MIMF

I just bought a bottle at Home Depot a few months back. Dang, I would have picked up more if I knew they were going to pull it.

Barry, Do you mean it's Colortone is similar, or do you mean it's actually made from the same company and re-labeled?

Looks great!

You mentioned you used tru-oil on the back and sides. What did you coat the top with?

What is the the notch on the back side? It doesn't look like it go through. Can you tell us more about that element?

If you put the tape on the the scraper, you can flex the scraper a little and angle it forward to cut a little deeper than the tape is elevating the blade at.

For me it makes a great way to first knock it down to a rough and controlled depth before I flex and tilt for final leveling.

If you look at a schematic with 1 vol and 1 tone, you'll see the tone intersects the pickup-hot wire (using one of the terminal on the volume pot) and then, after going through a cap and the tone pot, going to to ground. In your case, just wire across the output jack (Since you have no volume, your ...

The thinnest tape I can find easily and cheap is clear packing/shipping tape. I'm also more likely to use it on the scraper instead of on the wood (a piece on each end of the blade as the depth-stop).

I have not tried it on a body, but it does make a great finish on rosewood and ebony fingerboards.

That tip on the switch is a nice touch!

I can't hear the difference between the two. I prefer Alder for bodies that you'll be able to see the grain. If price is not a big difference, then you might as well get the Alder.

I also use the Wagner Safe-T-Planer to get my stock to rough-thickness. I then clean up the machine-marks and final-thickness with a hand-plane or scrapper.

As mentioned by Mark: Stew-Mac has templates and router-bits to help you cut the access you'll need to make it fit. I'd also recommend getting the Guitar Players Repair Guide. It's a must-have for any DIY person and it covers the exact conversion process you're doing. Also, the locking-nut installat...

You probably have too-glossy of a surface. Try taking back down to a Matte-finish. I use either the white, grey, or green synthetic wool-pads depending on how much of an effect I'm going for.

I guess I'm in the minority. I don't care for 1st fret inlays for a couple of reasons. First, I think the whole point of the inlay is to give you a quick reference-point to identify fret-locations in a hurry. I don't seem to have any trouble finding the 1st fret! ;) Second, inlays are usually propor...

My favorite Duncan Pickup for a Tele is the Quarter-Pounder for both positions since they have a nice an thick and powerful sound. If you're more into a twangy-tone, you might want to try a different series (which I don't have a good suggestion for) or, you can order them with a "Tapped" o...

You're welcome. I only bother with the rounded bottom nuts when replacing it on a guitar that came that way. I would not go out of my way to build a new on that way.

It's a lot of work to make a matching nut-slot in that style. Since you are building a new neck then I would suggest to instead make a flat-slot on the neck and simply file the underside of the nut until it becomes flat and matches. Prep the nut first to make sure you know how deep to cut the slot o...

It sounds like it could be as simple as the pickup being too close to the strings on the bass-side, or the treble-side not high enough causing a muddy-tone. Can you give us a measurement of the gap between the top of the pickups to the bottom of the strings when pressing the strings down at the last...

I will echo Adam's advice about setting up the frog for a tight-fit at the throat. I also agree you might want to sand up to a finer grit on the sole of the plane. At least 120 (or 220 if you're ambitious). Also, lightly dull the edge of the sole along the whole perimeter so there is no chance you'd...

I like the color! Not bad figure for an eBay kit.

Roughly, how much you think you spent on the whole thing; including finishing materials/parts/etc?

I like what you did to the look of the guitar now. If the guitar was given to me, I'd replace the pickguard with one that is styles more-like a Les Paul Jr since the pickup/bridge combo give me that sort of vibe about it.