Beginner build thread - Harley Benton TE kit

RichAC

Hi everyone. My wonderful wife bought me a Harley Benton TE kit for my birthday this week. I'm really looking forward to building it.

I'm not especially handy in DIY terms, I haven't really done any woodwork since I left school and I've never done anything remotely luthier-ish before. I'm slowly learning basic setup skills, but I'm no expert. In other words, I have very little applicable skills for this project at all. Which is great! I'm seeing this as an opportunity to learn new skills and understand more about how guitars work. I picked the TE kit because it doesn't get any simpler than a tele, and for my first ever kit build, simple is good!

I have a few basic principles for the project:

• The goal is to have fun and learn things. I'm hoping for a decent guitar at the end of it but I'm not expecting miracles.
• Things will go wrong. That's to be expected. I'm hoping I'll be able to fix most issues.
• Simple is good. I have some crazy ideas, but for my first build I'm going to try and keep it simple.
• Finished is better than perfect.
• I'm going to take lots of notes and photos as I go, and use this thread to document everything.

The first task will be to assemble everything as is to check the fit. I'm hoping to do that over the weekend.

Here we go! 

RichAC

Here's the body and neck, fresh out of the box:



One thing i've noticed is some of the screw holes and cavity routing isn't especially cleanly finished.

Control cavity:


Neck pocket holes:


I'm assuming that I can clean these up easily enough. I don't want spiky bits of wood in the control cavity snagging and damaging the wires. I'm thinking maybe using a scalpel to cleanly cut off the scraggy ends and then sand it clean. 

RichAC

RichAC said:

Neck pocket holes:

Actually, it's just occurred to me... what's that middle hole for? The instructions just show the traditional four neck screws in the corners of the plate. 

GSPBASSES

The hole is used to register the body on a CNC jig, ignore it, it's served its purpose.

paulnb57

The best advice  is as you have already stated, keep it simple
The roughness  in the routing is pretty much par for the course with a cheap kit
 The big hole in the neck pocket is probably to locate the body  on the CNC router.

There is a good chance that you will end up with a usable instrument and learn a lot
Make sure to drill pilot holes for any screws as the screws are likely to be of minimal quality and will break if you just drive them in

Any questions, just ask!

RichAC

Thanks @GSPBASSES and @paulnb57 - first question asked and answered. There will be more!

paulnb57 said:
Make sure to drill pilot holes for any screws as the screws are likely to be of minimal quality and will break if you just drive them in


I think all the holes are pre-drilled with pilot holes already, but duly noted, thanks.  This is getting ahead of myself, but I’m considering swapping out the scratch plate for a black one, and that might well involve new screws, so this is useful.

Funkfingers

RichAC said:

I picked the TE kit because it doesn't get any simpler than a tele

Actually, it does. 

The Precision Bass. One pickup, two pots, no switching. 

RichAC

Funkfingers said:

RichAC said:

I picked the TE kit because it doesn't get any simpler than a tele

Actually, it does. 

The Precision Bass. One pickup, two pots, no switching. 

…and only two thirds of the strings. 

RichAC

At this point, I’d like to give a shout out to @andyp - I’ve read through his own build thread for the same kit, which was a good source of inspiration. 

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/discussion/84793/harley-benton-telecaster-kit-build/p2

DuploLicks

I’ve had an LP build sitting in a box for a year as I can’t decide how to paint/Finnish it. I’ll be following this with interest. Have fun!

BillDL

One tip I can offer before you start.  The four holes in the body for the neck screws should be smooth-sided (i.e. untapped by the screws) and just large enough for the bare shanks of the screws to slide through without having to screw them through or hammer them through.  The reason for this is that you want the screws to only bite into the wood of the neck and pull it in against the body.  If you are screwing them through the body AND into the neck there is a possibility that when the screw heads have tightened in against the mounting plate the neck may not have pulled right in tight to the neck pocket and may have left a gap.  The screws don't have to be loose enough to just drop into the holes in the body, but they should NOT be tight enough that the threads are biting into the wood of the holes in the body.  Being able to push them in with your finger is OK.

Another useful tip is to rub a bar of soap, a wax candle, or even some lip salve along the threads of the neck screws before starting to wind them in.  They lubricate the passage, if you'll excuse the expression, of those thick screws into the hard maple neck and you get less of that horrible tightening "squeak" that often signals the fact that your screwdiver is about to slip and mangle the head slots of the screw.  Worse still, you can split the wood along the grain at the hole if the pilot holes are very tight and the screw has no lubrication.  On a kit the neck screw holes should have been drilled to the correct diameter for the screws so that only the spiral threads cut a spiral into the wood and create the threaded grooves.  If you are having to twist the screwdriver fairly hard it is worth backing out and checking the diameter of the pilot holes.  I don't recommend dry-fitting the screws into the holes in the upturned neck without the heel in the body neck pocket.  It would be very easy for the screw to go in too far and push out a fret from below or exceed the depth of the pilot hole and split the neck.

It is also worth lubricating the tuning machine screws (i.e. the ones into the rear of the headstock) and the string tree ones with something waxy like lip salve.  Those screws are soft and the heads sheer off quite easily with even minimal resistance, and you are then left with a screw stub to try and grip with pliers and wind back out.

One thing I have noticed after a quick look at the photos taken by @andyp for his build, and somebody's observation that he has reversed the layout of the control plate so the switch is at the back.  In the control cavity of andyp's guitar body it is just a continuous flat-bottomed rout, whereas your control cavity has the raised and roughly cut section of wood (your 2nd photo down) off centre in the cavity.  The position of this will probably get in the way of a blade switch positioned at the back of the control plate as andyp has done.  If you intend doing the same it would be worth fitting the switch and pots to the plate and doing a dry fit so that you know if you need to grind, carve, or chisel out part of that raised section.  (Acknowledgement to @Funkfingers for this observation about the potential switch obstruction).

Funkfingers

RichAC said:

I'm assuming that I can clean these up easily enough. I don't want spiky bits of wood in the control cavity, snagging and damaging the wires. I'm thinking maybe using a scalpel to cleanly cut off the scraggy ends and then sand it clean. 

A word of caution.

The body wood in the H-B kit is named Rengas. (Never heard of it before. Had to look it up.) According to several sources, the sap can trigger allergic reactions. It is unclear whether this is by inhalation or absorption through skin.

Either way, it is advisable to wear protection.

RichAC

BillDL said:

One tip I can offer before you start.  The four holes in the body for the neck screws should be smooth-sided (i.e. untapped by the screws) and just large enough for the bare shanks of the screws to slide through without having to screw them through or hammer them through.  The reason for this is that you want the screws to only bite into the wood of the neck and pull it in against the body.  If you are screwing them through the body AND into the neck there is a possibility that when the screw heads have tightened in against the mounting plate the neck may not have pulled right in tight to the neck pocket and may have left a gap.  The screws don't have to be loose enough to just drop into the holes in the body, but they should NOT be tight enough that the threads are biting into the wood of the holes in the body.  Being able to push them in with your finger is OK.

Another useful tip is to rub a bar of soap, a wax candle, or even some lip salve along the threads of the neck screws before starting to wind them in.  They lubricate the passage, if you'll excuse the expression, of those thick screws into the hard maple neck and you get less of that horrible tightening "squeak" that often signals the fact that your screwdiver is about to slip and mangle the head slots of the screw.  Worse still, you can split the wood along the grain at the hole if the pilot holes are very tight and the screw has no lubrication.  On a kit the neck screw holes should have been drilled to the correct diameter for the screws so that only the spiral threads cut a spiral into the wood and create the threaded grooves.  If you are having to twist the screwdriver fairly hard it is worth backing out and checking the diameter of the pilot holes.  I don't recommend dry-fitting the screws into the holes in the upturned neck without the heel in the body neck pocket.  It would be very easy for the screw to go in too far and push out a fret from below or exceed the depth of the pilot hole and split the neck.

It is also worth lubricating the tuning machine screws (i.e. the ones into the rear of the headstock) and the string tree ones with something waxy like lip salve.  Those screws are soft and the heads sheer off quite easily with even minimal resistance, and you are then left with a screw stub to try and grip with pliers and wind back out.

One thing I have noticed after a quick look at the photos taken by @andyp for his build, and somebody's observation that he has reversed the layout of the control plate so the switch is at the back.  In the control cavity of andyp's guitar body it is just a continuous flat-bottomed rout, whereas your control cavity has the raised and roughly cut section of wood (your 2nd photo down) off centre in the cavity.  The position of this will probably get in the way of a blade switch positioned at the back of the control plate as andyp has done.  If you intend doing the same it would be worth fitting the switch and pots to the plate and doing a dry fit so that you know if you need to grind, carve, or chisel out part of that raised section.  (Acknowledgement to @Funkfingers for this observation about the potential switch obstruction).

Thanks @BillDL - this is all great advice. I was planning to lubricate the screws as you describe (in this age of shower gel and handwash, I'm going to have to buy some soap especially for the purpose!)

I noticed the "bridge of wood" and remembered your thread about it - I went back and read through it. I've heard about the "reverse switch" mod. I think I'll put it together in the standard position and see if the switch positioning bothers me or not before I decide whether to reverse the switch. 

RichAC

Funkfingers said:

RichAC said:

I'm assuming that I can clean these up easily enough. I don't want spiky bits of wood in the control cavity, snagging and damaging the wires. I'm thinking maybe using a scalpel to cleanly cut off the scraggy ends and then sand it clean. 

A word of caution.

The body wood in the H-B kit is named Rengas. (Never heard of it before. Had to look it up.) According to several sources, the sap can trigger allergic reactions. It is unclear whether this is by inhalation or absorption through skin.

Either way, it is advisable to wear protection.

Thanks @Funkfingers - I'll pick up latex gloves and a mask when I'm out and about today. Really appreciate you shouting this out. 

BillDL

RichAC said:

... I was planning to lubricate the screws as you describe (in this age of shower gel and handwash, I'm going to have to buy some soap especially for the purpose!)

It will last a while.  Coincidentally just the other day I was clearing out and reorganising one of my toolboxes.  In the tray underneath I discovered the remains of a bar of soap all cratered like a moon rock.  Immediately I smelled it the faint odour transported me right back to my honeymoon at the Hotel Maestral in Sveti Stefan, Montenegro (then Yugoslavia) in 1984 or '85, where it was one of those complimentary soap bars !!  I used that same piece of Yugoslavian soap for wood screws from then right through to around five years ago when I forgot where I had conveniently stowed it.

Funkfingers

BillDL said:

Yugoslavian soap

"Confused? You soon will be." 



For younger readers, this is from the introductory preamble sequence to an ancient American situation comedy series. 

BluesLover

Bugger! Wish I hadn't read this thread. I've ordered a JA kit.

RichAC

Quick update - I’ve assembled the kit. It mostly went fine. There were a few issues to report but nothing major.

Pics and full write-up at some point this evening!

RichAC

BluesLover said:

Bugger! Wish I hadn't read this thread. I've ordered a JA kit.

I’m happy to serve as an enabler for impulse purchases. 

RichAC

Right, so as promised, some updates. I sat down yesterday afternoon to start assembly. The first goal was to get everything screwed together and end up with a working guitar. I was loosely following this guide from the Guitar Geek on YouTube, as well as trying to apply all the great advice I've had on here.

Speaking of screws...



...thats all the screws, sorted into types. My one real criticism of the way the kit is packaged is that it wasn't at all obvious which screws to use for which job. The neck screws are obvious and I'm pretty sure that the strap button screws are the only longish pair, but beyond that it's not clear. If Thomann charged an extra couple of quid per kit to fund putting the screws in labelled bags, it would be well worth it. This will be significant later on. 

I was also pleased to see that the bridge came with a section of (presumably) Chinese flyer as protection:
I hope this wasn't supposed to be used as a shim or something, because I threw it away.

First job was getting the machineheads screwed to the headstock. Not difficult, but when I was doing the last one I noticed that it was stamped "R4". Up until that point, I'd assumed that they were all the same. Curious, I took the others off again and had a look. My six tuners were stamped: "R1", "R2", "R2", "R3", "R3", "R4". No idea what that means. I put them back on in that order. Here we come to another minor issue - the top E tuner looks wonky to me:
The screw is exactly where the pre-drilled hole is, so I presume that it is just badly drilled. If it bothers me enough, I assume I can fill and redrill. The string trees went on without issue, giving me a completed headstock. (Wonder if I can stick a James Tyler decal on and not bother shaping it? 

Probably worth noting that although I own a socket set, somehow none of the sockets fit the machinhead nuts, so they're only finger tight at the moment.

The body was mostly uneventful - the bridge went on fine, with the pickups clipping together easily with the quick connect. Getting the gubbins into the control cavity was fiddly, and the cavity and channel routing was rough, so I cleaned that up a bit (losing a small chunk of wood from inside the cavity where it had split - not a disaster though).

And then came time to screw down the scratchplate, which needs eight screws. I had lots of screws left, but I didn't have eight exactly the same. This means one of two things: either Thomman didn't put the right screws in the box, or I used the wrong ones elsewhere in the build. German QC versus first-time doofusry? Place your bets...

The thing is, none of the screws I'd put in up to this point felt obviously "wrong" - they all went into their pre-drilled holes easily. I think that apart from obvious ones like the neck and strap button screws, the shaft widths and depths were all similar, with minor differences in the head design. I didn't have to force anything. I ended up just using the eight most similar screws from what was left on the scratchplate. (Actually, seven - I missed the one in the top corner of the scratchplate by the lower cutaway, although went back and added it once I realised). 

With the basic assembly finished, I strung it up using the supplied strings. Everything people say about these strings is true - they're horrible. It doesn't help that they're supplied all wrapped together without labelling, so I had to judge by feel which was which. I tuned it to standard, plugged it in, and played a few chords. It worked! I made a working guitar!     Out of the box, the action was very high, and the pickups didn't sound that great, but I'll reserve judgement on those things until it's properly set up. The kit that the Guitar Geek assembled in the video linked to above had the pickups height set very low. I'll look at that when I start fettling. 

I didn't leave it at standard pitch for very long, beacause the machine heads were only finger tight - I slackened it off again pretty quickly. I have now aquired an adjustable spanner, so I'll tighten them up properly and have another play.

Here it is... it definitely looks somewhat like a guitar.

 
Total time from getting all the bits out the box to finished assembly was about two and a half hours, I think. I suspect that's longer than many would take, but I was being really careful, I was watching the Guitar Geek's video, and there was a fair amount of head scratching about screws. And anyway - it's not a race.

RichAC

Next steps are as follows:

1. Tighten up the machine head nuts properly.
2. I'll try and get the action, relief and pickup height somewhere close to see what I'm working with.
3. Cut the headstock into a more pleasing shape. Lacking power tools, I plan to use a coping saw to get it close, and sand it the rest of the way.
4. Finish it. I'm undecided about how, but the wood is definitely "paint grade". There'll be a separate post about this, I think.

I'm going to resist the urge to upgrade hardware until everything else is done, unless I decide bits need to be changed for aesthetic reasons as part of the overall look.