About the tremsetter Jeff: why do you drill the big hole as opposed to a hole just the width of the screw? I'm racking my brain to come up with the answer for this

I remember having a tremsetter when i had a strat plus. Does it just replace one of the springs from a regular setup? like if i wanted to put one on a guitar that has my normal 3 springs i'd just replace one of those with the setter?

Another question: when you put on the screws for the strap buttons do you measure anything or do you just eyeball it before drilling?

_________________
Luck won't do it and ignorance can't

George Van Eps.

Been watching this thread since it started Jeff. Awesome work as usual. Hope you can save the other neck thats a whole nother thread....

What I did was used the exact same size drill bit used by Fender when they make that hole. I think it is a little bit bigger to make sure that the wire protruding from the tremsetter will not catch on the walls of the hole causing it hang up.


The tremsetter comes with a completely different spring claw system which you replace the one-piece stock claw with two small claws and the center hook that locks on to the tremsetter. These systems always work with 2 springs and one tremsetter spring system.


I eyeball these holes based on other Strats I have here. That is really easy to do, especially the strap button on the butt end of the guitar. This has nice split grain that gives me the center and then so it is easy to to locate the exact position.

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Yikes! That is a downer, to be sure.

If only the bow had been going the other way. But promise us you're not going to junk it? Time to get creative with some clamps and heat, right?

Anyhow. The guitar turned out just gorgeous. No surprise, but congrats due all the same. There will be newer Forum users here with their jaws hanging open in admiration - that's certainly how the older Forum users feel!

Cheers - C

_________________

Thanks Mr C. Yes, I have a plan—i mean after all, the only thing I can do is ruin it and it is already pretty ruined. I have in one of our offices a book press with a square rack and a 1.5 ton hydraulic press on it. My plan is to put it over a pan of water in an over on lowest heat for a couple hours and then put it in the press with a round padded piece of wood in the center, thus pressing it for 4 or 5 days. Really serious bow here. I can't help but to think is already had an issue and then when I washed the ebony with soap and water—the drying process caused it to shrink on the face side. You have any theories how a neck could do this or suggestion on a fix???

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

Hmmmmm - not really.

I had the exact opposite problem with this neck - a backbow with an actual kink around the seventh fret (teach me to buy cheap no name parts on Ebay...):



So I cramped it up as you see in the photo and simply left it in our small utility room with the gas boiler, washing machine and tumble drier - it gets surprisingly hot and damp in there and then cold and dry, by turns. That's a very gentle kind of heat and after a few days nothing had happened. But after about six weeks of that cramp pressure and gentle heat cycle the neck was straight. I strung it up with a set of tens and that was enough to pull it forwards into frontbow and get the correct relief. I've never needed to touch the trussrod on that neck: the strings hold it where it wants to be.

But your frontbow is much more difficult and calls for more radical action. I've never had to deal with unwanted frontbow so it is uncharted territory to me. I shall be watching your surgery with the greatest interest!

I shall also be looking out for photos of your press. I too have a nice 19th century cast iron bookbinder's press, but it is not near big enough to put a guitar neck in. I can't wait to see yours! Who's the bookbinder, by the way; you or Mrs X? Or do you use it for something else? Lotta things you can do with a binder's press...

Good luck - C

_________________

I was wondering; since the nut is already off, if you could clamp the neck into a slight back-bow, replace the nut, tighten the rod, string up the guitar and then add relief?

It's an interesting research project if nothing else.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"

X if a guitar on this forum ever rated a "HOLY SCHMOKES" it sure is that one! Supremely nice job. Great thread. Thnx.

T2

_________________
-----------------------------------------------------------
What time is it? It's Fender Time.

Hey Mr. C, I was just looking at my book press and decided it was not quite wide enough. The press is something I made years ago, and we still use, for pressing 100s of small booklets after they come out of a binding machine to make them lay flat before going to the guillotine for trimming. It has a cage the exact same size as a box paper is shipped in and smashes the booklets inside of a paper box. Where I work, we have cut back on "publishing" and focus more on media production.

After seeing your picture, you have me thinking. I now plan on buying a piece of channel iron that is about the length and width of the neck. Using two small pieces of wood, I will place one by the 1st fret and other by the 22nd fret. Then, using a small block of wood with padding and 2 big C clamps, I will put some backward pressure on the neck to see if I can get the wood to go back to where it should be. Where to do this? Out on the damp cold porch of my house? or the hot dry furnace room? or (and ideas)????

I was reading in a 1970 Guitar Player magazine where they would remove the frets from the neck like this and mill the surface of the fretboard to get it back in shape. Wow, seems like in this case they would have to take off a lot of wood!

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

good luck! great build otherwise

I hope my neck never gets like that, I'm off to the repairman to make sure and talk about avoiding that problem now

TESTING TESTING 1, 2, 3....TESTING TESTING 1, 2, 3.... Ok Mr C had me thinking so here I go: TESTING TESTING 1, 2, 3....

I took a piece of heavy tubular steel pipe, some small wooden shims and a big C-clamp and put the neck in it. The pressure is enough to easily bend the neck slight the opposite way of the crook in the neck. For now I have it out in a cold, unheated shop. It is winter here and damp out. Guess I will leave it out there for a week or so and see what happens.




You can see the blocks of wood under the 1st and 22nd frets. I was amazed how easy it was to bend the neck backwards.




Now let's see what happens after a week or so. Maybe a week in the cold shop I will move it into a room in the house while it is still under pressure. I will keep ya'll posted!

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

interesting, I would suggest ( If i may jump in ) that in the case of Heat and Pressure, they must be applied at the same time....The process is similar to bending sides for and acoustic.
1st apply heat and moisture, then while the neck is up to temp and moisture, apply pressure in small increments, increasing the pressure every few hours until the correct plane is acheived.
Then remove both the heat and moisture and allow to return to ambient air while still under pressure.

I would be concerned as to how much moisture is really needed but more importantly not to try redressing the neck in a dry state. Heat and moisture temporarily render the wood pliable, much more so then in its normal state.
But of course the neck shouldn't resemble a pair of molinar skis or Gumby.....

_________________
"C'est parti mon Kiki "

Thanks Mr. Tone, never done this before and I do know the principle of wet wood and heat from what I read about boat building. The problem I have is winter! Even if I cut the tube to the same length of the neck I do not know where I could put it where I have both moisture and heat. Ummm.. I need to think of something. But I do appreciate the input!

_________________
Xhefri's Guitars
www.xhefriguitars.com

I can tell you Xhefri that you'd be waiting an awful long time if you're doing this in the cold. In general, I do truss rod adjustments during the Summertime when the heat relaxes the wood of the neck. Around Wintertime, the neck hardens like a rock and generally stays put.

A while back, I took the back-bow out of a Squier neck and it took quite a long time. I started at the end of Winter by using weights on top of the neck in front of my fireplace. It worked temporarily, but still reverted back after about a month. (not to mention, my gas bill was HUGE). So I waited 'til Summer rolled around and did the same thing with the neck wrapped in black outside in the hot Las Vegas sun. It still took a week or so for the bow to work it's way out. Once Winter rolled around again, it stayed pretty good.

You're lucky it's a front bow. I would agree with trying what 93greenstrat suggested. Adjust the rod while it's clamped and see what happens. If it were me, I would try getting the truss rod to hold it straight (or slightly past straight) and string it up to a beater body to see where the strings want to pull it. If the rod feels extremely tight, I'd be wary of doing adjustments in that state.

If it doesn't feel TOO tight, you could clamp the beater body down with the neck on it, put a padded block under the middle of the neck, and push down on the headstock while making adjustments (with the strings on and loosened).

If it eventually works, install it on your good guitar and keep your eye on it week after week as the season changes, especially during Spring and Summer, and loosen the truss rod as needed.

If you find that the neck still wants to keep a bow shape to it no matter what you do, then you need to use heat regardless. Moisture is not as needed as you might think. Just speeds up the process and I'm not so sure it's as effective on an already sealed and finished piece of wood anyway. Generally steaming is done before finishing. Never done it after the fact before.

Hope it works out for you. That's an awesome guitar!!

_________________