Post Honeymoon Report - Follow the Progress of my "Andronis" Custom Telecaster Build

[NippleWrestler]

Oh I see. Sorry about that. I wondered from the pics if it was off the edge, seems a bizarre oversight given the precision of everything else.

I thought Gotoh made a narrower string spacing for teles, but I can't be sure. Sorry about the issues though, thats a kick in the nuts.

The same happened to one of my guitars when the frets were beveled too much and the string would just slide off. I ended up selling that guitar as the fix wasn't as straightforward.

Godspeed.

[MikeC]

Thanks and no worries - sometimes the simplest thing can be the answer to a problem so I welcome all suggestions. I've actually just finished swapping the saddles for the original Fender steel threaded ones and have done a setup. I am very happy and quite surprised how well they intonate - they're as good as the compensated saddles. Maybe that's testament to how well made the guitar is! But I still need to sort out the after-effects of her having eaten all the pies...

[Cdog]

Your new guitar look beautiful mate, hope you can make peace with it. For your reference, My 90s usa strat is Alder, has a 'swimming pool' pickup route and still weighs in at 4kg... (9lb). I use a nice wide leather strap, which helps.

[robthemac]

Updates on this, Mike? Aging of nitro in particular.

[MikeC]

Updates on this, Mike? Aging of nitro in particular.

OK, here's the condensed but still fairly long story. Alas I have zero nitro wear info to share - read on and you'll see why...
I fixed the the issue of "strings too close to the fretboard edge" quite easily by going back to the original Fender grooved steel saddles. The guitar played well & sounded good but it's weight (9.2lbs) put me off so much that I ended up selling the corpulent Alder body it came with and purchased a new, raw, light swamp Ash body which I fitted. I decided to paint it myself and got some suitable spray gear and a whole lot of advice for grain filling and spraying nitro. I grain filled/sanded, grain filled/sanded, grain filled/sanded and got it really nice. Then after a few practice sessions I made my painting attempt. It didn't go as planned. I was quite gutted by now because I really loved the original guitar and I still really want to love it. I needed a new plan that didn't involve me holding the spray gun...
So, in an earlier life my son Tom spray painted brand new Sea Legs boats - these are very very expensive and he was a good painter. I struck a deal with him that he could have all my spray (brand new) painting gear, compressor etc if he prepared & painted my guitar to a gloss finish. "Piece of piss" he metaphorically said. He's now had that swamp Ash guitar body for about 9 months. He painted it once at the beginning and got a great result, but while it was curing, lint from the clothes drier adhered to it which necessitated a sand and re-paint. Fuck! Then he moved from Auckland to Karamu which lies between Hamilton & Raglan and progress halted. Then winter came... But progress has recently re-commenced. About 2 weeks ago (after some gentle pressure), he sanded/repainted it and it's curing again in a lint free environment. He said he got 6 coats on and I'm staying mum, as agreed with him, until he reports back. Fingers crossed.

[Jay]

What a saga!

[MikeC]

What a saga!

Yeah, I wish it hadn't of been.

[AiRdAd]

Do you have a body to use with the guitar at the moment, or is it disassembled?

[Jay]

Do you have a body to use with the guitar at the moment, or is it disassembled?

So a neck on its own is called a guitar?

[robthemac]

Do you have a body to use with the guitar at the moment, or is it disassembled?

So a neck on its own is called a guitar?

Strandberg think so.

[codedog]

Where did you get the swamp ash body from?

[robthemac]

Where did you get the swamp ash body from?

A swamp, presumably.

[codedog]

Where did you get the swamp ash body from?

A swamp, presumably.

He got that from your guitar room?

[robthemac]

Where did you get the swamp ash body from?

A swamp, presumably.

He got that from your guitar room?

When they say it's funky, they're not talking about the groove.

[MikeC]

Do you have a body to use with the guitar at the moment, or is it disassembled?

It's disassembled.