Thinline Tele (DTL-1SB)

I ordered a DTL-1SB and was delighted with the beautiful spalted maple veneer piece I received.

I like the natural look so much that I am thinking of leaving the pickguard out completely and using tru-oil to finish both the body and the neck.

This leaves me with two questions:
1. If I leave out the pickguard the fretboard overhangs pretty high over the body. Visually this is not a huge problem for me but I am wondering if there are any easy solutions to fix the gap or make it look less apparent?
2. Are there any other problems I should be looking out for if I plan to leave out the pickguard and get a small mount for the neck pickup and a plate for the controls? I've done plenty of soldering and minor stuff like changing pickups before but this is my first kit build.

Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/UA9iYja

First of all... Wow! That is a gorgeous top! I don't blame you a bit for not wanting to cover it. I don't think there should be any problems with leaving off the pickguard. Tru Oil should looks good on it.

If it were me, I'd probably not worry about the overhang. It's not that high, and it's on a par with what you'd expect with any archtop. It should make no difference to playability. And no one will even know it's there unless they are playing it. Even then, I never notice it on the one guitar I have that has an overhang. That said, if it bothers you, however, you could laminate a small piece of maple or basswood to the bottom of the overhang and sand it flush.

If the dimensions of the rout are the same, it looks like you could use a standard Tele control plate, or something similar.

I think you've got a good plan!

The only thing I can think of to be careful of is sanding the top. Those veneers are tissue thin and damage super easily.

Hope you'll start a build diary. Should be a very cool looking guitar!

BTW, you might ask Tim (PB owner) if he has any of the parts you need (control plate, for example). Not sure if it's still the case, but at one point Tim had some extra parts that he was making available to forum users for a song--particularly if you are in Australia.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ad.php?t=12620

Hi and welcome to the forum woodpecker.

That is a very nice spalted maple top. I think leaving the pickguard off is a good choice.

I don't think the "No guard" is a problem. I would not lower the neck, or fill the gap.

I have completed a similar kit and the fretboard sat the same way! Check out:
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post222775.

A smaller pickguard, or plate, or even nothing should work. The neck pickup route is small and designed so that no guard is needed.