Hello World! My first guitar project

Cheers guys! I was considering making my own tri-corner fret files from regular triangle files, but decided to buy some cheap Amazon "luthier" files instead. I ended up buying "Homyl Fret Crowning File Custom Ground Triangular File for Guitar Luthier Tool, 4/5inch" which is a set of 2 custom ground files.

They turned up today, and despite being obviously slightly bent in transit one of them is massively rusted. And neither have a safe edge ground, so I'm not sure what "custom ground" means. I ended up getting a refund but yeah, pay crap money get crap tools I guess.

Attachment 41118

Seeing as I got a refund and they don't want their literal garbage back, I'm going to try and straighten them and grind safe edges in. Wire wheel on the bench grinder should take care of the rust.

Yeah, sometimes ya gets lucky with "budget" purchases, other times ya gets what ya pays for...

As for "grinding" safe edges, I recommend doing it by hand and not on a grinding wheel. It's very easy to overheat the file and lose its temper.

When I've done safe edges, I do them on a carborundum stone followed by 600 through 1200 wet/dry sandpaper (dry) then polish with a just drop or two of machine oil on 2000.

I know I've seen YT vids of people using surface grinders and other power tools, but I was advised against it some years ago and just stuck to doing it by hand. It's not like it's a job I do a lot of or often, so the elbow grease doesn't worry me and it doesn't take that long really.

I've only done 3-4 jeweller's files, and all my other files are purpose-made for fretwork.

I had to google Carborundum stone, only ever known them as whetstones! That's exactly the plan, I've got an older carborundum stone around here that I use for odds and ends so I don't ruin my good waterstones. I'll hand grind with the teeth of the file so I flatten them before sanding away, so they don't bite in too much. That will work on the single-cut, I'll just have to go easy on the bastard file at first and see how it goes. Cheers for the tips about finishing to a polish, I probably would have left things too rough.

One day I'll likely purchase a good set of purpose made tools.

In other news my super cheap fret erasers from Amazon turned up, and they appear to be the real deal and no issues, so that will make life easier.

What pickups have you got planned for the build? Keeping it a pretty standard Tele configuration?

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

What pickups have you got planned for the build? Keeping it a pretty standard Tele configuration?

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I bought this homeland kit that comes with pickups, sans any kind of research:

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/302842316013

I was trying to complete my hardware list, and that kit covered a lot requirements in one go. I have literally no idea of the quality of the pickups, but I'm gonna assume not great.

As it's my first build I didn't want to put anything into it that I'd regret having in a potentially awful feeling/playing guitar, so I decided to just get something cheap that I could swap out later. I regret not having researching all the pitbull products, otherwise I would have purchased the TL-1 Black Pickup and Hardware Upgrade kit and saved myself a lot of money and time.

In the end I purchased all my hardware in bits and pieces from eBay, except the neck and neckplate from Pitbull, as my eBay neckplate never turned up.

Black hardware has its problem with grounding as the black finish is insulating, so you need to do a lot of scratching away at the finish in order to get the strings grounded properly.

The dimensions diagram for the bridge seems to indicate that it is top loading as well as string-through, but I can't see the rear string mounting holes. And other eBay photos for the unloaded version of the bridge and control plate show only the string-through holes.

So at some point you'll need to drill through the body. Have you got any ferrules for the bottom of the body?

If you can get it to play nicely, then it would certainly then be worth replacing the pickups. The Toneriders Pit Bull sell are excellent value for money.

The same kit is on Amazon with a lot more images:
https://www.amazon.com/Control-Telec...ct_top?ie=UTF8

I may need to adjust the bridge pup route to make it fit. I'm planning string through for this, rather than buy individual ferrules I purchased a plate style ferrule thingamabob. I'll likely recess it into the body. I figured I could use it as a guide to drill the string through holes at the very least, but I have a sinking feeling it might not match perfectly with the through holes in the bridge.... I'll check tonight.

Looks like the pickups have proper magnet pole pieces, so they could very well sound quite decent. The bridge pup also has its important baseplate.

The normal way to drill the holes is to mark out the holes on the top using the bridge, then drill the two outer E string holes all the way through, and the four inner ones 2/3 the way. Then using the bridge plate on the back of the body, align the two E string holes and mark the 4 inner ones, then drill about 1/2 the way into the body for those 4, and hopefully the holes line up. The rear holes will be in a straight line.

If your rear plate spacing doesn't match up (it should), then drilling holes at an angle that line up isn't going to be easy, so you might need to get a plate that does, or else swap to individual ferrules. I'd still drill through with the two outer holes and drill the other 4 from the back to get the holes aligned. A small difference in alignment could be taken up by using slightly over-sized holes for the plate ferrules to sit in.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

Looks like the pickups have proper magnet pole pieces, so they could very well sound quite decent. The bridge pup also has its important baseplate.

The normal way to drill the holes is to mark out the holes on the top using the bridge, then drill the two outer E string holes all the way through, and the four inner ones 2/3 the way. Then using the bridge plate on the back of the body, align the two E string holes and mark the 4 inner ones, then drill about 1/2 the way into the body for those 4, and hopefully the holes line up. The rear holes will be in a straight line.

If your rear plate spacing doesn't match up (it should), then drilling holes at an angle that line up isn't going to be easy, so you might need to get a plate that does, or else swap to individual ferrules. I'd still drill through with the two outer holes and drill the other 4 from the back to get the holes aligned. A small difference in alignment could be taken up by using slightly over-sized holes for the plate ferrules to sit in.

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I had been thinking of a few different ways to do this but the way you've mentioned sounds like the best option. Personally, I get irrationally irritated seeing ferrules that are even slightly out of line or spaced slightly incorrectly. Which means I'm a near certainty to make some kind of mistake =)

It’s one of those jobs where you really want a drill press to make it as easy as possible, but you need one with a throat that’s at least half the width of the body, which means a large drill press. If not, then use a drill stand, or else a drill guide. It’s not a job you really want to try freehand as you don’t want the holes drilled at an angle.