robs TL-1A (Lyn #5)

Hi Guys,

Well, work is under way on my next build, a TL-1A, she has been christened Lyn #5. I chose the Alder body just for something a bit different from the usual Basswood bodies. I was going to leave the body natural, but as there is not a great deal of figure in the wood I thought that I might use some Maple stain on her. I’ll leave the natural look for an Ash bodied TL that I intend to build later.

I am upgrading this one with Tonerider pups, individual saddle bridge and the 4 sound wiring mod. If you are a hard core traditionalist Tele lover you can stop reading now, because I have given her a tummy cut and forearm cut. I have tried to keep the character of the Tele by keeping the “hard” edges of the Tele, and not making them soft and flowing like a Strat. I know its sacrilege to do that to a “slab”, but my TL-1TH (Tele Thinline) is nowhere near as comfy to play as my ST’s. Probably something to do with the fact that I do most of my playing in a lounge chair which promotes incredibly bad playing posture.

When you get to my age comfort is everything. Tradition be damned.

So far I have just finished the shaping and the sanding and done a pre-fit. I know I am going to have problems with the neck pickup. It appears that once the neck is in place I cannot adjust the pickup height because the fretboard overhang prevents the Pickguard from being removed thus denying access to the pickup height adjustment screws. I am avoiding putting the adjusting screws through the Pickguard as I really like the clean look of the lipstick pickup just poking through the guard. Plus, I believe that mounting the pickup directly into the body of the guitar helps give the Tele its signature sound. Time will tell if I stick to my plans, or wimp out and mount the pickup to the Pickguard.

I’ve included a couple of photos showing the progress to date and the instruments of torture with which I inflicted great harm and discomfort to the body.

Cheers
Rob


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Robin, i love your work!
Great to see you do what you want, and your tradition be damned attitude :)
Cant wait to see what you do with this build.

Looks good to me, Robin, and if a guitar is not comfortable it most likely won't get played.

You may be surprised by the grain on the Alder, I know I was with mine once I got to the finer grades of sandpaper and again with the first coats of Wudtone. As far as the neck pickup adjustment goes, an option used on some Tele's is to have two access holes through the pickguard so you can still have a body mounted pickup and then use a thin screwdriver to adjust the screws through the holes in the pickguard. Also, remember that the body mounted neck pickup typically has springs beneath it on the screws, so you should still be able to push the pickup down far enough to allow you to slide out the pickguard even with the fretboard overhang. The screws often just control how far the springs can push the pickup up, rather than the screw thread gripping the pickup itself (if you get what I mean).

Nice work on those body carves, they look pretty smooth.

What sort of file is that big orange one for the heavy work?

Looks great looking forward to the progress on this one

Thanks Guys,

As always, I appreciate the encouragement.

@ Phil
Thanks mate. When you are old and grumpy you do what you want. :D

@ Scott
I'm down to the fine paper now and it is still not inspiring me too much. I had hoped for an Ash-esque type of figure, but I guess that will have to wait for the real thing.

Thanks for the tip about letting the pickup ride on the springs and not the thread of the screws. Of course I had not thought of that (D'oh). I love these Forums. Thanks mate.

@ Dan
Thanks Dan. Its just an elcheapo rasp from Bunnings. I bought it especially for my guitar work so it gets a pampered life. Just destroys Basswood and Alder. Then I clean up the gouges with the (elcheapo) half round metal file, then on to the papers.

@ Tim
Thaks mate. I don't think this one will be anything special, except to me of course. ;)

Cheers Guys
rob

Robin - loving what you're doing - how does the alder compare with Basswood? Any better / worse?

carved body Tele, nice touch - said by someone with a Fender one

nice work Robin, you could shape these tummy and forearm cuts in a fraction of the time with a belt sander but well done for doing it by hand with a rasp ! Great to have a blend of tele and strat shapes, this axe should come up a treat and sure it's a nice change to work with alder instead of basswood.
Look forward to seeing this axe progress, no doubt over the maple stain will be many coats of tru-oil ?

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Brendan on September 7, 2013, 22:18
Robin - loving what you're doing - how does the alder compare with Basswood? Any better / worse?

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Thanks Brendan,
Alder is a bit more dense and a little heavier than Basswood, and desn't have that "fluffy" feel. Grain wise it quite tight but doesn't have a great deal of figure in it. Having said that, one of the four piece that make up the body is rather attractive, but the other three not so much, and the pieces do vary a little bit in colour. It feels pretty much the same as basswood to work with.

I'm hoping that the stain might even out the colours a little and enhance the grain.

I might be wrong, but I think that the denser wood might make for a brighter tone, which should suit the Tele character.

Don't forget mate, 6 months ago I knew nothing about wood, so I could be totally wrong on ALL counts. Lol.


Cheers
rob

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from stan on September 8, 2013, 08:25
carved body Tele, nice touch - said by someone with a Fender one

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Thanks Stan, I'm quite jealous, would love to have a real one.

rob

Thanks Warren,

Call me a masochist, but I enjoy doing it all by hand. I think I'm one of the few around that actually enjoys sanding, so now I can add rasping to the list. Better than therapy.

Yes I might venture down the T-O path again with this one. As it would seem that the Alder might be a bit more dent resistant and require less protection than Basswood I may take DB's advice and try fewer coats this time.

It's all a learning process and I will make those decisions on the fly.

cheers mate
rob

Dont have to be jealous of a "real " Fender Rob. It's just wood, and metal. If yours is made carefully and well (and it looks like it is to me)and you use quality fittings and finishes, you'll have a comparable instrument - but yeah, thanks, I love it. Keep up the good work

Thanks Stan,

I know what you're saying, but there's just something about having a guitar with Fender on the headstock. Not that I'm ever likely to know lol.

Cheers mate
rob

Well, after a few distractions, I finally got Lyn#5 finished.

After seeing so many beautiful and unique guitars here at PBG I realised that despite adding tummy and forearms cuts I am a traditionalist at heart. But I am glad I went with a more traditional colour as I think is suits her quite well. She’s not as flash as most, but then again neither am I. ?

As already mentioned above Lyn#5 got a little bit of extra love with the body cuts, Tonerider pickups, CTS pots, 4 way switch, Orange Drop cap and an individual saddle bridge. The only thing left to do is file down the saddle height screws, and they protrude quite a bit above the saddles and make playing a tad uncomfortable. I have ordered some replacements and when they arrive I’ll get stuck into them.

All in all I am really happy how she turned out. She plays beautifully, and as far as I can tell sounds OK as well. I had never owned a single coil guitar until I started building these awesome PBG kits so I have no reference point for the sounds, but I’m happy.

As the control panel is so easy to access I will probably use her as a bit of a test bed for trying out electrical mods. I know the theory, but I really need to “hear” how different pot and cap values change the character of a guitar.

The Alder body and neck was stained Maple to get a bit of a vintage thing happening, but I left the fretboard untouched for a bit of contrast. Finished in my usual “finish” of choice I have already put a few dings in her during a somewhat troublesome assembly. But each ding and scratch reminds me that she is unique and as she was finished on Lyn’s birthday she is VERY special.

Cheers
rob

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and a few more
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looks awesome Robin, how many coats has the body got ? I love the arm and tummy cuts gives it a unique look, does it make it more comfortable to play compared to a normal tele ? Lucky you are miles away from the tele napper !

Thanks Warren, 13 coats on the body.

Yes mate, so much more comfy than a standard Tele. I think it was more luck than good judgement but when I was shaping the cuts I tried to copy my (very bad) playing posture. I managed to get the cuts just right.

rob

well done with sizing the shaping cuts to suit your posture. The 13 coats has given the body a nice gloss. So you are happy with the tonerider pickups ? I'm going to have to try a set out !

Another great result Rob, very nicely done. I think the colour really suits it and gives it an 'old but new' look with the gloss of the body and pickguard.

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 18, 2013, 12:37
well done with sizing the shaping cuts to suit your posture. The 13 coats has given the body a nice gloss. So you are happy with the tonerider pickups ? I'm going to have to try a set out !

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Warren, I have very little experience with Fenders, so don't go buying Toneriders on my recommendation. I bought my original set for the Strat that I built and I am very happy with them. Although there is not a huge difference between them and the original PBG pups I think there is enough diff to justify the cost. I have no idea how they stack up against a "real" Strat. But they are (relatively) cheap, and I am sure there are better ones out there, but at what cost?

Cheers mare
rob

yer no worries thanks Robin, I won't go rushing out to buy toneriders, I'll do some more research and more reading on the forum. I've never own a fender guitar before I discovered Pit Bull, now I've got serious GAS I'm hanging out to see pictures of these new ash guitar kits !

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from WeirdBits on October 18, 2013, 13:24
Another great result Rob, very nicely done. I think the colour really suits it and gives it an 'old but new' look with the gloss of the body and pickguard.

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Thanks Scott. Pretty pleased with how she turned out. The "old but new" look is what I was going for. She'll be getting heaps of use (abuse) so I expect the "new" part of the equation will not last long.

rob

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/<\\/p>[/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 18, 2013, 15:12
I've never own a fender guitar before I discovered Pit Bull, now I've got serious GAS I'm hanging out to see pictures of these new ash guitar kits !

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Same boat here Warren. Never owned a "Fender" before, now I've got four 8O . And not stopping anytime soon. Lol. Addictive isn't it?

Yeah mate, can't wait to see the Ashies. I've already order one so I'm hoping for IB-5 quality.

rob

Another amazing guitar Rob. Great work. The black pickguard really sets off the warm wood tones provided by the 'finish'. Love it.

Cheers,
Gavin.

Thanks Gavin. Yeah, you can't beat the classic look of the Tele can you?

rob

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 18, 2013, 15:12
yer no worries thanks Robin, I won't go rushing out to buy toneriders, I'll do some more research and more reading on the forum. I've never own a fender guitar before I discovered Pit Bull, now I've got serious GAS I'm hanging out to see pictures of these new ash guitar kits !

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Woks, the Toneriders are great and good value for $100.... But if you want a Stratocaster sound then look at these
http://www.realparts.com.au/pickups/...strat-set.html

Damn, that's fantastic. I have an ash body kit on order that I was going to carve the same way but having seen yours I don't want to embarrass myself.

Rob, that looks superb.It's simple and effective - that's what makes it so good, well done, love it

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Pedrovelo on October 19, 2013, 14:43
Damn, that's fantastic. I have an ash body kit on order that I was going to carve the same way but having seen yours I don't want to embarrass myself.

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Hi Tommy, thanks mate.

Go for it, if I can do it anyone can. I'm no expert, but I just worked out where I wanted the cuts to be, grabbed a rasp and a file and attacked. I'm sure there are better ways of doing the cuts, but I like the manual approach. Just take a little bit off at a time, and when you're finished tidy up with sandpaper. What can go wrong? Lol.

I'm sure you won't embarrass yourself, but you will probably have regrets if you don't try. The important thing is to enjoy the build. No matter what you decide you will end up with a unique hand build guitar, have fun mate.

Cheers
rob

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from stan on October 19, 2013, 15:45
Rob, that looks superb.It's simple and effective - that's what makes it so good, well done, love it

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Thanks Stan.

rob

Thanks for the encouragement Rob. I love that about this site.

I certainly will give it a try and I might try making it string through as well. I've seen a couple of YouTube video which show how to keep the holes straight.

As you say, what's the worst that can happen? I'll have to buy another kit and try again.

Yeah Tommy, you are right about this site. I don't know where I would be without all the help that I have received from those far more knowledgeable than myself.

I like your idea of string through for a Tele. I was tempted myself but thought that without a drill press I might be pushing my luck. I will be doing an Ash Tele sometime down the line and will have to do some serious research before starting that one.

Ahh, the search for the perfect guitar, it never ends. lol.

rob

Hey Robin where did you get the six saddle bridge?

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from SIMpleONe89 on April 4, 2014, 12:25
Hey Robin where did you get the six saddle bridge?

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Hi Simon, not sure if its exactly the same but I know it was genuine Fender, and I know it was from this supplier. What sucked was that the shipping cost equaled the purchase price, but at the time it was the cheapest I could find.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/NEW-Genui...item43c796fbd4

Might be worth doing another search as that was over 6 months ago. If i remember correctly I could have gotten a no-name one from China (with Pickup) cheaper, but wasn't sure of the dimensions. I had already bought some Tonerider Pups, which I knew fitted OEM Fender bridge.

cheers
rob

Ah cool thanks for the info! I saw one from China but I think that might require drilling string through ferrules, which I'm pretty apprehensive about doing!