The Lean Hen TL-1TH

Silly thread title, was going to be called the skinny chook but TLH fit better with the kit's designation.
Not having done a TL type before, went for the thinline after being inspired by the one-off White Chicken
Attachment 39770

Will end up looking more like this if all goes well,
Attachment 39771

Should mention now that actually started on this around four years ago and this is a catch-up to what has (slowly) happened. Will try to be brief and hopefully not miss out any important details.
The story so far.....
The kit
Attachment 39772

First step was a rounded neck plate which will be recessed for reasons that should be clear later.
Attachment 39773Attachment 39774

cont... (be patient, I type very slow)

Next step is reshape body to suit new neck plate
Attachment 39776
Am trying to do binding on a body for the first time, so may as well make it twice as much of a challenge by making it double bound. The rear edge had been sanded with a slight radius which needed to be squared up as much as possible. Used a sanding drum in the drill press to do this and had the benefit of removing almost all of the original binding from the front face as well.
Attachment 39777
After some mix-and-matching router bits and bearings, found a combo that would work to do the new binding channels/rebates.
Attachment 39778
Thanks to Weirdbits' build diary/tutorial for his Telebilly build, made a block to fit the neck pocket so the trim router could glide across the top evenly
Attachment 39779
Despite being careful, did have a little tear out
Attachment 39780

cont..

With the rear of the neck pocket reshaped, the neck itself will get a gentle finessing to make a better transition
Attachment 39781
Time to position and drill the holes for the string thru bridge
Attachment 39782
All straight on the front
Attachment 39783Attachment 39784

Have the luxury of a drill press which has a throat just deep enough to be able to do the hole for the rear ferrules. Wasn't able to clamp the bit of board to the drill press table without the clamps getting in the way so ended up bolting it down instead. Have used a 3mm drill bit, shank end upward, as the guide pin. Did need a drop of CA glue on the underside to help hold it in place. The board may look a bit manky bit is quite smooth, doesn't do any damage to the body.
Attachment 39785

cont..

E string holes through
Attachment 39786
Set up the forstener bit and no going back now
Attachment 39787
I'm not going to get it any better than this
Attachment 39788
Next challenge is to shape (well pre-shape) the curly maple binding. After too many YT vids, kind of mashed up most of that into something that sort of worked. Soaked the binding in ammonia, wrapped it in foil and used a hair curler as a bending iron.
Attachment 39789
First piece on the body with excessive use of tape, you can see the foil around the binding by the neck pocket
Attachment 39790

still going...

Next piece shaped, a little easier to see what's going on
Attachment 39791
Binding pieces pre-shaped
Attachment 39792
Being aware of glue issues and am planning on using stains for the colouring, went the extra step of taping up both edges of the binding channel. The soaking of the maple pieces did cause some warping which meant some sanding, well filing, was needed on the mating faces. If you don't have a Shinto saw rasp, get one, they are awesome. Did break this piece during fitting up went back together well.
Attachment 39793
And here goes
Attachment 39794Attachment 39795

Looks a little like an EVH tribute a this point
One more..

Next was the fill piece to go across the neck plate
Attachment 39796
Now its really obvious the hole for the output jack is not centered, just as well had planned to recess it so some sideways nudging is possible.
Attachment 39797
After cleaning up the sides with a spindle sander, the binding doesn't look as bad as it did.
Attachment 39798
Started sanding the sides with P180 and gave it a wipe over with gum turps to see where we stand
Attachment 39799Attachment 39800
Feeling less bad about my efforts now

Grant

Wow, that's some really nice work there!

That's real lutherie compared to my very safe and simple strat/tele builds. Good stuff!

I agree with Macca, really nice work Grant.

I've managed to completely bork my string through holes on my latest build so I can appreciate how good yours are.

Cheers
rob

Thanks McCreed, more a case of trying something I haven't done before and hoping it doesn't end up in the bin in a fit of rage.:rolleyes:
Thanks robin, do admire your use of hand tools for your builds and it's disappointing to hear your string thru hasn't gone well.

As to my last comment about feeling less bad about where the build is at, this is before the binding was cleaned up
Attachment 39801
Scary stuff,was very unhappy/underwhelmed at this point. Blunder on.

Grant

Quote:

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Originally Posted by neverwas

Thanks McCreed, more a case of trying something I haven't done before and hoping it doesn't end up in the bin in a fit of rage.:rolleyes:
Thanks robin, do admire your use of hand tools for your builds and it's disappointing to hear your string thru hasn't gone well.

As to my last comment about feeling less bad about where the build is at, this is before the binding was cleaned up
Attachment 39801
Scary stuff,was very unhappy/underwhelmed at this point. Blunder on.

Grant

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Well, looks like you made a good recovery from there!