I did some essential marking out and then had some fun with coloured epoxy resin.

As this is a Barncaster, I decided to put some old brass screws into the top boards as a feature. I also played around with some dyes and we settled on black for this one.

We decided to finish this guitar in Tru Oil, it’s a gun stock oil that can produce a fantastic lustre. Many coats were applied.

Of course sanding in between coats is essential for that super nice finish.

My friend wanted to apply some waterslide transfers so that was incorporated before applying several more coats of Tru Oil to seal them in. 

The project is ongoing. More pictures to follow. 

Looking forward to the finish guitar...

Bridge on, alignment check and pickup placement before drilling the holes. Making a left handed guitar is very confusing the first time you do it but I’m getting there. 

It’s all starting to come together and looking better than I thought it would, even though I say so myself.

That looks excellent.

Somehow, Teles seem to look good to me when they have some "interesting" design features.  Perhaps the relative plain-ness of an ordinary Tele makes the interesting ones stand out more?

Whatever the reason, that looks like an excellent piece of work.  Congrats!

@tv1010101 Thank you very much sir, I appreciate the kind words. I agree about the plain ones, I think traditionally people like them for their simplicity. I have made many Teles now and I think I’ve got the hang of them now so I’ve started getting a little more creative with them. As we all know, the possibilities are infinite. This is the best hobby ever! 

i am left handed and like the idea of building something from scrap/pallet wood. i really like the finish on it and the rustic look of it. nice and shiny too but with the cracks in the wood give it a lot of character. inspiring!

keep up the good work 

all the best 

simon

@simon1138 Thank you, it’s good to see people being inspired by what I’m doing, I never thought that would happen. The good thing is about using pallet wood/scrap wood is that you can try out lots of ideas and if you mess it up, you haven’t lost anything. Even if a project goes completely wrong, you still haven’t lost anything because that is also a learning point, you have gained knowledge of what not to do and hopefully avoid it next time. Knowledge is power! The possibilities are infinite. 

@simon1138 Also, if you get through to the end of a build without catastrophe, you end up with a decent guitar to play. 

Have a go! Glue together some bits of 4x2 or 6x2 or anything you have and then make sure it’s square and flat before going any further. Plane and sand some pallet boards and glue those onto your blank. Then mark everything out and do all your routing, front and back before cutting out the body shape. Do any carving or rounding over and then you can start having fun with dyes, epoxy resin, etc. I love using oils for this kind of build, it’s just more natural and tactile than paint. I use Finishing Oil, Danish Oil and Tru Oil (gun stock oil, other brands are available). 

I feel so free and alive being creative like this and I encourage anyone to do the same. If someone likes what and I do and they want to buy it, fine, I’ll sell it and start again with another project. It keeps me out of trouble and I am always learning and honing my skills further every day. 

Good luck Simon and if you want to know any more, let us know here in the forum and I or anyone else will answer your questions or help you solve problems, including and not limiting our very own resident expert, Mr. Mark Bailey. @markbailey 

Enjoy! 

It’s that time! Ahhhhhhhh......... Soldering! I’ve scuffed up some parts.

I feel your pain Boo....how did it go?

I feel your pain Boo....how did it go?

@deej I didn’t manage to get any guitar work done today unfortunately, I’ll sort it out tomorrow. Life got on the way. 

@deej I want to get it all done and have strings on it tomorrow. I am curious to see if I can play any chords left handed, it will be like learning to play from scratch again. 

Life got on the way. 

Life got in the way!