

Big update. Lots of progress. LOTS of new pics!!! Some of my tags aren't working quite right, you may have to scroll a bit on the pages.

The binding and carved top are scraped and leveled:
Binding Completed

The neck is rough carved:
Rough Carved Neck

Then the final carve to the finished profile, fretboard leveled:
Final Carved Neck

Frets installed:
Frets

Control reccesses are cut, controls test fitted:
Controls

The string and ferrule holes are drilled:
String Holes

Peace,
Mark

[guitarnut]

Getting close to finishing this build. I have been testing various tints and dyes to get the look I want and I have settled on TransTint dyes. I'll update the whole journey thru testing various combinations of tints and dyes in lacquer and alcohol, bleaching, taping for clean lines with the dyes...all of this, in my blog soon.

The Texas Tele Project

The update today involves the graphics for the guitar. I wanted to see the layout on the guitar before I started finishing so I printed it out full scale at the office and taped it to the front of the guitar. I'm glad I took this step because I realized that there is too much white in the design...it over powered the front on the guitar...see new design in next post below.







Peace,
Mark

[guitarnut]

So, after a bit of time in Photoshop, I came up with another version that I really like. It reduces the amount of white, surrounds the neck pickup in red, surrounds the neck pocket in red, which I like better than white against the vintage amber of the neck and it still has the organic, waving feeling I was looking for.

You can see the 2 designs side by side here:

http://www.crenshawweb.com/texastele/compare.htm







I hope to get started on the finish this weekend and I'll update the blog with lots of new pics and info.

Peace,
Mark

[guitarnut]

Deleted double post...sorry.

[guitarnut]

I've begun the finishing process on the guitar top. I have ht ewhite areas done. I ended up using a combination of bleaching and Mixol White Oxide tint in clear lacquer to get the final color. I feel really good about hte results. I may do a complete top or guitar in this finish someday.

You can see the whole process and results at the following link:

http://www.crenshawweb.com/texastele/ttp14.htm

Here is a shot after the bleaching.



And after spraying.



A shot of the wet surface during sanding offers a hint of what the color will look like under clear coats.



And after sanding, you can see the figure has come back and is even glowing a bit in a few places.



Peace,
Mark
[email="http://www.crenshawweb.com/texastele/fin42.jpg"][/email]

[charlese]

Thanks, again, Mark! - for posting all of your photos of your good work!

[guitarnut]

Well, not really an update but a nice addition to the BLOG. Yesterday was my birthday and my wife surprised me with this little morsel honoring my current guitar build...Thanks Dear!!!







Peace,
Mark