TL first build,

[Alm_63]

The stings are on, the neck has been adjusted.
It makes noise on most of the switch settings, yes the soldering iron is coming out again.
But it plays well and sounds good , so far ;-)
Just got to tidy up now.

[sulistbu]

No the tuners where ok, but you need to change the ferrals

did you mean the bushing/sleeve that goes on the front side of the tuners?

[sulistbu]

Hi Bruce Thanks for the info. Did you prime it first or apply the paint directly on the body?

Budi

[Alm_63]

The Gotohs are a little smaller than the kit issued machine heads, so I changed the bushes at the front.

[Alm_63]

Budi,
I got a bit anal with the preparation for the paint job.
I sanded, and then sealed it with grain sealer, then I wiped it down with metho and discovered that I needed to raise the grain.
So it was back to sanding again , then a re-prime and seal. Then sand.
I put a white under coat on before I went to colour, the White is really good at showing you when you have sanded to much ;-)
The colour is an automotive deluxe spray can paint, champagne glow.
I then started to put the clear on, BZZT wrong type of clear it gave my colour coat a bad case of solvent burn so make sure you get a compatible clear.
Don't do what I did and use whipe on poly over the auto paint.
Then I went onto a sand and polish.
In saying all that I'm not happy with the quality of the finish, once I have dressed the frets and I'm happy with the playability I will strip the bugger back to the filler and use the lessons I've learnt to get it right!

Other traps for young players
1 get ALL your hot rod parts before you start any assembly.
2 read and or watch all the how to videos, the guys videos are really good and the advice is invalable.
3 the tl1's bridge pickup route on mine was in the wrong spot, so measure the scale length and dummy in the bridge really early in the build!!
4 do all your, cuts, routes and holes before you start any finishing, obvious hey (but not to me )

Bruce

[wokkaboy]

good advice Bruce, everyone has made mistakes and hopefully you learn from them !

[Alm_63]

Ps the Mike Brearly pickups are the ducks nuts, their the poodle's plumbs.
The build quality is superb , the sound is brilliant.
The Ausi built and great value for money!

[Alm_63]

I have just finished levelling the frets(to a point).
It has made a big difference, I've only one errant feet now the 13nth on the low E, I can live with that.
The next step is to pull it apart and start again LOL.
I'm going to strip the paint , fill a couple of dings and refinish it .
I will try and learn from my previous stuff ups.
After that, I have bought a couple more go-faster bits.
A no loader fender 250k tone pot and a tusc nut.

[wokkaboy]

good work Bruce, sounds like you have alot of work ahead !

[stan]

lots of work going on, time for update pics!