I bought the cheapest kit I could find on eBay - let's see if this was a good idea

[PJSprog]

It looks good, TCG. Your perserverence has paid off, I think.

[Petebullgtr]

Hi TCG. Looks fantastic, you wouldn't believe it was a cheap kit from the photos.

Re. neck thickness. I just did exactly what you are contemplating with a TL kit I have just finished. Guitar all put together, neck finished with tru oil and I just couldn't take to the baseball bat so I took the neck off and went at it with a rasp and sand paper. Very carefully and nervously!!! I first took off a flat area across the back down to 20mm at the first fret and 21.5mm at the twelfth fret. I then rounded the profile using two cardboard cutout profiles I made from another guitar with a profile I liked. Lots of sanding with various grades later it felt to be the right shape. I re-finished with tru oil which blended in perfectly with the existing finish.

The neck feels and plays much better now. I have had no problem with the truss rod (that was an area of concern) but only have 9's on.

[McCreed]

That last post from Simon about filing the nut is spot on. (and with illustrations as well!!! )
The "sloping nut" method is the way I do it too.

I think anybody new to nut work (or even experienced ones) should copy & paste that one in the their reference materials folder! (everyone has one of those, right?)

[jugglindan]

That last post from Simon about filing the nut is spot on. (and with illustrations as well!!! )
The "sloping nut" method is the way I do it too.

I think anybody new to nut work (or even experienced ones) should copy & paste that one in the their reference materials folder! (everyone has one of those, right?)

+1

I use OneNote and just cut and paste from here. It makes it much easier to find critical information compared to searching the forum. Also makes it easy to keep things in categories like "intonation", "bridge placement", "nut", "sanding".

Definitely recommended.

[Fretworn]

On the subject of neck sizes/profiles, kits will usually come with a fair bit of wood to the neck so you can sand them down to the size and profile you like. You don’t have to be aggressive and attack the neck with a rasp, I find spending some time with some 80 grit sandpaper is usually enough to sand the neck how I like it. I suppose if you like a V profile you may need to use some more serious tools, but to get a comfortable C profile doesn’t generally take too much work.

[McCreed]

Like Fretworn, I'm pretty sure P80 is where I started for initial material removal.

Interestingly, and this may well be the power of suggestion at work here, but yesterday I picked up my TLA-1 after reading this thread, which I built in 2018 and have played regularly and... holy crap!!! - the neck felt huge!!!

My first thought was "Oh great, now I need to pull this apart and re-profile the neck!"
This was first thing in the morning with less than a full cup of coffee in my system and my hands were cold.

I picked it up today (after two cups o' joe and being up for several hours) and all is well . Crisis averted! I can put the sandpaper away! Phewww!

[dozymuppet]

What an emotional rollercoaster!

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[Simon Barden]

The more guitars you have with different neck profiles, the easier it becomes to acclimatise to a new neck. I can normally do it in a few seconds these days.

So simply own more guitars and the problem goes away.

[jugglindan]

The solution is "more guitars".

That's going in my build tips file for sure!

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[McCreed]

"More guitars" and always play adequately caffeinated