Ceri had a hard time replacing a 6point trem with a 2point. I'd be carefull and if you choose to go that course then use maple or another very hard wood.

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No no and no

Whoa! No man, I need the dowels for the screw holes left from the vintage tuners I took off. I ordered a callaham block, as I will not be swithing the bridge plate. Besides, I'm pretty sure I have that MIA trem system sold to a mate across the pond. Just waiting for a response to an email, then its going in the mail.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Though my problem was over a different issue.

Matching the wood with a transparent finish is going to be very tricky indeed. For the record, I'd go about it like this:

Don't recall seeing maple dowel, but in any case, I'd use whatever dowel I could find but leave it 0.5 mm below the surface of the timber. Then get a piece of ash or alder veneer (whichever your body is), which is available easily from online craft suppliers catering to inlay / marquetry enthusiasts. You can buy a small sample very cheaply. Cut out six circles of that veneer, sanding them carefully to size to act as caps on the dowel. Orient them so the grain lines up with the body timber. Glue in and sand the veneer flush with the face of the guitar.

That's all straightforward: the difficult bit will be tinting the veneer caps to match the finish. What I've done in the past is to use artist's acrylic paints and tiny watercolor brushes to literally paint the veneer to match the surounding wood. Use the paint transparent (without white pigment) and very thin, very much as if you were tinting the wood with dye, except that you are trying to match both Fender's body tint in the middle of your sunburst and the effect of the lacquer, discolored by time.

When you are satisfied with the result mask the rest of the body and clearcoat those caps - the body will probably be finished with polyurethane lacquer, which you can buy very easily in an aerosol. Leave it for a couple of weeks to harden then sand it smooth with P1500 and then P2000 wet-and-dry paper, and then polish with a buffing compound.

Here's page two of a thread where I did a similar job on a headstock screw hole, with a medium level of success:

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... c&start=15

It's gonna be a lot of work if you want it to look at all good. Maybe just stick with a good quality six screw trem instead, huh?

Good luck - C

The head stock repair looks great! thats exactly the tip I was looking for.

I will NOT be installing the 2 point trem plate, nor was it ever my intention to do so. My ending up with that part was the result of my guitar pro trying to hose me with extra labor costs. He also originally ordered a set of texas specials for me when I was clear in stating I wanted 69's. The guy just had a bad case of getting what he wanted me to have rather than what I had asked for.

I'm pretty much at a stand still until the new block, trem springs and saddles arrive. This is most disappointing as I brought home a new Marshall MG30 last night and had nothing to play on it. Good thing I'm getting the tele back this afternoon.

Thanks to everyone who posted suggestions and advice. I will update when the rest of the parts arrive.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Hi thumbs: seems you and I were making our last posts simultaneously. If it's just tuner screw holes you are plugging then my method in the previous post is ideal for you. Here's before, during and after pics of how it works.

Screw hole before being drilled out and plugged with dowel:


Capped with a piece of plain maple veneer:


Veneer cap painted, lacquered and buffed:


And for the heck of it, here's the neck with tuners installed, awaiting it's body:


Job done!

Cheers - C

PS: Ha! Again we've posted simultaneously...

I suspected that was the case Ceri. No harm done! Again, thanks for sharing examples of your work. Its obvious you take alot of pride in your efforts. Fantastic results!

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Is there a way to check my connections after I've soldered my connections back together?

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Yep plug the guitar into a amp and lightly tap the polepieces of the pickups with a screwdriver. You'll hear it popping.
You could use a multimeter on the jacksocket lugs but i dont know what the readings should be.

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No no and no

Good tip! Ya'll cant imagine how glad I was to hear them all pop. '

Now I have one more question (for today anyways) Are the pick upd supposed toe lean a little either towards or away from the neck? They did this before I installed the new pups and still do. I'm just wondering if this is normal or the result of using the springs instead of the rubber tubing for setting the height.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

They do sometimes. It helps if you have the wider end of the spring at the scratchplate and narrower at the pickup. On the offchance try the rubber grommit. It may resolve it a bit.
I wouldnt let it worry me unless i could see clearly through a big gap.

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No no and no

nope, no gaps. I have the springs set as you described. I'm not going to worry about it right now. As I said the others had the same lean and they sounded good for stock pups, so I'll just leave that be for now.

All I have left to do is plug the holes in the head stock from the vintage tuner screws and set the string trees. Then its just a waiting game until the block and trem springs and saddles arrive.

Because I am doing all of the work on this myself, I've decided not to do the heel and rib contouring. Instead I'd like to get another body and do a complete ground up build on a Gilmour .0001 Replica that will include the heel and rib contouring. But,, thats a whole other thread.

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Certainly sounds like you've been biten by the bug mate.

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No no and no

No doubt! I guess I had over complicated guitar work in my mind prior to this undertaking. But now that I have some 1st hand experience I've learned that if you just take your time and plan, plan, plan, and then plan some more, its not that big of deal. It's also extememly helpfull to have a near limitless source of info and advice available thru the forums.

But seriously, what better way to end up with a truely custom guitar than to build it yourself?

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

a few pics of whats been done.

CS '69 pups:



The locking tuners:



Its a horrible pic, but the fill job on one of the old tuner screw holes is in there somewhere:



some cosmetic changes on the front:



Block and saddles and she's ready to rip! Finally got my tele back too:

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"I started out with nothing, and still have most of it"

Sorry to be so late to the discussion. After reading this post, I think you are trying to build a Strat Ultra. This MIA Fender product uses a lot of the things you are outsourcing for your project. I have no need to modify my Ultra. The Lace sensors (Blue, Gold, and Red) are great, but if I had to change them I would make them all Gold Laces, because I like the low output pickups. They are noiseless.

I have 22 fret neck with ebony fretboard, medium jumbo frets, 2-point tremelo with hipshot trimsetter (great if you break a string), wilkinson LSR nut, Locking tuners, 6 saddle steel bridge, Microtilt adjustment of the neck, biflex trussrod neck, and Schaller locking tuners and straplocks. They made these guitars in 1990-1999. See this link:

http://xhefriguitars.com/page4.html

I think Fender should reissue these because they were fantastic.

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2007 Classic Player Baja Telecaster
1991 Strat Ultra
1990 Gibson ES-347
1986 Yamaha SBG2100
1980 Gibson L6-S
1971 Stratocaster
Fender Stage Lead Combo
Marshall MOSFET 100 watt Amp