JPs TL-1

G'day folks.
Got my TL kit yesterday, thanks to Adam and the guys at pit bull for accomodating my numerous requests! Great customer service guys. Looking forward to getting stuck in to my first ever geetar build.

Fist impressions are the body and neck are pretty nicely done right out of the box. The neck fits nice and snug in the pocket and the body is free of dings or blemishes.

My plan for this build is a metallic gold finish using automotive aerosols, most likely with the black pick guard, blade or single coil humbucker in the bridge and full humbucker at the neck. Not sure of the wiring configuration yet but I'd like a push pull arrangement so I'll be upgrading the switch and pots. All this is of course subject to change and probably far exceeds my abilities! Plan B is a traditional Tele set up with some hot toneriders.
Any opinions on the kit supplied tuners or is it worth the $ to get an upgrade ?

I hope to get the sanding completed this weekend, and possibly primer. Will I need a sanding sealer before the auto primer ? Will they be compatible ? All suggestions welcome.

I haven't used grain filler under auto primer (yet) but I can tell you it takes a lot of primer coats to fill the grain even after sanding to 800grit. I'll be trying filler on my next build

Noting wrong with the PBG tuners....but I got a set of those grovers and they are definatley worth the $$$

welcome to the forum JP, kit looks great and like your plans. Think a grain filler or sealer may save you a couple of coats or primer so worth doing
+1 on Andys suggestions the Grover tuners are worth the upgrade

good luck with the build and ask any questions here on your build diary

Hey JP,

Personally I use White Knight Rust Guard all purpose primer on my guitar bodies and I am very happy with it. I have had no compatability problems with it any a number of spray colour finishes. Its available from the big green shed. I would also recommend doing a grain fill with a slurry of Timbermate (and sand back flat) before applying the primer. It's the only way to get a nice smooth finish. Again you will get zero compatability problems with Timbermate, and it is also available at the big green shed. Your plan for the Tele sounds great and I'm interested to see how she comes out!

cheers,
Gav.

Thanks Gav

At what stage of sanding should I apply the timbermate ?

Personally I sand 120, 240, 360 and 400. Apply the Timbermate and re-sand with 400 until only the pores are filled. Then the primer can go straight on. If you are doing a solid colour, the good thing is the pseky scratches in the end grain (usually about 80 grit and left over from the factory) can also be filled with the Timbermate saving you hours of end-grain sanding ;).

cheers,
Gav.

Hey JP I'd follow Gav's advice sounds good. Worth the pre-sanding before the timbermate. Let the timbermate dry overnight and sand it nice and flat with 400 grit and it will be ready for primer
I've had good results with White Knight Rust Guard primer too.
I'd probably start on 180 grit paper, only use 120 grit if the surface is pretty rough

Thanks gents.

Looks like I'm off to the big green shed.

I take the B word is not liked round these parts 😜

Gav's advice is on the money. I'm also now off to the big green shed (and hopefully score a sausage sizzle on the way in..)

I do same as Gav....except for the 360 grit? maybe 320 grit for me :p

One other thing JP, it looks as though the transition form the maple fret board to the headstock is at a bit of an angle. Jump on Juddernaughts build diary for his Tele to see comments. I wouldn't freak out about it, again it looks like your nut is in the right place, just the transitions at a bit of an angle.

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Originally Posted by Andy40

I do same as Gav....except for the 360 grit? maybe 320 grit for me :p

One other thing JP, it looks as though the transition form the maple fret board to the headstock is at a bit of an angle. Jump on Juddernaughts build diary for his Tele to see comments. I wouldn't freak out about it, again it looks like your nut is in the right place, just the transitions at a bit of an angle.

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Yep noticed that when I opened it up yesterday . I knocked the nut out and had at it with a file, not quite there yet bit think I'm on the right track

Attachment 10945

Spent the afternoon sanding and sanding eventually down to 400 grit. I wiped the body down with a damp rag between grits as instructed with the basswood body.

I had one small mishap where I busted a small piece of wood off of the neck pocket ¥#@!%! :mad: I still have the shard of wood, is it worth trying to glue it back ? I think it might be too small and will just continue to snap off..

Anyway I also got a fine coat of timbermate on, bloody messy stuff to work with but I can see how well it's going to work once sanded back. Hope to get some primer on the body tomorrow but for now time for a beer 🍺

I did the same thing. Square it off and no one will know :rolleyes:

Wonky nut exactly like mine. Are your tuner holes also wonky?


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Tuner holes look Ok to the naked eye, I'll check em with my measuring stick and let you know.

Hey JP, lost count of the number of times that has happened to me (snapped from neck pocket). These days I just try to forget about it and move on. Dedman's solution is the best though if you want to do something about it.

cheers,
Gav.

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Originally Posted by gavinturner

Hey JP, lost count of the number of times that has happened to me (snapped from neck pocket). These days I just try to forget about it and move on. Dedman's solution is the best though if you want to do something about it.

cheers,
Gav.

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Glad I'm not the only one then.

good idea Dedman,

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Originally Posted by J.P

Tuner holes look Ok to the naked eye, I'll check em with my measuring stick and let you know.

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Even if the tuner holes are off slightly, it does not adversely affect the guitar...so I have found.

Checked the tuner holes they are pretty spot on so no worries there.

I got the timbermate sanded back and sprayed 3 coats of primer. There are couple of spots here and there that will need attention.
The plan is to let it dry for a week, sand back, fill any spots that need touching up and respray with more primer before final wet sand.

Note the highly sophisticated spraying booth, with my trusty apprentice watching on :D

Battle on, JP, it's coming along well

Looking great JP. Got that primer on there nice and smoooth.

cheers,
Gav.

primer coat looks good JP,don't worry about the spray booth, as long as no foreign material falls on the wet paint you are laughing.

Thanks for the encouragement lads.

Should I be fitting and drilling holes for the bridge, neck, pick guard , tuners etc pre or post final finish??

What is the general consensus here ? I'm sure there's pros and cons for both schools of thought, let's hear em .

Cheers

I like to have everything ready to go before the final coats ( not just on guitars but any project) That way the only tools coming any where near it is a couple of screwdrivers and because the screws have already been in once they don't require loads of force that can induce a slip...........

Just my theory

In retrospect, I wish I had done all my drilling up front. Certainly not a deal-breaker but it is nicer not to have to worry about the finish once it's done.
I also really wish that I had done ALL my finishing before doing the soldering. I thought I'd have more room to do a couple finish coats and polishing once I'd mucked around with soldering and mounting the bridge and scratchplate but if I did it again (and I might) I'd completely finish everything then just do the mounting.

I've sorted out the pickups 😀
Got a Seymour Duncan Little 59 single coil humbucker for the bridge off eBay and a Fender twisted Tele neck from gumtree. I'm hoping this will give me a nice fat sound with a strat like tone in the neck . my original idea was a HH configuration but by using these pickups I won't have to rout the bridge cavity or mess with the pickguard for the neck.

I think I can just stick with a traditional 3 way switch , any opinions on 250k vs 500 k pots for this set up ?

Made some more progress this weekend.

Got the machine heads positioned and locator holes drilled. I also shaped and cut out the headstock, still quite a bit of work to do but it's starting to look like a Tele !

I mocked up the body, I think I'm going to have to enlarge the bridge route as the bridge will have to come forward to get the correct scale length. Sanded back and filled a couple of small dings that I missed first time round and hit it with 3 more coats of primer.

Who puts a finish on these maple necks ? Are they ok without any finish ? I've got some lemon oil I use on rose wood boards will that go ok over maple?

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Originally Posted by J.P

Made some more progress this weekend.

Got the machine heads positioned and locator holes drilled. I also shaped and cut out the headstock, still quite a bit of work to do but it's starting to look like a Tele !

I mocked up the body, I think I'm going to have to enlarge the bridge route as the bridge will have to come forward to get the correct scale length. Sanded back and filled a couple of small dings that I missed first time round and hit it with 3 more coats of primer.

Who puts a finish on these maple necks ? Are they ok without any finish ? I've got some lemon oil I use on rose wood boards will that go ok over maple?

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I used tru oil on my maple neck

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I use Dingowax on the fretboards and dingotone neck finish (without stain) on my tele neck. I prefer the feel of the DT neck finish on the neck than the Tru oil, but I know some guys prefer a Tru oil as a neck finish rather than others. Its kinda personal preference.

I have other guitars with no finish whasoever on the maple fretboard and back of the neck only finished on the front of the headstock. the back just polished by sanding. It does feel quite nice to have a naked neck as well.

Sorry to confuse you more, but plenty of options for you:confused:

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Originally Posted by J.P

Who puts a finish on these maple necks ? Are they ok without any finish ? I've got some lemon oil I use on rose wood boards will that go ok over maple?

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Hi J.P.......I have a mate who has got a EVH Wolfgang and they have a Maple Neck & FB where both are pretty well naked. He sands the back with 1200 to 1500 wet & dry paper (dry) and puts lemon oil on the Fret Board even though the bottle says only for Rosewood. Raw maple will look reliced pretty quickly if left untreated and allowed to soak up lots of sweat, beer, smoke, etc that you may encounter playing live.

On my J Bass I actually coated the FB with about 5 - 6 coats of Tru Oil and once cured sanded back with 0000 steel wool to take an edge off the shine to give a bit more of a satin look. Did the same trick on the back of the neck on another Bass as the 0000 steel wool doesn't clog up as quick as the W & D paper and you end up with a super smooth and fast neck.

Thanks Waz - that sounds like a plan, I bought some tru oil with my kit so will give it a go.

Pickups arrived today :D Seymour Duncan Little 59 single coil humbucker for the bridge and a Fender custom shop twisted Tele pickup for the neck .

Attachment 11238Attachment 11238

J.P, these pickups should sound the biz,. I'm especially interested to hear how the bridge pup sounds

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The 3 wire setup on the neck pickup might lend itself to doing the 4 way switch mod where you can get both PUP's in series plus the usual standard 3 position sounds/settings. Bridge PUP looks like it could have been 4 wire conductor that would have also allowed for coil split but doubt it would produce much discernible difference anyway due to how thin each coil is.

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

The 3 wire setup on the neck pickup might lend itself to doing the 4 way switch mod where you can get both PUP's in series plus the usual standard 3 position sounds/settings. Bridge PUP looks like it could have been 4 wire conductor that would have also allowed for coil split but doubt it would produce much discernible difference anyway due to how thin each coil is.

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Think I'm gonna go for a standard 3 way switching. The humbucker can be split, I thought about a 4 or even a 5 way switch but like you said I don't think it's worth the bother. Plus I'm a bit of a noob with a soldering iron.

hey JP, nice pickups ! I'd definitely go the 4 way switch option as the neck pup already has the 3 wires. Maybe down the track you can split the SD mini bucker with a push pull volume pot.
They should sound choice.
Here's the 4 way switch wiring diagram to look at. Position 4 sounds fat when pups are in series

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Originally Posted by wokkaboy

hey JP, nice pickups ! I'd definitely go the 4 way switch option as the neck pup already has the 3 wires. Maybe down the track you can split the SD mini bucker with a push pull volume pot.
They should sound choice.
Here's the 4 way switch wiring diagram to look at. Position 4 sounds fat when pups are in series

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ThAnks Wokka, where would the 3rd wire from the neck pup go ?

If you look carefully two of the wires should link to the eyelets, most likely black as negative and white as positive, and the third wire (probably the yellow) will connect to a tab of the chrome cover as the 'shield' wire. So, for a 4-way layout, your yellow would go to ground on the back of a pot and the black and white would go to the 4-way switch (assuming the colours are as I described).

If you are going to wire it as a standard 3-way Tele then the shield and negative both go to ground on the back of a pot and the positive goes to the 3-way switch.

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Originally Posted by WeirdBits

If you look carefully two of the wires should link to the eyelets, most likely black as negative and white as positive, and the third wire (probably the yellow) will connect to a tab of the chrome cover as the 'shield' wire. So, for a 4-way layout, your yellow would go to ground on the back of a pot and the black and white would go to the 4-way switch (assuming the colours are as I described).

If you are going to wire it as a standard 3-way Tele then the shield and negative both go to ground on the back of a pot and the
positive goes to the 3-way switch.

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👍 Got it, thanks !