First Build - TLA-1

Hey folks,

Picked up my first kit yesterday. One of the perks of living in Perth is that it was only a 4 hour turn around from ordering to having it in my hands, which is phenomenal! Starting off (hopefully) simple with a TLA-1 kit.

My original motivation to build a kit was to learn more about the nitty gritty of guitars - set-up & wiring etc, without doing anything disastrous to my current guitars (Maton MS2000 electric and Tanglewood acoustic). Since then, I've spent way too much time reading through the posts here and watching luthier videos on Youtube, and am really looking forward to putting this together.

I have upgraded the pickups to Tonerider Hot Classics, and gone with black hardware. I was planning to make a couple of other mods including elbow and belly carves, contouring the neck heel and replacing the neck plate with bushings, mainly all for comfort. Now I just need the guts to actually do it.

I did a dry fit this morning. The scale lengths seems good with saddles in a neutral position. The tuner holes are in a straight line. The neck fits the body well. The joint is almost tight enough to lift the body on its own. A couple of issues however:
1. The tonerider bridge pup doesn't fit the bridge cavity
2. The bridge cavity needs to be brought forward I think for the bridge to fit snug against the pickguard (will depend on the scale length though obviously but it appears that it should still be OK)
3. The holes for the neck screws do not align with the neck plate, and are slightly skewed relative to the centreline. Hopefully changing to bushings will not be as noticeable.

So it seems i will need to do a bit of work around the bridge pickup cavity, which I think has been a common problem with the TL kits judging other posts. I will do a glue check tomorrow, but there doesn't seem be any other issues with the joints.

A couple of questions for anyone that may have done this:
1. How much material would be safe to take off the neck heel? I will be staining the guitar and I don't want any glue lines visible, so I can't fill the existing hole and glue it. Therefore i was thinking I should cut out the entire top left screw hole. I would also like to carve the neck itself so that it matches a bit better and is a bit more comfortable.
2. What is the best way of finding the body centreline? Fit the neck and run a line from the centreline of the neck?

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Anyway, sorry for the wall of text. Now I guess I just have to start!

Hiya NTS, congrats on starting your build and good to see you are thinking really clearly about what you want to do.

1. What you’ve drawn for the neck heel should be fine, it’s a similar thing done by many to strats and Teles. You can reshape the neck transition to suit but be careful about thinning it too much.
2. A method I have used is to measure across the waist, measure across the widest points of the front bout and the rear bout and divide each individual measurement by 2. Plot each of these on their respective line, and then run a straight edge between these three points, theoretically this should be the Center line of the body.
A method to find the centerline of the body relative to the neck; clamp the neck securely. Run a straight edge along either side of the neck and mark along the straight edge, do the same as the previous method and pick a couple of points (bridge and at the end of the neck pocket, then measure between the marked lines and divide that measurement by two to give you a theoretical Center relative to the neck. This may also show up any discrepancies between neck line and the routing of your pup positions etc.

Hope this helps! Enjoy your build and if you strike any issue just throw up some more pics and your questions.

There are some neck pocket reshaping, hole plugging and ferrule mod images in a couple of my threads, maybe they’ll give you some ideas: ST-1 ferrules and TL-1TB pocket reshaping etc

Good to see another local member starting their first build. I like the sound of your vision for your instrument. You’ll certainly learn a lot as you go, before I started I had only ever adjusted a volume knob, tone knob and the tuning (if you were lucky). Enjoy the trials and the triumphs of the journey. Lot of people out there with advice.

Hi NTS and welcome to the forum.

"The bridge cavity needs to be brought forward I think for the bridge to fit snug against the pickguard (will depend on the scale length though obviously but it appears that it should still be OK)"

Be careful here as whilst you may want it to look neat and tidy scale length is far more important. Yes, the bridge PUP cavity is too small for a Tonerider upgrade and suggest gently sanding it out and towards the neck to help provide a bit more room to move the bridge plate to achieve correct scale length. About 5 mm forwards seems to be the common amount required. Be careful on side to side as there isn't much bridge plate overhang to cover the cavity.

Cheers, Waz

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

Good to see another local member starting their first build. I like the sound of your vision for your instrument. You’ll certainly learn a lot as you go, before I started I had only ever adjusted a volume knob, tone knob and the tuning (if you were lucky). Enjoy the trials and the triumphs of the journey. Lot of people out there with advice.

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What is this "Tuning" you speak of? ;P

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

What is this "Tuning" you speak of? ;P

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Lol, I found this definition, I almost expected to see a photo of me accompanying it.
“tuning
ˈtjuːnɪŋ/Submit
noun
the action or process of tuning something.
"an electronic instrument requires no tuning"
the extent to which a musical instrument, performance, or ensemble is in tune.
"at times the tuning is uncertain, and the solos often lack conviction".
Sorry, NTS, you can have your build diary back now.

Thanks for the advice guys. I have made decent progress since last weekend. Carved the belly and elbow cuts, extended the pickup cavity, shaped the headstock and sanded the body to 240. It's been really enjoyable so far. After the first cut with the rasp its been very relaxing!

Started with the stain today. I was originally going to do a solid black stain on the back and sides, with a blue stain on the front. However, I am going to try a burst on the back with the stains, and if that works will do the same on the front. If it doesn't come out how I want can always go back to the original plan.

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what is the solvent in your stains? I recommend practicing a burst on some sanded scrap wood before you attempt it on your guitar. Even then the result may be different due to the differing woods, but a worthwhile exercise. Also consider how application of clear coats will effect the stain. Wazkelly suggested a paint on method for the first clear coats for me which turned out ok. I’d suggest taking a look at my ES5V first build diary pages 4 onwards. Good luck!

With no defined edges it may be hard to prevent stain bleed if trying to do the front different to sides and back.

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Originally Posted by DarkMark

what is the solvent in your stains? I recommend practicing a burst on some sanded scrap wood before you attempt it on your guitar. Even then the result may be different due to the differing woods, but a worthwhile exercise. Also consider how application of clear coats will effect the stain. Wazkelly suggested a paint on method for the first clear coats for me which turned out ok. I’d suggest taking a look at my ES5V first build diary pages 4 onwards. Good luck!

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Thanks for that, I will check it out. I am using the crimson water based stains and finishing oil so they should be compatible with each other. I did a trial during the week on a piece of scrap pine with the stain and oil and it didn’t bleed at all really. I will make sure to give the stain a week or so before oiling.


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So today, I stained the back and side black, and sanded back to pop the grain. Then all over with blue, and black around the edges again. Once that dried, tried feathered the transition a bit more with sanding and more blue.
Reasonably happy with how it is looking given this is my first time using stains. There are a couple of areas to tidy up, and there’s a few patches near the edges to go over with black again. Hopefully during the week I get a chance to finish the back and can repeat the treatment on the front.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6cd32638e6.jpg


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Did a bit of touch up tonight and I think am happy with how’s it’s turning out. This photo was taken about 20 minutes after the stain so hopefully it’s representative of what it will look like after oiling

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That blue is a very nice colour, good job!

That’s looking much better. I was worried about how the different pieces of wood were going take up the stain in comparison to each other in your first photo.

That’s come up brilliantly, well done!

Hopefully their top coat is clear, some have a yellowish tiny which can make blues look a bit green.

Nice work on the burst, they are quite satisfying when you get it right

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

Hopefully their top coat is clear, some have a yellowish tiny which can make blues look a bit green.

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Don't use Tru Oil unless you want a shade of Peacock greenish blue.

I speak from experience.....build # 3 to be specific.

Cheers, Waz

I see you’ve not placed your fourth screw hole yet, are you still contemplating positioning?

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Originally Posted by wazkelly

Don't use Tru Oil unless you want a shade of Peacock greenish blue.

I speak from experience.....build # 3 to be specific.

Cheers, Waz

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I just looked at that Waz. I actually really liked how that turned out, so it wouldn't worry me at all if the finishing oil did the same thing. Will find out this weekend probably.

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Originally Posted by FrankenWashie

I see you’ve not placed your fourth screw hole yet, are you still contemplating positioning?

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Well spotted. I've ordered some bushings which arrived today. I just wanted to make sure i wasn't drilling too close to the edge before I received them.

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Originally Posted by NTS

Well spotted. I've ordered some bushings which arrived today. I just wanted to make sure i wasn't drilling too close to the edge before I received them.

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Ah! There we go, are you eschewing the plate altogether? Should look really cool with the rounded off corner.

Yep, I was already thinking about it before I did the neck heel anyway.


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Nice, I like seeing these non traditional little touches on teles and strats. I’m assuming black bushes to go with the burst?

About to go away for a couple of weeks, so thought I would post an update. I drilled the recess for the bushings. Unfortunately the big green shed didn’t have a forstner bit small enough so there is a 1mm gap around the bushings. Still deciding if I should do something about this. I am debating about trying to inject some epoxy into the gap with the bushings in place. The other, safer option would be to sand the edges back and transition it a bit. Open to suggestions though if anyone has any. The recessed hole for one of the screws very close to the edge of the neck heel, so they are only recessed a couple of mm. Should still be more comfortable than the original neck heel though.

I have applied 3 coats of oil to the body and neck. Will probably do one more, and then wax it with renaissance wax. I am not one for high gloss finishes so hopefully it ends up a nice matte.

I have spent a couple of days making a small pickguard/neck pickup mount. I had seen Simon suggested somewhere to use a marquetry pack and make a ply with it. I was always planning on keeping it small, but a bubble in one of the layers, forced my hand with the size. I am happy with how it turned out though. The photos were taken just after some sanding, but after wiping it over with turps it looks really good.

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Well she is all done and playing (bar some filing of the nut). Really happy with how it sounds. A few annoying imperfections in the finish, but for the most part I’m pleasantly surprised with good it turned out.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...a2ff1af2f6.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6457c10909.jpg
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Definitely been bitten by the guitar bug, so already thinking about the next one.


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That’s a Kenny Wayne sheppard special!

Is the neck leaning slightly to the treble side?

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Originally Posted by Fretworn

Is the neck leaning slightly to the treble side?

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Nah, I think that’s just an optical illusion in the photo. Or at least I hope so!


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Wow that looks wonderful!

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

Wow that looks wonderful!

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i concur, i like that blue