First Build - TLA-1F

Hi everyone,

I have posted a few questions on the forums and received some responses, which I am very grateful for, so I figured it would be a good idea to start a build diary of my first build.

I have previously taken a Stagg S-Type guitar and dismantled it completely replacing everthing apart from the neck and body so I have some experience in guitar building but this will be my first kit build, a TLA-1F.

I swapped out the standard neck for a Maple one and had to do a bit of sanding to get it to fit, and have pretty much ditched all of the hardware upgrading the tuners and nut from Pit Bull, and everythng else except the bridge plate from various other suppliers.

So far the control cavity and bridge pickup routing have been widened to accept teh new electronics and I have shaped the headstock.

I've got to say that there's a few niggly issues (neck pickup routing is off centre, bridge plate mounting and neck screw holes are not square, some frets are cut shorter than others) but I guess that's part of the deal with these relatively affordable kits.

The neck is fitted, I have measured teh scale length and check the string alignment along the fretboard.

I am now trying to work out how to approach preparing the body and taking plenty of time to research and learn from others. The plan is to use the DT Bondi Blue body finish kit on the flame Maple top, DT Colourless body finish kit on the back/sides and DT Neck finish kit on the neck and fretboard. I also have the DT guitar wax.

But I am taking my time as I am learning a bit about Ash bodies, etc.

So far, am having a good time. If this works out ok, I am looking to try a hollowbody kit next.

Wish me luck.

I like your headstock design. It's reminiscent of G&L's (sort of inverted?) but still it's own thing.

So over the past week I have been taking my time sanding and grain filling the ash body. Today I applied three coats of Dingotone Colourless Body Finish. I'm really pleased with how it looks so far. Next weekend I will look to apply the Dingotone Bondi Blue stain to the flame maple veneer and then finish the whole process with the intensifying and final coats.

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I understand that the veneer tops should not be sanded as it is very thin. If anyone has some helpful suggestions on the best way to prep the flame maple veneered top I'd appreciate your input.

Here's my first attempt at staining the Flame Maple top with DT Bondi Blue:

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I put three coats on and while it darkened overnight, it just didn't take to the wood like colourless stain did on the Ash body. PBG says not to sand the veneer as it is too thin but I am pretty certain, around the edges, that it needs sanding to remove glue residue. You can see where the stain has not been able to penetrate. I used acetone as best as I could to clean the top but this was not enough.

You can also see where one side of the veneer has clearly taken more stain than the other.

I'm thinking that a veneered topped guitar was probably not a great idea for my first build :(

So my plan now is to let the stain cure for a few days before lightly sanding with about 320 or 400 grit sandpaper and then reapplying the DT Bondi Blue. If anyone has any other suggestions, I'm all ears.

You could try and remove more of the glue first. Most of the guys on here use a product called "goof off". They carefully apply it and use a soft toothbrush. Its definately worth the try.

Thanks Nitroburner.

I actually went ahead with a light sanding a second application of DT Bondi Blue. It's getting there in terms of depth of colour but there are still some issues. Once this coat has cured I will try to sand back a bit more agressively and apply a third coat of the stain before finishing the rest of the DT process (Intensifying coat and final coat).

In hindsight I would have done this differently but I have learnt quite a bit for my (hopefully) next build.

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It has been quite a while since my last update. I have now completed staining the neck the DT clear neck kit and have applied the final coat of the DT Bondi Blue Intensifying stain to the body. It takes an awfully long time to cure and, to be honest, I am not sure if have allowed to cure properly. Before I apply the final coats to the body I will leave it another week or two.

I am not sure, after that, what the buff and polish process is meant to involve so if anyone has experience in what to do after finishing the DT process please let me know.

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Never used DT, but once it's dried hard, then I assume it's like any other finish. You sand it flat, starting with P600 and working up to maybe P2000 (all wet sanding), and then you put the shine back by using a polishing/buffing compound on some cloth. A lot of people use car polishing compounds like Meguires. Scratch X 2 is great for final polishing.

No need to go mad with the sanding, just enough with the P600 to get the surface level with no pits, and then straight on to the next finer grit up.

Beware of water getting into screw holes, expanding the wood and cracking the finish, so its a good idea to try and fill the small holes with wax first. Wipe off the water as you go along.

If you are unsure about how dry the finish is, I'd sand it back and wait another week before polishing. Sanding gives significantly more surface area to the finish, so it does help it dry faster. But the surface won't take a good polish it it's still not fully cured.

Thanks Simon.

I took your advice re sanding and got to work on the neck finishing with 2000 grit. It feels fantastic. Will apply some polish later in the week.

This gives me confidence that the body will come up well when it is time to do the same.

Great news!

Well I still have some work to do :-)

The neck is pretty much done now and has come up really well. I have completed the finish, levelled and polished the frets and fitted the locking tuners. It does look good and I am happy with the finish. I'm just waiting on a new bone nut to arrive to complete the job. The one I got from PBG was too narrow for the nut slot and I wasn't able to find a small piece of veneer to fill the gap. So a new nut in the right size was the better option.

The body is a different story. I think that as a beginner to this craft, Dingo Tone stains are probably not the best option. I have been having real trouble with it. The natural stain on the back of the body is nice but I have had all manners of grief with the blue stain on the flame maple veneer (some of that being attributed to glue residue). This stuff just does not cure, it stays tacky. I have no doubt a big part of the issue is user error but it is frustrating.

So I gave it a good sand all over with wet and dry sandpaper and this helped remove most of the top layer tackiness. It also took out a lot of colour and i probably went too hard around the edges. But it gave me chance to rethink the finish colour :rolleyes:. So I have attempted to blend in a bit of a burst effect around the edges of the guitar with some black stain. I'm actually much happier with this look compared to the Bondi Blue colour which is kind of a light denim colour.

From here I am going to attempt to complete the finish with DT top coat using incredibly thin coats (and a lot of patience), before buffing and polishing. I am still considering whether I do that or just go and buy some tru-oil and use that instead.

Hopefully I am only a few weeks away from completing the build now ;)

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I think the body has turned out well with the black burst.
Just be aware that if you do use tru-oil over the blue stain it tends to go a bit greenish!

Oh, thanks for that tip Trevor. I'll avoid that then!

Would the same thing happen with a wipe-on poly?

As much as I want to finish this with the DT product I am trying to find simpler, more predictable alternatives.

Both neck and body are looking good. This could be one of those happy accident kinds of things!
FWIW, I would go a bit more with the black on the outside edge and play with the transition a little more.

I would also advise against Tru Oil with any shade of blue. It has been well documented here that it will turn green over time. [Hah!!! Trevor beat me to it!!!]

Personally I would ditch the DT and go with a wipe-on polyurethane. You can mix your own way more economically by just buying regular poly and thinning it 50/50 (or 60/40) with mineral turps. (or you can buy wipe-on at 3 times the price)

I will probably get into trouble for saying this here, but I wouldn't touch the DT stuff with a barge pole. The number of stories I've read with people having issues with it drying has been enough of a deterrent for me.

Sounds like wipe on poly is the way to go. I think that the poly may help out with a bit more shine, which would be nice.

Yes, DT has been problematic for me.

I have watched the videos many times but I just can't seem to replicate what Dingo Bass does. Again, maybe its best left to those with a bit more experience.

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Originally Posted by dbeltrami

Sounds like wipe on poly is the way to go. I think that the poly may help out with a bit more shine, which would be nice.

Yes, DT has been problematic for me.

I have watched the videos many times but I just can't seem to replicate what Dingo Bass does. Again, maybe its best left to those with a bit more experience.

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I had similar DT issues with my FV-4 kit. I do really like tru-oil (but not with blue stain). I have yet to try a wipe on poly (but I want to try a blue stained SSCM kit soon - so may have to).

Good luck - I will watch with interest.

Well that's a wrap for my first build!

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I'm pretty happy how it turned out. There are a few niggly things that are annoying, misaligned pre-drilled holes being the biggest issue, but overall I am going to enjoy playing this guitar.

The finish was probably the most challenging part for me. The Flame Maple top didn't turn out the way I envisgaed it but I'm relatively happy with it and may well take to being reliced if i ever get the courage up ;)

Drilling the string ferrule holes also was a challenge but I had a wood working friend assist me with that and with shaping the headstock.

I swapped out a few things from the kit:
- Gotoh Rotomatic machine heads (from PBG)
- Custom-wound 50's Vintage pickup set
- Toneshaper Tele SS3 4-way wiring kit
- Pearloid pickguard, USA style knobs, Gotoh control plate
- Camel bone nut (the bone nut I bought from PBG was too skinny for the nut slot :(
- Gotoh brass compensated saddles (although I had to use the extra long saddle screws from the kit - it's a weird length bridge)
- Gotoh string ferrules

My first wiring attempt was a failure but after desoldering and taking my time the second attempt worked perfectly. There is no noise whatsoever. I did shield the cavities with copper tape but I'm not sure it was really necessary.

We are back in lockdown here in Melbourne Australia so I guess I will spend some quality time with my new guitar and maybe consider what my next kit should be :rolleyes:

Very nice. Glad to hear it also plays well for you too. Always a bonus!

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The finish was probably the most challenging part for me.

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You are not alone. This commonly the hardest process of building to get right, and seems only once in a while does it match the "the picture in your head".

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We are back in lockdown here in Melbourne Australia so I guess I will spend some quality time with my new guitar and maybe consider what my next kit should be :rolleyes:

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Guitar building is even more contagious than Covid, but waaaaaay less deadly! And definitely no vaccine for it!
Stay safe, enjoy your guitar.

The end result looks nice. Great that you are enjoying playing it.

What finish did you end up using?

Hi Trevor,

I used the Dingo Tone finishes.

For the neck I used the colourless finish kit. This worked out pretty well, in the end, but I did have to be patient with the curing process. I am really happy with the neck.

On the body, I used a colourless DT stain for the back and sides. Again, happy with how this turned out.

On the body top, which has a flame maple veneer, I used the DT Bondi Blue kit. This was the biggest problem for me. PBG says not to sand the veneer becuase it is so thin. The first problem I encountered was glue residue. The second problem was I probably went with too many (thicker) coats of the Bondi Blue trying to darken the stain and also trying to deal with the glue residue. The oil just does not want to cure. After lots of attempts to deal with the situation I ended up sanding the top a bit agressively, applying some (non DT) black stain and then another very thin coat of the Bondi Blue intensifying stain before the final (very thin) top coats and letting it cure as much as possible.

After weeks and weeks of waiting for it to fully cure I just gave up and wet sanded gently to remove as much of the non-cured finish as ai could before cutting, polishing and waxing the top. It's ok but I really think that as a first time builder, the DT product should be avoided. It is best left to experts. Also the thin veneers are more trouble than what they are worth. I am not sure why PBG bothers with these - either go with a thicker top or leave them out all together. Not be able to sand/prepare the top makes matters worse with the DT stains in my amateur opinion.

Having said all of that I learnt quite a bit and I am somewhat fond of the "distressed denim" look. Importantly the guitar plays really well and sounds fantastic. I'm not sure what the standard electronics are like but the pickups and electronics I put together are really nice.

I wouldn't have got there without being able to get advice from reading ghis forum and also people like Simon, McCreed and yourself taking an interest in my posts.

Thank you.

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...I really think that as a first time builder, the DT product should be avoided. It is best left to experts.

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I would not consider myself to be an expert, but having read enough horror stories from others using DT, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
I don't mean that as a flame, it's just my opinion.

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Also the thin veneers are more trouble than what they are worth. I am not sure why PBG bothers with these - either go with a thicker top or leave them out all together.

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To be fair to PBG, I think there has been a lot of misleading or, at the very least, overly cautious comments about the thin veneers.
Yes, they are indeed thin, but are far more robust than people think. Using appropriate methods (ie: not going at it with 80 or 120 grit paper attached to a Random Orbital Sander) the thin veneer can absolutely be smoothed after stain coats if needed.

The maple veneers don't require much of that anyway because there is very little grain raising with maple timber (even with water based dyes). Once the clear coat process has begun, it is only the clear coat you have to worry about sanding through. IMO, the clear coat should not be sanded at all until there is an adequate build up to safely do so without sand-through anyway.

The glue spots are a drag (and can be a PITA) but again by taking appropriate measures, can be overcome.

Lastly, the pricepoint of PBG kits needs to be a strong consideration. They are some of the least expensive kits on the market and the reality is with that, there will be shortcomings. There are more expensive kits out there (some cost more than a decent budget guitar) but dollar for dollar these kits are considerably good quality and I have never heard of a problem wasn't addressed by incredible customer service from the PBG crew.

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I wouldn't have got there without being able to get advice from reading ghis forum and also people like Simon, McCreed and yourself taking an interest in my posts.

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Thanks for the shout out! What's your next build going to be:p???

You make some very good points there, McCreed, especially in relation to PBG's quality to price equation. Things like nut slot sizes and minor hole misalignment are par for the course, I guess, when you think about you get for the price. Overall it's a great kit.

I'd love it if they offered a premium kit with a thicker, higher quality top but I appreciate that may not be commercially viable.

Don't get me wrong I am happy with the outcome I got and PBG were great from a customer communication perspective.

I will be much better off from this experience in terms of dealing with the thin veneers, glue spots, etc. Also, I won't use DT again. I have watched so many videos of guitar builders using different product that seems to produce terrific results with far less frustration.

As for my next build, well I am really keen on a thinline semi-hollow body style guitar. The PSH-1 is the style I like but a couple of things are not quite right for me - Basswood body (interested in your thoughst here) and the f-holes look weird :confused:

The kit that looks to come closest to my requirements GPR-1R. It has a Mahogany body and conventional looking f-holes. The offset design is growing on me, but this is the one thing that I still haven't got my head around.

I'm thinking a red colour with gold hardware and some quality humbuckers will make for nice second build :)

Keen to hear your thoughts.

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...Basswood body (interested in your thoughst here) and the f-holes look weird

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I never noticed it before, but yeah, those f-holes on the PSH-1 do look disproportional to the size of the body and kind of oddly shaped.

As for basswood, opinions vary, and like lots of things guitar, can be a subject of great debate.
I personally think it is a fine tonewood and it gets unfairly judged because it is associated with "cheap" guitars. However there are some pretty expensive guitars that use basswood (eg: Ibanez JS2480 Joe Satriani sig model $3.9k AU).

I have a PBG PRS1-TS that is a basswood body with maple veneer, mahogany & rosewood neck (set) and it feels and sounds great. I also own 2 production model strats and a tele I built with basswood bodies. I have no issues with how they sound. In fact, they all sound great IMO. Some people comment on basswood being too soft and light, but IME there's not a big difference in hardness than what is regularly sold as "mahogany". Which is a whole other subject - not all mahogany is created equal.

My point is, if covered in a good durable finish, it will perform just fine. Any guitar timber will dent if it's dropped or bashed into a cymbal stand! When in comes to "tonewoods" and electric solid body guitars, I am of the opinion that there are way too many other things at play that create or effect tone than simply the timber the body is made out of.

The one less positive thing I'll say about basswood is that it not a nicely figured timber and usually suited more to solid finished rather than natural or transparent ones. That said, my PRS1-TS is cherry stain with a poly clear coat :confused:

If you want earth and natural timber stains the Proof tint range from Feast Watson that you can get from the Big Green Shed work well. Otherwise I have had great results from Angelus leather dyes.

I use one of two finishes….Feast Watson Fine Buffing Oil….about seven coats….first two applied with oooo steel wool, the rest with squares of t shirt material. Then about four coats of Gillys Cabinetmakers Wax…a Carnauba Wax paste…again applied with oooo steel wool. Careful with the steel wool it will suck the colour out if you get aggressive.

The other is aerosol Cabots oil based polyurethane. They have two styles…interior and exterior. The red label exterior is marine grade and a little more robust…and is dearer. I sand…timbermate…stain….through to 400 grit then three to four coats of Tru Oil helps to grab and raise any figure in your wood…then leave for about a week…then the aerosol poly begins with the 3 coats ten minutes apart process. Then leave at least two days and wet sand 600 grit…then 3 coats 10 minutes apart…800, 1200, 1500, 2000. Then hang for about ten days. Then auto cutting compound until flat….then meguiars ultimate compound, scratch x, Bowden own paint prep, carnauba wax and then fully slick and hand buff. Usually up to four coats of each of these….and you should have a glossy finish.

I use the satin poly….as you can always polish it too a gloss….but if you want a flat neck finish you can’t get that with gloss poly.

Thanks for the advice/recommendations on finishes @ozzbike. I'm looking at what my project will be and have received a quote from PDG on a custom version of the PSH-1 kit. This will take some time to deliver so I'll have a chance to test out some finish options.

@McCreed, apologies I didn't mean to suggest basswood was an inferior body material. I neglected to mention that my finish would be stain and not a solid colour so I was thinking that basswood would not be the best option for staining. For the PSH-1 kit, PBG has quoted a customisation with a Mahogony body so I think I'll go with this.

Thanks again, everyone.