String Through Body Ferrule Question

[AufGehts]

Hi,

I am hoping that someone will be kind enough to share their knowledge with me. I am doing up an old SG Copy labelled 'Diplomat' which was apparently manufactured by the Ibanez factory way back when and imported to New Zealand where a distributor labelled it Diplomat. The following link will take you to another one just like it that was distributed as CROWN obviously in the US http://jcguitars.com/crownsg1.JPG . Its a rad old guitar though the bigsby style tailpiece is a mess, and I don't really want it. I have a couple of zebra pickups in it now, one from an older Epiphone Les Paul JR and an old mighty mite... so far so good... not the best but it has character. when i finish full time study I will be buying some Duncans for it I think...perhaps Dimarzio's... I am a novice haha.

Though my problem is that instead of a standard tailpiece I really want through body ferrules. Can anyone offer a link or directions to do this correctly. I imagined being able to buy a ferrule as thick as the guitar quite easily, doing some careful drilling and just pushing them in...though it seems this is not how it works. So far the only ferrules I can find a maybe 12mm long. The guitar body is roughly 35mm thick...

Anyone who has seen an ESP or another guitar with the string thru body will understand what I am after. I am completely unsure how to do it and would love to hear from someone who may be able to help...please.

Shane

[djhollowman]

Hi,

I am hoping that someone will be kind enough to share their knowledge with me. I am doing up an old SG Copy labelled 'Diplomat' which was apparently manufactured by the Ibanez factory way back when and imported to New Zealand where a distributor labelled it Diplomat. The following link will take you to another one just like it that was distributed as CROWN obviously in the US http://jcguitars.com/crownsg1.JPG . Its a rad old guitar though the bigsby style tailpiece is a mess, and I don't really want it. I have a couple of zebra pickups in it now, one from an older Epiphone Les Paul JR and an old mighty mite... so far so good... not the best but it has character. when i finish full time study I will be buying some Duncans for it I think...perhaps Dimarzio's... I am a novice haha.

Though my problem is that instead of a standard tailpiece I really want through body ferrules. Can anyone offer a link or directions to do this correctly. I imagined being able to buy a ferrule as thick as the guitar quite easily, doing some careful drilling and just pushing them in...though it seems this is not how it works. So far the only ferrules I can find a maybe 12mm long. The guitar body is roughly 35mm thick...

Anyone who has seen an ESP or another guitar with the string thru body will understand what I am after. I am completely unsure how to do it and would love to hear from someone who may be able to help...please.

Shane

Hi,

I'm kinda in the same boat here, except I'm making a guitar from scratch.

I also started by thinking that it was done with one big ferrule thru the body, but having looked into getting the parts etc I'm pretty sure it's done by having upper and lower ferrules. This would kinda make sense to me in terms of explaining how different thicknesses of guitar bodies could use this method.

You can use the 12mm ferrules you mentioned for the underside, and you get body top ferrules for the top (obviously!), which can be a different width and depth to the underside ones.

See this: http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_part...p_Ferrules.html

I've just ordered a set of top ferrules, which haven't arrived yet, so I'm pretty interested to see how exactly it all goes together. I don't think the upper and lower ferrules meet - I'm assuming that there must be a few millimetres inside the body where the strings don't actually connect with anything???

I would also welcome some more experienced thought on the matter!

DJ

Edited September 3, 2007 by djhollowman

[WezV]

the ferrules just protect the outer edges of the string channel, they dont need to go through the body.

first i drill the larger string ferrule holes on the back, i prefer the ones with a flange like these;

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_part...g_Ferrules.html.

the hole should be just big enough to hold the ferrule as a push fit.

then using the centre of that hole i drilled i will drill all the way through the guitar with a 3mm drill.

then that hole will be enlarged from the front with a 4mm drill bit to hold these:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Hardware,_part...p_Ferrules.html

Some people would drill the 3mm string hole right through the body before doing the back ferrule hole, just depends what works best for you

[AufGehts]

Hey DJ,

Yeh makes sense now hey. I hadn't been able to find a top ferrule picture but now it is clear... I guess it will take 4 different drill sizes through the body, firstly to fit in the top ferrule thru the top of the guitar, enough width for it to sit snug inside the guitar, enough width below it to sit a bottom ferrule in and then enough width at the back for the flair on the back ferrule to sit snug sunk into the back of the guitar... hmmm should work well. though there isn't really room for error when doing this hey...kinda worrying. If you drill it wrong you can't just putty it up and start again haha, it'll basically wreck the whole thing.

i bought some back ferrules off ebay when I bought some other things from a seller in the hope that they were right, though they are quite basic and tacky... i live in australia but hopefully stewmac will post here cos my local guitar shop near me is a waste of time and the ferrules on the site look good.

Thanks for your reply and the link, it cleared things up.

Shane

[WezV]

you dont need to worry about having the flange bit level to the guitar body - some people do but its not necissary

[djhollowman]

... i live in australia but hopefully stewmac will post here cos my local guitar shop near me is a waste of time and the ferrules on the site look good.

Hi Shane,

I should have said Welcome To The Forums as well!!

StewMac do delivery internationally. I've just bought body ferrules from Guitarheads.net in USA, their site is worth visiting too!

I know what you mean about being nervous - I got flush-fitting rear ferrules for my project 7 string (BTW it's a bear trying to buy things like those in sets of 7, without wanting to buy two sets of six! Same with tuners etc, but with some perseverance....)

Since you're in Oz you could look up this guy from these very forums:

Perry Ormsbury

goes under the user name rhoads56 on here

www.ormsbyguitars.com

Here's an example of his stuff:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...13723&st=75

Check his website for guitars and parts, top stuff!

Hope this helps!

DJ

[AufGehts]

you dont need to worry about having the flange bit level to the guitar body - some people do but its not necissary

Hi WezV

I meant to thank you also, apologies, you gave greater insight into the method and I didn't acknowledge it. It was just ignorance really. I appreciate your help. Ill decide whether to sink the flange or not when i get the parts, have to see how it all works. though i guess it is the back of the guitar so it isn't a cosmetic issue but depends on the thickness of the flange and how far it will stick out. i will weigh it all up.

thanks again,

shane

[AufGehts]

... i live in australia but hopefully stewmac will post here cos my local guitar shop near me is a waste of time and the ferrules on the site look good.

Hi Shane,

I should have said Welcome To The Forums as well!!

StewMac do delivery internationally. I've just bought body ferrules from Guitarheads.net in USA, their site is worth visiting too!

I know what you mean about being nervous - I got flush-fitting rear ferrules for my project 7 string (BTW it's a bear trying to buy things like those in sets of 7, without wanting to buy two sets of six! Same with tuners etc, but with some perseverance....)

Since you're in Oz you could look up this guy from these very forums:

Perry Ormsbury

goes under the user name rhoads56 on here

www.ormsbyguitars.com

Here's an example of his stuff:

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...13723&st=75

Check his website for guitars and parts, top stuff!

Hope this helps!

DJ

Thanks DJ,

I appreciate the welcome...I aim to be one of the info givers in a few years. This guitar project stuff is fun and I look forward to learning more. this guitar cost me around AU$900 all up (not including time though) which I could have a bought a relatively good new or near new guitar...but screw that... this has character and an awesome solid feel...better then the light rubbish guitars they are mass producing these days, but enough of a rant.

That is funny that you mentioned ormsbyguitars because I had drafted and email to send to them but decided to sign up to this site after finding it and ask so I wasn't hassling a store owner in case I didn't buy from him because he is a long way from my place... but it must be meant to be haha.

Thanks again and good luck with your project. That'd be annoying buying an extra set and only using 1 of it...but at least now you have the extra parts needed for 5 other 7-string projects haha, that'll keep you busy.

Shane