G'day from Melbourne

[Simon Barden]

Hi Chris. Hope you have a twangtastic build.

[Andy40]

Hi Chris,

the TLA-1R is a great build, you'll have an awesome time and your daughter will have a great time playing it too.

Here's my TLA-1R, just to get you excited, I took the pic today

[christodav]

Thanks Andy, I actually followed that build quite closely. It's a nice work of art in my opinion.

Here's where I'm at after half a day.



I bolted up the neck after shaping the headstock and continuing on with the 'mock-up' build.

I am still tossing up whether to do a tummy cut or not. I am also thinking of a better bridge and I will get the upgraded tuning pegs.
Once I have the Dingotone, I'll finish the neck off first I think?

Oh and that bridge cavity is too far back isn't it? I am not going to touch it until I decide if I am going to upgrade it.

Chris

[Simon Barden]

It's standard to have a 2-3mm gap between the bridge plate and the scratchplate. The control plate fits tightly into its semi-circular cut-out and the scratchplate butts right up to the beck as you've got it. So your general arrangement is fine.

Most other Tele bridges are string through-body types, meaning that you'll need to drill through the body and fit ferrules at the back. I've done it once and it worked fine for me, but you'll need to use a pillar drill or drill stand with a big enough throat depth to get the drill into the centre of the body. Trying to drill through freehand is asking for trouble as you won't keep the drill at 90° to the body and the exit holes will be everywhere.

If you do drill the holes, start with a small diameter drill and only drill right through with the two outside holes, the other four only drill 75% of the way through. Then turn the body over, and use the holes in the bridge to align with the two outer holes and mark the position of the four inner holes, then drill through to about 50% of the body depth. Hopefully the holes from the top and bottom will align, but you will have a much neater line of holes in the back than if you drilled them all the way from the front. You can then use a larger drill to widen the rear holes for the string ferrules. You may need to run through with a slightly bigger drill once the pilot holes are finished to get a hole that's big enough for the strings to run through smoothly.

The holes in the top will be hidden by the bridge, so if they are slightly out, it doesn't matter too much. But the ferrules at the rear are very visible and you want them looking as neat and tidy as possible.