Hi all
I thought that I would start to get my ideas for these builds up to initiate some early feedback. I have bought two kits, with the intention of building two complementary fraternal-twin guitars. One is a standard TLA-1 (maple fretboard), the other a TLA-1R (rosewood fretboard), both being solid ash bodies. The intention is to finish them in the same Dingotone Black Stump stain/oil, use the same hardware (bridge, machine heads, control plate, etc), varying only a few aesthetics, choice of pickups and the switching/controls configuration.
Here's a mock up of what I have in mind generated using the Kisekae guitar modelling website:
TLA-1:
TLA-1R:
Here's what I currently have:
TLA-1:
TLA-1R:
The headstocks have been shaped by the boys at PBG using their Luthier Headstock Shaping service (look under Extras>Services on the website) to my design; not highly original, granted, but I think a nice blend of the two classic Fender shapes. Here's a close up:
I've yet to purchase the rest of the parts, but here's my shopping list:
Bridge: Gotoh GC201
Machine heads: Gotoh SG381
Everything else will be generally stock parts from Real Parts, nothing flash or unnecessarily complicated: pots, caps, control plate, jack, neck plate, etc. I'm intending to replace the nuts from the standard factory-issue plastic.
Regarding the machine heads, the manufacturer's dimensions show 10 mm diameter hole required for the shaft and bushings, but the holes in the kit are 10.5 mm (or the next imperial equivalent). Has any one encountered any issues with fitting standard metric sizes in their kits, or will this still fit comfortably?
The main decision still to make is regarding pickups. I want to do something a bit different, and given that the neck route on these kits is cut for a humbucker size, I was thinking of a mini humbucker (Firebird) pickup in one guitar and a gold foil-type pick up in the other (bridge pickups by necessity will be standard TC pickups to avoid having to make substantial mods beyond those typically required to accommodate the correct scale length). My current thinking is something like:
Guitar 1: bridge - Tonerider Vintage Plus, and neck - Kent Armstrong Mini Humbucker; 4-way switching (N only, N/B parallel, B only, N/B series) with standard master treble cut tone control and volume
Guitar 2: bridge - Tonerider Vintage Plus, and neck - Eastwood Airline Argyle; standard 3-way switching (N only, N/B parallel, B only) with standard master treble cut tone control and volume
Does anyone have any comments regarding these individual pickups and/or pairings, or suggestions on alternatives that I might consider? I'm struggling to find an 'affordable' gold foil pick up: they all seem to be made by boutique manufacturers in the US or UK with the price tag to match, so any suggestions welcomed. The Eastwood pickups are individually 'affordable' but the shipping and exchange rate add substantially to the cost.
That's all for now, I hope to have the planning wrapped up in the next couple of weeks so that I can start moving these builds forward once Spring arrives.
Rich