TLA-1 "Plus" (First Build, FINISHED)

[gavinturner]

Awesome head-stock - I love it! Really great job.

Cheers,
Gav.

[Gavin1393]

You can stain the fretboard. What darker colour were you aiming at?

[ihasmario]

Fretworn, it was just something I put together. I may end up shaping it into someones face, but doing it without adequate tools really buggered my dingy arm and I think I've got some mild forearm extensor RSI happening, but it could just be related to my other thing. So I'm taking a break on the mechanical work of the kit for a while. If I mod it, there's a lot less to take off now than there was since it is in shape already.

Gavin, I think a tele of this day in this type of body colour would have been a rosewood board, but due to the wood (and also the inlays), I think I am looking for more of an Amber or fender yellow colour. I haven't really decided, will need to take some snaps and then photoshop them to see which I prefer.

Thanks for the kind words guys.

[ihasmario]

Little bit of an update after stalling for a while. Craig from this forum (pablopepper) was kind enough to hook me up with some plastic pickup mounting rings. It only took a couple of messages and he made them for me. Although I offered to pay for his time, materials and postage Craig was kind enough to do this for me free of charge. We had briefly discussed colour - and I suggested I'd like white instead of the regular pickguard, but he was kind enough to provide me with three rings for each pickup (or six in total) with a couple of extra face colours/layers including black, white and silver. I really like the silver (pictured). Under some light the silver is a little off because it is not as reflective - I might put chrome it up myself with some trusty shiny tape.

They're not mounted yet as there is a ways to go (neck finishing, for example). I think I am going to swap the bridge to a 6 barrel top load hard tail. Not exactly the standard - but I don't have a drill press and don't want to mess up the ferrule spacing on the opposite side

Cheers pablopepper! :beer:



PS yeah I know the bridge is backwards haha

[gavinturner]

Nice one Pablo . Axe is looking very cool indeed! This one's going to rock.

cheers,
Gav.

[Brendan]

Great to see everyone pulling together to help one another out! Great job Pablo on those rings! It'd be interesting with the black surrounds on - think it'd tie it in with the rest of the kit there...

[pablopepper]

I'm just glad they fit! Hahaha.

Truth be told, I added the other colours as a subtle hint . Personally, I think white would have looked a bit out of place, but it ain't up to my tastes is it?

Anyway, loving this build so far. The colour and the choice of pickups really speak to me.

[wokkaboy]

pup surrounds look good Pablo, maybe black would suit the dark burst and dark grain of the ash, but then you would probably need to change to a black bridge and control cover.
Coming along nicely Ihasmario ! Azure lagoon on ash looks excellent.
I'd probably stain the fingerboard a darker yellow or amber colour, the light maple colour may be too much of a contrast

[Fretworn]

That guitar is looking really nice.

[ihasmario]

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from pablopepper on April 23, 2014, 09:19
Truth be told, I added the other colours as a subtle hint . Personally, I think white would have looked a bit out of place, but it ain't up to my tastes is it?

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on April 23, 2014, 09:43but then you would probably need to change to a black bridge and control cover.
Coming along nicely Ihasmario ! Azure lagoon on ash looks excellent.
I'd probably stain the fingerboard a darker yellow or amber colour, the light maple colour may be too much of a contrast

Staining the fingerboard and neck into an amber (I think) is the next thing on my to-do list. I just need to commit to it and buy the stain/finishing kit.

I am currently wrestling with what kind of bridge to get, if I wanted to keep it to a true Tele Plus I'd be getting a strat-style through body hardtail, but I am skeptical of my ability to drill through the body at this stage. I figure it's probably not essential to stick to the Tele Plus direction once the main things are in (i.e. the pickups), and I can probably get away with a better (heavier) bridge that is top load ( 8O ). But this would technically be my first electric guitar, so I don't actually know a lot about it (hence the backwards bridge in the picture).

I've considered making it a black bridge too, but then I would have to spend some $ to get a black control plate, which would increase the difficulty of the build for me a bit. Bridges are pricier than I expected if I want non-zinc bridge, to the point where I figure I might as well get a "high end" bridge and be done with it (like a Schaller 3D6)

Confusing times and decisions ahead.