Got a tele style guitar from Vinbur! Definitely a WD Music Products neck. Body and hardware are unmarked. Looks like somebody did a Pete Townshend at some point... Not sure what the end product is going to be? I’m sure inspiration will strike.
I’ve only got a 12.5” planer, so I ran the body through the tablesaw to rip it narrow enough. That also removed the bruise on the top edge of the body. Ran it through the planer, because I wasn’t about to do the heat gun/sander marathon. Then I cut a little block of poplar to glue and clamp to repair where I ripped it.
I’m almost thinking about running a 3/8” round-over bit to create a shoulder around most of the body, and just leave the old paint on the sides.
Country & Western guys and gals like to put a fancy little guard right where yours has that boo-boo. It would cover nicely:
Here is a really fancy version. I guess this was originally a thing that Bigsby guitars had...wish I knew what exactly it was called...
Ha! I got this guitar, and Vinbur warned me it was a little rough. It looks as though it was dropped, or maybe someone swung it hard and broke the neck. On the top side of the body where your arm would rest, the finish was shattered and the wood had broken. As you can see from the pics, someone had removed the pickguard and scratched their name and designs into the black finish. Well, I wanted to get rid of all of that, but to strip the finish with a heat gun and putty knife is laborious, and often turns out pretty poor. The wood fibers sometimes tear out and you are left with a lot of sanding. I happen to have a 12.5” stationary planer. The guitar body was 13” wide at it’s widest point... which just happened to be where the most damage was. I set the rip fence on the table saw for 12 1/8th, and sawed the body so that it was narrow enough to go through the planer. That also created a nice flat surface for me to glue and clamp a piece of Poplar that I could cut to shape and sand to match, retaining the original curvature of the body. It still wasn’t perfect... my planer blades are dull, and even though I only took off .001” per pass, I still got some tear-out and it broke a chunk off the edge of the bridge pickup cavity. I also should have ripped it down to 12” or 11 7/8”, because I have a gap between my repair and the original body on the face of the instrument. Debating re-doing that. Anyway, trimmed my repair block to match the body contour, then routed a 3/8” round over on both sides. Telecasters are usually pretty hard cornered, maybe a 1/8” or 1/4” round over, but it does smooth out the look with the larger radius, hiding imperfections and creating a sharp line where I left the original finish like a reverse banding. Without a spindle sander or stationary belt sander, it would be tough to get the sides clean. I think leaving it looks kind of cool and different, and I’m debating leaving a few of the old injuries and repairs visible. I really like finishes like Watco Danish Oil, or just Boiled Linseed with some mineral spirits and Japan Drier. I’m thinking that’s what I’m going to do with this. I dunno, we’ll see.
God why didn’t I think to just plane the top and back off the guitars I refinished? That’s a genius move!
Wow! Clever thinking to cut of the repair so you could feed the body through your planer! I am no fan of the "heat and scrape" finish removal method, so I can appreciate that, even with the minor dings, you have put yourself well ahead of the game by using the planer, and nice job with the body edge repair!
Back home, and got a little time for this project. When I received this guitar, something about the bridge and strings looked a little off. Re-mounted the neck and got a center line. Notice the issue? No big deal. Plug the holes, reposition the bridge. I’m thinking this is a good candidate for a couple P90s...
This one is taking a very cool path of its own. Very cool approach you took getting it to this point and the wood grain really looks nice. Great ideas you've got for this one so far. Can't wait to see the finished beast!
P90 in the neck with a Tele bridge is typically a really good match, too. The P90 will also sound just a tad punchier in the Tele. Lookin' good so far!
