Greg's #4 - Scratch SG

[Trevor Davies]

On the SG-2 kit there was a drilled hole from the neck cavity through to the bridge PUP cavity. You can see it in the picture below.
Then there was a drilled hole from the base of the bridge pup cavity into the control cavity. And another from the Control cavity to the lower bridge stop post for the ground wire.

[Simon Barden]

My GSM-1 had a glued-in neck, so there was no wood between the pocket and the neck pickup cavity as on Trevor's, so it was an easy job to just drill through between the neck and bridge cavities. However, they didn't take much care about it and drilled half-way up instead of right at the bottom of the rout.

Pretty sure now I had to mess about with those holes as well in order to get the cables in without affecting the pickup movement and angle. So try and keep the holes as low as possible in the pickup routs.



Otherwise, the rest is exactly the same as Trevor's; bridge pocket through to the control cavity behind the toggle switch and a small hole from the bridge post hole into the control cavity for the ground wire.

I actually found that I couldn't get the ground wire down through the hole cleanly due to having to bend the wire to go through the hole, so I drilled another hole from the post hole into the pickup cable tunnel and used that instead. The ground wire initially just came out and hit the other side of the tunnel, but I just used a screwdriver to bend the end and poke it down into the control cavity aided by a bit of pulling with some long thin tweezers.

[GregLane]

Thanks Trevor
Those photos are a great help.
Can you remember if it looked like they used a long drill from the bridge pick up cavity to the control cavity. It’s a fair distance and I’m interested how they got a low enough angle.
I have just had a look at your build diary and in one of the early photos I can see where the holes are.

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks Trevor
Those photos are a great help.
Can you remember if it looked like they used a long drill from the bridge pick up cavity to the control cavity. It’s a fair distance and I’m interested how they got a low enough angle.
I have just had a look at your build diary and in one of the early photos I can see where the holes are.

It did look like they used a long drill bit. The BGS has some long bits!

[Simon Barden]

As you can see, the GSM-1 cavity was full-sized, but even then, with the pickup wires coming out right behind the toggle-switch, there wasn't much room to route them around the switch.



I seem to remember having to widen the tunnel exit with a Dremel tool to make it easier. Which is why I was concerned about your smaller control cavity. Possibly made harder by my harness being quite rigid, but mainly by wanting to keep the toggle switch operating at the correct angle.

[GregLane]

Thanks for your help. I will cut out the rest of the pockets and then check what angles I've got then.

[GregLane]

What is this contraption?


I have just spent nearly a week working out what the break angle should be on the neck pocket.
I got all sort of answers anywhere between 0 and 3 degrees.
In the end I decide to cut the pocket flat and then insert a shim. But what size shim. They are not cheap to buy.
So I unlimbered the trusty Triton and tried to make some shims of various degrees by slicing up a piece of the Queenland Mahogany that the body is made from.
I cut a piece twice as long the shim which gave me a wider cut at the top of the the shim and the saw could slice out anywhere it liked.
I am very happy with the result the shims need a little of sanding to level across them. Only about .3mm at max. Either the the saw or the piece of wood was not quite vertical.
Here is the result before I have trimmed them to the correct length and sanded them flat. The thinnest is 1 degree the thickest 3 degrees.

[GregLane]

Finally took the the plunge and cut the neck. My wife suggested I had been procrastinating for at least t month.
Anyway all went well with route.


Fits nicely. I need take about 10mm off the end of the cavity. I had to make it a bit longer than the plan because of the odd neck foot that does not go in under the pickup like a real SG.
I need to run the shoulders into the neck but haven't quite worked out a shape or how to do it.


The my first real AAARGHF!
The holes for the machine heads were too small and need drilling out. The neck is covered in thick gloss which looks easy to chip. I taped over the holes and drilled .5 mm each time. Needed 2mm. On the very last hole when AAARGHF!. The drill bit and ripped the head from my grip. Must have been a seniors moment thinking how great I was having drilled the holes without even a scratch. Well I sure paid for it.
At least it wasn't a neck I had spend hours buliding.
I haven't decide on a solution yet: fill and respray, cover with a piece of veneer made for the Queensland Mahogany?


Suggestions for the neck cavity shape and the fix or the head would be appreciated.

I fitted the neck and needed a 1 degree shim to get the strings resting on the last fret.
My original idea was to have the neck sitting 2mm above the body (black) just in case I would decide to fit a pickguard. Then I could route out a bit more if the shim pushed it up too high. As the shim is only 1mm and the black is now slightly less than 3mm I think I will leave it as unless. Unless there some suggestions?

[GregLane]

I decided not to be lazy and drop the neck in a further 3mm. That meant resetting the neck angle with a new shim.
Finished up needing 2 degrees. The strings are almost touching the frets and when I did a rough setup I have plenty of break angle over the stop bar.

New shim 2 degrees. - - Strings almost on frets

Adequate break angle. Sorry for the fuzz

[GregLane]

Made a jig for the pickup cavities. Thanks to YouTube.