robs TL-1A (Lyn #5)

[robin]

Hi Guys,

Well, work is under way on my next build, a TL-1A, she has been christened Lyn #5. I chose the Alder body just for something a bit different from the usual Basswood bodies. I was going to leave the body natural, but as there is not a great deal of figure in the wood I thought that I might use some Maple stain on her. I’ll leave the natural look for an Ash bodied TL that I intend to build later.

I am upgrading this one with Tonerider pups, individual saddle bridge and the 4 sound wiring mod. If you are a hard core traditionalist Tele lover you can stop reading now, because I have given her a tummy cut and forearm cut. I have tried to keep the character of the Tele by keeping the “hard” edges of the Tele, and not making them soft and flowing like a Strat. I know its sacrilege to do that to a “slab”, but my TL-1TH (Tele Thinline) is nowhere near as comfy to play as my ST’s. Probably something to do with the fact that I do most of my playing in a lounge chair which promotes incredibly bad playing posture.

When you get to my age comfort is everything. Tradition be damned.

So far I have just finished the shaping and the sanding and done a pre-fit. I know I am going to have problems with the neck pickup. It appears that once the neck is in place I cannot adjust the pickup height because the fretboard overhang prevents the Pickguard from being removed thus denying access to the pickup height adjustment screws. I am avoiding putting the adjusting screws through the Pickguard as I really like the clean look of the lipstick pickup just poking through the guard. Plus, I believe that mounting the pickup directly into the body of the guitar helps give the Tele its signature sound. Time will tell if I stick to my plans, or wimp out and mount the pickup to the Pickguard.

I’ve included a couple of photos showing the progress to date and the instruments of torture with which I inflicted great harm and discomfort to the body.

Cheers
Rob

[dingobass]

Robin, i love your work!
Great to see you do what you want, and your tradition be damned attitude
Cant wait to see what you do with this build.

[WeirdBits]

Looks good to me, Robin, and if a guitar is not comfortable it most likely won't get played.

You may be surprised by the grain on the Alder, I know I was with mine once I got to the finer grades of sandpaper and again with the first coats of Wudtone. As far as the neck pickup adjustment goes, an option used on some Tele's is to have two access holes through the pickguard so you can still have a body mounted pickup and then use a thin screwdriver to adjust the screws through the holes in the pickguard. Also, remember that the body mounted neck pickup typically has springs beneath it on the screws, so you should still be able to push the pickup down far enough to allow you to slide out the pickguard even with the fretboard overhang. The screws often just control how far the springs can push the pickup up, rather than the screw thread gripping the pickup itself (if you get what I mean).

[DanMade]

Nice work on those body carves, they look pretty smooth.

What sort of file is that big orange one for the heavy work?

[Tim]

Looks great looking forward to the progress on this one

[robin]

Thanks Guys,

As always, I appreciate the encouragement.

@ Phil
Thanks mate. When you are old and grumpy you do what you want.

@ Scott
I'm down to the fine paper now and it is still not inspiring me too much. I had hoped for an Ash-esque type of figure, but I guess that will have to wait for the real thing.

Thanks for the tip about letting the pickup ride on the springs and not the thread of the screws. Of course I had not thought of that (D'oh). I love these Forums. Thanks mate.

@ Dan
Thanks Dan. Its just an elcheapo rasp from Bunnings. I bought it especially for my guitar work so it gets a pampered life. Just destroys Basswood and Alder. Then I clean up the gouges with the (elcheapo) half round metal file, then on to the papers.

@ Tim
Thaks mate. I don't think this one will be anything special, except to me of course.

Cheers Guys
rob

[Brendan]

Robin - loving what you're doing - how does the alder compare with Basswood? Any better / worse?

[stan]

carved body Tele, nice touch - said by someone with a Fender one

[wokkaboy]

nice work Robin, you could shape these tummy and forearm cuts in a fraction of the time with a belt sander but well done for doing it by hand with a rasp ! Great to have a blend of tele and strat shapes, this axe should come up a treat and sure it's a nice change to work with alder instead of basswood.
Look forward to seeing this axe progress, no doubt over the maple stain will be many coats of tru-oil ?

[robin]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from Brendan on September 7, 2013, 22:18
Robin - loving what you're doing - how does the alder compare with Basswood? Any better / worse?

Thanks Brendan,
Alder is a bit more dense and a little heavier than Basswood, and desn't have that "fluffy" feel. Grain wise it quite tight but doesn't have a great deal of figure in it. Having said that, one of the four piece that make up the body is rather attractive, but the other three not so much, and the pieces do vary a little bit in colour. It feels pretty much the same as basswood to work with.

I'm hoping that the stain might even out the colours a little and enhance the grain.

I might be wrong, but I think that the denser wood might make for a brighter tone, which should suit the Tele character.

Don't forget mate, 6 months ago I knew nothing about wood, so I could be totally wrong on ALL counts. Lol.


Cheers
rob