First time builder TL-1TB

Hi everyone

Just bought a TL-1TB kit recently because of a 15% discount on eBay :D
I put together guitars before from finished parts, but never done any sort of finishing so this will be a good learning experience for me. Expecting to make mistakes, in fact the more the better :D
I've also bought some amber and brown wood stain to try and get a Honey burst finish, along with Tru Oil to finish

Few things I have noticed so far:
- The humbuckers dont fit the holes. Looks like a bit of the wood will need to come out before they fit.
- A bit of the binding in the neck pocket hangs over the edge. I'll need to trim a little off.

Test fit
Attachment 20029


Next step I guess will be using a damp rag to check for any glue spots and imperfections, and sand away.
Then I guess some kind of grain filler, then more sanding?

I did this kit. You are going to love it!

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

Looks like a nice kit

Just wondering how everyone is sanding the inside of the F-holes?

I have pretty big hands so its pretty hard to get in there! theres a fair amount of splinters and fluff on those edges

Hi Sockpuppet, never done a build with F holes but reckon wrapping sandpaper around a pencil or piece of dowel may help in getting into those smallish places.

Cheers, Waz

Yeah, wrap sandpaper around a pencil or even a fork handle.... anything thin and relatively sturdy.

As for pups not fitting, are the screws too long or the cavities just not wide enough?

for those small f holes I just roll up a strip of wet and dry paper into a tube, you don't need to push hard so its self supporting and flexes to fit the curve.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rev

Yeah, wrap sandpaper around a pencil or even a fork handle.... anything thin and relatively sturdy.

As for pups not fitting, are the screws too long or the cavities just not wide enough?

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The cavities are not wide enough unfortunately

Decided to go for a headstock similar to the new Parker design, but with a longer shelf thingy (Sorry not sure how to describe it)
Attachment 20047

Using my trusty Dremel trio to start cutting
Attachment 20048

Alright first part done! Now just need to figure out how to make this shelf
Attachment 20049

Onto the body

Used walnut grain filler on the surface but regretted it and tried to sand back as much as possible
Attachment 20050

First yellow stain applied
Attachment 20051

And now the brown on the outer layer.
Attachment 20052

At this point, I had been diluting the stain with a bit of water but decided to try the stain without being mixed with water
Attachment 20053

Much darker :D

that an original shape Sock ! round the edge near the high E tuner hole and file the machine marks and sand and it will look tops !

keep working the burst

That headstock is rather cool[emoji106]



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I was going to ask what stain you are using...it looks a little weak?

Hi everyone

Managed to get quite a lot done this week.

Masking the binding and the front to get the back stained
Attachment 20211

Here it is after the stain
Attachment 20213

I have decided to go with Tru oil and matte finish
Here it is after the initial coat
Attachment 20214
Attachment 20215

After the initial coat, I applied another one, sanded with 400, applied 2 more, sanded with 800, applied 2 more then sanded with 1200.

Attachment 20216
Attachment 20217Attachment 20218

Getting very shiny!

After the 1200, I applied another 2 coats, then used 0000 steel wool to get rid of the shiny spots.
Here it is with the studs half way installed, and the matte look
Attachment 20219
Attachment 20220
Using a hammer and cloth between it and the guitar to push the studs in the rest of the way
Attachment 20221
Attachment 20222
Attachment 20223

More work on the neck, along with an amber stain
Attachment 20224
Attachment 20225
Attachment 20226

Ended up having the front edge rounded off.

Here's the body to give me an idea of what it will look like
Attachment 20227
Attachment 20228

Not using the pickups that came with the kit.

The neck has a Railhammer Gnarly 90, and the bridge is from my Hagstrom Viking.

Great job :)

Very nice gentle burst on the body...

That is looking really nice

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Looking good.. I like the natural finish and the fade.. looking good..

It's a very different look and I really think it works very well, nice job Sockpuppet!😎👍🏾

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sockpuppet

The neck has a Railhammer Gnarly 90, and the bridge is from my Hagstrom Viking.

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That's an interesting combination of pickups. I always assume that Railhammers are high powered pickups, but I'm assuming the Hagstrom is lower powered.

Looking really good! I am interested in this kit as a possible second build, but not sure about the Bigsby vs the sprung bridge of the 1TP. Will be interested in your thoughts re how it plays when you're done? Anyone out there with an example of the P?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

That's an interesting combination of pickups. I always assume that Railhammers are high powered pickups, but I'm assuming the Hagstrom is lower powered.

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Thought I would measure them both on my multimeter
The Railhammer is giving me a reading of 7.9k, the Hagstrom hj50 is reading 12.9k

They came out of my hagstrom viking when I replaced them with 2 Railhammer hyper vintage humbuckers. They weren't bad sounding, especially played clean or with mid drive but the Railhammers were a huge improvement in every aspect.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jed51

Looking really good! I am interested in this kit as a possible second build, but not sure about the Bigsby vs the sprung bridge of the 1TP. Will be interested in your thoughts re how it plays when you're done? Anyone out there with an example of the P?

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I've never played a guitar with a Jaguar type bridge before, so I can't comment. But I love the look of hollowbodies with a Bigsby installed.

I have to say I was impressed with the quality of the Bigsby that comes with the kit, I thought I may have to buy a genuine one or similar but I the only fault I can pick is the arm sits a tad high for me. Haven't tried a jag style, been tempted by that 1tp kit too.
Yours should sound and play great Sock.

i'm liking that stain job there sir its a no nonsense stain, i'm going to be following this build i almost got this kit, love teles with Bigbys and humbuckers

Hi everyone

It's been a very slow couple of weeks. Haven't had a lot of time to do much

Cavities painted with shielding paint
Attachment 20584

Cleaned up the the edges with some steel wool
Attachment 20585
Attachment 20586

Started doing the fret work
Fretboard taped and marked with black marker
Attachment 20587

Got the neck as straight as I could

Attachment 20589
Attachment 20590

Frets levelled
Attachment 20591

Marker removed from frets
Attachment 20592

And finally frets crowned and polished
Attachment 20593
Attachment 20594

At this point, I was not too happy with the how soft the tru oil is, as the slightest bump seems to be putting dents into everything, so weighing my options, it looks like Wipe-on Poly might be the way to go for me.
I'll have some more photos up once I've started the wipe-on poly process

I will be starting with the neck to see how that goes first. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I am all ears.
The process I will be taking is :
- Scrub neck with steel wool
- 3 coats of Wipe on Poly satin finish
- Light sand after the first 3 coats, then another 2-3 coats with sanding between.


The spring for the Bigsby was also a tad too high. So out come the bolt cutters to bring it down, then used a file to shape the edge so that I wouldn't accidently stab myself.
Attachment 20595

I've also filed down top of the spring where it was cut so it wouldn't sit too unbalanced.

good progress SP, looking great

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sockpuppet

And finally frets crowned and polished
Attachment 20593
Attachment 20594

At this point, I was not too happy with the how soft the tru oil is, as the slightest bump seems to be putting dents into everything, so weighing my options, it looks like Wipe-on Poly might be the way to go for me.
I'll have some more photos up once I've started the wipe-on poly process

I will be starting with the neck to see how that goes first. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I am all ears.
The process I will be taking is :
- Scrub neck with steel wool
- 3 coats of Wipe on Poly satin finish
- Light sand after the first 3 coats, then another 2-3 coats with sanding between.


The spring for the Bigsby was also a tad too high. So out come the bolt cutters to bring it down, then used a file to shape the edge so that I wouldn't accidently stab myself.
Attachment 20595

I've also filed down top of the spring where it was cut so it wouldn't sit too unbalanced.

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Love the colour, it brings out the grain. Yes im the same as you, you really got to know what your doing with tru oil and be very patient, im sorry to say thats not me! Wipe on poly, 2 coats a day, finished in a week, very foregiving, but ive got to hand it to the tru oil and dingotone boys, they are a legend....

mmm... the finish reminds me of coffee.

I'm loving my TL-1TB, it's really grown on me, just an awesome kit.

Man! Great looking build! I'm building the same model (my first build) as we speak...going with a metallic flake darker gray.
Not as far along as you are, but can finally see the progress starting on my end.

Just in case you aren't aware, the shielding paint needs to be connected to a ground in order to work properly. For the control cavity, you could run a bit over the ends on the top so that it touches the grounded control plate. For the pickup cavities, you are going to need to run some ground wires in - probably best connected to the paint via small screws that the wire can be wrapped around then screwed down - or else use a small washer under each screw.

You may have run, or tried to run paint down the connecting holes to join up the cavities - in which case check with a multimeter that you've got continuity. In theory, anything under 1 meg ohm should work, though the lower the resistance the better.