first build - thinline Tele

[Old Tooth Hopkins]

Me being extremely cautious +
Backorder +
Australian post stuff up
= kit arriving 2 months after order.

Adam did an amazing job following up and I couldn’t thank him more for what he did.

Kit is a thin line Tele with Bigsby. Hope to spray sunburst pattern on body, with Acacia dingotone neck and dingotone wax on maple neck. Electronically - switch out the standard 3-way for a 5 way so I can do some coil splitting.

A mock build -

Note that the neck sent was a rosewood one. I am going to ask for a replacement maple one.

The body is mostly good, some binding was slightly loose around the neck joint and some finger marks, but should come off with sending.

Slightly concerned about the f-hole. Corners seem sharp and it seem a bit thin. Weird bits did a reinforced version on his 2013 thinline build, so I may do the same. Difference is I have access to a laser cutter so Less hand labour.

Turning over, it should be ok but the bolt on plate doesn’t complete match up with the pre-drill holes. Experienced builders - is this going to be a problem?



Thank you all!

[Sonic Mountain]

Looks really nice. Neck holes are typical unfortunately. You just need to gradually tighten them up like wheel nuts going from corner to corner and it aligns up and looks fine. Make sure you lube the screws with wax.

[JohnH]

Nice looking kit. I'm afraid I can't help much with the binding or screw holes, but it looks good as a kit - it'll come up real nice

[FrankenWashie]

I think you just gained a whole forum of new friends by indicating you can access a laser cutter!
It is a lovely looking kit, I quite like the Rosewood board, is the Maple a must have?

[pablopepper]

A dab of super glue will take care of that binding. Just do it before you start sanding.

[Old Tooth Hopkins]

I think you just gained a whole forum of new friends by indicating you can access a laser cutter!
It is a lovely looking kit, I quite like the Rosewood board, is the Maple a must have?

I teach at a school that has one. We all occasionally use it as means to “upskill” - and it’s not hard to get a piece of scrap plywood.

As to the maple, my other guitars are all rosewood, so I’m after something different. One of the forums dingobass indicates that we can use the staining coat on the fretboard just not the finishing coat, so aesthetically having a consistent color (acacia) with spray on sunburst would be nice.

[Simon Barden]

I'd check the neck screw fit in the holes. If they are tight, then the holes need to be bigger anyway so the threads don't grab the sides of the holes. You could then use a suitably sized round file to enlarge the holes a bit in the direction of the centre of the neck plate holes.

Acetone should melt the binding material and so stick it to the wood, which might be slightly better than using superglue, as superglue will be hard to remove cleanly if it gets on to the surface of the wood, whereas acetone will just evaporate.

[Fretworn]

I built one of these a few years back. I've never had any issues with the f-hole.

[Old Tooth Hopkins]

I built one of these a few years back. I've never had any issues with the f-hole.

Yes! I’ve followed your build diary. However, i can be a bit clumsy :/ and I am just afraid to snap the f hole right off, or have a clumsy bass player to knock the f hole into an I hole!

[Simon Barden]

You could simply sand the sharp corner back so that it's rounder and less likely to catch on clothing and wires etc. It's your guitar, so you can do what you want!