TV

[Simon Barden]

[frosty response]

That's gr-r-eat!

[impala59]

I got a bit done on the TV and assembled for check and playability test. Not wired up at this time but I have some issues to address. The nut is way too high, I may fit a brass or bone one as the plastic one seems pretty low quality. The neck is a touch high around the 9th to 12th frets so some truss rod adjustment is needed. The round brass individual bridge saddles don't work, they force the string set 3 mm or so to the treble side and the strings foul the spring between the saddle and the base where it passes through the body. It also affects the position of the string relative to the pickup poles. I believe that I have some square type in-line saddles that will solve this problem. These round saddles obviously need the adjuster screws to be offset, which is another option, drilling holes to the left of the originals in the back of the bridge plate I think that I used up all of my set-up luck in earlier builds that just fell into perfect action and intonation!
I fitted my 6mm brass ferrule/anchor block and a strat type jack socket
The pickups are a Voodoo Vibe mini humbucker in the neck position and a Wilkinson vintage in the bridge. The scratch plate has, I hope, added to the hybrid feel by mimicking the body either side, and the control plate also follows the body line. ( lessons learned from Sonic with lines etc!) The neck joint is an attempt to smooth things out, losing the Tele square block, still some work to do there.
I think it works dimensionally (I reduced the horn size) it is very comfortable in the sitting position (not fitted strap buttons yet) I may relieve the back top edge a little to lose the tele squareness a little. It is light and relatively compact and I hope will eventually be a nice instrument to play. I do think it still looks a little bit awkward (particularly from behind) but I can live with it!

[impala59]

A bit of work on the neck and I am nearly there. I decided to fettle the original plastic nut before making a new one. I had to cut in about 3mm to get the action right and this actually revealed not a truss rod issue but two high frets, 10 and 17. I shall dress those in due course but am basically very happy with the general action now. Once I replace the saddles and make a decent nut I am pretty sure it will be a nice player. For some reason I strung this one with fender 9 - 42's and with a 24.75 scale this will be a real string bender

[impala59]

I seem to be chasing the buzz/dead notes at the moment and would appreciate some guidance, particularly from you neck building guys.
As stated previously, I seem to have run out of my easy set-up luck and this one is proving a bit difficult.
I have solved the string alignment issue by using a set of roller saddles. They have put the strings more central and the only issue now in that respect is moving the neck pickup a mil or two toward the treble side for better pole positioning.
I invested in a toothed fretboard straight edge and a trapezoidal fret rock indicator together with fret stones, fretboard protectors and a crowning file. The straight edge showed a dish in the middle which I cranked out with the truss rod (about 7/8 th's of a turn clockwise) This then proved that I had cut the nut slots too deep (not too concerned as I am replacing the nut anyway) By temporarily packing the nut slots with tinfoil and adjusting the new saddles, I achieved a fairly decent action with good intonation over most of the fretboard. The rock detector confirmed the high frets at 10 and 17 and I will work on those once I have replaced the nut.
My questions are these; did I do this in the right order? i.e. neck straight, nut, saddles, frets. or have I approached this wrong? Is there a definitive method of setting the neck with an ordered procedure to ensure its not one step forward and two steps back?
It seems to be a bit of a dark art and is obviously why luthiers are highly skilled artisans, some pointers would be most welcome
Pics show the new saddles and neck pickup misalignment

[Sonic Mountain]

It's a bit of personal preference IMO and I often find myself repeating the process a couple of times to sneak up on the best possible setup.

So I start with making sure the neck is straight with zero relief. I then check that all the frets are properly seated with a mallet.

Mark all the frets with a black Nikko and let it dry.

Then Radius block and around 600 or 800 grit wet and dry.

Ensuring the block is centered I sweep from the low frets up to the high frets checking after each pass. You are looking to see that there is even amounts removed from all the frets, the nikko helps you see any low points. Having a couple of low frets can mean removing a fair bit of material and introducing a very flat top to some of the higher frets. You want to try and remove as little as possible, but sometimes it's unavoidable that quite a bit has to come off.

At this stage I will often do a couple of extra sweeps of the higher frets past 12 to give a very slight fall away in fret height.

Next I re-do the nikko marker and make sure the frets are blacked out again.

Then I use my crowning file to carefully dress the frets. Again, the black nikko lets you see where hasn't been filed and guides the high and low points. You need to sweep across the entire fret paying attention to not flattening out the radius in the middle. I usually find that the ends towards the E strings need the most work.

Then I file the fret ends to make sure there are no sharp bits or overhang.

Now they are essential shaped I polish with steel wool and then some cutting compound and a dremel buffer.

Once that's done I string it up and set the string height and do an initial pass of the intonation. Now comes the fine tuning. At this stage I usually play it for a bit to establish any problem areas. I normally find the next day after initial setup some relief has crept into the neck after having string tension on it. So it's a good idea to check that. For a strat style neck I like to see about an office paper thickness of light in the middle of the fret board. Some guitars need a little more and some less, it's a matter of trying and seeing.

Once it's settled a bit I move onto the nut. This can be a bit tedious, filing, restringing, checking. I generally aim for about 0.5mm clearance between the first fret and the low E string and about 0.3 on the High E string. At the 12th fret I aim for 1.5mm on the low E and 1.25mm on the high E (Adjusting at the saddles) Again, some guitars just need a little more height in the action, but I personally think that is about as low as is practical without ending up with a lot of string clash when you are strumming. You can reduce that 'clashing' by running heavier strings, but that can make it more uncomfortable to do big bends.

At this stage it should be pretty good, I would normally go back over the intonation now as well. Again, play it and see if you can find any problem areas/buzzing. I normally put a dot on any problem frets with a nikko. Then you can go over those areas using a rocker to work out what is sitting too high. If you've done a good job of the initial level and dress, there is normally only very small amounts needing removal to stop buzzes/deadspots.

I might end up doing this whole process a couple of times to get it really really good, it depends a lot on the starting condition of the neck/frets. Sometimes you get lucky and they need hardly any work at all.

[king casey]

I might end up doing this whole process a couple of times to get it really really good, it depends a lot on the starting condition of the neck/frets. Sometimes you get lucky and they need hardly any work at all.

Yes, that pretty comprehensively covers the way I attempt it.
Even the part about revisiting some time later...perhaps before a string change.
(or in my case a neck re-fret).

cheers, Mark.

[impala59]

Thank you Sonic and Mark, I shall endeavour to follow your guidance with patience, I do have a tendency to rush things so will have to exercise restraint as I work on this oneI

[impala59]

So, after a period of ill health and family woes, I thought i had better finish this as it was languishing in the corner of the garage for about a year! How time flies! Finessing the frets after following the above advice paved the way to finish it. I thought as its a bit of a marmite guitar I would use a marmite colour, but friends seem to have warmed to it! It sounds great with the P90-esque on the neck and the Wilkinson on the bridge, a good tonal range and balance, the brass nut and anchor block add brightness and through some new effects from Sonicake that I was given, it is a real screamer too. Probably the last I will build for a while, although the excitement of plugging in and discovering the guitar certainly got the juices going a bit! I am sure that the resultant successful sound was more by luck than judgement, but I have picked up very expensive instruments and been disappointed with the sound and feel. This is quite a light weight guitar made with scrap wood, the bought in Gibson scale neck with light gauge fender strings is very playable, so all in all very happy! I am grateful to all the contributors to this site for their advice and comments, I now have a selection of guitars that I created and would not swap them for any other, thanks guys!

[Trevor Davies]

It looks good impala59. I had forgotten the history in this build diary! Quite a read. Great that it is very playable and adds to your collection.