Tele Body & Neck Shipped

[Bloozcat]

Finally, after eight weeks of waiting, my Tele body and neck has been shipped by B. Hefner. In order to get the discounted price of $119.95 for the body, and $129.95 for the neck, the order takes eight weeks. But, seeing as B. Hefner is not only a Fender licensed manufacturer, but also provides bodies and necks directly to Fender themselves, it's worth the wait to me.

So, I guess this is an early Merry Christmas to me present!
(I'd better hide it from my wife when it comes in...she'll grab it, wrap it, and make me wait until Christmas morning if she sees it!)

[M29]

Ohh man!! Don't ya just love that bloated feeling!! You know GAS... Can't wait to see the stuff when ya get it, pics man pics. Thats a sweeeet project coming home for the holidays, congrats Bloozcat: What finish? What colors?

M29

[Bloozcat]

Ohh man!! Don't ya just love that bloated feeling!! You know GAS... Can't wait to see the stuff when ya get it, pics man pics. Thats a sweeeet project coming home for the holidays, congrats Bloozcat: What finish? What colors?

M29

Thanks, M29...

Here's the details as they stand right now:

Body

2-piece ash, standard Tele routing.

Neck:

1-piece maple
1-11/16" nut width
21 6150 frets
9-1/2" radius fretboard
1952 soft V profile neck back contour
5/16" tunning key holes for vintage style keys.

I plan to finish the body in clear, and the neck in vintage amber.

The bridge is going to be a Wilkinson with the three compensated brass barrels. The tuning keys will probably be Wilkinson/Kluson vintage style, although Gotoh/Kluson vintage style is still an option. I currently have a Vintage Vibe vintage style, nickle silver covered neck pickup for it with Alnico III magnet and 43 ga wire. I'll probably pick up a GFS single coil Tele bridge to go with the VV for now, but if this guitar is particularly resonant, I might bite the bullet and get a set of Don Mare's for it.

More to come...

[M29]

Ooh yes more to come! Sounds good. Is that ash swamp ash?

M29

[Tone2TheBone]

That's gonna be nice dude. Nothing like Ash. I can see it in my mind's eye.

[Brian Krashpad]

Sounds great. Congrats in advance and good luck with the better half!

[Bloozcat]

Yes, it's definitely swamp ash M29...

The better half won't protest too much Brian. About all she'll ever say is, "Another guitar? When are you going to sell some of the one's you already have?" Since she knows my standard answer is, "when pigs fly", all I have to do is look up and shrug, and she's knows my answer...

[pie_man_25]

Thanks, M29...

Here's the details as they stand right now:

Body

2-piece ash, standard Tele routing.

Neck:

1-piece maple
1-11/16" nut width
21 6150 frets
9-1/2" radius fretboard
1952 soft V profile neck back contour
5/16" tunning key holes for vintage style keys.

I plan to finish the body in clear, and the neck in vintage amber.

The bridge is going to be a Wilkinson with the three compensated brass barrels. The tuning keys will probably be Wilkinson/Kluson vintage style, although Gotoh/Kluson vintage style is still an option. I currently have a Vintage Vibe vintage style, nickle silver covered neck pickup for it with Alnico III magnet and 43 ga wire. I'll probably pick up a GFS single coil Tele bridge to go with the VV for now, but if this guitar is particularly resonant, I might bite the bullet and get a set of Don Mare's for it.

More to come...

wow, how much are you paying for this stuff and where are you getting it all? I want to know this because I'm building a jazz bass copy, with a budget of $300 and I already spent half of it on the neck, I'm making the body out of bookmatched alder with some varathane as a finish. I'm probably going to skip the pickguard and make the pot plate and knobs out of leftover alder to save a few bucks.

but yeah, sounds like a great project and I wish you luck.

[Bloozcat]

wow, how much are you paying for this stuff and where are you getting it all? I want to know this because I'm building a jazz bass copy, with a budget of $300 and I already spent half of it on the neck, I'm making the body out of bookmatched alder with some varathane as a finish. I'm probably going to skip the pickguard and make the pot plate and knobs out of leftover alder to save a few bucks.

but yeah, sounds like a great project and I wish you luck.

The body and neck came from here:
http://www.guitar-alley.com/servlet/StoreFront

B. Hefner is not only licensed to manufacture Fender bodies and necks, but actually makes parts for Fender as well (along with Gibson and others).

The body cost $119.99 and the neck $129.99 with all the features I described. I don't know of any other place that offers the level of quality that B. Hefner does at anywhere near these prices. The only caveat is that when you order from the Guitar Alley section of B. Hefners business, you can't be in a rush to get the parts. These prices do come at the expense of time...it took eight weeks to get them. This was the scheduled time frame for delivery. You can order right from B. Hefners regular custom shop and get the same quality parts faster, but it'll cost a lot more. So if you've got the time, and can plan a project well in advance, it's a great deal.

BTW: The body and neck did arrive on Saturday as scheduled, and the workmanship is superb as usual. The body is true 1960's vintage, and the wood is beautiful. Although the two piece body is not center joined, the grain pattern is matched superbly. The neck is exactly as it should be and the feel is exactly what I was looking for. The only downside is that there are a few sharp fret ends on the neck. They're slight, and will be easy to fix with the tools I have.

I'll try to post pics tonight if I can remember to bring the digital camera home from work.

[Bloozcat]

OK, a couple of pics. The seam is clearly visible on the back of the body, but not on the front where it's most important. Even the seam on the back is still not bad. The photos have a little bit of a washed out look due to the flash...it had gotten a little too dark on the porch when I went to take the pictures.

[Algonquin]

Looks really good Bloozcat!

Any thoughts on how you're going to apply a finish to the body? I've never done any guitar finishing, but I have used Tung oil on woodworking projects and find it incredibly easy to use and have had good results.

It's not as durable as a Polyurathane finish, but it's very easy touch up. The more coats you rub in, the nicer it becomes.

You're probably way ahead of me on this anyway...

I'd love to see how your project progresses.

Congrats on your new purchase... :

[sunvalleylaw]

Looks like a nice project! I look forward to seeing some progress pics. I don't have time at this stage in life to do such a nice project, but enjoy watching the handy fretters here.

[Bloozcat]

Looks really good Bloozcat!

Any thoughts on how you're going to apply a finish to the body? I've never done any guitar finishing, but I have used Tung oil on woodworking projects and find it incredibly easy to use and have had good results.

It's not as durable as a Polyurathane finish, but it's very easy touch up. The more coats you rub in, the nicer it becomes.

You're probably way ahead of me on this anyway...

I'd love to see how your project progresses.

Congrats on your new purchase... :

Thanks, Algonquin.

Since I have the equipment, I always go old school and spray with lacquer. The finished guitar is going to have a "vintage modern" look and feel to it, so lacquer is fitting. It'll also age like a vintage guitar as well.

The trick with using tung oil for guitar finishing (or any finish, really) is in the prep work. It's OK with furniture to have an open grain look to the wood after it's finished. With a guitar, you usually want that glass like glossy finish when you're through. That requires grain filler, sanding sealer, and/or primer under the top finish.

An oil type finish that I've used sucessfully in the past, is a product called True Oil. It's a gunstock finish made by Birchwood Casey. You can get it in a gloss finish, and with enough coats it'll give you a decent glass like finish. Not like lacquer, but still pretty good. The True Oil comes in an aerosol spray as well as a liquid, so getting a nice gloss finish is easier. I've found the True Oil finish to be harder and tougher than straight tung oil too. Makes sense when you think that it's meant for gun stocks that take a bit of abuse in the field.

[pie_man_25]

The body and neck came from here:
http://www.guitar-alley.com/servlet/StoreFront

B. Hefner is not only licensed to manufacture Fender bodies and necks, but actually makes parts for Fender as well (along with Gibson and others).

The body cost $119.99 and the neck $129.99 with all the features I described. I don't know of any other place that offers the level of quality that B. Hefner does at anywhere near these prices. The only caveat is that when you order from the Guitar Alley section of B. Hefners business, you can't be in a rush to get the parts. These prices do come at the expense of time...it took eight weeks to get them. This was the scheduled time frame for delivery. You can order right from B. Hefners regular custom shop and get the same quality parts faster, but it'll cost a lot more. So if you've got the time, and can plan a project well in advance, it's a great deal.

BTW: The body and neck did arrive on Saturday as scheduled, and the workmanship is superb as usual. The body is true 1960's vintage, and the wood is beautiful. Although the two piece body is not center joined, the grain pattern is matched superbly. The neck is exactly as it should be and the feel is exactly what I was looking for. The only downside is that there are a few sharp fret ends on the neck. They're slight, and will be easy to fix with the tools I have.

I'll try to post pics tonight if I can remember to bring the digital camera home from work.

thanks a lot bloozcat! you've been a great help and best of wishes on youre project, looking great so far!