Is it worth considering going more radical, and design a new scratchplate that covers the pickup cavities and performs the pickup ring function? You could maybe have shallow pickup rings on top.
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Is it worth considering going more radical, and design a new scratchplate that covers the pickup cavities and performs the pickup ring function? You could maybe have shallow pickup rings on top.
That’s a good point. Jim. The scratch plate will cover up the gap. Still not happy and it will always be a lesser guitar, but that will work.
What have you decided on a fix for the bridge posts positions Simon?
I filed away at the bridge holes so the posts fit. It's a bodge and it isn't pretty, but it works.
That's what I had to do to mine. Bridge and tail piece.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Tailpiece was fine on mine. Just the bridge holes. And they appear to be central, so it wasn’t just one hole drilled incorrectly. So there must be some very dodgy templates being used.
That’s for sure! The tail piece was out about 3mm as well as the bridge.
Did some fret levelling and reprofiling on the GSM-1 yesterday, but the exposed neck pickup rout hole took away my motivation to do any more.
Here's the hole:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...923/85Sap3.jpg
And here's the bridge with the elongated post holes. I used the expensive TonePros bridge because it has the locking grub screws that keep it in place and stop any prospective rattling because of the wonky holes.
You can also see that the B and E saddles have had extra notches filed in them to spread out the strings to the correct width. The bridge post holes really needed be slightly to the treble side to get the standard width to work:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/I6FJK2.jpg
As it was originally, the low E ran down parallel with the side of the neck but the high E was running inwards a bit. At least they are sorted now.
Here's the guitar as it currently is. I wired in the pickups today, had a go at setting up the guitar, couldn't find a decent combination of bridge height and neck relief, so went and did another fret level. In theory I did nothing different, as the first passes with the levelling file took off all the marker from the tops of the frets. So the frets must have been level, but after this second time it all went together so easily, and the action is really nice and low.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/egW1ay.jpg
The neck is slightly wider than on the ES-1/330, by 1mm at both the nut and 22nd fret. Coupled with the much deeper, chunkier neck, this makes it a bit less player friendly than some. Much more like a '59 Les Paul than a thin SG neck.
I'm not sure about the pickups yet. They are Iron Gear "Tesla Sharks", basically PAF-style humbuckers with Alnico II magnets. This gives them a lot of treble without the midrange girth a humbucker normally has. To me, they are a bit bland sounding when played clean. Add some overdrive, and they make a great rhythm guitar pickup, with a very tight and defined sound. But less convincing as lead pickups when using the one (fairly mild) overdrive pedal I had to hand. I'll need to try them with the full pedal board. But the guitar might be better with at least one different pickup fitted, probably the bridge one, with a fuller sounding unit. Easy enough to do.
Here's the guitar with the kit pickguard just taped in place. Pouring with rain most of the day here, so I haven't had a chance to have a go at making a new guard that fully fits the gap between the pickups and also better follows the curve of the bottom horn. I also need to make a new rear cover plate after ruining the kit one when trying to deepen the countersinks so the screws didn't protrude so much. I also need to deal with some white bloom in the finish that I thought I'd got rid of but since reappeared around the control knob area. So still a fair bit to do, but getting there.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...924/8Kq0kf.jpg
niggling little fit issues aside, a tremendous result as always Mr. B!
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Nice job despite the series of annoyances you've posted. Finish looks great. (I don't see any bloom in the photo.)
For the little gap at the neck pickup, is there enough room in the route that you can glue in a sliver of mahogany and camouflage it with some stain & clear?
I wouldn't have any issues with it. Looks great!
Just pretend it's a Gibson from the mid 70's when QC went down the toilet.
cheers, Mark.
I like the idea of the grub screws in the bridge. Never seen them before.Quote:
Originally Posted by Simon Barden
Still turned out a very nice guitar Simon. I'd try a small piece of timber in the gap and stain the same colour. Get it the closes you can and glue it in. Your attention to detail is outstanding though..
I can't see myself filling the gap. I'd have to strip the finish back and start again if I did that as I don't think I could ever get the finish to match otherwise - and that's not going to happen. And it will be covered up by the pickguard, so it won't be seen.
Still deciding whether I like the pickups or not. I'm very tempted to replace them.
Another very rainy day, so didn't bother to try to do anything on it today. Maybe tomorrow.
Quick shots of the finished GSM-1. Made a rear control cover and then a new scratchplate for it today. In fact I made 3 scratchpates. First was too small, 2nd was just right but when I came to chamfer the edges I realised I'd done it out of the 1-ply I'd used for the control cover. 3rd time I got it right. It's very slightly bigger than the kit one, and fully fills the gap between the pickup rings. And you now can't see the pickup rout gap.
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/1...922/xdtpuM.jpg
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/vogDTC.jpg
Will do some better shots when there's some decent light and I've given it a polish as it's covered in grubby fingerprints at the moment.
Problem solved. Here was I thinking of building your own slightly enlarged pickup rings to cover the gap. Nice solution.
Well done Simon. Looks very authentic to me.
Cheers Waz
Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk
Cheers.
Weighs in at almost exactly 7lbs, so whilst heavier than the GSJ-1, is still nice and light.
looks great Simon. Did you make the truss rod cover?
No, that was bought. Though I could have done if really necessary.
Oops! Wrong thread! ;)
Well, the 'finished ' GSM-1 wasn't finished.
That bodged bridge and extra saddle slots really bugged me. Also, I must have messed up the last fret level as even with a high action the treble strings were catching on the first three frets, and when I re-levelled, some of the upper frets were really low as well. I now have a better fret profile file which is easier and quicker to use and I'm getting much more consistent results this year.
This was the original bridge bodge due to the holes being 4mm too close together:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/I6FJK2.jpg
I'd found some offset 8mm to 4mm post converters by Kluson, designed for an old Japanese bridge some years back, When they finally came in stock again< i ordered some, along with a Kluson ABR-1 style bridge which has 4mm holes, as it was the only one I could find with un-notched saddles, as I wanted to set the string spacing/positioning myself.
So after I re-levelled the frets again (successfully this time), off came the old saddle and posts and in went the offset converters:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...924/HMH6ne.jpg
I positioned the inserts with the 4mm posts as far away from each other I could get, checked the bridge fitted (it did), then fixed the threaded inserts in place with a drop of thin CA.
I re-used the original strings to set the string positions on the saddles. I first set the two E strings in their correct positions, then used my string spacing ruler to set out the positions of the remaining strings. Then came the classic Gibson method of hitting the strings into the saddles with a small hammer to create the notches. As they are steel strings on brass saddles, they do leave noticeable indents when hit.
It was then a case of throwing those strings away and fitting a new set:
https://imagizer.imageshack.com/v2/8...922/c1mzO5.jpg
The 4mm adapter posts were a lot longer than necessary, poking out of the bridge by approx 3mm. I cut them down before I fitted them in place and set up the action, so they are a bit shorter than they could be, but the bridge is held in place just fine and they will never threaten to stick in the palm of your hand.
The original ABR-1 style Tune-O-Matic bridged didn't use insert bushings, just a single 4mm (or possibly an Imperial equivalent) threaded post which screwed directly into the top of the guitar, so if the bridge sat quite low, you'd have to adjust the length to suit. Whilst I could have screwed the 8mm part further into the bushings, I wanted the transition to sit roughly level with the bushing, not down in the hole, so the 4mm section had to be shortened.
The fret level did all I wanted it to and the action is now really nice and low all along the neck.
Not 100% convinced about the pickups, so may swap those out again for my favourite Iron Gear Blues Engines.
Glad to hear you're getting everything where you want now.
I find it an interesting phenomenon how when we re-visit previous builds, we see/find things we didn't know were wrong or not to our satisfaction. I even find this true of builds I thought I was quite meticulous with during the initial building process.
This has become even more evident recently dedicating my time to revisions and rebuilds only in lieu of new builds.
I know why you did this and it makes perfect sense, but the visual of those strings that are off-centre to the saddles set's my OCD ablaze!! 🤯Quote:
I first set the two E strings in their correct positions, then used my string spacing ruler to set out the positions of the remaining strings. Then came the classic Gibson method of hitting the strings into the saddles with a small hammer to create the notches. As they are steel strings on brass saddles, they do leave noticeable indents when hit.
Blame Pit Bull! If the holes were in the right place then the strings would be too.