TD's TL-1TB

It has happened again - another Pitbull box found its way under my Christmas tree. This time I've scored a TL-1Tb with gold hardware. My intention is to stain the back of the body in a dark brown stain, the top and neck will be clear. I will use tru-oil for the top coats. I will change the pickguard to a red tortoiseshell

After a mock build I have:

Sanded the back of the body up to to 240g. The front and the neck I have gone up to 400g.

Cut and sanded the headstock.

Levelled, filed and polished the frets.

4 coats of tru-oil to the maple fret board and top of the body. (the last picture was after the first coat)

Well Santa must have thought you were a very good boy...

Lucky duck. That looks like a fun kit.

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Yes, very lucky - but I have been good.:)

Today I have sanded the sides and back of the body to 240 g some more.
Scraped a few bits of tru-oil off the sides below the binding that leaked under the tape.
Taped the binding on the sides.
I applied some FW Brown Japan stain to the back and sides of the body.
I was lucky and did not get much stain leeching onto the binding. Maybe the tape created a good barrier or the 4 coats of tru-oil on the binding - or both!

Lucky you! I'll be following this with interest, as I have one of these waiting for me to start.

This afternoon I scraped the binding using a razor blade bolted in a split wooden dowel (thanks McCreed).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

This afternoon I scraped the binding using a razor blade bolted in a split wooden dowel (thanks McCreed).

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I wish I could take credit for it! I discovered it from another member in another forum a few years ago. Just passing it on...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by McCreed

I wish I could take credit for it! I discovered it from another member in another forum a few years ago. Just passing it on...

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That is one of the great things with this forum. Anyway - it works a treat.

Between applying coats of tru-oil I have created a pickguard out of red tortoiseshell 3-ply pickguard material.

Nice work on the pick guard. I haven't been game enough to make my own yet

Sweet! I'm just starting one of these soon myself. I like seeing other ideas. Cheers!

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Thanks John and Gunut,

Doing the final Tru-oil coats on the body and neck.
fretboard has 4 coats (we will see if this is enough!!)
Neck has 15 coats
Headstock has 25
Body has 25.

Looking good Trevor.

Tasty. Very tasty Trev, looks great!

Looks great!

Thank you McCreed, FrankenWashie and JohnH.

Since Gunut75 has been doing some work on his tremelo arm (see https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ad.php?t=11923) I thought I would still include my changes in this build page.

I have read that the spring for the kit tremolo bar made the vibrato arm too high - and possible solutions were to either cut down the spring or buy another (shorter) spring.
I decided to cut the bottom (?) friction washer to allow the spring to sit further (all the way) into the recess. This already has made a big improvement to lowering the vibrato arm height. Time will tell if this is a good solution.

It does sit a bit lower with the new washer that I put on mine. Pretty much the same effect as you cutting the one you have. My washer is only about 1mm (.04") thick.
My other concern is the angles where the spring contacts the tremolo. That might be me just being a dork though. I guess I need to build the darn thing and see how it turns out. Lol. Cheers!

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The body and neck have been rested for about 2 weeks to let the tru-oil coats cure.

I have now given the body and headstock a cut and polish with:
1. Maguire’s Ultimate cutting compound - rubbed on with Random Orbital Polisher. Wiped off with microfibre cloth, then
2. Maguire’s Scratch X - rubbed on with Random Orbital Polisher. Wiped off with microfibre cloth.
Finished with a final Polish.

I am happy with the final result - but I still have room for lots of improvement.

The pictures show before (sanded up to 2000g), after Polish with Ultimate, after polish with Scratch X.

Very nice Trev!

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I am happy with the final result - but I still have room for lots of improvement.

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Get in line!!!

That is B.E.A.utiful! Nice work Sir!

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Thank you McCreed and Gunut75.

Today I have;
put in bridge posts (with a ground wire),
screwed on the neck,
screwed off the neck - so that I could get the pickguard in place, (I don't learn!!)
put the pickguard in place,
screwed on the neck,
screwed on the bridge pup,
realised the pole pieces on the neck pup are not lined up with the strings,
screwed off the neck,
removed the neck pup from guard,
adjusted the pickguard hole for the neck pup,
refitted the neck pup to the pick guard,
put pick guard in place,
screwed on the neck,
fitted the tremelo,
fitted the control plate,
fitted the pick guard,
Oh, and fitted the tuners.

Next job is the wiring - maybe a job for tomorrow when cooler!

That is sooooooo sweet!

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Won't be long now until you're twangin' away.

The soldering is done and strings are on. She makes appropriate sounds.

When rough tuned the tremolo arm is at an angle of 15 degrees to the top. Does this seem reasonable?

Looking at pictures of guitars with real Bigsbys on them, I'd say it seems similar to a lot of those guitars. Some are lower, but a lot have a similar angle on them.

It really comes down to whether it is a suitable angle for you? Is it easy to play and use the trem at the same time or do you have to pick and then wiggle? Does it get in the way of the controls?

If you did cut down the spring, then would you get the same range of tremolo available before the arm became too low to depress further?

Also if the tremolo works as desired, you can bend the arm down slightly to your preferred height. If you plan to store it in a case, then you can check it's storage position by turning the arm right around to the back so it sort of tucks into a flatter position behind the string retainer. So that may affect how for you want to bend it if that is needed.

http://gretschpages.com/forum/about-...0/53938/page1/

Thanks Simon and Bakerdozen,
I have never used a tremolo before, but I think it is setup fine. I can play and use the tremolo at the same time, I can still get to the controls, and the arm tucks away neatly.

So besides cutting back the washer as mentioned in post (https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post219158) I have not modified it.

So I think I can call this one done. She plays quite well, and sounds good (acoustically and amped).

I have tried to tidy up this build by replacing the black pup surround with a gold coloured metal surround.

I have noticed that the tuneomatic bridge has discoloured quite a lot over the last 6 months!