I've had this build bubbling away for a while, so I figured it was time for a diary… be warned, it'll probably be a long dump of posts one after another. How many photos is too many?
I picked this kit up last year with the plan of finishing it in Wudtone Saffron, but it was low priority and sat untouched in the spare room. Then, a couple of months ago, an opportunity arose that saw it get bumped up the build queue. I knew the kit had some glue issues from my initial inspection, so the build was going to take some work… turns out it needed a bit more than I thought.
Initial mockup showed the bridge was very close to the pickup.
The plan is to switch out the hardware with GFS Surf 90 pickups, a Bigsby, Golden Age roller bridge, Grover locking tuners, and some wiring mods etc.
As you can see, there's more than a few dirty gluey/oily fingerprints to deal with on the cap. But in fairness to QA, they have become more visible over time with oxidisation,
Glue seems to be a theme on this kit… but I like a challenge. The worst of it is around the binding where it's been over-stretched across the curve and a glue mix filler has been used to fill behind and under it.
Although QA certainly dropped the ball in this case and the issue is serious enough to warrant taking advantage of PBG's great return policy, it didn't worry me too much as my plans for the kit would probably have meant replacing the binding anyway. Fortunately, an issue like this is extremely rare (the binding on all my other kits has been spot on) and I think QA has improved significantly since I got this kit (it's been over a year since I bought it), so any potential buyers don't hesitate to get a kit with binding including the TL-1TB.
And finally, there's also hard deep-soaked glue under the binding in the cutaway and some above it on the cap.
There were a few other minor issues, with hairline gaps in a seam on the back and some between the ply and basswood in the pickup routs and neck pocket. But they would be an easy fix.
For something different, I wanted to bind the F-hole on this kit which first meant reinforcing/thickening the edge. Some 4mm ply would make the edge the perfect thickness for the binding, so the first step was to cut a piece to match the F-hole. I traced the shape and transferred that onto the ply to give me a reference point, drilled some starter holes and then took a big risk… I clamped the ply over the F-hole and then very carefully used a 1/4" pattern following bit to run along the edge of the top's F-hole. I wouldn't recommend technique unless you're feeling game as it's pretty easy for it to go horribly wrong. In fact, the router bit I was using had a cir-clip retainer for the bearing, instead of the usual hex bolt, and just as I was working up to the F-hole's edge at one point I saw the bearing drop suddenly and I only *just* stopped before taking a chunk out of the top. Turns out the cir-clip was dodgy and had been thrown while I was routing… very lucky to have actually seen the bearing drop in time to stop before doing catastrophic damage. That bit has now been banished to the back of the draw, although I did consider throwing on a neighbour's roof in honour of DB
The next step was to use the newly F-hole'd piece of ply as a template to cut a thicker ply F-hole template, which I would be needing later in the build.
With the ply reinforcer inside the cavity, I slid in the bottom halves of the clamps in through it and into position, end ones first, then inner, then finally centre.
I used a pipette to squeeze the Titebond down inside the cavity onto the top of the ply, lifted it into place with the clamps, tweaked it into final position, and screwed it down to dry.
One reinforced F-hole, ready to be bound… eventually.
The Golden Age roller bridge I was going use has much smaller bushings than the stock TOM bridge, and a check of the scale length showed I needed to move the bridge holes back anyway, so there was never any doubt that I'd have to plug and re-drill the holes. First step, cut some maple plugs to fill the holes.
Even though the new bridge is wider, I'll be moving the holes several mm's further back, so the plugged holes will be partly visible. And, sadly, my hard maple plugs don't quite match the colour of the cap. I want to hide the plugged holes as much as possible, so I cut the maple plugs about 1mm shorter than full depth and then cut some inserts from a maple veneer that was a closer match to the cap.
A few adjustments and then a final test fit of the plug caps. Trying to get as tight and clean a fit as possible.
Plugs glued in, then cap inserts glued in on top of the plugs. Once dry, a rough sand to clean them up and bring the inserts level with cap. But, I'm not sanding the cap any further just yet.
First attempt at cleaning up the fingerprints on the cap… not quite as successful as I hoped. This was after using solvents and wire brushes, while trying to minimise damage to the cap. I'm saving sanding the cap until later, otherwise I'll risk blowing through it when I do the final sanding.
I will be using a Tele 4-way switch on this build and quick check showed the cavity needed a touch more depth to ensure good clearance. So, after checking the thickness to the back, I routed out a couple of extra mm's to give the switch enough room, including the thickness of the copper shielding.
The tuner holes were a little irregular, so I decided to plug, re-drill and counterbore them.
Plugs glued, trimmed and new positions marked out.
Holes drilled and counterbored, 5/16" and 10mm respectively.
Finally, headstock cut and shaped… if you hit yourself on the head a few times and squint really hard you may just see echoes of a squashed Gretsch shape in there somewhere.
When testing the neck fit it was clear that the holes were a little too far towards the bass side and would be closer to the edge of the neck heel than I'd like. Plus, the body had been cut slightly too tight around the pocket, such that the standard neck plate would be right out to the edge with the plastic seat. I didn't want to use neck mount ferrules on this build, so I decided on a curved neck plate. It would still be a close fit to the edge, but more comfortable than a standard plate.
First up, make up some maple dowels, then glue and plug the old holes.
Trim 'em flush the lazy way.
Then, mark the layout of the plate and drill the new holes.
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