TLA-1 - first kit

My pickguard on a similar kit was also too narrow at the top.

IMHO you've got a nice enough body to ditch the covers and leave it all showing

Thanks guys,

I measured the distance between the 12th fret and either end and bridge as located now is too far south. The bridge at its furthest extent is only just the right length and I don't want to kill all my adjustment like that.

I think I will take out just a little bit more <5mm just to give me the room for further adjustment after final assembly.

The first photo is the bridge as routed and the inside of the black mark is the measure.

The second photo is where I think I will move it to. Thoughts?

Any advice for tidying up the edges on the scratch plate?
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...l159-image.jpg
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...884m-image.jpg

Hi Tom,

have you checked the position of the back mounting screws using the Stewmac fret position calculator? Always my first port of call to get a feel for whether the bridge is positioned correctly..

http://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

cheers,
Gav.

Hi Gav,

I tried the link, but I'm not sure how to interpret the results. The distance between the nut and the 12th fret is 320mm so the calculator spits out the following length.
Telecaster® style bridges - 646.274mm (± 0.5mm)
Is that to the saddle or the screw point on the bridge? If it is to the screw then the existing is more than 15mm too long (I.e. 663mm) and my proposed is too long by 5mm (652mm).

Hey Tom,

Hmm interesting. My understanding is that it is to the end mounting screws as you say. I think that this definitely supports your decision to more the bridge forward. Interesting that it is so far out though. Maybe the resident luthiers will have something more intelligent to say about this than me :).

cheers,
Gav.

Tom, 320mm seems a little on the short side for a PBG TL kit, all of mine are closer to 323-324mm. Are you measuring from the fretboard-side edge of the nut to the crown/peak/middle of the fretwire of the 12th fret? Like this:
http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/images...caleLength.jpg
(a certain Mr Bramley has also done an excellent video on measuring scale length, it's using a G-style guitar so it's a shorter scale than yours)

Can you please double-check your measurements for us, just to make sure we can give you accurate advice.

Yeah, you are right Scott, I remeasured and it is 323mm. It still puts the setup as a bit long, but not by nearly as much. It means that where I want to move it to is just about spot on.

So I have put it all together and the guitar looks great, but now for the more important part. It looks like shifting the bridge a little bit north has worked well as the intonation is fine and didn't require much adjustment at all.

However i have been having some trouble getting the action right across the range of the fret board. At the moment the action is too high at the bridge end and too low (it jangles on the frets) at the nut end. I played a little with the truss rod, but that seems to pull the neck up, which isn't going to help. So I think I might try sticking a shim (i remember reading something about trying a slip of paper somewhere) at the bridge end between the neck and the body of the guitar.
Does that seem reasonable? or should I try something else?

Hi Tom,

A shim will get the strings down lower at the bridge end of the fretboard. A good rule of thumb is that near the lowest height adjustment on the bridge, the strings should touch the tops of the last fret(s). Then you have the opportunity to dial the action in by raising the bridge saddles bit by bit. If you can lower the bridge saddle so that the strings hit the last frets, then you don't need a shim.

When you say the strings jangle on the frets at the nut end it sounds like either your neck has a huge back bow, or your fret heights are uneven. Have you done a fret level and recrown on the frets at all? This is almost mandatory to get a nice action on these kit necks as the frets haven't been leveled in the factory.

To do the fret level you'll need a couple of tools: a notched straight edge, a sanding beam and a crowning file. There's lots of tutorials on You Tube that show you how to perform the fret level. The first step is to use the truss rod to get the neck perfectly flat. Even this might help your action in the short term.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

cheers,
Gav.

Another thing - given it's a bolt on neck - check that the neck screws are tight - small changes in the neck screws can make a big change at the nut - that said - sounds like one of the other issues Gav has mentioned above.
Careful with the truss rods - they are double action - they work both ways and a 1/2 twist is really a full twist of the truss rod...
Easiest way to check for back / front bow - fret a string at the first and last fret - should give you a beautiful straight line. If the neck deviates too far from the string, you need to look at adjusting the truss rod. May be worth a couple of photos so we can see what the issues are...