TL-1TB 1st Build

[A.D.]

My Kit arrived yesterday and is looking pretty good, semi hollow basswood tele body, maple neck & fingerboard. I decided to swap from the ATL-1SB as that wasn't due in for another couple of months, thanks to Ben and Adam for sorting this out for me.

I figure this will give me an opportunity to play around with a few changes as I ll be able to do a solid colour and don't have to worry about covering a nice grain. I also got a second neck so I can can have a go at a semi scratch build after this. I don't want to use the trem with this guitar and have bought a Wilkinson through body bridge and am looking at a pair of Irongear Platinum P90s to replace the HBs. Plan to do away with the scratch plate and have got a copper sheet to make pup rings and would like to make a matching control plate out of it too. Would there be any issues using copper for this?

Done a test build and everything seems to be there except the solder which isn't a problem. I want to use the maple fingerboard neck as the grain looks amazing, its a little too big at the moment but I understand that's a good thing!

1 Question I have first is, the P90s won't be in stock for a week or so and although I have the dimensions from the web site have decided to wait until I actually have them before I route out the cavities. Should I also wait to have these before I measure up and put the bridge in place or can I go ahead with this now?

[Simon Barden]

The Platinum P90s will be the same dimensions as standard humbuckers, so you can either use the kit humbuckers routs as a guide or use one of the many templates available off the web.

Copper pickup rings and control plate won't be an issue as long as it's thick enough. I'd suggest 2mm minimum as it's quite soft. But I'd definitely solder the rear of the pots together with wire for grounding, rather than rely on the copper. Unlike a chromed control plate, copper will oxidise over time, and the oxide isn't conductive. So although it may start out clean and shiny on the underside (or maybe not if you are going to age it first), you'll probably find that the controls become intermittent with time without the hardwired ground connections.

[A.D.]

Thanks Simon, the copper sheet I have is only .9mm so glad you said that - won't need it for a while so that's not a problem.

I got 2 necks, the maple fretboard one I was going to use is rounded at the end and is a tiny bit too wide for the socket and the rosewood fretboard is straight and seems to fit well. If I am going to use the maple one, is it fine to sand down the end of the neck flat to fit and for the width do I sand the pocket sides as opposed to the neck.

[A.D.]

Ok, so figure this is a strat neck not a tele neck and is going to change the scale length if I shorten it. Guess I am going with the rosewood.

[Simon Barden]

Probably a wise move. If you had a standard Tele bridge, then you could just move it backwards a bit to compensate, but with the TOM-style bridge with the pre-drilled post holes, 2-3 mm of neck movement could well make intonation difficult.

[A.D.]

Some progress this weekend, I ve filled in the pre drilled bridge holes using some 12mm dowels that i sanded down to fit. Going to put a Wilkinson tele style bridge in and borrowed a drill press but going to have to get some practice before I am let loose on the body.

Cut the headstock with a coping saw and have made some progress sanding but boy that maple is hard!

[A.D.]

Hello, I could with a bit of advice please.

I am measuring up for the bridge position, happy with the scale length and have put on the 2 e strings to see how they fit on the neck which again seems ok and no danger of them slipping of the side, but around the 10th/12th fret to the end of the fretboard (bridge side) the strings are both sat on the frets. I haven't screwed the bridge in yet so I am pulling it tight myself.

I haven't screwed in the neck either but it seems a decent fit, there is a slight gap at the end you can see in the picture. I wondered is it because I have change the bridge from the kit tune o matic to the wilkinson in the picture? Saddles are pretty much as raised they will go. I have used a straight edge on the fretboard and there is a slight gap at the end but not much (see picture), I read that when it is all put together and the strings are on this might be corrected due to the tension?

What is the best plan of action, I am guessing I don't want to start sanding either the bottom of the neck or the pocket. Do I need to worry about this at the moment and/or could I mount the bridge on something at the end to raise it a little if there is still an issue?

Thanks
Alex

[A.D.]

Realise I was a bit foolish filling those holes in. Measured the bridges with the callipers and I think the Wilkinson bridge saddles are 3.6mm lower than than the tune o matic. Thought about putting a sheet under bridge to raise it and could use same material I am using for the pick up rings but might just look really strange given how thick it would have to be. Does anyone know of any alternatives or is going to be drilling the holes for the tune o matic back out!

[Simon Barden]

It does look like the neck is angled up slightly in order to get the strings to work on a TOM bridge. Normal Teles have the neck flat. TOM bridge is typically about 15mm high when fully lowered and had a good 15mm of height adjustment above that. A Fender-style bridge is probably 10mm high and has less height adjustment above that, maybe 4mm. So the strings need extra height above the body to fit a TOM, and rather than fit a neck with a flat heel that's 5mm higher than normal above the body, they have used a neck with an angled heel. It's not a common thing.

So you could try and flatten the neck heel a bit. You'll only need to take about 1mm off, no more. Mark 1mm up at the body end of the heel, draw a line to the neck end of the heel and that small wedge of wood is what you need to sand down. It's not easy and you'll definitely need to use a really flat sanding block, but you can do it with a bit of care.

The angle may also be the reason there's a gap at the rear of the neck, if the end of the neck heel is perpendicular to the top of the neck, but the heel is slightly angled, then the top of the heel will be slightly further away from the end of the pocket than the bottom.

The easy alternative is to put a 1mm shim under the very neck end of the heel, but you'll see a gap.

The screws in the Wilkinson saddle will happily go down to 1/2 way through the saddles, so can go higher than in the photos

But you could certainly mount the bridge on a suitable wooden block of the same size as the bridge. I'd fix it down with glue and a couple of screws (though put them where they won't clash with the bridge fixing screw locations). Or if you are any good with metal, you could make a steel or brass block for it to sit on.

Personally I'd just sand the neck heel down.

[OliSam]

What about putting in a neck shim?
Thatll flatten out the neck angle quick smart.
Ive done it on my mosrite style guitar. I used business cards cut to shape and slotted at one end of the neck.
Then when i got the right angle i coloured the edge of the card so it wasnt obvious.
Alternatively you could buy a shim from a luthier place. But i havnt any recommendations on that.

This is my shim:


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