First Build - TL-1A

[ILRGuitars]

Yep. Soldering stand is essential if you don't have an apprentice close by.

[Simon Barden]

A lot of cheap plastic soldering stands are in the light side, so topple easily. OK for small stuff but sometimes you need to hold something bigger, or something with a long cable attached. It may not look pretty, but epoxying some weights to the base can work wonders.

[MrEddy]

Ok. So now that I have my multimeter I can check a few things. Pickup appears to be reading ok so that doesn't look like the problem. Which is good.

Getting some slightly odd results from the switch which is less good and that's one of my suspects. I'll have to take some time a bit later today to test that more thoroughly. Everything down from the switch must presumably (??) be ok since the other two positions seem to be working well.

[MrEddy]

I don't suppose I can just temporarily reconnect the neck pickup hot wire to the other end of the switch to test if it produces sound...

[MrEddy]

Pretty certain it's a faulty switch. I connected the neck pickup hot wire to the switch output with a temporary jumper and immediately got good sound. So I guess I'll replace it. Takes care of all my soldering practice I suppose.

On the plus side I now have a pretty good idea of how a three way toggle switch works.

[blinddrew]

Briefly jumping back to the helping hands bit, I've got one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fancii-Ligh...s%2C171&sr=8-8
And the magnifying lens is actually good enough to be useful.

[MrEddy]

Success! So with a lot of additional electrical detective work I managed to figure it out. I somehow managed to solder the output from the switch in a such a way that it wasn't properly connecting. Re-soldering has fixed it. I now have all electrical stuff properly working.

Of course, in the process I managed to lose the bloody screws that attach the plate over all the electrical stuff. Genius.

So only a few things to do now. String trees and the strap buttons. And of course sort out height and intonation.

[MrEddy]

Also, the helping hands thing with the magnifier and light has already turned out to be very helpful.

[McCreed]

Good result!
I'm sure the control plate screws will turn up. Contrary to popular belief, and what we may experience at the time, they don't just evaporate into the ether!

If you truly can't find them, replacements are easy to find online. However, you won't find them at the Big Green Shed.

[Simon Barden]

If you didn’t specifically put them aside in a ‘safe’ place, check they haven’t stuck to the pickup magnets.