GlennGPs TL-1 #1

[MikeL]

Quote from GlennGP on February 21, 2013, 06:10
Thanks all for input, very helpful. I was going with the approach that "ugly but effective" will do, i.e. if the alignment is all correct and it's the pickguard that's got the cut-out in the wrong position, I can live with that. Then I started seeing pics of other Teles going up, with nice spacing around the bridge, and I thought, dammit, I want that, and it's not too late!

So, I'm gonna measure the f#@* out of this thing and work out what's wrong (including the possibility that it's me!), and damn-well get it right.

If it was me, i'd set up the neck, bridge and pots as they should be set up with that body but without the pickguard fitted. If at that point the pickguard still doesn't fit, i'd buy a blank sheet of pickguard material ( it's not expensive ) and i'd make a new pickguard that fits the build. Or custom cut the existing guard... Who says it can't have a 5mm all space around the bridge etc... Make it work well, then make it pretty

Ebay Pickguard material link http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_t...at=0&_from=R40

[GlennGP]

Quote from MikeL on February 21, 2013, 08:48
If it was me, i'd set up the neck, bridge and pots as they should be set up with that body but without the pickguard fitted. ...

Mike, thanks for thinking outside the square. My brain was teetering on the edge of that realisation and you've just raced on by. Brilliant. That's what I'll do.

[GlennGP]

What am I thinking?! I intended to swap the white pickguard for the black one that comes with the next Tele kit I'm getting ... so, if any adjustment is required to the white pickguard to make it fit this body, I shouldn't bother at all. What I should do is just finish this one without the pickguard and worry about fitting the black one when it arrives.

Sheesh. Nothing like thinking out loud to reach the right conclusion ...

[GlennGP]

Tonight I put the neck back on and verified its alignment - that checked out. Next I positioned the bridge, and that turned out to be slightly too close to the neck, and twisted slightly anti-clockwise. Once I'd established where the bridge should be, I dropped the pickguard on to see what the problem might be.



As predicted above, it's the pickguard. When I first did the test-fit I used the pickguard to guide where to place the bridge. I had to exert a bit of force to make that work (see earlier pictures). It's now pretty obvious that the position of the neck cut-out on the pickguard is just wrong.

Not to worry, I'm not going to use that one anyway. Good to have it all sorted out, and be able to proceed with the staining and finishing with confidence - the Wudtone arrived today!

[GlennGP]

First coat of Wudtone Goldenrod. The wood actually wanted to take a fair bit of this stuff - I reckon about a third of the quantity of base coat supplied is in this coat.

[dingobass]

Quote from GlennGP on February 26, 2013, 15:33
First coat of Wudtone Goldenrod. The wood actually wanted to take a fair bit of this stuff - I reckon about a third of the quantity of base coat supplied is in this coat.

Hot Damn that looks down right sexy Glenn!

Yep, the first coat is always the thirsty one.

You will probably only need another two coats and baby, she will be stunning!

[GlennGP]

Quote from dingobass on February 26, 2013, 18:11
Hot Damn that looks down right sexy Glenn!

Yep, the first coat is always the thirsty one.

You will probably only need another two coats and baby, she will be stunning!

Thanks mate, I'm pretty happy with how it's coming along. Might get going on the neck in the next few days, too.

[GlennGP]

I've been a busy boy - here's the TL-1 body after Wudtone Goldenrod coat #3:

[GlennGP]

I've also been auditioning pickguards - here's a montage I prepared earlier:

[keloooe]

Quote from GlennGP on March 2, 2013, 12:46
I've been a busy boy - here's the TL-1 body after Wudtone Goldenrod coat #3:

I think we can agree that looks AMAZING!!! You might want to stop there, maybe DB will agree???