whitetrashrocknroll Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 try one of these trems.this is an old Aria i've had laying around for a few years. i've gotten rid of the mosrite a few years ago and replaced it with a gretsch. more aria pics below. the bridge is yours if you want it. http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v650/kustomkulture/aria/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted January 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Thanks for the gesture! I'll stick to the trem and bridge I've already ordered, I like the looks of it more! p.s. can't get into the photobucket album Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted January 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 I'll probably receive the fretwire tomorrow or so. I'm planning to build a fretpress using a small hydraulic jack which I'll mount on a plate so that it hangs over my fretboard. Then I'll be able to press the frets in the board by jacking downwards on a radiused piece of wood on top of the fret. When I have it built, I'll post a pic. Probably not before the weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted January 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 Received the fretwire today, looks like I picked the right size. It should fit in nicely. Not sure yet whether I need to glue or not also got the tuners. Nice vintage kluson-type tuners with metal knobs from Gotoh. I maybe need to drill the tuner holes a bit wider to fit the tuners, but that'll be allright. Now find some time to build my fret-press and the fret pre-bender as described in the tutorial Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted January 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 anyone any ideas to have the old tuner screwholes dissapear? Not sure if I can find woodfiller in this color.... thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheIRS Posted January 10, 2007 Report Share Posted January 10, 2007 I'd plug them with little pine dowels, I've done that on a few bodies where i wanted to change the layout of the tuners or something else. It works quite well for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AlexVDL Posted January 11, 2007 Report Share Posted January 11, 2007 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted January 12, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Ok, I got my hardware ( apart from the trem, which is on back order ) I found that there are no studs provided with the tune-o-matic bridge. Is it necessary to use studs for a tune-o-matic bridge? It seems kind of fragile to just mount the tune-o-matic posts into a hole in the body. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted February 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 long time no updates. Here's a quick report on the progress: Made my own studs for the Tune-o-Matic bridge. I'll glue these into the body so the bridge is fixed solid. Refretting has been done. Unfortunately some of the fretslots were too wide so I had to glue some of them in place. My own fretting-press machine worked out great. I'll post a pic this weekend. Yesterday I filed the fret-ends which went well. Now I need to level them. Hopefully some more progress in the coming weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 as promised here's a pic of my fretpress: I've used a manual hydraulic jack and mounted a plate above it. I used a small radius block between the fret/fretboard and the plate and just jacked the jack up to get the fret pressed in. Worked like a charm! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 (edited) Another update and picture. Yesterday I levelled the frets and did a testsetup of the complete guitar to find out: 1. is it playable ( action, setup, nutheight etc ) 2. how does it sound with the original pickups ( never heard them, did they even work? ) Because the original pickups are a special size with special mounting rings, I wanted to be sure I'd like the sound, otherwise I'd need to get replacement pickups and more importantly, I'd need to fill up the existing pu-routes and route new ones. BUT! even without (re)crowning of the frets after levelling and just a quick installation of electronic components available I must say I was surprised! Since this is my first project and fretjob I was afraid I would end up with an unplayable instrument but following good advice found here and in books does help! The action on the neck is great and also the sound of the pickups surprised me. It's very versatile. I only had a small problem with the neckPU of which the plastic cover came off and now and then I lost it's signal so I have some soldering to do probably. apart from that I'm very happy with the result so far and now I can start with the finish with confidence! some other pics: test setup 2 tuner test setup regards Edited February 19, 2007 by 10pizza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetrashrocknroll Posted March 10, 2007 Report Share Posted March 10, 2007 man you gotta get that pickup selector down onto the lower bout like a mosrite.thats the total look! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Wow! I didn't know it was 2 years already since I last posted on this project. that means that I didn't do j*ck*ss on this for 2 years! But, better late than never! FINISHING last week I started with finishing of the body; did several ground layers. Since this is my first spraying/finishing experience I ran into some stupid mistakes like spraying to much the first time, so I had to do a lot of sanding again to get the runners of Last night I started with 3 layers of the gold-finish using my compressor with paint spraying kit. Works very well, had to thinner the paint a bit, but things start to look goldish! Got myself some decal material as well so I can create my own logo and get it on the headstock. plan is to try and get a few extra layers of finish on this week and then give it two weeks to harden before polishing. Then I can put on the lacquer. Finish before 1st of may should be feasible. PICKUPS unfortunately the original pickup rings are damaged, so I need to find a solution for that. Problem is that these mounting rings are special size. Standard, humbucker/mini-humbucker rings do not fit. So, maybe I'll try to make my own rings from MDF and spraypaint them black. also I need to polish the pickupcovers. Any ideas on how to make old pickupcovers nice and shiny? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 I'd be tempted to make pickup rings out of plastic, or even wood, as I've never been able to have MDF as thin as a pickup ring be sturdy at all. Perhaps if you soaked CA into it. What are the size of those rings - could you cut something close enough out of P-90 covers? This fellow could also probably help you out, he makes custom pickup rings: http://www.fretsonthenet.com/other_parts.htm As far as polishing plastic, if it's just hazy, buffing it out can do a lot. I've used liquid compounds, although some bar compunds will work too. Read and see what's suggested by the manufacturer for plastic. I've also had great results with Micromesh sanding papers - they go up to ridiculously fine grits. I wouldn't ever go too coarse if you do need to sand out scratches - I've never started with anything coarser than 320, as you're apt to put scratches into plastic that are very hard to remove. If you're buffing, be careful. Heat can melt plastic, and vintage plastics can be brittle or more prone to deformation from heat. Some older plastic materials are actually flammable, but I don't think that would be the case on a guitar from the 70's. I could very well be mistaken. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted March 24, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 thanks for the tips; I measured the pickups once; they are same width as P90's but the length is just a bit shorter than a P90. With a little luck I could use P90 mounting rings, but haven't found any since they are usually mounted without rings. I'll see what I can achieve with finegrit on the pickups covers. would be nice to have them look new again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j. pierce Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 thanks for the tips; I measured the pickups once; they are same width as P90's but the length is just a bit shorter than a P90. With a little luck I could use P90 mounting rings, but haven't found any since they are usually mounted without rings. I'll see what I can achieve with finegrit on the pickups covers. would be nice to have them look new again. I guess I meant taking P-90 covers (the plastic part that covers the pickup itself in soapbars) and cutting them down and height, and making a whole in the middle to convert them to rings. I don't think I've ever seen rings for P-90s, mostly because that's not how they traditionally mount. If you're going to go with sanding on the pickup covers, I'd start somewhere inconspicuous, like the sides where it will be in the guitar, and see if it looks okay. If you can remove the covers from the pickups themselves safely, I'd imagine you'd get better results wetsanding. If you want them to go back to gloss, you'll really need micromesh brand papers, as it's the only thing that goes to a fine enough grit to get them back to gloss. You may be able to buff them out by hand with a little rubbing compound or something. I've restored the luster to some plastics by hand with 3M's Finesse-it and Perfect-It polishes. I'd hold off, someone with more experience may prove my advice wrong on those fronts though - I know that those solutions have worked for me in the past, but there may be someone here with a better idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dirge for november Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hey, a fellow Dutchie! Nice project, I like the reversed shape of a mosrite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2013 5 years later. time for an update. Last year a good friend of mine was so kind to apply the gold-finish after some attempts of myself that were not succesfull. Spray-painting is not my cup of tea I'm afraid. only thing left is to create a de-cal for the headstock to finish it off. Playability is great. Due to the thin ash-body feedback kicks in pretty quickly, so that's something to be carefull with. when played without amplifiying the sound is already quite 'big' to my surprise and when amplified the sound is great too. Really like these pickups. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted August 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2013 some more pictures: on the right in this picture another refinish project I did at the same time of a Grand Suzuki Les Paul copy. Also refinished in gold. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted December 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2015 (edited) Last update on this thread as I've finally managed to put a decal. First time doing that, so after a few failed attempts I got it right. Also again with help from all the information on this forum. Also changed the TOM-bridge to a roller-bridge with heavier posts to increase tuning stability with the trem. Currently working on a project to customize an Ibanez guitar. I'll share that in a new thread. Hope it won't run as long as this one. Edited December 28, 2015 by 10pizza pictures not showing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10pizza Posted December 28, 2015 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2015 better picture of the headstock Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted December 28, 2015 Report Share Posted December 28, 2015 Oh man that turned out beautifully. I'm a BIG Aria Pro II fan, so this caught my attention right away! Can't wait to see what you've got lined up next....great that you got all the info you needed right here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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