Phloggys TL-1

[phloggy]

Hi All,

I didn't get at far as I wanted to this weekend. I had some emergency birthday celebrations to attend to.

So anyway, I've been thinking I need some more single coil love in my life, and it doesn't get much more single coil than a tele. After some hints (and a direct link the kit in question) by wife bought me a TL-1 kit for my birthday.

I've got a specific look in mind and although it's had a few tweaks here and there, the general theme has been the same, so I'm not going down the Wudtone path this time around.

So anyway, the obviously the first thing to do is to get all the bits out and make sure they all fit together, right?

The bits:



The initial laying out.



Son of a bitch. The pickguard doesn't fit. I mean, look that this:



Wait a minute....



Never mind. Ahem.

Anyways. Protect the neck! Lucky there's plenty of padding with the kit.



Now, I *hate* the standard Tele headstock, and I like it more than the normal Fender headstock, so I spent hours upon hours drawing and refining all manner of headstocks until I had that magic moment where you see one you like in a magazine, so you just completely rip it off.



You're probably looking at that thinking "You know, that's not all that different to the regular Fender headstock that he just said he hates" and you're right. The difference is, you haven't seen the pictures that are in my head of the finished product, that are probably way beyond my abilities as a woodworker. Never mind. If you're going to cock it up, you might as well cock it up big, yeah?

Next step. Shed preparation. It gets cold in the shed, so you need to keep your vice warm, right?



Then there's really nothing left to do except take a deep breath and start with the cutting. Can't put it off any longer.



She's a bit rough, but should sand out alright.



I forgot to take pictures between the sanding and the taping up, but she's all ready for painting.



The body is all sanded as smooth as a baby's backside as well (well 1200 sand paper anyway), but there's no real point in taking photos of that, as it looks just the same.

And that's where I'm up to. I need to stick a few coats of paint on the thing, and then I can hit phase two of the headstock! Yes! Multi-phase headstock. It will be exciting.

[keloooe]

Awwww.... Should try using Wudtone for the next build... But anyways, the routs aren't perfect looking until you attach everything, then it looks better, as you found out!

[sfkhooper]

What was the problem with the guard? What did you differently to make it fit? In the first shot it looked like it was nicely up against the neck. I've had a problem with my guard because of the way the pickup holes were routed; not so easily solved.

[phloggy]

There was nothing wrong with it at all.

I'd been reading some threads on here about people having trouble with their pickguards and having to cut them to size or getting custom ones made, so I was watching it pretty carefully. You can see in the initial layout picture above that it doesn't line up with the control panel routing, so I was silently swearing to myself and trying to figure out how to fix it. Then I put the control plate on too see just how bad it was, and it turns out everything lines up just fine.

[Gavin1393]

Hey SFK,

It did fit. It was more of a play on the expectations that it might not have fitted properly. The metal cover overlaps the routed area by a fair bit and fits snugly into the pickguard cover. I did have to alter mine ever so slightly though!

[phloggy]

Put the first coat of paint on earlier. Was a bit heavy handed in some sections and got some sagging and dimpling so there'll have to be some proper sanding over and above the "smoothing" sand that I was hoping for, but that's OK. I'm loving the colour. No pictures yet though.

[maxaxe]

Hey Mr Phloggy

I'm with you on disliking the original headstock shape.
Yours design looks pretty cool though.
Q: What colour(s) do you plan using?

[phloggy]

Wow, compared to some my build is taking forever it seems! Oh well, I guess that comes with having a job and a family that wants to spend time with me. I also did a headstock that needs 5 separate stages so that doesn't help matters. Anyhow, I've finally finished the painting stage! Almost, anyway. The "paint" bit is finished, I've just unmasked the neck today and I'm putting a few coats of clear Wudtone on it. Next week I should be ready to rock an roll.

I didn't get the finish I was looking for, but I think what I've ended up with is even better. I was going for the high gloss, shiny thing, but I've got a satiny semi gloss end result. It feels like silk when you run your hands over it. Awesome.

And sorry, maxaxe, I didn't see your question earlier. The design as cut out looks cool, but I think what I've done looks even better.

It might be slow going, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Here's a picture!



I've made one cock-up though. I had the neck in the vise when I was shaping it and I must have tightened it too much. I've dented the 8th fret and lifted the end a bit. Hopefully nothing a dressing won't fix, but I fear there's going to be a bit of a flat spot there.

[phloggy]

I can get on with soldering and fitting the hardware to the body, can't I? There's no requirement for the neck to be fitted for any of that stuff to happen is there? Except for maybe the bridge, but even then I can do everything except put the screws in, correct?

[phloggy]

Quote from phloggy on May 4, 2013, 14:49
Wow, compared to some my build is taking forever it seems! Oh well, I guess that comes with having a job and a family that wants to spend time with me.

That was a poor choice of words. I don't mean to imply anyone faster than me doesn't have a job or a loving family.