# A different Barncaster



## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

I’ve got another guitar on the go right now and I thought I’d start this thread a little earlier in the build and keep it updated, it seems you can’t have too many Tele’s.

The body is a 2 piece white pine from an 1870’s barn that one of my neighbours took down about a year ago, it’s pretty much straight grained and clear but for one tight knot on the face, very stable and beautiful to work with, fully crystalized innards. I’ve made quite a few of these old pine Tele bodies and heard from a number of customers that they really love them, so from this batch I’m keeping one for myself. 

One thing about using old pine from buildings etc is that finding good lumber is not easy, almost every beam includes the centre of the tree (which is technically useless), so the beams need to be huge in order to cut out the heartwood. Then you have to hope the useable harvest has no knots, nail holes, mortises, checks from the outside etc. In the end the yield of what I call useable material is very small, which is why you see “barncasters” with all manner of spike knots, checks filled with cyano, peg/nail/mortise holes etc.

This one will be daphne blue and I’ll probably tint the Maple neck a little amber so it goes better with the cocobolo fretboard. I did block inlays and the body is double bound, the fretboard will be bound with fret nibs, all in matching white celluloid.

I’m thinking about doing the face of the headstock in matching blue but if you can believe it I’m actually leaning towards doing the whole headstock face in white pearl celluloid to match the binding etc, I’d probably have to do a black border around it but I think it would look cool with a decal on it?

I’m using a Texas Customs smooth play bridge, probably with 6 strat saddles in place of the brass ones and I’ll probably use pickups that are hotter and can drive an amp, rather than a twangy lower output pups, got a few of those already.

This morning I did the inlays and put the radius on the board, I’m out of fretwire so until next week I can’t do much more work on the neck except the slots, the body needs some more filling and then it’ll be ready to sand, another weekend of work and it’s ready for finishing…





































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## ed2000 (Feb 16, 2007)

Maybe dumb question - why is the body 'wet looking' at the edges?


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## blam (Feb 18, 2011)

glue for the bindings I assume.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Yes, a little cyano glue, it sands right off but fills the gap if required, I like it best for binding adhesive.


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## gtrguy (Jul 6, 2006)

Real nice! Is that Coccobolo for the fretboard?


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## sulphur (Jun 2, 2011)

Pretty interesting facts about the barnwood.

I think that the pearloid facing on the headstock would be cool and unique.
Class it up a bit, a la Collins.


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## loudtubeamps (Feb 2, 2012)

I sse that U plan to colour the body...........FWIW.........It would look killer with just a clear coat of hand rubbed teak/ tung oil.
I have used some old growth pine and it goes very dark and very warm. Should be stunning whatever u decide to do!


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## Spikezone (Feb 2, 2006)

When I made this guitar, I wanted a matching headstock, so I took a scrap of the leftover ash to a friend who had the equipment to slice me off a thin veneer of the wood to cover the headsrock. He also had the tools to bend the veneer enough to match the curve from the headstock to the nut at the end of the neck. I don't know how well it will show up in the pic, but that way I got a nice match for the headstock/body.








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-Mikey


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## 2N1305 (Nov 2, 2009)

loudtubeamps said:


> I sse that U plan to colour the body...........FWIW.........It would look killer with just a clear coat of hand rubbed teak/ tung oil.


I second that! When I read you were going to paint it, I nearly fell off my chair! You have a piece of timber nearly three hundred and fifty years old, it's worth showing it, no?

Beautiful guitar and excellent work on the binding, I wish you were putting some on the neck but it doesn't appear so.
Can't wait to see the final product!

Cheers


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Thanks guys, well after turning 1000's & 1000's bd ft of pine into reproduction "early Canadian furniture" in the late 70's and early 80's I can't look at another piece of stained pine, any colour...when I see an amber pine Tele all I see is a 7 drawer dresser or a dry sink, sad but true.

So I'm painting it daphne blue which should hopefully look killer with a tinted maple neck and cocobolo board, and yep, the fretboard is bound including fret nibs.


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## Guest (Jun 7, 2013)

Love that fretboard! I'd like to have one like that done
on my LP someday. Do you do commission work?


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Wow 3 1/2 years of dragging my ass on this one and I finally have made some progress, today I finished spraying the last of the clear top coats.

I did take some pictures along the way but you guys have seen enough Tele builds by now so I'll skip to today. 

With curing time it looks like I'm about a month away from assembly, I've ordered a Vintage Vibe Charlie Christian for the neck, going to use a 4 way switch, I have a Gotoh 6 saddle nickle bridge and I'm almost ready to go. I just need to figure out what bridge pup to use and make a pickguard.

I was really set on having a daphne blue guitar and wanted the shade of blue, in the end it was easier to mix the colour coat myself, I used straight blue NGR in a white lacquer primer base, just keep adding drops of blue until you're in the right zone, it worked great.

It killed me to cover that pine body with colour but I really wanted a blue Tele... it is such a nice piece of wood that I was really lucky to get my hands on in the first place, so with literally years to think about it, I found a solution I can live with.

When I get it assembled I'll take a bunch more pictures but for now here's a couple previews, hanging in today's sun curing...

(Yes I painted over that flame maple headstock)










don't feel bad about painting the face blue though, because the backside is pretty nice and it's all natural...


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Daaaamn that is gorgeous!!!


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

I'd love to tryout guitars. They're all so beautiful. That dog hair LP special haunts me.


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## Fox Rox (Aug 9, 2009)

That looks amazing!


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## davetcan (Feb 27, 2006)

Fox Rox said:


> That looks amazing!


Exactly !!!


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## Jim DaddyO (Mar 20, 2009)

Jimmy_D said:


> Wow 3 1/2 years of dragging my ass on this one and I finally have made some progress, today I finished spraying the last of the clear top coats.
> 
> I did take some pictures along the way but you guys have seen enough Tele builds by now so I'll skip to today.
> 
> ...


That is beautiful. Well worth the wait. Looking forward to seeing it all together.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

That is motivating. I spent all day looking at the rough cut lumber in Dad's project house. It's around ~75 years old or so. I'm going to make a few bodies out of the studs and headers from any walls he takes out. I may build one from any leftover old 2" hardwood flooring he might have at the end of the project.


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

I really like the blue front/matching headstock with the woodgrain sides and back, very nice.

Please do a review on the Charlie Christian pickup, I've been considering one for a bit now.

Nathan


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Well I started Friday afternoon wet sanding and by this morning was I was ready to make a nut and do the set up.

It's hard to see from the pictures but the blue turned out perfect to my eye, there is zero green, 100% blue. I used Dover's amber toner on the neck which is the one I think is closest to authentic, not too orange, so I'm pretty happy overall with the colours, especially the blue and rosewood combo.

I've been playing it most of the afternoon and so far I really like it. The bridge pup is a standard Duncan Hot Rails humbucker and the neck is a vintagevibeguitars.com CC Rider Charlie Christian, which is a fantastic pup with very clear punchy bass, extremely articulate and zero mud. The build quality of this pup is fantastic, every single part looks 100% custom made and he did a perfect job in every respect, without question it's a work of art and worth every penny.

The neck pup came with both alnico ii and v magnets, I have the ii's installed and with 500k pots and a PIO .047uf cap the pickups balance very well, even though the bridge is a much higher output, the neck sounds almost hotter... however that works.

I made a pick guard for it because I'd have to modify one for the neck pup anyway, plus I had matching material, but as soon as I got it finished it looked so plain and called out for more. So I hit it with a 1/16'' black binding to finish it off and hopefully tie it in more with the neck pup, it was a bit of a pain but I think worth the effort.

The fret board is great, I love a maple neck with rosewood board. Sulphur here on the forum send me a bit of Gorgomyte fretboard conditioner and I'd have to say the stuff is the best thing I've used, it does everything really well, in this case it really brought out the chocolate brown.

There's something to be said for a Fender style neck with full binding, the nibs really finish it off and to me enhance the playing, I know full block markers are a bit over the top but so what, you almost can't have too much pearloid, can you?

So that's about it, the rest is straightforward, Gotoh bridge, tuners, neck and control plates, electrosocket, switchcraft etc, bone nut, all screws stainless.


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## cboutilier (Jan 12, 2016)

That's flawless


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## nnieman (Jun 19, 2013)

Very nice

Nathan


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## bzrkrage (Mar 20, 2011)

After a 3 1/2 year hiatus, that, is a thing of beauty!
Please tell me that it plays like butter & sings like an angel.


Sent from my other brain.


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## Araz (Nov 12, 2015)

That's a beautiful guitar! Well done!


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## WhiskyJack1977 (Nov 10, 2016)

That is incredible. Love this build. Really cool P'up selection. IS this for yourself or do you make for others? Interested to see how it sounds!


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Drool on my shirt.

I love headstocks painted to match the body.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Thank you guys, this one is for me. 

When I started this one I was looking for a Tele that was different from others I own, and this is how it turned out, it fit's the bill for everything I want in a Tele for now... that will probably change again but who knows, right now that CC Rider pup and the bound neck/nibs are doing the trick for me.


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