The Clueless German got herself a GR-1SF kit

[ThatCluelessGerman]

The wiper puller worked, hooray! Well, sort of. The bolt it came with was a tad too short, so I screwed it out to take it to the hardware store as a template. As I had it out, out of curiosity, I screwed it in to the bushing, carefully trying to wiggle a bit. It started to wiggle. I wiggled a while and had it out!
Will still get a new bolt for the puller, because it actually seems like it could come handy again.

So, everything was good for a few minutes, until I noticed that the bridge holes seems to be too close together. MEH! The bridge does not fit!
Neither does my replacement roller bridge
However, the roller bridge holes can be opened up more easily than the stock bridge, I just need to file away one millimeter of metal. My smartwatch is happy, it thinks I've been exercising. LOL.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

It plays! Yeeees, finally!



I must say, even though it didn't turn out the way I hoped it would, it plays pretty damn well. The action is quite low, no fretbuzz at all, the neck is slim and smooth, and the one pickup that's working (LOL ;D) is amazing, considering I paid 20 bucks for them

Talking about the pickups, the switch is acting up again. I resoldered it yesterday after installing and it all worked well (tap tested), but I guess tightening the screws and turning it a bit broke the solder joint AGAIN. So currently, only the neck pickup works.

But as the switch is pretty crappy and wiggly anyway, I have ordered a replacement. Hope I will have the "rhythm/treble" washer (or whatever I'm gonna write on it) ready until then.

Another thing I messed up is how the wiring is visible through the f-hole. I should have made the ground and pickup wires a bit longer. I have tied them together and could probably get them a bit further out of the way, let's see. I will MAYBE fix this if it bothers me too much. Right now, I think I can live with it.

Now, I wish that thing was made of tone wood instead of cheap plywood. I would LOVE to have an acoustic guitar with such a neck!

Tomorrow, I need to make the pickguard and trussrod cover. Sawing 3mm brass, I'm mentally crying already ;-)

[Simon Barden]

Well done on bringing it all together at the end. At least you now know that it's worth fixing. Looks great as well.

You do know that the strings are supposed to go under the round bar at the front of the Bigsby? It's there to give you a decent break angle for the strings over the saddle.



Have fun cutting the brass!

[Sonic Mountain]

Having done a bit of work with 3mm brass...yeah have fun, at least you aren't making tentacles :P

Great looking guitar you've put together there.

[AMG-Kazoo]

I've found that as long as the angle is enough to keep the strings in the saddles (bridge height will come into play here). You are better going over that bar for tuning stability. Less break angle = less pressure on the bridge sadles and more free movement.

Roller saddle, over bar stringing and graphtech nut go has done wonders for my tuning stability.

[fender3x]

That is really a gorgeous outcome, planned or unplanned.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

[Ricky]

Serious congratulations, Clueless!
That is one sweet looking guitar and the fact it plays so well completes the package!
Well done.

Cheers
Ricky

[DarkMark]

Love the finish. I never consider brown stain but it always looks good (Mental note for the future). Do a sound demo when it’s all sorted.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

Hey guys, I'm glad you like it (from afar )!

I spent the last two days adding the final touches, polishing metal and playing her for sure!

Truss rod cover and pickguard were cut from 3mm brass and etched with ferrous chloride. Then, I made a washer for the new switch and a little badge for the bigsby clone where I want to add some kind of serial no... It's currently only attached with sticky tape until I get my number punches ready so I can punch the number on the badge.

Resoldering the switch was surprisingly easy, I am so lucky my hands fully fit through the pickup holes

Now, everything is working as intended. The pickups are Gretsch Broadt'rons, the cheapest Gretsch pickups and people seem to bash them a lot, but I think they sound pretty awesome.

I have taken like a million crappy pictures of the guitar, so be prepared I'm going to dump a few of them here...

You do know that the strings are supposed to go under the round bar at the front of the Bigsby? It's there to give you a decent break angle for the strings over the saddle.

Haha, I was so BUSY with the bridge, this didn't even occur to me. But of course you are right, I don't know why I didn't notice it myself.

I've found that as long as the angle is enough to keep the strings in the saddles (bridge height will come into play here). You are better going over that bar for tuning stability. Less break angle = less pressure on the bridge sadles and more free movement.

Roller saddle, over bar stringing and graphtech nut go has done wonders for my tuning stability.

Interesting! I have restrung it as I got some really bad ghost notes and bridge noise while the strings went over the bar.

Do a sound demo when it’s all sorted.

LOL, now if I could only play guitar
No, seriously... I am not sure if you could call it a sound demo.. more a noise demo probably.

[ThatCluelessGerman]

More pictures. Ignore dust and fingerprints please