Building A Custom PURPLE Telecaster! (HEAVY RELIC)

[@efecan311]

Meanwhile, Danish Pete profusely sweating behind the bushes :D

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

hahahaha :') They're twins!

[@puremusic4525]

What song did you play at 4:42? Sounds amazing btw :)

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! That was Edge of Desire by John Mayer :)

[@adrian_V99]

amazing job!

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks!

[@Richardgreenmusic.]

Great custom shop guitar build!

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! :)

[@guypiaquadio]

love these builds, im in the middle of refinishing my old Mexican fender jazz bass - did you do a top clear coat on the paint?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! On this one I did but I haven't since. It didnt seem to make much difference and I wanted the layers of nitro to be as thin as possible so they would wear faster. So I havent used clearcoat on any of my more recent refinishes :)

[@Ronno4691]

Not a big fan of relic'd guitars but I AM a huge fan of putting Fender decals on a Strat/Tele/Squier bass headstock. Something I'll be doing plenty of in the near future :-) Good video, glad I subbed!

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Haha thank you! Yes relicing is a controversial topic😅

[@jessefildesmusic]

You mentioned that you refinished your strat neck with nitro - how did you remove the original finish on the neck? And did you just do the back or did you do the entire headstock as well?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

I didn't really remove the poly. I just sanded it lightly and sprayed the nitro over. Apparently fender do a similar thing on their nitro necks too. But yes I did the whole neck including the headstock

[@jessefildesmusic]

@@AlfieVaughanMusic ah ok thanks for the info 👍

[@Kevsadone]

Very good job man.

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thank you Kevin :)

[@harsanj6281]

similar to andertons pete tele, one question, you prefer 6100 or 6105 frets on rosewood strat 9.5 radius?? as i have seen your vidoes your taste is just what I like.

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Yes Pete's Tele was a strong influence while building this! My preference is actually 6150 frets

[@berkemaya]

Hey, really cool video! Thanks for sharing! I want to engage in a similar project spraying that same Nitro colour from Dartfords. Can you explain a bit how you approached spraying the guitar? Like how many coats, how long did you let the guitar dry inbetween, where did you let the guitar dry and so on. Would appreciate it a lot! Thanks in advance.

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Yeah of course! So once the body arrived I gave it a quick sand just because I didn't know exactly how well it was sanded before it was shipped. I did 120 and 180 grit just to get it nice and smooth all over and ready to accept the paint. I then did about 6 coats of primer. Previously on my strat I did 2 coats of sanding sealer first as well which I highly recommend doing!!! I skipped the sealer on this because I didn't have any left and the wood absorbed the first few coats of primer. When I left it drying it was even and I'd come back and there would be bare patches of wood that the primer had sunk into... But after about 5 coats of primer it started to cover evenly so I did one more and then moved onto colour. I did 5 coats of colour. You can do more if you want a more rugged finish but I wanted to relic mine so I just made sure there was enough paint so the wood wouldn't show through. This way it's easier to wear through because the finish is thinner. Then last time on the strat I did a clear coat for a few coats on top as well. I skipped that this time as well because it didn't seem to really do anything to my strat. Once the colour was done I wet sanded it from 1000 up to 3000 grit and then polished it with some car polish (probably not the right thing to use but it worked...) I did all the spraying outside and then brought it in between coats to dry so it didn't get any dust from outside drifting in the wind sticking to it. I highly recommmend leaving it to dry somewhere ventilated. Nitro is pretty toxic apparently and it stinks!!! And that's it! Nothing too complicated. I'm not an expert at all I just watched a few videos and read some forums to work out what the best way for me to do it was. Hope that helps!

[@lcglazer]

I wanted to see how you reliced the maple tinted fretboard. Also how many coats of nitro paint is on the body, white and purple combined? Does the nitro paint readily flake or wear off with use? Is there a brand of paint that stays on the best? I ask because I want to order a custom heavy reliced guitar but one of the main brands in the US, MJT, told me they can only do their standard thin layer nitro, which many customers have said flakes off like nothing. So I'd like to preserve the look that I ordered it at as much as possible. (And I'm a very careful keeper of my goods.)

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

I just used some very fine grit sandpaper and put it on the end of my finger and rubbed the fret board until I wore through the nitro. Then used the same steel wool and vinegar solution to stain it. The layers were 2 layers of primer and then 4/5 of colour. I didnt use clear coat on this as I wanted the nitro to be as thin as possible. The brand of paint I used was Dartford nitro lacquer but it's UK based. Not sure if they ship to the US. And no the lacquer doesn't flake off at all. It's still in the same condition as when I painted it

[@lcglazer]

@@AlfieVaughanMusic so lets say you came across a guitar with a thin nitro finish, to the point it flaked off. what product would you use to, if any, to protect/seal/keep it together as best as possible?

[@hathaway.1166]

This guy is so good at building Teles that even The Flash can't keep up

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

😂😂 thanks!

[@paulkielty3800]

Looks and sounds awesome,and you play it rather well👍

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks Paul! :)

[@bastienbuathier-muller2569]

Amazing job ! You’re inspiring me! Thanks so much for sharing and showing that it’s possible! Thanks again for all the tips you share in the commenta, really appreciate it :)

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

No problem! I'm doing another one soon too!

[@messymakersmind]

Cool vid seeing you make it ! Absolutely love the purple colour 👍

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thank you! I really like it too :)

[@deanfish1985]

Besides putting fender decal on a non fender guitar, this is a great video. Absolutely love the finished guitar and I hope to do this one day

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! Yeah the decal is a bit controversial but I just prefer how it looks with a fender one. Just personal taste!

[@javiervicuna1275]

Great work !! Can you tell me how many paint layers does it have?? Primer White paint Purple Purple Purple Lacquer? Something like that?? I want to do the same on my tele! Greetings from 🇨🇱

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! It's actually just a few coats of primer (which was the white layer) and then about 4 or 5 coats of purple. When I did my strat a few months before this I put lacquer on top but didn't really notice a difference to the overall finish so I left it out this time. This is also a heavy relic so I'm hoping with just a few coats of primer and colour the finish will wear a little faster. Who knows! After starting I realised I should have done a couple of coats of nitro sanding sealer first. I did that on my strat and it worked great. On this tele the wood just absorbed about the first 3 coats of primer and so it took a lot more coats than it should have. Next time I'll use sanding sealer again

[@javiervicuna1275]

@@AlfieVaughanMusic great! so after the purple coat, theres no lacquer/varnish applied? just the gloss of the purple paint

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

@@javiervicuna1275 Yeah exactly! The colour was the last layer. I'm sure professional guitar sprayers wouldn't be too keen on that but honestly I think it's fine. Especially for a relic because you kinda want the lacquer to come off anyway!

[@ivanphoto44]

Hi! Question: I have a body coming in from Warmoth pre painted black. I am going to do some relic work on it using some of your techniques and I was wondering how you would go about getting rid of some of that shine from a brand new paint job, so it looks more matte. Thanks! Your videos are great!

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks Ivan! Is the body finished in nitro? If so, I think wet sanding it with a fairly fine grit like 2500/3000 would give you the look you're after. That's what I eventually made my way up to while finishing mine and the final result is a fairly shiny but worn in look. It's not matte but it's not the perfect gloss of a new paint job. Or even just rubbing it with steel wool would take the main shine off of it. If it's poly it won't really work though! Good luck :)

[@DmitrySevereign]

Very nice job. I want it.

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thank you! :)

[@luiscastellon9461]

Hey Alfie, awesome build. I watched all your partscaster vids and they're great. Just quick question, on this Tele, how did you expose more of the white undercoat on the forearm? Did you use sandpaper and what grit?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks very much! Yep just careful sanding with a high grit. I think I used about 2000 for that bit. You have to go quite slow to make sure you don't just go through both layers immediately :)

[@matt6288joyce]

Awesome result! What acid did you use to age the metal?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! It's called ferric chloride :)

[@matt6288joyce]

@@AlfieVaughanMusic oh great thanks!

[@FlorianKF]

Nice! Where do you got the laquer in purple and the clearcode?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! I didn't use any clearcoat but the purple is from here www.emma-music.com/-stewart-mac-donald,us,4,NiM-DAR-FS7194.cfm I did clearcoat on my last build and didn't find it to add much so I skipped it this time around

[@GMec78]

Where did you the the rattle can royal metallic purple?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

It's by a brand called Dartfords. This is the link :) www.emma-music.com/-stewart-mac-donald,us,4,NiM-DAR-FS7194.cfm

[@silentnme3]

does your neck have a truss rod?? or would you say you need one if youre looking to upgrade a guitar’s neck? im looking to a build a partscaster.

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Yep the truss rod is accessed at theheadstock on this neck but on older style necks it's at the heel how it used to be pre 1970s ish. You definitely need one otherwise it would be almost impossible to set your action. I don't even think you can buy guitar necks without truss rods? I could be wrong! But yes you should get one :)

[@DrMobiusOfficial]

3 questions: How comfy is it to play? How was the intonation initially? Was there a lot of work required getting it to play right? How well does it stay in tune?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

It's really comfy! I spent the most on the neck (it was about £350) and I have to say it's flawless. The frets were level, the fret edges were really smooth, the edges of the fretboard are nicely rolled. Warmoth say you'll probably have to do some work on the neck after it arrives so maybe I got lucky. The lacquer was sprayed over the frets which took me a while to sand off and refinish the frets but other than that it's brilliant! Intonation is spot on now. It took me a couple of tries. Initially I wasnt loosening the strings before making adjustments so nothing was really happening. The low E and B string were both a little sharp. But I changed the strings and tried again this time loosening the strings before adjusting and it made all the difference. In less than 5 minutes the intonation was perfect on all 6 strings. I got a bridge with compensated saddles which I heard makes it easier to intonate a Tele! It stays in tune great. Like most Teles because it's such a simple design (no tremolo etc) once I'd stretched the strings out I've hardly tuned it since! Hope that answers your questions :)

[@zae-zairanucci]

Man... this channel is soooo underrated!🔥

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

haha, thank you!

[@LukeBernal]

Hey, how did you remove the finish fir your Strat neck? Thanks!

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Yep Bodgie is pretty on the money. I used wet dry sandpaper to take off the original lacquer down to the wood. I think I started with 400 and went up to 1000 though so it was a little smoother. I soaked some steel wool in vinegar for a couple of days and did a couple of light coats of that to darken it down a bit too (that's been done since this video). And then a few coats of Danish oil to reseal the wood. Hope that helps! :)

[@jgrey657]

hey awesome build man im almost done mine, just had a question. did u have a body ground wire or shield the pickup cavities after the build or no?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! The bridge pickup is a vintage style one with the metal plate under it so that's how the guitar is grounded for me. And no I didn't do any shielding. I never bother I don't find it makes much difference for my particular setup. I don't have any major noise issues! :)

[@SuperEdge67]

‘I set this one on fire’

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

I've since set the white one on fire too :'D

[@SuperEdge67]

@@AlfieVaughanMusic Cool....... very Jimi.

[@FezzantPlucka]

Inspired by Anderton's? :)

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Danish Pete! haha I've always wanted a purple guitar. It's my favorite colour. When I saw that one I fell in love :)

[@popninja8658]

Awesome!

[@UmVtCg]

Needs a refinish

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Why???

[@ziondrizzle254]

that'd be even better should you decide to relic the neck and fretboard as well...

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

I have done since! Go to 4:04 in this video :) I put some darker lacquer on it, sanded the back of the neck and reliced the fretboard a bit kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmWzmqmJaMuDhpI&ab_channel=AlfieVaughanMusic

[@stupidthefish1979]

“I set this one on fire” Well I guess that’s one way

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Indeed 😂 I actually really like how that one looks but it's just slightly TOO burned

[@cgavin1]

Personally, if I am finishing/re-finishing the guitar, I'd never relic it, just spray a thin coat of nitro on (just like Fender did back in the early days) and then let nature take its course. It only takes a couple of years of daily practice to relic that finish naturally. Looks proper then. 👍

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

I agree but I'm very impatient and didn't want to wait that long. I have a 1994 Les Paul that's properly reliced and it's lovely but it's older than me and it's only got a light amount of dings and dents!

[@dqwn]

You did an amazing job, I love it! Really digging that burt strat too ;)

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Hahaha thank you! :)

[@skagslag1156]

That red strat is cool as fuck

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

Thanks! I like it too :)

[@TheSetme]

One thing is not cool for me - Fender logo - what for?

[@AlfieVaughanMusic]

I just think it completes the look. I'm not trying to pretend it's a fender. I just think it looks more authentic with it on. Personal preference!