First ever build - TL-1 lefty.

[RevPartridge]

Finish done and on to the final stages.
I'm glad the soldering won't be seen, but it works.
Neck pick up seems a bit low but it comes through to the amp okay.

[RevPartridge]

I couldn't wait to get the neck on, string it up and play.



I am really happy with how it has turned out, It's not perfect but I've learnt such a lot,
I can't wait to start another kit,
although the lefty selection is a bit limited,
but maybe I'll see what upgrades I can add to this one.

Time now to wait until the house is quiet and then crank up the amp...

[Simon Barden]

Well done. Nice and clean looking.

Is that the highest the neck pickup will go? You probably don't have a lot more
height before it starts to get in the way of the strings, but even 2mm is worth it for some extra output, as Tele neck pickups aren't known for their grunt. If the springs are maxed out, then you could try some fairly hard foam under the pickups. Or even stick a bit of wood/ply at the bottom of the rout to raise everything up a bit, which also works if the adjustment screws are about to loose their grip.

[Keith Walters]

Your guitar has the same problem that a lot of kit guitars have, in that it's painfully obvious that the body is made from three pieces of wood glued together. Of course you can disguise that by simply using an opaque paint finish, but that requires a lot of work to do convincingly.
I used this approach to disguise the joins.
Originally I was attempting to do a green and gold "sunburst" design by first colouring the body with yellow inkjet ink, and then carefully wiping the edges of the body with cyan ink, to produce green. I then applied Feast Watson Fine Rubbing Oil, (a similar product to what you used) with "000" grade steel wool, to give a semi-gloss finish. It actually looked pretty good, but the bright yellow centre really showed up the joins in the wood.
So then I used some extremely coarse sandpaper to cut some scratches into the body along the grain, exposing the wood below.
I then applied more cyan inkjet ink along the scratches. The cyan ink seeped into the exposed wood but not the waxy surface, giving the appearance of dark green woodgrain. I put extra scratches along the wood joins and now they're almost invisible.
I also used a Scotch Brite pad to give the green edges a more "distressed" look, and after re-polishing it with more rubbing oil, it actually looks pretty impressive.
Or, you could always go for this look :-)|
https://www.gearnews.com/francis-ros...for-over-100k/

My current project is to make a right-handed Strat for my grandaughter. This time I'm going to try yellow and magenta , to give it a pinkish-red "woodgrain". I'm also going to see if I can work some gold leaf into the grain.

[RevPartridge]

Thanks for the info Simon, I will look at adding some wood behind the neck pick up to lift it when I start to look at upgrading.

[RevPartridge]

Hi Keith - You've done well with the inkjet ink on your lefty strat. Interesting to see the mods on Rossi's Tele, and the distressed green colour. Good luck with the build for your granddaughter.

[RevPartridge]

Thanks Colin, I'll keep you posted how the church react when I unleash it on them

[McCreed]

Good work Rev, and congrats on completion of your first. Now saying it's your "first" automatically implies there will be a "second" (and a third, and a fourth...)

Further to what Simon was saying about the neck pickup, my preferred method of mounting a tele neck pickup is directly to the pickguard ala strat-style. I know tele purists get snotty about it, but I'm more about practicality over tradition. It's easy to do and you'll get all the upward adjustment you'll ever need.

I never understood the logic behind a body-mounted neck pickup in a tele. Having to take off the strings (or at least loosen) and remove the pickguard to adjust the pickup height is just ridiculous IMO.

Just 2 cents of unsolicited advice...