BUILDING A SAGA T-STYLE


November 2006 -- From AJ:


Hello Guitar Attack.

Hi,
My name is AJ and I am 13 years old.

I got it of eBay for $100 and it actually didn't look to bad. Using a brush, I used acrylic paint (about the same as Dakota red) and brushed it on. I kind of wish that I had sprayed it now because at some angles you can see brush strokes. Then using acrylic paints and a brush and did some cool design things (inspired by Hendrix's Flying V, and Clapton's "The Fool")

I used Deft clear gloss lacquer and sprayed about 3 cans of that on, sanding here and there up to 600 grit. After that this body looked real nice but the gloss was nil. I saw your Minwax refinishing thing and I figure if someday I'm bored and go out and get some of that and spraying rig (preval) and maybe put some more on, but for now it's just fine. The Deft lacquer doesn't seem as soft as you described it. After 3 days of drying and put together it was already in a gig bag and out the door for high school jazz band.  No imprints for me...

The neck looked and felt pretty good, but I new the uncolored maple would look horrible against the red body, and besides, I like the aged look, and since I didn't want to hunt around for a good amber stain and have to strip the neck I came up with what I would call a pretty clever idea to "age" the finish on the neck. Oil based poly has a naturally ambering effect so I sprayed some satin for the back and some gloss for the front. I applied a decal from inkjet paper and after tedious searching and editing I made a pic file that looks like a Fender.

While the body and neck looked pretty good all of the hardware and stuff didn't. I replaced pretty much everything on this Tele, except for the bridge (and pickguard), which I plan to do soon. I bought mini Grover style tuners off eBay (had to drill) , replaced all of the electronics. Including pickups (from www.guitarfetish.com,  baby, yeah!) They sound awesome. Worth way more than $22 bucks a piece...

So that's my story, hope you enjoyed it...

AJ

 

 

Note from GuitarAttack:  There are some great techniques on here, and it is great to see a new generation getting into building!

Great job, AJ-- great write-up -- Keep up the great work!

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