Marcel's folley #6 a PRS-1H

[Marcel]

While the soldering iron was hot for the Klon clone pedal I was building I figured it was a good time to add the earth wire to the volume pot. About 20 minutes of fiddling to get the pot out so I could solder the wire, and then 5 minutes to get it back in again...

While I was at it I got the multimeter out and measured the resistance of the two Epiphone ProBuckers and found the other reason that this build is so bright. In HB mode the neck is 8k1 and the bridge is 8k7. both very low resistance for HB's. In SC mode they are both a little over 4k each. Signal level is quite decent despite the low coils resistances, with nil problem getting respectable overdrive sounds through pedals or amps.

On a semi-acoustic (hollow body) build like this PRS-1H to me and my ears it is not that bad a thing as the acoustic properties of the guitar really shine, but it does take some getting used too. Not that there is any less bass just that the high end is very present...Because of this and as I have another chrome set of Epiphone ProBucker/57 bucker combo which has me thinking it is highly likely that the chrome set will find their way into my ES-1TL build as the Alnico II Toneriders in it seem a tad too dark for that build and the Epiphone PU's should brighten it up a lot.... time will tell ....

All that's left to do is some nut work and a touch of work on the frets... Been 4 weeks and still waiting for my order from StewMac with my new fret and nut files to come in so just a bit annoyed with the mail systems 'Xmass rush' or more appropriately 'International Non-rush' ...

[juanitasanch]

That looks great!! The colour and contrast with hardware fittings looks amazing very eye catching!

Did some of the hardware fit out this afternoon. ... It seems perfection is not my strong point. It all seems only just okay to me...

The new bridge itself is fine, just wish the posts would go deeper in. I cleaned out the holes with a drill but they still sit proud about 2 or 3 mm which is enough to make the action very ho-hummm... I think I need a bigger hammer, but that brings on a whole new set of issues. And getting them out might be a nightmare in itself considering how hard I had to hit them to get them this far.

Will be going the HB/SC switching option on this one. Pull switches on both the vol and tone controls --- vol = neck, tone = bridge.

[Marcel]

Something that's not visible in the the correct time line point in this build diary is how I ensured that the neck is/was in the correct place when I set it...

When dry I found the correct location for the nut and 12th fret relative to the bridge. I then created a block spacer (in my case a tiny piece of plywood) to fit in the gap between the neck tongue and the back of the first PU cavity. Essentially I extended the neck tongue to the back of the PU hole.

After glueing the spacer block in place in the PU hole I could then be sure the neck would be in the correct place when I set it eliminating the need to do bridge to 12th fret measurements during the actual neck setting process. The neck set process became just working with the neck, body, some glue, a set of clamps and two strings.

A picture tells a thousand words. I didn't include this picture earlier due the huge amount of glare on the top that hides the flame that is actually there.

[DarkMark]

Nice tip. I imagine that will help a lot of people out.

[Marcel]

For want of a better place to put this, and to not start a thread that may only have a few comments .... a note on bridges.

On other PRS-1H build threads many have opted to replace the kit bridge with one that is fully adjustable, of which there are two main choices being the Musiclily and the "Bad Ass" bridge with the Wilkinson bridge offering basic overall adjustment with extra trims for the G and B strings...

I got a Bad Ass bridge in Gold for this build and it didn't fit. Too tall, resulting in higher than ideal action at the 12 fret. As a result I stayed with the kit bridge and its limited intonation options.

Some of you may know I have a PRS SE245, which comes with a bridge that also comes with limited adjustment for intonation. While the intonation wasn't that bad it still niggled at me so on the strength of posts in other PRS-1H build threads I obtained a Musiclily bridge in Chrome to be fitted to my Chrome loaded PRS SE245... A set of D'Addario EXL120 (9-42) and about an hour slowly working through the intonation setup and the PRS SE245 is now beautifully intonated...and sounds as awesome as a PRS can.... though there is an issue.

The musiclily fully adjustable wrap around bridge while providing all the adjustment needed for perfect intonation it is not a high quality piece of kit. Actually it is a pretty ordinary item of mass manufacturing from dubious quality metals. In my case during adjustment of the A string saddle it became apparent that the set screw is bent or curved causing the adjustment to become very tight at a certain point in its adjustment range. With the A string saddle effectively stuck and the head of the associated screw now burred I resorted to setting the entire bridge position according to the A string intonation requirements first and then setting the saddles for the other 5 strings based around that. Not the ideal, but luckily for me it worked...

As they were only AU$16 each I did buy 2 of the Musiclily bridges but by the time the disaster happened I had already strung the instrument and replacing the errant bridge would mean trashing the brand new unplayed set of strings. So for now the errant Musiclily bridge stays on the PRS SE245, and Chrome hardware options remain a remote possibility for my PRS-1H build...

And for reference PRS do have/sell a fully adjustable wrap around bridge to suit the SE245 and very similar to the Musiclily bridge though at upwards of AU$230 each plus shipping I doubt I will be placing an order any time soon...

[Andy40]

Hey Marcel, Thanks for posting this. I haven't got this far in my build yet (God I take so long!) but I think I got the Wilkinson bridge as I think the height measurements are right on. I'll let you know (when I get that far).

[FrankenWashie]

I haven't got this far in my build yet (God I take so long!).

Ha ha ha HA HA HA HA HA HE takes so long he says! ROFLMAO!

[Andy40]

but not as long as FW.......