Big Stu's TLA-1Q Build

Ok so initial inspection is complete:

Attachment 16390

The neck fits snugly with some fantastic grain on the maple, really glad I'm planning on a clear finish.

The Fender electronics I got fit in the selector plate which is good.

All the parts and screws look to be here.

The issue I have found is that the Fender pickups I have are too wide for the pickguard hole (not that big a problem) and the bridge plate hole (this is a bigger issue).

So I guess the question is.. do I modify the bridge plate or do I buy an aftermarket bridge plate? I'm thinking the angle I'd have to use to get the strings under the pickup magnets would be more angled then the cutout on the existing one or is this not really an issue?

Also the cavity doesn't exactly fit the bridge pickup so I guess I just take some wood off equally in either direction. Maybe I should resolve the issue with the bridge plate first...

I'd consider a new bridge. If you are going to the expense of upgrading the pickups, a decent bridge won't go astray. Be aware though, if you don't want to drill for string throughs, you'll need to find a top loading one, which can be a bit tricky.

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Originally Posted by pablopepper

I'd consider a new bridge. If you are going to the expense of upgrading the pickups, a decent bridge won't go astray. Be aware though, if you don't want to drill for string throughs, you'll need to find a top loading one, which can be a bit tricky.

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Check the GFS bridge out, the site has measurements and the one I have can be either top mount or string through

Thanks all, I picked up a wilkinson tele bridge from PBG, it looks like its top loading so I'll go with that. I checked the pickup cutout size and it does fit the pickups I have.

I've been looking at the build instructions on the forum, a few people have suggested screwing the neck on and working out all the string angle calculations before doing anything with the body. How far should I go? Should I fit the machine heads and use double sided tape to locate the bridge etc? Could I just clamp the neck to work these things out (putting the neck screws in seems like a pretty important step for someone as green as me).

Hi Stu,

If you can find it, I did a build diary with a Wilkinson tele bridge on my ash tele. Its a little shorter than the PBG bridge so I had to fill the existing predrilled bridge holes and measure the scale length with the neck on to mark out the new bridge holes. Make sure you check the bridge is centered to the neck etc.

As a rule now, I do all modifications to the guitar before I start sanding or doing any finishes. I have found that even changing little things like the pots or the switch require some fiddly changes to the kit. Not difficult, but its better to sand out any dings or clamp marks only once.

When i did my tele I did the whole thing and played it before doing any finishes just to make sure (cos teles are cool like that).

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Originally Posted by Andy40

Hi Stu,

If you can find it, I did a build diary with a Wilkinson tele bridge on my ash tele. Its a little shorter than the PBG bridge so I had to fill the existing predrilled bridge holes and measure the scale length with the neck on to mark out the new bridge holes. Make sure you check the bridge is centered to the neck etc.

As a rule now, I do all modifications to the guitar before I start sanding or doing any finishes. I have found that even changing little things like the pots or the switch require some fiddly changes to the kit. Not difficult, but its better to sand out any dings or clamp marks only once.

When i did my tele I did the whole thing and played it before doing any finishes just to make sure (cos teles are cool like that).

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Thanks Andy! I'll take a look, the more I think about it the more I think I should put it together properly first. Fortunately I haven't drilled the bridge holes yet. Once the bridge gets here I'll measure it all up and post the results.

Good advice from Andy.

Doing a PBG Tele kit too at present and they all seem to need a bit of work done around the bridge PUP rout to either make upgrades fit or repositioning for correct scale and bridge positioning. If doing an Oak Grigsby switch upgrade they sometimes may touch the bottom of the control plate rout and therefore require a bit of sanding to provide some clearance and prevent shorting on any shielding stuff used.

Cheers, Waz

Ok so finally got the chance to set up a work area. I've measured from inside of the nut to the middle of the 12th fret, the distance is 323mm so I guess that means the scale length is 646mm. The 646mm mark is where the red arrow is in the picture. So how is the placement of the bridge plate? I've installed two machine heads (both E strings) to look at the horizontal alignment of the bridge plate and I found the mini-grover machine heads are a bit loose in the pre-drilled holes. Is this an issue? I guess my next step is to drill the bridge plate screw holes, put the bridge plate on and then look at the neck alignment and string height from the neck? Is there a set way to measure the vertical alignment of the bridge plate, for instance can you measure off from the center of the bridge pickup route or the neck route?

Attachment 17212

Ok so I've used a coping saw to shape the headstock then used a rough and fine wood file, I went for a 'telecaster' shape. The wood file was a bit old and had a bit of oil on it somehow but I'm sanding back so I figured this would be ok.Attachment 17824

I've measured out the bridge plate placement and found that that I'm going to need to take some wood off to fit the new pickup/bridgeplate. The scale length ended up being 646mm, I adjusted the string compensators to about have way and lined that up with the scale length. Then I calculated the middle bridge plate placement based off the fretboard alignment Attachment 17825

Looks like I'm going to need to take a significant amount of wood off to fit in my pickup upgrade in the bridge route. I don't have access to a router, I do have access to a dremel...? Is this the best I can do with what I have? I have access to chisels but I've never used them before.

NOTE: I used double sided tape to draw on my measurements, I should have used masking tape, didn't realise how strong the adhesive is and I've done some damage to the veneer!!!! Does anyone know how I can proceed from here?

Attachment 17826Attachment 17827

Yeowch, that looks like it might have gone though the veneer in spots. Not really much you can do about that. Timbermate and sand and hope for the best.

Taking that much wood out with a dremel seems like not such a great idea. Chisels will be cleaner and much quicker, or I could help out with a router, if you want.

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Originally Posted by Big_Stu

Looks like I'm going to need to take a significant amount of wood off to fit in my pickup upgrade in the bridge route. I don't have access to a router, I do have access to a dremel...? Is this the best I can do with what I have? I have access to chisels but I've never used them before.

NOTE: I used double sided tape to draw on my measurements, I should have used masking tape, didn't realise how strong the adhesive is and I've done some damage to the veneer!!!! Does anyone know how I can proceed from here?

Attachment 17826Attachment 17827

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Yeah, i made that mistake with some ash and got grain pullout similar to that. You need to get the green or purple low tack 14-20 day tapes, they will allow you to get good adhesion and do what you need to do without risking the finish.

I'd also hesitate about using a dremel for that much routing, you'd really want to use a router and a good template.

If Pablo is nearby you, i'd take him up on the offer of his router and use his experience to get a template sorted.

if you've no other option, make a small template/outline and do some test chiselling out on scrap wood to refine technique, when you feel you have a good technique down switch to your guitar body. Use the chisels to to the bulk of it, a little at a time, and then clean up to your template/outline with the dremel at first and final clean up with sanding sticks.

You can use masking tape around your intended working zone to help stave off minor scratches etc while you work on the cavity. Just take it slow and easy.

Thanks guys, appreciate the advise. I found a mate with a router, I'm going over to his place this weekend. I might have over-reached on getting the veneer for my first guitar, but it was on special :) Once I've routed the pickup out I'll get some timbermate, coat the cap/veneer and begin sanding. Its all good, its just a learning experience for me, I'll see how it turns out and worst case I'll paint it a solid colour. I'm really after mainly, a playable instrument.

The problem I have discovered when fitting an aftermarket bridge is that the Tele kit bridges have much longer adjustment screws so the saddles sit much further forward on the bridge plate, Wilkinson six saddle strung through bridges are worse in this respect.

As for the cavity enlargement, when I did my first Tele I used humbuckers and it was routed for standard pickups.

Being a tight ar5e and not wanting to buy a router I used an Ozito multitool from the Green Shed, I used the narrow blade probably about 10mm from memory and just cut straight down vertically clearing the dust from the cut often.

Simply taped up the areas to be cut out, drew the new cavity shapes on the tape and went around the perimeter with the multitool to the required depth and then chiselled it out with a fine very sharp chisel and then cleaned up using the Dremel with a sanding drum.

I also had to make a small infill for the bridge pickup from pine which is barely visible once everything is mounted up.

I will be doing the same with the Tuff Dog because of the bridge placement issue.

Attachment 17862

Attachment 17863

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Originally Posted by dave.king1

The problem I have discovered when fitting an aftermarket bridge is that the Tele kit bridges have much longer adjustment screws so the saddles sit much further forward on the bridge plate, Wilkinson six saddle strung through bridges are worse in this respect.

As for the cavity enlargement, when I did my first Tele I used humbuckers and it was routed for standard pickups.

Being a tight ar5e and not wanting to buy a router I used an Ozito multitool from the Green Shed, I used the narrow blade probably about 10mm from memory and just cut straight down vertically clearing the dust from the cut often.

Simply taped up the areas to be cut out, drew the new cavity shapes on the tape and went around the perimeter with the multitool to the required depth and then chiselled it out with a fine very sharp chisel and then cleaned up using the Dremel with a sanding drum.

I also had to make a small infill for the bridge pickup from pine which is barely visible once everything is mounted up.

I will be doing the same with the Tuff Dog because of the bridge placement issue.

Attachment 17862

Attachment 17863

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Thanks for the tips Dave. It does look pretty far forward and the saddles are adjusted to their mid range and are lined up with the scale length. Do you think the cavity under the bridge plate would have an affect on the tone of the guitar?

Hey Big Stu, big lesson about using high tact tape ! I agree with what Pablo and Frankie have suggested.
Get your bridge pickup routed then see if you can fill the tear out of the veneer. Don't do much sanding as the quilted veneers are so thin. Try get a fairly light colour timbermate and the filler may not be as obvious.
The cavity under the bridge plate should have minimal affect on the tone of the guitar.

If you are measuring to the saddles with them in the half-way position, then you can move the bridge back a bit. I'd move the top B/E saddle to about 3mm of thread showing and measure back to that. The other saddles will be further back than that when intonated, so don't worry about those. I'm not saying that you won't have to do any routing, but you shouldn't have to do so much, so a Dremel should be sufficient. Also, I'd stick with the 648mm scale length the kit is supposed to have. That will give you another 2mm of movement back (and you'd have 3mm of thread spare to move the top B/R saddle forward if necessary. That should get the bridge pickup cut-out pretty much over the hole. I know that these routs are pretty tight, so you may have to do a little work to get the bridge pup sitting well and moving freely, but a sander drum on the Dremel is all you should need.