Hi everybody this will my first attempt at building my own guitar. I'm thinking of starting with a TL style guitar. Is that a good starter or can someone recommend something more suitable?
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Hi everybody this will my first attempt at building my own guitar. I'm thinking of starting with a TL style guitar. Is that a good starter or can someone recommend something more suitable?
Welcome Aadamdun,
As Wokka said in the other thread, it comes down to your experience. You can make any kit "harder" if you plan to modify bits and pieces or do a more complicated finish, but straight out of the box as an exercise in assembly and finishing a TL would be a good choice. I'm sure others with more experience with the kits will weigh in with more informed answers though!
I've been a floor sander for 17 years and run my own business so my sanding and finishing skills are pretty good. Also use a range of hand a power tools so I'm ok there. It will be the electrical side I'll struggle with most but I'm keen to learn and can buy whatever in need to get the job done. I'm interested in doing this as a hobby so I'd like to work my way from easy to hard builds.
Hi Aadamdun, yes a TL style kit is a good kit to start on. There are probably about 7 wire solder joins to do but with a bit of practice and the wiring diagram should be fairly straight forward
Thank you,
Aadamdun - TL's would have to be one of the easier kits to start with if you're worried about the electronics. As Wokka says, there are not all that many solders to do.
Hi Aadamdun and welcome to the forum. the TL is a fantascic first kit.
I was just thinking the other day as I was tinkering with the wiring on mine, how easy and accessible on the guitar everything is.
welcome and the TL is a perfect choice
I'm trying to decide what TL kit to buy, I'm ready to pull the trigger now but not sure which one. I'm thinking the TL1 because you can chose no pickups. The tuner upgrade and a bone are a must other then that are there any other extras that I'll need?
sounds good Aadamdun, what pickups are you planning if not ordering stock ones ? Be worth upgrading the pots/switch/jack/wiring and copper shield the cavities. Also worth looking into an upgraded bridge.
I will be buying a bridge, most likely a hipshot tele. Still undecided on pickups as there's so many options to look at it all depends on how much I throw into this first build. In saying that I'd like to try and build a good guitar that I'm not going to want change too much if that's at all possible for me.
With the pots and that can you suggest which ones to buy and do I just buy them off the store?Quote:
Originally Posted by wokkaboy
The Tone Rider Pick ups are pretty good value for money, I'm very happy with the ones I used in my Tele.
For Pots, yea Adam has the Bournes and CTS ones in the store, get a capacitor while your there for a couple of bucks.
I started to try and find some reviews on Tone Riders last night and only found limited reviews in the time I had but they were positive as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dedman
I put tonerider Hot Classics in my TLA-1R, they are awesome. I am really impressed. Sorry I haven;t had time to put up a soundclip, but i will
Is there a particular capacitor to buy out of the 2?
Just ordered my TL kit, upgraded with a few extras, pots, capacitor( just bought the more expensive one) shielding, tuners. Might buy the TL bridge as well when I decide on a pickups and what colour trans finish I want. Thanks everybody for the advice much appreciated. Adam
Wierdy can correct me here but
Cap values depend on what kind of tone you want.
I believe the smaller the number the less highs it rolls off as you turn the tone knob from 10 to 1. .047 will roll off the highs much earlier than a .022.
If you want to keep single coils brighter, use a .22
Yes I did want to keep them bright, thanks I'll get onto changing them if I can.
Yep, as Andy said, the caps act as filters. The larger the capacitor value the lower its cut-off frequency. Everything below the cut-off frequency is blocked, everything above it can pass through. Roughly speaking, an 0.022uF cap has its cut-off in the high range whereas an 0.047uF's cut-off is a slightly lower at the top of the mid range. The tone pot controls how much of freq's above the cut-off are allowed to pass to ground.
The simplest solution is to get one of each cap, start with the .022 then go to the .047 if you want a darker tone.
Thanks, I'm not much when it comes to electronics so this is going to be a learning experience for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by WeirdBits