Drummerdude's first build.. TLA-1Q. Wish me luck

So I have finally received the first of three kits I ordered. This one is for the Pastor of my church and he loves tele's. I have plans to do a stained fade finish in his favorite colors blue to green. I will be posting a picture tonigh of the kit to get some input. The thin quilted veneer has some grain missing that looks to be close to being they the veneer. Since I am staining can and should I fill with some grain filler or something to fill the spots before sanding to level and will it take the satin like the veneer? I plan on upgraded bridge and know from lots of reading that I will need to widen current bridge rout to accommodate. I will be changing pick ups and installing 4 way tele switch for more sound options. I am thinking if the finish goes as planned I may install a hum bucket pickup with trim instead of pickguard with single cool pickup. Any thoughts I could use a clear acrylic one with some airbrushing around pick up. I am going to change the tuners to locking grovers or similar.

My next two builds will be basses for me a IB-5 in a short scale Ash body. And a PBH-4 for that classic fender p bass with a bigger range both will be made active and more to come. I really look forward to all the input from you all I have been super excited to get ideas and help from the experts..

Cheers

Welcome Drummerdude. You will need to check the route for the front pickup. For most to the TL guitars the front route is too big for a standard humbucker arrangement.

Welcome and enjoy the builds

Welcome mate. Looking forward to seeing another TL-1Q onboard. I used a dual rail humbucker in the bridge position. Saves doing too much work in the pocket. I did another tele with a 4 way switch, humbucker in the neck and single coil in the bridge. To be honest....the difference between series and parallel positions is not alot, just a bit more low end beef IMO. Make sure you dampen the veneer first to find any glue spots and remove them. There are plenty of spare parts, new pickguards and bits of stuff available online to customize just the way you like it. Take time and get a good idea in your head first as to what you want then go for it. Check the kit first, do a mock build to check alignments, etc, also gives you a template for your ideas. Enjoy! Check out my build in the photo gallery if it helps.

P.S. You could try a dual rail humbucker in the neck pickup. That would save time and money. Would recommend the Wilkinson bridge or a 6 saddle bridge for easier intonation adjustment. You will need to grain fill the ash body, for sure. Be careful with the veneer, very careful! Some other guys will have better ideas on what to do with the veneer.

Thanks for all of the ideas. I have dampened the whole thing down and have only found a couple very small blue spots but I am very worried about the veneer it came with some pretty deep spots in the grain and I doubt that I will be able to sand out without going thru veneer. I will probably use the guitarferish bridge with the six saddles and it can be strung both ways, not sure if I am going to attempt the string they body. I for sure want to try and leave off the pickguard to show all the quit. Will the dual rail humbucker fit in the front routing and can I use a trim ring to cover sides? Not sure . I tried to post pictures from my phone but it says size is too big and I need resize so I will have to do that from my computer and I never seem to use that thing anymore.

Thanks. ILR. You build was a huge inspiration for my overall idea. My pastor has wanted a blue to green fade like on the PRS and the quilt just explodes off the guitar and I want that but don't want to sand much on the top. Can you tell me exactly how you got the deep quilting with out sanding much. I think you said something about using scotch rite pad or nylon pad of some sort but did you use a black stain and then try and sand back before color?

I used a very diluted wash of black stain first, then a very light sand back with a nylon pad ( the type to use for washing your dishes ). I also used some very fine grade sandpaper where I thought it was a bit too dark in the middle of the burst. I practiced and practiced on scrap wood to get the colours and sanding skills right. Always better to do multiple light coats than one heavy coat. I used many coats of Tru-Oil to do the finish. It gave the finish a lot of depth and also gave a slight yellow tint.

The dual rail is the size of a normal single coil, so no problem in the front. There maybe some small routing/chopping to do but fine adjustments are always a possibility with kit builds.

I found the front routing too big to cover with a ring so I modified the existing pick guard to minimize the shape, but still cover the rout and mount the pickup. It also allows some artistic expression for you.

String through the body with be easy. Get the bridge in the right position for correct intonation, mark the string holes, drill through using a pilot hole first, then the ferrule hole from the back.

With the veneer problems, you could try to fill the damaged areas with some Timbermate, carefully sand back to flat, then stain.

A build is also an organic thing. As you build there will be problems or things wont happen like you want, so you need to be adaptable and search for the best solutions to make you happy with the build.

Once you get your ideas and practice, there comes a point when you have to got for it. Nervous time but well worth it in the end.

Just had a second look at the kit. A standard humbucker will fit straight in with a ring. May need a little shaving depending on which one you get.

Here are some pictures of the kit and some of the issues I mentioned earlier.

I don't see any pictures...

Yeah sorry having trouble get them to upload.. I have to get the picture in a smaller format and I am technically challenged but good with tools.

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Attachment 18487. another picture

Here are a few pics that I have been able to resize to fit but I can't get any of the close up picks to resize and keep enough clarity to see the issues. But nonetheless it does have a great quilt pattern which should pop good using ILR's method of staining.

Kick has a nice method of staining on his LP-1Q. He has done the colour first then the black. I use a spirit based stain for the black and a water based stain for the colour. Try a few different ways on scrap to see what suits best for the result you want. Can't wait to see it.

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Originally Posted by ILRGuitars

Kick has a nice method of staining on his LP-1Q. He has done the colour first then the black.

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The reason I done this was purely because of the thin veneer. Normally its done by doing some coats in black and sand that down. You can do this when you have a thick layer of quilt. You can even use a sandingmachine. But when the veneer is only 0.7 mm thick you can not sand the black of because you probably end up sanding through the veneer.

So I started with the color (red in my build) and then slowly added black to the red mix to get the dark in. And I used full black for the burst effect.

Very informative discussion. Thank you. :-)

I have wiped down the whole body 2 times with damp cloth and only found 2 very small blue spots. Should I use turps or naphtha to make spots show up better or is the water fine. I don't want to miss any.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Drummerdude

Attachment 18485Attachment 18486

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Now that is some EPIC quilting right there. This is going to look hot!

Water is fine mate. Just don't use too much or the veneer may become unstuck and cause more problems. Just mark them with a pencil and go from there.

Bit late catching up with this one but that is a very stunning quilted top.

Presume there is no binding and that will make life easier for you too. May need to be careful sanding the edges where veneer joins the body and if there are any bits of the veneer already missing at the edges some close up photos may help with suggestions on how to fix or offer a work around solution.

Cheers, Waz

Sorry have been so busy this week haven't got much bench time. There is binding on the front and back. I will try and post some pictures of close ups I just have to resize all of them to get them to post on here. And haven't taken the time. I have been waiting on a lot of the parts that I will be replacing. I did get a new bridge with the separate saddles for better intonation and new locking tuners made by wilkinson. Still deciding on pickups not sure on the neck pickup - humbucker or standard tele. I ordered some timber mate to fill voids in the quilt and to grain fill back and sides. I will be trying Keada dyes on this guitar. I am going to do complete mock build this week so I can get to sanding... and sanding ... and sanding some more..

Mate, that quilting is beautiful. any glue spots?

I found a few and work with some good off and and brush and think I got them. I have dampened the top lightly two times looking and don't see any that stand out I just hope when the stain starts flowing they stay gone.. I have seen others think they had them and the stain shows all.

I started the mock build and have some pics I will get on in the next day or so. I have been reading and reading all of the posts trying to avoid any pitfalls it seems like I am doing more reading than working.. but it is so nice to have all of you sharing your experiences for us newbies...
thanks

You can never do to much research but there comes a time when you just gotta take a leap of faith and get stuck in. Plenty of help is never too far away.

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Well I have been sick and haven't posted in a long while but here is the progress.. I completed setup and mock build to layout bridge and then sanded for what seemed like days and then my first attempt at staining using Keada water based dye. Very cheap like 16.00 usd from amazon and they worked pretty well. I have a couple small spots that I have to address and then on to clear coat. I think I am going to use nitro lacquer to really level out the finish and make it pop. I have spray equipment and some experience so I think I can pull it off. I am going to be having a friend do an inlay on headstock instead of decal... I think.. I have upgraded pickups from guitar fetish and upgraded bridge. I have some control knobs with inlays that are blu green abalone and a white pearloid pickguard coming with humbucker cut out. I did have to enlarge the bridge rout but could not quite get it deep as the original job. It is plenty deep for the pickup and not sure if I should take the time to flatten it out on bottom since it won't be seen. I cut the headstock out with a coping saw and sanded to final shape. Overall I am very pleased. Any thought?

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Here are a few more pics. Sorry about the lighting the flash made it look blotchy and no flash made it look dark. The only complaint about the kit is the veneer tops are just too thin and they are not really flat there were scrapes and dings in it that cannot be sanded smooth. I grain filled to help them but you can't sand it down very well without going thru top. I wish they would just use a thicker veneer and the kits would be fantastic for the money. I am going to spray nitro lacquer so I can build it up and sand back flat and hope that it hides some of the imperfections. The Ash back and sides finished great sanding back to 400 and grain filling. I will finish scraping binding tonight and then I am going to do another mock build and shielding of the cavities and check neck and setup. Then tear it down and get ready for lacquer.. any suggestions or things I may be missing would be great..

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Here are a few more pics from when I was checking scale length and marking out for bridge placement. I did realize that the factory is not very good at getting the veneer seam right down the middle of the body. I have seen several posts with that issue but I guess at this price you can't expect too much. I hope that it is not very noticeable after it is finished. Some I have seen have been pretty bad mine is just a little slanted..

That stain looks great!

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Ok I have competed the mock build to make sure everything is ok before I start clear coating. I have scraped bindings and had a couple slips of the hand and had to make a couple small repairs uggg. I need some help though it looks to me like the string spacing on the high string is a tad farther from edge of fret board than the low stringAttachment 19016. I measured and marked and marked and measured when I made the bridge placement marks and was sure it was right on. I looked at a stratacaster that I bought for my son and it looks to be same way. Should I worry and try to reposition bridge or what?? Other than that I am waiting for a white pearloid pickguard to hold my humbucker neck pickup before I drill for it. I thought about using a clear one to show all of the beautiful quilt but then I want to shield it and would be harder to hide unless I air brushed color around the neck pickup which I still may do but gonna see what the white pearloid looks like.. any thoughts?Attachment 19015

It looks like the string positioning is OK at the start of the fretboard so, assuming you have some play in the pocket, you may be able to get away with just tweaking the neck position slightly. Slacken the strings and then loosen the neck screws a bit, then tweak the headstock/neck slightly towards the treble side. That should help to even up the spacing and string position at the end of the fretboard. I'd see how that looks and then decide if you want/need to go to the next step.

Thanks for the info I think I may have a very small amount of wiggle room. I will try that and see how much adjustment it gives me.

Thanks John this was my first staining of a guitar. I started on the back and the. Had to take a deep breath before starting on the veneered top.. I am happy with how it turned out and can't wait to get the clear on. I see you are building a spalted top LP how is it turning out!

Jeremy

I used a pearloid pickguard on my Tele build but cut and shaped it down to show off the quilt. You could use a humbucker ring too.

Too bad that your veneer join is not straight :(

You're doing a nice job, love the green burst

Yeah, it's going to look great with the clear!

My spalted LP is going slowly lol. Will have to get in and do some more tomorrow