Ira, sorry about your knee. I hope it heals quickly.
Given your lack of confidence in veneering, I suggest you buy some cheap (mahogany, etc...) veneer and some small pieces of a decent ply and practice veneering a bit. There are four common ways to clamp the glued up veneer:
vacuum bag (probably the best but requires equipment)
platten, cauls, and clamps
platen and weight
Hammer veneer (with or without contact cement)
With a flat topped guitar like the Tele, it is that much easier. If, you don't vave a vacuum bag / set-up, I'd recommend the platten, cauls, and clamps method. I have used the platten and weight method and been sucessful, but it doesn't apply as much force as clamping.
Veneer prep - flexible and flat. If it is over dry and brittle, use a conditioner to prepare it the day before. Press it flat overnight.
Base material prep- make sure it is flat and clean with no dips where you filled in the pickup pocket.
Platten- i use a piece of 1/2" steel with cork facing the veneer. Without the steel, I would use two flat pieces of 3/4" ply. With the clamp method, I would not use your piece of plate glass.
Cauls- buy or build a minimum of 4 cauls for a tele. These are needed to ensure you have clamping pressure in the middle of the piece.
Clamps- use 8 very strong parallel jaw clamps (they don't need the parallel jaws, but you want as powerful a clamp as possible.
Glue- I use TB veneer glue (but have used both hide glue and contact cement). Let sit for 24 hours before removing clamps.
I have done this numerous times including BE veneer on a guitar body (last one was jazzing up a cheap Flying Vee with beveled front). I have never had a problem with bleed through. You seem hyperconcerned over what is most likely a non-problem.
Last edited by Shawn Pixley; 02-27-2016 at 1:59 PM.
Shawn
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