Second Build - LP1ss

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Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

Finally got some strings on.
One problem I noticed during the setup was that the low E string saddle on the bridge was way too high compared to the others. So I filed it down to fit the curve of a 12 inch understring radius gauge.
This was when I questioned why the 6 saddles on the bridge face different directions.

Are the curved side of the saddles all meant to be facing the tail stop? The PB ones don't. The G brand ones do.

I would assume that reslotting the saddle should be similar to the nut, and the slot should have a break angle to the tail stop? This is difficult when the saddle is face the other way.

Anyway, I rotated the 3 low string saddles around. I'm not sure if it made any difference.

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I just took a look at my epi LP and the low string saddles curve towards the neck, the 3 high saddles curve away from the neck.


e )
b )
g )
d (
a (
e (

It really doesn’t natter which way the saddles sit in term of sound. The bass side saddles are often arranged with the flat side to the rear just so that the string notch can be moved back further for intonation purposes. But if the bridge mounting holes are slightly too far back relative to the neck scale length, it may be necessary to rotate one or more bass-side saddles so the flat edge faces forwards in order to intonate the strings properly.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

It really doesn’t natter which way the saddles sit in term of sound. The bass side saddles are often arranged with the flat side to the rear just so that the string notch can be moved back further for intonation purposes. But if the bridge mounting holes are slightly too far back relative to the neck scale length, it may be necessary to rotate one or more bass-side saddles so the flat edge faces forwards in order to intonate the strings properly.

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Thanks Simon, good to know.

Finally got all the setup complete and intonation done. With a capo on the first fret I lowered the bridge to get a low action (as per an Action ruler). Then with a capo on the third fret I tried to achieve 1st fret string heights of .008" on the E/A; .006" D/G and .004" B/E (thank you McCreed). I needed to file the nut slots a bit so as to achieve this - so the Hosco Nut Files got a good work out (they seemed good to use). Overall I have achieved a Low action and she plays quite well. All good.

When amped up with high gain there is a bit of buzz when I'm not touching the strings. Maybe I need to shield the electronic cavity? I think I can live with it for now.

Also tested out how small/fine I can print a vinyl sticker using the Cricut machine.

That looks really nice. The truss rod cover decal is a perfect fit too.
I'd guess that any buzz might be the un-shielded control cavity - did you use the copper tape? It really is worth doing

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Originally Posted by Andyxlh

That looks really nice. The truss rod cover decal is a perfect fit too.
I'd guess that any buzz might be the un-shielded control cavity - did you use the copper tape? It really is worth doing

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Thanks Andy.
No I did not use copper tape. I haven't used tape on my other kits and they have not had any buzz! Maybe it is time to experiment.

It’s worth checking the string to ground resistance. That black hardware finish isn’t conductive (typical kit hardware anyway), so the parts need to be scraped to get continuity. Even if you have, it’s possible if you’ve adjusted a post height that you may now have non-conductive areas in contact.

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Originally Posted by Simon Barden

It’s worth checking the string to ground resistance. That black hardware finish isn’t conductive (typical kit hardware anyway), so the parts need to be scraped to get continuity. Even if you have, it’s possible if you’ve adjusted a post height that you may now have non-conductive areas in contact.

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The string to jack ground is 1.5 ohm, compared to jack ground to 3-way switch ground is 0.4 ohm.
On my AG-2 the string to jack ground is 0.4 ohm, the same as the switch ground to jack ground.
The TB-4 was worst at 30 ohm!

I wouldn't have thought 1.5 ohm was a concern!

No, that’s fine.

Buzz at high gain is pretty normal, even for humbuckers. Standard electric guitar wiring dates from the 50s, and there's a lot more electronic noise around now than then, so adding shielding is never a wasted activity. The higher the gain, the more a small amount of noise is amplified.

You may find that there is a slightly high resistance ground connection to the back of a pot. It's quite often the case that redoing a wiring harness can improve the noise level. But if it's not noisy when playing clean then I wouldn't be too concerned about that.

I assume that it's the standard kit pickups at the moment? Some 'asymmetric' pickups designed to have different numbers of winds per coil may sound more interesting than 'symmetric' ones, but as each coil has a different length of wire, the noise signals from each coil are of slightly different amplitudes, so don't cancel out fully when the signals are combined. You wouldn't notice it at low gain, but it will become more apparent at high gain. It may possibly be the case that the kit pickups have different turns per coil (more through accident than design I'd imagine). If they are 4-wire, then a quick measure of each coil's respective DCR with a multimeter would give an indication of how well balanced they are.