Guitar build thread: The WMD Telecaster

[Isaac_James]

Personally, I would flatten it again by router planing it flush. It's a touch concerning that it would cup at this point - how long have you had the boards and were they kiln dried?

I bought the boards back in March or so, but they were from a hardwood shop that kiln dried them. When we tested them with a moisture probe the moisture level was negligible. So I'm puzzled!

 

[Beej]

Were they stored laying flat on a smooth surface? Or did you have them stickered? If they were laying flat, they could have drawn moisture from below and expanded the bottom surface leading to cupping on the top surface (exposed to air). If that's the case, they may settle after laying stickered for a few days. If they were stored stickered and this happened, then honestly, I might leave them for a good long while to dry further and select some other boards for this build. I know it's not always possible, but I like to buy lumber and have it in my shop at least a year before using it.

 

[Isaac_James]

Were they stored laying flat on a smooth surface? Or did you have them stickered? If they were laying flat, they could have drawn moisture from below and expanded the bottom surface leading to cupping on the top surface (exposed to air). If that's the case, they may settle after laying stickered for a few days. If they were stored stickered and this happened, then honestly, I might leave them for a good long while to dry further and select some other boards for this build. I know it's not always possible, but I like to buy lumber and have it in my shop at least a year before using it.

Good feedback. I don't recall how I stored it but I think it may have been flat against a surface at some point, I will hold off on planing it for a while to see what happens.

We have had a lot of atmospheric moisture changes in the past few months, being the Pacific Northwest in the spring and all that.

 

[Isaac_James]

Today was a short day in the shop, but it felt like a big one. For the first time since starting this project, I have a piece of wood that is recognizably guitar shaped!

I did a rough cut of the lines using a band saw (I've never used one before so this was a little nerve-wracking) then tidied up the edges with power sanders. The edges aren't perfect yet and there are a couple of spots that got a little singed from me spending too much time in the same spot, but I'm confident they'll clean up just fine. I brought along my own Tele to compare the body shape and this is very, very close. I've just got to do some detail sanding to finish it up and get everything smooth, then it's on to the neck.


I also wiped a bit of tru-oil onto a piece of scrap myrtlewood... I'm very, very excited to see how the fretboard turns out when it's all done based on what I saw today.

 

[Isaac_James]

I haven't updated here in a while, because it's been slow going due to summer travel, work, and (almost) finishing up a 10 month remodel project. I'm likely going to be making very slow progress for a while, as my wife is having some major surgery in a few weeks. But I have been able to get a little bit of sanding done on the body. Here are a few shots after taking off the paper template, and then again after sanding down to 150 grit. I've softened the edges and worked out almost all of the lines that the drum sander put on it while I was cleaning up the body shape. I'm still trying to get out a scorch mark that happened when I let the drum sander get too hot, but it's looking better too.

After sanding to 150 grit:

Here's a shot from an angle to show how the edges have softened. I don't want to round them off much more than this.

Here's one that shows a cool grain pattern on the top edge

I'll share more pictures as I refine the sanding, but it'll be a little bit before I make any major progress updates.