TLA-1 Factory Second Build

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster!

Recently purchased the TLA-1 factory second kit with some upgrades. Ordered a few pieces incorrectly which I’ll detail below (e.g wrong size pots, wrong bridge) due to a lack of reading product descriptions and insufficient research, but I’m just going to roll with it and see what happens.

Decided to upgrade most of the hardware and electronics:
- Grover tuners
- Entwhistle AT52 Tele Set pickups
- Babicz FCH Z Series Single coil bridge
- New CTS pots, cloth wire, sprague cap and fidelity upgrade

So a few mistakes on my end:

- Didn’t realise all the hardware that came with the factory seconds kit would be black, but after doing a mock build, it looks pretty cool with the chrome bridge, so just going to keep it that way. I asked for the pick guard to be swapped to white as I noticed it was black, but didn’t realise the rest of the kit was black hardware, so that was a bit short-sighted of me. On the plus side, now I have both a white and black guard to choose from!

- The new pots are too large for the control cavity, so I’ll have to route that out and re-drill the plate to make them fit. Good excuse to try out my router, so not too fussed about it.

- I didn’t realise I had ordered a string-through-body bridge upgrade, rather than a string-through-bridge. I don’t have a drill press, so this will be interesting. Looking to order a drill guide that works with my existing cordless drill I’m order to avoid spending hundreds on a tool I only plan on using to drill 6 holes with. Will also need to get some ferrules for the back now too, so this has turned into a bit more work than I bargained for.

I’ve been debating what colour to paint the guitar and have narrowed it down to either a metallic light blue, metallic red or pearlescent white. Going to use the dupli-color cans from Supercheap Auto as I’ve seen some awesome finishes with those, and will do the neck with Tru-Oil.

If anyone has any advise regarding the string-through-body setup and routing out the cavities, let me know. It’ll be my first time trying these, so any tips would be greatly appreciated!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...a5edac50d1.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ad44eb26b1.jpg

There are a number of ways to drill perpendicular holes on YouTube. The solution I came up with involves using a cheap guide, attached to a moveable platform. Worked well enough that I still have it, and use it quite a bit for places my small drill press can't reach.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ead.php?t=5908

Cheers [mention]fender3x [/mention]! I was thinking of purchasing one of those guides, but was a bit uncertain how well it was going to work by just putting it on the body, so this solves that issue perfectly.

I’ll have to order one of the guides and try putting together something similar to your design. I’ll let you know how I get on with it :D

I don't where you are moose crab......but these guys have lots of stuff that may assist you.

Real Parts.

This is a selection of switch plates for you....

https://www.realparts.com.au/hardwar...36&order=price

and a selection of 250k pots.....the mini ones are for you.

https://www.realparts.com.au/electronics/250k-pots.html

Some bushings.....
https://www.realparts.com.au/hardwar...-ferrules.html

...and a bridge...

https://www.realparts.com.au/bridges.../te-style.html

I had a drill press that I planned to use for my ST-1JR kit build moosecrab, but the body didn't fit under well enough. Basically what I did was:

1. find the largest drill be that fits through the holes in your bridge
2. set up the bridge in position, and use that on the top side to drill a millimetre or 2 into the face as a guide,
3. used that drill bit to then very carefully drill a block of wood to give me a straight guide
4. drill each hole from the face side down a bit past half way
5. Go back and drill your 2 e strings all the way through the body (Don't forget to clamp something under it to prevent tear-out)
6. flip the guitar and align your bridge to those 2 outside holes.
7. drill small marker holes again using the bridge like you did on the face.
8. get the bridge out of the way and use your guide block to drill to meet the holes from the other side.

The important thing here is that your holes are neatly aligned and spaced on the back, if there's some slight mismatches halfway through the body it's not a show stopper

JT

Cheers [mention]ozzbike [/mention] , I reckon I’ll order the ferrules and maybe the pots from there (if I decide against rerouting), and see if there’s any other bits and pieces I might need/want.

Thanks for the suggestion [mention]HereIsJT [/mention], your idea intrigued me and then I found this drill guide template at my local Aldi tonight for $10 which was a nice surprise. I might actually try your method but using the guide in order to save some coin!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...83b4c4f438.jpg

Nice slab of timber.
I would go with a red stain and black pickguard.
Too much grain to be hidden under a solid colour.
Cheers Waz

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

Cheers Waz. Would’ve loved to go with a stain, but the grain on the treble side doesn’t match up and leaves something to be desired. If the grain was nicer there I think I would’ve definitely stained it.

So thought I’d provide an update on where I’m at after doing a bit of work on the build over the weekend.

Bought the remaining bits and pieces I needed, namely the spray paint (going for a dupli-color candy red pearl), some materials to build a spray stand and some parts from RealTone (new string guides, strap locks, new mini pots and string ferrules).

Grain filled and sanded the body to 240 grit (highest grit I had for my orbital sander), so will continue sanding at higher grits by hand before I go ahead and spray. I only had some Ebony grain filler laying about, but it’s popped the grain nicely and it’s almost a shame I’ve already committed to spraying it. I think after this build I’ll have to get another kit and just finish it like this!

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...497500526e.jpg


https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...16b171147e.jpg

Also need to route out the bridge pickup (not quite in the right spot currently) and drill the holes for the strings and ferrules. I’ve tried a few tests on scrap wood using the drill guide I mentioned above and it seems to work quite well - just need to practise a bit more to make sure I get the result I’m after!

I’ve built the spray stand out of some PVC pipe and a T-section, with some dowel threaded through to be able to rotate the guitar as I’m spraying. Yet to attach the guitar to it as I need to cut a piece of wood to fit in the pocket, but it’s otherwise been assembled.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4f01c1c6e0.jpg

Painting over Timbermate is most likely going to result in shrinkage (despite what it says on the container).

Unless of course, if that's the effect you are going for.

cheers, Mark.

Cheers for the advice [mention]king casey [/mention].

Wish I’d know this before applying... oh well, live and learn.

Do you know if this is still a problem with lacquer-based paints? Given that timbermate is water-based, perhaps I might be okay... otherwise I’ll just spray on a layer of primer, let it dry, sand it back and go from there if it does present any problems.

I used ebony Timbermate on my last build to highlight the grain as you have.
Attachment 38866

Never tried 'laquer' based paint so can't help there. would possibly test it in an inconspicuous area (like under the scratchplate).

cheers, Mark.

Quote:

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...otherwise I’ll just spray on a layer of primer, let it dry, sand it back and go from there if it does present any problems.

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That's probably a good approach. IF you're getting your Duplicolor from Supercheap, their Primer Surfacer works pretty well.
I've problems with it spattering a bit, but it has always sanded out just fine I think it may be due to a higher solids content.
Just be sure to shake often (even between passes) and wipe the nozzle after a couple of passes.
I complained to SCA about this and got no reply.

FWIW, I have painted over Timbermate (and primer) and had no shrinkage issues that others have. Maybe I was just lucky.

Thanks for the tips guys.

So I haven’t painted this kit yet, but I decided while in the middle of servicing one of my other guitars that I didn’t like the finish anymore and stripped it back to repaint it.

Thought it would be a good chance to try the paint before using it on my kit build, so tried using a can of dupli-colour primer filler... unfortunately it was absolute garbage. I tried warming the can for 10 mins, shaking the can for twice as long as directed and shaking between every pass and still got spluttering. It also provided appalling coverage after 2 cans!

So after $30 blown on this stuff I tried the supercheap auto SCA primer filler (much cheaper at $13 for 400g vs. $15 for 150g of dupli-color), and pleased to report that while it did splutter a bit, it provided much better coverage and a more even coat.

So I went through a can of that and have sprayed this other guitar in a metallic black, and it’s looking pretty sweet, so keen to get cracking on the kit now.

Here’s a picture of how it’s looking after two passes:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...3067217fdc.jpg

I don't think I've tried the Duplicolor Primer. Guess I'll stick with the SCA. (I use the Primer Surfacer though, not the Filler).

What kind of guitar is that? It looks like a 2 x mini-HB with a TOM bridge. (???)

Would certainly recommend steering clear of the dupli-color one. Was very disappointed with the result.

So this is a custom guitar I bought about 5-6 years ago from a guy who made guitars out of reclaimed timber. This guitar was originally a pine water-bed frame, which was styled into a telecaster with two P90 pickups, a (knock-off) bigsby and sprayed in a flat black finish.

For whatever reason I didn’t take a photo prior to sanding it down, but I do have this old picture from the guy who sold it to me:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...2201c0fd55.jpg

I’ve kept with the black theme for the respray, but adding a white pearl pickguard, replacing the bigsby with a new one (I broke it after taking it apart), replacing the tuners with some black PBG ones, refinishing the neck and will probably replace the decal on the headstock.

Pretty strange guitar, but it’s good fun to play.