Step-by-step restoration of a 1964 Fender Telecaster
This Telecaster has been owned by the same person for about 25 years. Some time in the 1970s the owner had decided that it would sound better with a humbucker in the bridge position.
I was asked to restore the bridge pickup to a standard Telecaster one. The owner did not realise that before he owned the guitar it had been refinished in black polyurethane paint and had originally been white-blond. When I told him this, he was very keen to restore the guitar to its former colour.
I stripped the polyurethane finish using Nitromors dichloromethane-based paint and varnish remover. That stuff may not be available in the USA (I've never seen it in Home Depot!) I covered the guitar in a thick coat of Nitromors and placed it in a bin bag overnight. The next day when the body was removed from the bag, the finish had bubbled and was easily (and very carefully) removed using a scraper.
To get the grain to match I bought about 4 feet of 2"x4" swamp ash and chose a piece that was the best match. The rest will make a Tele body sometime. The final match wasn't quite as good as I thought it would be as the pattern changed slightly as I planed the block level. If there's a next time I will make sure I need to plane less wood. The repair only extends about 1/4" either side of the bridge so it's virtually invisible and the grain matching was just me being perfectionist!
To get the block to fit, I cut the block first and the hole slightly undersize. Using a broad chisel I then carefully enlarged the hole, testing the fit of the block every time I removed a thin shaving. The block is slightly trapezoidal (wider at the top) so it dropped in easily but the screw you can see in the centre of the block was to make removal possible after a test fitting.
The block was glued in with aliphatic wood glue and only filler is a small amount of grain filler smeared around the join. I am aware that there may be some differential expansion of the two pieces of wood. I hope that by choosing similar wood, the properties will be the same and any problems will be minimised.
The whole body was grain-filled and then sealed with a couple of thin coats clear nitro before lightly sanding smooth.
I based my lacquer recipe on one in Dan Erlewine's refinishing book - Guitar Finishing Step By Step. It is basically clear nitro with a small amount of white lacquer mixed in. To be honest I made it up by eye, testing on scrap until I got the right degree of opacity. I sprayed on two coats, if my memory serves me right and then a little more on the sides. After leaving it a day or two, I followed with three heavyish coats of clear. I felt it important to have the blonde lacquer form quite a thin coat, and then build up with clear so that the gorgeous grain remained distinct, unlike say, a Fender reissue which has a thick cloudy finish.
I flattened the finish with first P800, then P1200 "wet-or-dry" paper, used wet. Then I hand buffed the body to a deep shine with automotive rubbing compound and gave it a polish with Gibson brand guitar polish before and after final reassembly.
The photos below document the process. I hope they are pretty much self-explanatory. Clicking each one opens a larger image.
If you have any questions, please email me to ask!
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