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Post subject: Kozy's Franken Stein-o-caster build...FINISHED (mostly) :)
Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:23 am
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Dialog began in the thread from last week…

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... hp?t=40473
kozy814 wrote:
Ceri wrote:

If you're using an undrilled body and want any help getting those bridge screw holes in the right place - just ask...

Cheers - C


I got my body -- it's a pretty nice 3-piece ash body (from Rondo) with the cavities pre-routered with no screw holes as planned. I laid eveything on the ground and sorta put the parts in place. It all looks pretty good -- may need to tweek a thing or 2 to make it fit perfect.

Attached is a photo of the parts "lay-down" (i'll post other photos later today)

Wondering (...Ceri? 8) ) -- Is the exact placement of the bridge what determines how everything falls together? The neck cavity is pretty close to exact dimensions, but some of the routing is a touch sloppy. Need to make sure of my starting point before I look at cleaning up the rough edges...

TIA for any info !!!

[img][img]http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee34/Mercury7Music/Steinocaster.jpg[/img][/img]

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Last edited by kozy814 on Sat Nov 13, 2010 6:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:30 am
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Howdy!

Cool Strat! :D

I'm not to good at explaining this sort of thing so hopefully a more experienced user will step in :D

Edit: I'd need to see the neck routing to give you a better answer :D But for bridge placement the following should help.

From the fret board side of the nut to the inside front edge of the D string bridge saddle should be 25 1/2". That gives you you bridge distance. I'd advise you wind the saddle slightly forward as when you come to intonate the guitar once you done you'll be shifting most of them back a bit and you don't want to run out of room.

Put the neck in place and string the high & low E strings. Run them down the neck to their respective saddles and make sure the bridge is in the right place so neither strings slip off the fret board. Then mark out your bridge mounting holes.

Some times you get lucky and by lining up the pickguard you can get pretty close, but I'd measure it out anyway.

Job done!

I'd recommend getting confirmation of the above before you start drilling holes as i am an Amature Hobbyist and have no formal training in Luthery!

Hope this helps

Andy

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:41 am
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The pickups look a bit weird.

There is a single "blade" coil in the center.

Esthetic-wise, this guitar resembles very much to a '70s Strat. Nice natural ash body, cool aged cream parts.


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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:52 am
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chromeface wrote:
The pickups look a bit weird.

There is a single "blade" coil in the center.

Esthetic-wise, this guitar resembles very much to a '70s Strat. Nice natural ash body, cool aged cream parts.


I thought the same, but I think I remember DiMarzio having p'ups like that at one point.

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:31 pm
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Thanks Andy for the input. I'm gonna read it over and do my best to think thru what you've said. Here are some photos:

[img][img]http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee34/Mercury7Music/body.jpg[/img]

The cavities look pretty good. A tad concerned with the neck cavity -- there's a router hump in the center nearest the neck pup cavity. Not quite sure how to deal with that---thinking that I'll probably need to grind that flush before I mount the neck. Any advice would be great!

Figuring once I get that together and the bridge position established, I can position the pick-guard, which I'm hoping ends up plum with the neck cavity.

Regarding the pickup questions: These are Bill Lawrence L-250s. This was one of the first noiseless "single coil" pups on the market. These came on a strat I bought in 1984 -- I think they we're a couple years old then. SSS was the typical config for this model. They sound great.

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 12:44 pm
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The rear tremolo cavity also looks weird. The bottom edge appears not to be square.... The wood itself looks great, but the cuts on the body appear sloppy.... Hope it all works out for you though!

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:03 pm
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DetroitBlues wrote:
The rear tremolo cavity also looks weird. The bottom edge appears not to be square.... The wood itself looks great, but the cuts on the body appear sloppy.... Hope it all works out for you though!


Yeah, that trem cavity's kinda "boobed" -- i think it'll work, tho. The pick-up/elec cavity seems decent enuf...

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:18 pm
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kozy814 wrote:
Thanks Andy for the input. I'm gonna read it over and do my best to think thru what you've said. Here are some photos:

The cavities look pretty good. A tad concerned with the neck cavity -- there's a router hump in the center nearest the neck pup cavity. Not quite sure how to deal with that---thinking that I'll probably need to grind that flush before I mount the neck. Any advice would be great!

Figuring once I get that together and the bridge position established, I can position the pick-guard, which I'm hoping ends up plum with the neck cavity.

Regarding the pickup questions: These are Bill Lawrence L-250s. This was one of the first noiseless "single coil" pups on the market. These came on a strat I bought in 1984 -- I think they we're a couple years old then. SSS was the typical config for this model. They sound great.

Hi! Kozy814,

Couple of things..This is really a job for the resident forum build master Ceri. But i'll give you a few of my thoughts until he pops in :D

I like your pups! I believe Bill Lawrence has the patent for those. Very retro, very cool!

Pop everything in like you did in the first pic making sure the pickguard is flush with the neck and line everything up by eye. Then have a measure up and make the necessary adjustments to the bridge placement. This will move your pickguard pretty much in to place and line your bridge up. You'll also be able to make sure the pups line up with the strings. You'll probably want the neck screwed in before drilling the bridge holes just in case things have moved.

Regarding grinding the neck joint. I'd hang back on that one untill you've measured everything out. If you loose the hump then you run the risk of having issues with the topside bridge cavity as it may end up too far forward. I can only presume whoever made your body didnt have decent templates. I believe the neck joint was probaly made by clamping two bits of timber either side of a neck then removing the neck and using the timber as a router guide.

Also i think you might have to tidy the rear trem cavity. In the pic it looks as if it tapers in towards the left side which may cause the trem block to hit the back before reaching its full piviot. You could probably pop the bridge in and test that to make sure.

I'm pretty sure its all sortable! I've seen threads here dealing with a whole lot worse!

Hope this helps.....a bit! :D

Andy

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Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 1:32 pm
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Andybighair wrote:
kozy814 wrote:
Thanks Andy for the input. I'm gonna read it over and do my best to think thru what you've said. Here are some photos:

The cavities look pretty good. A tad concerned with the neck cavity -- there's a router hump in the center nearest the neck pup cavity. Not quite sure how to deal with that---thinking that I'll probably need to grind that flush before I mount the neck. Any advice would be great!

Figuring once I get that together and the bridge position established, I can position the pick-guard, which I'm hoping ends up plum with the neck cavity.

Regarding the pickup questions: These are Bill Lawrence L-250s. This was one of the first noiseless "single coil" pups on the market. These came on a strat I bought in 1984 -- I think they we're a couple years old then. SSS was the typical config for this model. They sound great.

Hi! Kozy814,

Couple of things..This is really a job for the resident forum build master Ceri. But i'll give you a few of my thoughts until he pops in :D

I like your pups! I believe Bill Lawrence has the patent for those. Very retro, very cool!

Pop everything in like you did in the first pic making sure the pickguard is flush with the neck and line everything up by eye. Then have a measure up and make the necessary adjustments to the bridge placement. This will move your pickguard pretty much in to place and line your bridge up. You'll also be able to make sure the pups line up with the strings. You'll probably want the neck screwed in before drilling the bridge holes just in case things have moved.

Regarding grinding the neck joint. I'd hang back on that one untill you've measured everything out. If you loose the hump then you run the risk of having issues with the topside bridge cavity as it may end up too far forward. I can only presume whoever made your body didnt have decent templates. I believe the neck joint was probaly made by clamping two bits of timber either side of a neck then removing the neck and using the timber as a router guide.


Also i think you might have to tidy the rear trem cavity. In the pic it looks as if it tapers in towards the left side which may cause the trem block to hit the back before reaching its full piviot. You could probably pop the bridge in and test that to make sure.

I'm pretty sure its all sortable! I've seen threads here dealing with a whole lot worse!

Hope this helps.....a bit! :D

Andy


Thanks again Andy :D. Wish I could play more with it tonight. I'm hoping to have a look at it all again sometime tomorrow. Gotta run out to my son's baseball game :)

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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 7:14 am
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This morning I set everything out just like Andy suggested, placing the pick guard and bridge in a rough position. Using Addy's suggested measurements I found, as Andy stated, that the pick guard could serve as a rough guide.

[img][img]http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee34/Mercury7Music/meas1.jpg[/img]

Making sure the bridge was placed to completely cover the trem cavity hole (It is very close cut...), I measured using Andy's numbers to validate that it was pretty decent for a starting point and put a few pencil scribes on the body and the neck.


After carfully lifting the pick guard, I found I had about an 1/8-inch gap in the neck cavity.

Image
[/img]Image

I proceeded to check to the back of the body/neck joint to see how that gap would affect the bolt assembly.

Image

It's tight but I think it will work. My new bolt holes would be about 3/8-inch away from the body edge which roughly matches up with the existing bolt holes on the neck, if my bolt pilot holes line up with the neck plate as it's shown in the photo. Pretty sure I can't use the same neck holes, but I have no problem doweling the old holes and re-drilling.

BTW, although the trem cavity on back is a slop-job, I don't think the mis-routing adversely affects the pivoting of the trem unit.

I guess the question is: Do I need to fill that gap in the neck cavity? And if so, does that make me pretty safe to move forward? And do I look like I'm safe with this body without more involved repair work.

Thanks everybody -- this is beginning to get fun :lol:

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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 9:20 am
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Warmoth bodies are routed to accept a triple humbucker configuration.

Since the HHH rout is universal, you can install any pickup configuration at your heart's delight.


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Posted: Sat Jun 26, 2010 6:28 pm
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chromeface wrote:
Warmoth bodies are routed to accept a triple humbucker configuration.

Since the HHH rout is universal, you can install any pickup configuration at your heart's delight.


Warmoth products are top shelf no doubt. Since this is my first build-your-own-o-caster, I wasn't as keen to spend the premium $$'s on one of their bodies.

It's true you get what you pay for, but I guess a little challenge with this lesser quality body will be good for the soul :wink:. The woodgrain does look awful nice and the body's pretty light.

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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 5:25 am
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Hi kozy814!

Firstly, I hope the game went well! :D

kozy814 wrote:
It's true you get what you pay for, but I guess a little challenge with this lesser quality body will be good for the soul :wink:. The woodgrain does look awful nice and the body's pretty light.


That's the spirit! I agree the grain does look nice.

Again, I'd recommend getting my advice verified by someone who has more experience before you carry out any permanent work on your body.

I'm glad the trem cavity is not an issue. If it were me, I'd sort out that neck joint.

If your carpentry skills are up to it, I reckon there's a couple of ways to sort out it out. You could rout/ chisel out the hump then pull a Ceri and build up the gap with layers of veneer as expertly demonstrated in this thread: (hope Ceri doesn't mind this little plug)

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... hp?t=17948

If you don't have a router the you could mark out the new neck placement and carefully chisel and sand back to fit. If you do have a router you could make a neck template the same way I made my inlay template and re-route the neck slot. Just make sure everything lines up with your bridge placement.

My last bit of advice would be to take your time and don't rush into anything. I've made many a mistake by not taking the time to think things through.

Hope this helps and welcome to the world of G.B.H (Guitar Building Hysteria)! Once you've done one you'll be planning your next for sure!

Andy

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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:24 am
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Andybighair wrote:
Hi kozy814!

Firstly, I hope the game went well! :D

kozy814 wrote:
It's true you get what you pay for, but I guess a little challenge with this lesser quality body will be good for the soul :wink:. The woodgrain does look awful nice and the body's pretty light.


That's the spirit! I agree the grain does look nice.

Again, I'd recommend getting my advice verified by someone who has more experience before you carry out any permanent work on your body.

I'm glad the trem cavity is not an issue. If it were me, I'd sort out that neck joint.

If your carpentry skills are up to it, I reckon there's a couple of ways to sort out it out. You could rout/ chisel out the hump then pull a Ceri and build up the gap with layers of veneer as expertly demonstrated in this thread: (hope Ceri doesn't mind this little plug)

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... hp?t=17948

If you don't have a router the you could mark out the new neck placement and carefully chisel and sand back to fit. If you do have a router you could make a neck template the same way I made my inlay template and re-route the neck slot. Just make sure everything lines up with your bridge placement.

My last bit of advice would be to take your time and don't rush into anything. I've made many a mistake by not taking the time to think things through.

Hope this helps and welcome to the world of G.B.H (Guitar Building Hysteria)! Once you've done one you'll be planning your next for sure!

Andy


Thanks Andy -- the game did not go well, I'm afraid. Our boys got steamrolled by the 1st place team :( .

I was thinking the same thing--rebuilding the wood material in the neck joint. My Father has a small wood working shop at home, so I'm hoping to institute his facility and get his advice as well :) .

What I aim to do today is check the neck height when slotted in the neck joint to make sure it sits correctly and will line-up with the trem unit. I'll report back what I see... :D

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Posted: Sun Jun 27, 2010 3:45 pm
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Did some checking on that neck cavity. Looks like it might work. At the open end it's routed out 1/32 less than 3/4 of an inch. At the the deepest point in the cavity it's a 1/16 less than 3/4. I'm not too worried about the deepest measurement because I'm thinking I'm going to shim there to fill that 1/8-inch gap..

[img][img]http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee34/Mercury7Music/openneckcav.jpg[/img]

I then put my 70's Fender Strat (which is my most in-tune guitar!) side by side with the project body and neck pieced together and did some quick measurements

Image

What I found was both guitars had roughly the same neck rise (for lack of a better term...) measurement of 1/4 inch, at the 18th fret (this has to be a good thing 8)) . I'm hoping I'm on the right track here -- please chime in if something looks way off..

Andy has given me some indispensable advice -- Thanks, bro'.

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Gibson LP Deluxe RI '69
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Epi Casino RI
Gretsch Pro Jet w/Bigsby
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