Building a "Partscaster" guitar for Roy Jackson of the Cronkites.
Roy Jackson of the Cronkites had asked me to build him a Tele style guitar about a year ago after he picked up a one piece maple neck at the Winter NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) guitar show. Roy already had most of the other parts except the body and that was the hard part to find.
It's not that Tele style bodies are hard to find, it's that Roy wanted one made out of Sugar Pine, so when one came available from one of the vendors I use he snatched it up right away. Sugar Pine is a nice lightweight wood that has a great tone to it and unlike most Pine is also hard which makes it a good choice for a guitar body.
The guitar was painted by Jackson Burger, a friend of Roy's. He put metal flake and glass into the paint to create one of the heaviest flake paint jobs I have ever seen.
The guitar was painted by Jackson Burger, a friend of Roy's. He put metal flake and glass into the paint to create one of the heaviest flake paint jobs I have ever seen.
This is a vintage style neck with a 7.25 radius and the truss rod adjustment in the heel, unfortunately it also has vintage size (small) fret wire and Roy like big frets so they had to be replaced.
- First I had to remove the frets and on most Maple fretboards they spray lacquer right over the frets so before I pulled them out I scored each side with a razor blade to make sure the lacquer wouldn't chip.
- Next I took a soldering iron and heated the frets which helps loosen any glue that may be holding the frets in plus it creates some steam from the moisture trapped in the wood which helps keep the wood from chipping.
- Next I pre-bent the frets wire giving it a slightly tighter radius than the neck which helps it bite into the wood when pressed in.
- Next I pressed them in using an insert that matched the radius of the neck.
- After all the frets were in, I leveled them and smoothed down all the fret ends to make it comfortable to play.
