RickBlacker Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 (edited) Hi all... A little history here. Bought this existing body, it's a san dimas style. I bought the neck off ebay. I've ensured that the scale is correct. Here are my issues. 1) I screwd up the alignment with the bridge posts. They are uneven. One is forward from the other. 2) There is no room to pull up on the bridge (wammy goes down only - cant pull up more than a 1/16" inch or so) 3) I want to move the posts back Here are two pictures the picture of the bad alignment. Yes, I screwed up. I knew better, I eyeballed it rather than taking an accurate measurements or using a jig to ensure that I was perfectly lined up between the two posts.... Here you can see how the alignment is screwed up here as well as how I have no room for the block to move. Here you can see how far back my saddles are for intonation. The low E string is as far back as I could set it. Not good I would suspect. Here, you can see under the bridge how much room I have left to move the bridge back. My thought is that I could move it back about 1/4" and still maintain scale with the saddles. This would move the bridge block further away from the body and allow more room to pull up on the trem. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Edited March 20, 2009 by RickBlacker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narcissism Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 If the rest of the cavity is on target, then i'd say go ahead and fill the post holes with a dowel and drill new ones. If the alignment is off on the entire route, then i'm just going to wait for someone else to answer, because I don't have experience with correcting larger mistakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Do you have a router and some experience using it? Are the tremolo studs wood screws or machined screws going into metal inserts? PS, don't be so hard on yourself, we all do the fubar shuffle occasionally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBlacker Posted March 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Do you have a router and some experience using it? Are the tremolo studs wood screws or machined screws going into metal inserts? PS, don't be so hard on yourself, we all do the fubar shuffle occasionally. The trem studs are metal posts, metal screws in the posts. Yep have a rounter and know how to use it. In fact, had to repair the neck pocket... Thought I could get cocky with my dremil using a straight bit with no guide. Well... That turned out to be a mistake. Ended having to glue in some scabs of maple and re-route... See pic, note however that those are NOT glued in. They're just sitting there. NOW... To add another boo boo... My router straight bit cutter slipped while routing (didn't notice) and look at what I got to fix next. Now the amazing thing... After all this neck work, the neck is PERFECTLY aligned... Couldn't believe how straight it ended up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avengers63 Posted March 20, 2009 Report Share Posted March 20, 2009 Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Firewood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foil1more Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 You could fill that with epoxy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBlacker Posted March 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Firewood. No man no... NOT firewood. I will fix it. It's a great player right now. In fact, I'd have to say that I enjoy playing it "as is" more than my Jackson DINKY. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Man, if I had a dollar for every screwup I've made from getting ahead of myself, I'd have enough to buy a guitar... Biggest thing I've learned from building is patience. As long as you're already heavily into repairs on this thing, I'd pull the bridge, fill the hole and redo it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dadovfor Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 From the look of it ... dowelling the left post and taking it back a mm or so will align the trem and help your intonation issues. That will also give you a little more clearance from the block. But from your description and pictures, I'd have thought you'd be having trouble pushing the trem down, not pulling it up? Can you see what it is hitting? The block seems close to okay ... is it the section under the whammy bar itself? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RestorationAD Posted March 21, 2009 Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Firewood. No man no... NOT firewood. I will fix it. It's a great player right now. In fact, I'd have to say that I enjoy playing it "as is" more than my Jackson DINKY. I was just kidding... Tremolo mess ups are the hardest to fix. Worst case scenario you could put a block in and reroute the whole tremolo cavity... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBlacker Posted March 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 From the look of it ... dowelling the left post and taking it back a mm or so will align the trem and help your intonation issues. That will also give you a little more clearance from the block. Well, that's part of it. I also want to move the entire bridge back a little. It's sitting too far forward and if you look at the saddles, they are sitting all the way back on the second screw hole. But from your description and pictures, I'd have thought you'd be having trouble pushing the trem down, not pulling it up? Can you see what it is hitting? The block seems close to okay ... is it the section under the whammy bar itself? Nope, I think you're looking at it backwards. If I pull up, i have about 1/16 of space between block and body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickBlacker Posted March 21, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2009 Firewood. No man no... NOT firewood. I will fix it. It's a great player right now. In fact, I'd have to say that I enjoy playing it "as is" more than my Jackson DINKY. I was just kidding... Tremolo mess ups are the hardest to fix. Worst case scenario you could put a block in and reroute the whole tremolo cavity... I know you were joking.... I don't think it will come to completely filling in the cavity and starting over. I think by moving the entire bridge back a bit will help. I have the Ibanez Edge maunal (pdf file). It shows the dimensions for the cavity. I'll see just how close it is to what the body is now. Anway... Spending the day today taking it back apart and fixing things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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