Tele newbie

[paulzac]

Hi guys/gals

Just recieved my kit in the mail today,
I've gone with a TLA-1 Tele kit, but decided to upgrade pretty much everything with grovers, tonerider hot classic pups, a Babicz bridge and upgraded electrics.

I'm going for a more classic look though with the butterscotch finish but who knows what I'll end up with.

Really looking foward to getting stuck into this build.

Always been a strat/ibanez/ESP metal guitar fan, so this will be my very first tele style, all single coil guitar I've ever owned, can't wait.

Cheers.

[Simon Barden]

Hi and welcome.

Don't forget to start a build diary, post pics as you go along and ask as many questions as you want.

All the best with the build!

[JohnH]

Welcome aboard!

[robin]

Welcome Paulzac, enjoy the build and have fun.

rob

[paulzac]

Hi guys/gals

Just recieved my kit in the mail today,
I've gone with a TLA-1 Tele kit, but decided to upgrade pretty much everything with grovers, tonerider hot classic pups, a Babicz bridge and upgraded electrics.

I'm going for a more classic look though with the butterscotch finish but who knows what I'll end up with.

Really looking foward to getting stuck into this build.

Always been a strat/ibanez/ESP metal guitar fan, so this will be my very first tele style, all single coil guitar I've ever owned, can't wait.

Cheers.

Just a couple of issues right of the bat,

the Babicz bridge is slightly longer than the standard one which means i'll have to re-drill the mounting holes and adjust intonation (no big deal) .
But the major problem is the upgraded control kit, the body of the pots are too big to fit into the routed cavity which means i'll either have to re-route the body or use physically smaller pots, which considering this is an upgrade for the tele kit is a bit crap.
It's only a matter of maybe 1-2 mm but the pots are slightly bigger than the cavity.

[Simon Barden]

Welcome to the wonderful world of kit building, where the kits manage to get everything almost right, but not quite. However the routs do fit the supplied kit parts (normally), and they aren't officially licensed body copies, for which you'd pay a lot more.

The price you pay for this is having to do a bit more more work if you do decide to upgrade. This gives you a chance to shine in the face of adversity and show your true 'can-do' character.

A Dremel is one of your best kit-building friends, and a sanding drum on a Dremel will make fast work of widening out the control cavity. Obviously mark-out the outline of the control plate first, then draw a line a bit inside that to still give a lip to the cavity for the plate to rest on with no gaps showing. You can also draw round the pot so you only remove just enough, and no more.

[robin]

Hey Paulzac, I had a similar problem when I fitted full size CTS pots to one of my Teles, I had to make the cavity slightly bigger.

The only thing to look out for is that you don't make the cavity wider than the control plate. It was a snug fit, and it required a bit of tweaking, but it was doable. Make sure the control plate fits into the scratch plate rebate first, and take your measurements from there.

rob

p.s. Darn, ninja'd by Simon. lol.

[paulzac]

Cheers guys,

So far, first impressions, I think these kits are great quality products, just a bit annoyed that some (aftermarket) things don't fit perfectly.

I hear you on the price point and while I would love a vintage TELE I just can't justify the price, so I will make do with hopefully a nice custom made guitar.

[Fretworn]

Welcome paulzac