Nevermind the pickups... cool keyboard!!!
Okay, the pickups are cool too :o
Hope you do another demo with the Monty's when you get it done.
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Nevermind the pickups... cool keyboard!!!
Okay, the pickups are cool too :o
Hope you do another demo with the Monty's when you get it done.
Actually I *think* the yellow/black is the RWRP. The bridge baseplate has a yellow wire connected directly to it. The coil is connected to the white and black. So I guess the neck also has the black and yellow wires connected the bridge - which makes the middle the one with the yellow/black connected to the coil.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
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I think that makes sense…. [emoji848]
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I stole the keyboard from Darth Vader…Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Will deffo do a demo! (So many Ds!)
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Ah, a baseplate for a slightly softer sound (it spreads out the magnetic field from the pole pickups so a slightly longer length of string is sensed by the pickup). Makes sense to do so on the bridge pickup. And it's separately grounded, so that you can play about with phase and series configurations (if you want to) without having to do any soldering on the pickup itself.
You can easily find the RP one by holding the pole pieces up to one another and seeing which ones repel or attract each other.
Process of elimination, and remember "opposites attract". You can also check with a real magnetic compass to find the N/S/N or S/N/S combination.
Oh yes, of course!Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Slowly shellacking the body this week. Also did some abalone dots.
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Shellac? I thought you were doing the Rustin's RCP?Quote:
Slowly shellacking the body this week. Also did some abalone dots.
Dots look good. How are you levelling (well, radiusing) the dots? Scraping?
I’m using shellac as a sanding sealer. I’ve done about for or five coats. I want to seal the stain before the RPC goes on.
As for radiusing the dots - I did the best I could with grades of sandpaper up to 800.
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Looking good, I think they'll go really well with the style of the body!
Don't know if they are flush already, but I used a razor to get the dots flat, and tape to protect the fretboard. After the bulk was done, I removed the tape to do a couple of runs without tape making them flush. Can;t feel mine at all.
The lower dot on the 12th fret looks to be sitting a bit proud. May be just the lighting or angle of photo.Quote:
As for radiusing the dots - I did the best I could with grades of sandpaper up to 800.
I've done a similar scraping method to RnR, then a light touch up with fine grit paper. (in the direction of the grain only)
Thanks for the tips guys.
Yeah i can see how it looks proud but I think that is the light. The edges of the dots are flush but have a hump to them so you can feel them. I’ll try the razor blade approach to finesse them some more [emoji1303]Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
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Rather than type a million character post, here's a link to a Dan Erlewine (from Stew-Mac) video with some great tips on using a single-edge razor as a scraper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVScFJoe24
Dan is illustrating how to do a "drop-fill" repair in a finish, but his points about the blade and cello tape* are applicable to any job that requires scraping something level. Simply adjust your scraping area width and depth with the placement and thickness of the tape.
I'm currently doing a drop-fill myself, so coincidental timing. This technique is also my go-to for fixing runs in paint or clear coat!
Also, in case you were wondering, Dan is the man!
Edit: *cello tape = cellophane tape, not tape made to stick on the four-stringed instrument, cello (CHEL-oh). :o
I've read in several places (but no guarantee that it's true) that abalone and MOP dust sands off at about twice the grit size, so if you wanted an 800 grit finish on it, then you'd probably need to use 1500. I like to get it as shiny as possible, so I use micromesh on inlays and go all the way up to 12000 grit on that.
And +1 on the scraper. I use them a lot.
It's been a good while since my last update on this. Progress has been slow but this week I finally got it all together. The weather isn't great for glamour shots so this will have to do for the time being:
Attachment 42235 Attachment 42236
Of course, the finish is far from perfect. Applying the RPC with a brush leaves an uneven surface which is then prone to sanding through. And the nature RPC means that it's not easy to fix and any repair is quite obvious. But the biggest limitation is my skill level so it's just a matter of practice.
Assembly went okay. Although I narrowly avoided disaster when one of the bridge screws sheered off just below the surface. The bridge is a Gotoh so I thought I'd be safe. But it was my own fault; in an effort to avoid oversizing the pilot holes, I undersized it enough to make it too tight. I rescued it my drilling into the broken screw with the smallest drill bit I had. I managed to get right down the middle so I was then able to open the hole out the correct size, removing the debris as I went. Fortunately replacement screws were easy to source - so major lessons learnt without any major damage - I got lucky.
I enjoyed the wiring up process. I made a mess of applying the shielding to the back of the scratch plate despite trying to be really careful to avoid bubbles and wrinkles. But it's nice to have the majority of the soldering completely away from the guitar.
Attachment 42237
I used an oil and paper cap which quite frankly, was shockingly expensive. But I wanted to see if it's worth the money and whilst £20 is a lot for something that should cost a few pence - it's not prohibitive. At some point I might change it for cheap orange drop to see if I can tell the difference.
I wired the second tone so that is affects both middle and bridge pickups. The only other point of note is that the second tone control is a push/pull which allows me to add the bridge pickup to any other pickup combination.
Over all I'm really happy with how it plays and sounds. The Monty's pickups (with the £££ cap??) are beautiful - not quite as hot as the Texas Specials I once had but they have loads more clarity and charm then the Fender Noiseless 4s I have in my Elite Strat. With a BE100 Helix model with a Klon in front you can a sweet sounding SRV type tone. Not that I can play like SRV.
I had to fiddle with the setup quite a bit but I think it's just about right now. It's my first time setting up a Strat from scratch so I spent a long time juggling with the relief and saddle height whilst keeping the float on the trem where I wanted it.
The only thing that's a bit odd is when playing with gain the open G string seems to have an odd harmonic if my hand happens to touch it about 2cm away from the bridge. I can make it stop if damp the strings behind the nut so I'm planning to add some string trees. The nut is a preslotted Graphtec - I tried filing the G slot a little deeper (there was a little room for this) but that didn't seem to help. Does any one have any thoughts on this? I'd rather avoid the string trees if I can.
The only other addition is a spring to go in the trem arm hole. It's either too tight or there's way too much play and slop.
But overall I can't put it down and I'm super chuffed!
Next I need to revisit my telecaster build as I have the new neck for it. Then after that it's time to start on build #4 - A Floyd Rose based super strat!
Very nice g-man! I'm sure you can see all the imperfections in the finish, but it looks great in the photos.
Even after over 12 years of doing this, I have yet to get a finish that's flawless!
Your wiring looks nice and tidy, and your shielding too. I've seen some real dog's breakfasts, and yours ain't that.
I'd check the angle of the slot, as well as the width and shape. It may not have needed to go deeper (since you said there was little room to move) but may have just needed a better break angle, make sure the width is not too narrow so the string is not getting "pinched" on the sides, and bottom is a nice uniform "U" shape allowing the string to make full contact with it.Quote:
The only thing that's a bit odd is when playing with gain the open G string seems to have an odd harmonic if my hand happens to touch it about 2cm away from the bridge. I can make it stop if damp the strings behind the nut so I'm planning to add some string trees. The nut is a preslotted Graphtec - I tried filing the G slot a little deeper (there was a little room for this) but that didn't seem to help. Does any one have any thoughts on this? I'd rather avoid the string trees if I can.
It wouldn't hurt to check the G saddle slot and break angle as well. Your description sounds like it nut related, but sometimes it's deceiving. Unwound G strings can do weird stuff.
A little trick with those springs, is to put a small ball of Blu Tak at the bottom of the hole. It will hold the spring in there when the arm is removed so you don't have to leave the arm in. This will reduce the risk of loosing the spring when you do remove it.Quote:
The only other addition is a spring to go in the trem arm hole. It's either too tight or there's way too much play and slop.
A lot of cases won't properly fit a guitar with the arm fitted (and that's a pet peeve of mine, seeing a vibrato arm on a guitar and then the lid jammed down to close).
Oh, and when do we get a demo? (I liked your first one)
Looks great Groovyman.
+1 for string trees.
Thanks both!
I've added it to the list of guitars to refinish when I "get good". So far, of the three bodies I've done, the Tele has best results. This also suffered from the unevenly applied RPC but it has the advantage of fewer curves.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
The Gotoh saddles don't have a slot - is this something I'm supposed to cut? :confused: I didn't think so as I thought that's what the bent vintage style saddles are supposed to be like... I will double check the nut slot though.Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Yeah, I know what you mean - I hate seeing trem arms rammed into cases. I always take mine out. In any vintage style trem system I've had before I tend not put the bar in as it's a pain in the arse. I find the modern push in style less fuss so when I play the Elite I generally put it in and then rediscover how fun tremolos can be. It's only recently that I discovered that you can put a spring in to tension the vintage style arms and the Blu Tak idea is genius!Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Thank you! I have a little something that I'm working on as an improv' exercise that might suit to show it off - If my playing is up to it I'll post it when I'm done :)Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
Oops! My bad! For some reason I thought they were block saddles, which can have sort of a V shape groove coming out of the through hole. However it is still worth checking how the string comes over the bent saddle and making sure there's nothing wonky with the break angle or any rough spots on the plating (I have seen that once).Quote:
The Gotoh saddles don't have a slot - is this something I'm supposed to cut? I didn't think so as I thought that's what the bent vintage style saddles are supposed to be like... I will double check the nut slot though.
In this case, it is more likely the nut, but just trying to cover all the bases.
I’ve just been reading bits of a book on the mechanics of acoustic guitars. It says that wound strings can become slightly unwound, and that if you loosen one off and give the windings at the ball end a couple of turns in the direction of the windings (normally anti-clockwise) then this can close up the windings, make them more regular and remove some unwanted resonances. Worth a try, though it’s a bit harder an a trem bridge than on an acoustic bridge!
Alternatively you can try replacing the string, as you do occasionally get a duff string that doesn’t play the same way all along its length.
You should be able to burnish the copper foil nice and flat and almost eliminate all the ridges in the foil. I normally use the rounded end of a metal scalpel, but anything hard with a rounded edge will do. Just press down and rub from side to side.
And +1 for string trees. Unless the nut slot bottoms are a long way from the headstock face, the break angle on the B and E strings is almost always too shallow for enough downward pull to keep the strings in place. The G string is often marginal, and I wait and see how it plays before fitting a second string tree. On standard tuners, putting enough turns on so the strings come off the bottom of the tuner post helps. Likewise, use staggered height locking tuners so that the G, B and E strings leave the posts as low as possible.
Even though you’ll pretty much always need to fit one string tree, the less it has to pull the string down by, the less friction generated by the string moving beneath it when bending strings or using the trem.
I have several strat/tele builds from my "early days" that have two string trees, but ones I've done in the past 4 years or so, I've been able to get away with just the B/E one (or none on my 2020 strat). I attribute this to just getting better at doing nut work.
I have contemplated redoing all the nuts on my guitars with two trees, but I've yet to get up the motivation to do it.
Plus it would involve plugging the old screw hole (which could lead me to refinishing the headstock because I'm a bit of a nut that way) and the reality is there are some guitars that you just need a retainer on the G no matter what. I find that confounding, but it is just the way it goes sometimes.
I have seen these online but never tried one: THREE STRING TREE
Reverend Guitars (HERE) do a fancier one that I like the look of better, but they're 14 US bucks each plus postage.
This works fine with no trees:
Attachment 42238
This is just a shameless exhibition of said guitar!
Attachment 42239
Thanks Simon, my G string is unwound. Are you suggesting the resonance might be coming from the other wound strings?Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
I am using staggered tuners for exactly this reason. But it has settled down over the last couple of days. I might live with it for a while.
Nice Mc - I like the unconventional scratch plate and the chrome knobs!Quote:
Originally Posted by McCreed
I like the look of the triple tree - Amazon seem to sell them too.
G string. No, I was originally in wound 3rd mode, recognised this after posting, but as I didn’t specifically mention a G string, I left it up as-is as it’s still a useful snippet of information.
Whilst it’s probably to do with the nut slot or the break angle, I’d check that the saddle is sitting parallel to the base plate and that both of the saddle height screws are touching the baseplate reasonably firmly. It’s very easy to have the saddle sitting at an angle, and with just one of the screws holding the saddle up and the other loose and some way from the base plate, or lightly touching it and able to vibrate against it at certain frequencies. It’s a fine balancing act, as when you tighten up one screw, you are likely to then raise the other screw up a bit. I get the saddles sitting flat first and with the long part of the hex key in the screw, just very lightly rotate the shaft of the hex key with my fingertips (to use minimum leverage) until I can feel some resistance, then stop.
Excellent point about loose saddle height screws Simon.
A couple of tricks for those saddle screws that habitually loosen up are:
1) Once the string action has been finally set, a small dab of clear nail polish on the threads right where the screw enters the saddle (and allowed to dry). If they need readjusting in the future, the nail polish will just chip off as soon as the screw is turned. Then re-apply when the new height is set.
Pro Tip: DO NOT use super glue for this! (learnt that the hard way!)
2) If they are block saddles, the screw can be fully extracted, then a narrow strip of teflon tape (like plumbers use) wrapped around the threads. The screw can still be adjusted up and down, but the tape adds enough friction to keep it from moving on its own from vibrations.
Excellent ideas - I’ve had problems even getting the saddles to sit straight. It seems when I turn one legs it skews the saddle off to one side. I have to lift the string a push it back.
But the resonance could be coming from a loose screw. I’ll investigate further - thanks both.
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