Rolf's TL-1A

[RocknRolf]

Yesterday tried to do a final setup of the guitar, intonation and all.

At the start of the build I had noticed about a 2mm difference in the thickness of the heel of the neck (that is heel to fret board). And the fretboard on the right/body side sloping. Adam ensured me it wouldn't be a problem for the playability.

By shimming one side I have manage to compensate eland get the neck in stable, but... After a complete setup (trussrod, nut and saddles) I was not satisfied with the action I was getting without any fret buzz.

I tried changing the angle of the neck by shimming, but this brought up the neck even more, and the saddles are already pretty high as is.

Now I am at the point where I:
1. Accept the higher action.
2. Sand down the heel of the neck slightly and try to get rid of the slope in the heel, (whilst that does not compensate for the slope on the right side of the fretboard)

Your help for this final bumb is much appreciated!

Rolf

Sent from my ANE-LX2J using Tapatalk

[Sonic Mountain]

Have you levelled and dressed all the frets? What’s the relief like? There are lots of reasons for fret buzz and it may not be related to the slope. I’d probably go back to your initial shimming and have another go. I find a freshly built guitar takes quite a while to settle in and getting it properly setup is a matter of creeping up on it with small changes. It took me a few goes to get my JM just right and it’s been tinkered with a number of times since to refine it. It’s now one of my best playing guitars.

[king casey]

If it were me, I'd sand down the high side to be even with the other.
Then shim evenly (if required).

cheers, Mark.

[RocknRolf]

Thanks for the quick replies guys,
@Sonic Mountain, yes I had done a full fret level and dress job. Gave the neck a slight bit of relief. I have adjusted it in multiple ways, to see whether it was getting better. I had it playable, but as I said I couldn't go down any further, otherwise the higher frets would touch and I think I can do better than what I had.

@king casey, I might give that a go, I am thinking of reshimming as Sonic suggests and have some time with it. If it is not getting better I will most probably lean towards straighting the heel.

It is a really cool experience as I now even better understand how things work, what changes what etc.

I'll keep you posted, she's close!

Sent from my ANE-LX2J using Tapatalk

[McCreed]

It's hard to tell from that pic, but it almost looks like there's a twist in the neck.
It may just be an optical illusion (I hope so anyway) but if there is a twist, that's a whole other kettle of fish.

[RocknRolf]

It's hard to tell from that pic, but it almost looks like there's a twist in the neck.
It may just be an optical illusion (I hope so anyway) but if there is a twist, that's a whole other kettle of fish.

I think I've got it within the ball park of -let's fine tune-.

After a bit of measuring I found out that the neck wasn't twisted, though I had those concerns as well.

Because the high frets were buzzing, I figured to get the heel further in the pocket, opt for a thinner shim. And voila! She plays a lot better now!

@Sonic Mountain, I'll take up on your advice to keep tweaking it over the next few weeks.

[RocknRolf]

Okay, this is way over due,
I have been playing and fine tuning her for a month now, let's share some pictures and the story.

Specs other than standard:
- graph tech nut
- guitar fetish goldfoil 5.6k single coil neck pickup
- Abalone inlay
- d'addario EXL110-3d strings

Finish:
- Ebony timbermate
- Crimson stainshots
- Sceptone acryllic clear

First I want to thank you all for sharing your knowledge and insights! It has been amazing and I can already tell this won't be my last...
I wanted an LP-style, but because that wasn't freely availble as a kit I chose the TL. To me the TL is sort of an anti-design, just a straight slab with some cavities, but it grows on you :-) Who knows whats next, you are inspiring and teasing me with every build and @sonic makes me consider a Semi scratch with his Deluxster proto.


I love how the build turned out, I some how did more than I intended to, but was at the same time I was not able to do what I wanted to and in some ways I did more than what I was supposed to do. I was planning on a comfort cut, but it turned out she had double binding, not a real problem, but something that was unclear from the details and pictures on the website. The headstock, I don't know man,.. She's unique that for sure, but to be honest, the body and pearl dot inlay would've been more in their own right had I kept the headstock in just plain maple colour. This is still something I think I might do in the future.
Sometimes I have idea's, I know they are going to be on the edge, sometimes they work out and sometimes, well I don't hate it, its me.

I'm so happy I did not go for a pickguard to show the top, but trying to get a pickup cover ring for a tele...
In ended up buying a humbucker sized single coil, a cover for that, and a Tele pickup cover (just to cover some shipping costs).
So somewhere in the future, I will convert her to a real TL and perhaps use the Goldfoil in another project.

Thanks again guys!

[RocknRolf]

And the headstock

[Sonic Mountain]

What a great result. Very unique. Really it's all about experimentation and somethings are going to work better than others. A lot of the time you just don't know until you try. A semi scratch is a lot of fun and a great stepping stone to a full scratch, I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[DarkMark]

Testing ideas and creating something unique is a draw card for these kits. Done a great job, mate! The dot inlay probably isn’t my cup of tea (but why should you care?), however, the burst and headstock I like a lot. Professional looking result.