Pointy Stick

[Muzz]

That's awesome, Muzz. Thanks for taking the time to post in so much detail! I was hoping to finish mine with a brush, so was considering the Rustins... this has convinced me! I will start a progress thread for mine soon... just hope it looks half as good as this!

No worries , it will look great you can't go wrong with that stuff, look forward to seeing your thread.

Excellent job Muzz, and plenty of detail in the thread. I must use Rustins on my next build. I've had some here for a while now, but keep putting off using it because I havn't decide whether to spray it or brush it.

Muchos gracias. According to the instructions, a third option is you can use a roller

I recorded an instrumental with this guitar to feature the whammy bar, bit of doop doop, warble, divebomb, raygun

Hope you like the beautiful game

[The Fool Guy]

Jesus!

Who was that in the video? Serious skills (or very patient recording 50 takes of each shot )

Didn't actually listen to the song as I'm supposed to be working...

[MuffinPunch]

Muchos gracias.

hehe... Its muchAs gracias.

Edited August 10, 2010 by MuffinPunch

[Muzz]

<!--quoteo(post=471130:date=Aug 10 2010, 04:50 AM:name=Muzz)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Muzz @ Aug 10 2010, 04:50 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=471130"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Muchos gracias.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

hehe... Its much<i>A</i>s gracias.

Or Much Ass Gracias

Caught these old codgers' show, great stuff, got some good photos, Richie has a great collection.

So I have been playing this guitar for 6 months now, a few things to fix up. I stripped a thread on the locking nut just before Christmas, so one of the string locks can't clamp down. I have just loosened all the string clamps, amazingly it still stays in tune pretty good, but I will have to replace the nut.

Also, unscrewing the back plate every time I want to adjust the tension on the springs was getting to be a pain in the butt.

I found this cover plate that has a detachable window, I wish I had known these existed when I was building this.

I got a replacement Gotoh locking nut, I'll fit that tomorrow.

[Stewey]

Oh man, you are re-awakening this thread again? I thought you finished this thing years ago.

That plate looks handy, maybe you should just use a nice solid bridge in the future though and not have to worry about springs?

[Muzz]

Yes I finished it about the time Bon Jovi was singing something about a runaway

This is just a brief update to say how things went 6 months post completion and what has had to be fixed. I wish more people would do this, you watch a build evolve and then as soon as the strings are on all discussion stops and the post drifts like an untethered boat off to the dark places of the forum. I'd like to see what building techniques and hardware stand the test of time.

Vibrato is such a personal thing isn't it, I can't ever see myself owning a guitar where the strings can't be wobbled I have to say routing out the recesses for the Floyd was one of the most fun things I have ever done in woodwork. And playing the floating whammy is heaps of fun too. I realized the down side of a floating trem though, huge pain in the butt when a string breaks, the tension on the strings is no longer equalized by the strings and the guitar goes massively out of tune, no more finishing the song on 5 strings and it takes ages to fit a new string. Whatever you do don't drop one of the string clamp blocks, those tiny things are hella hard to find in a dark room. But as long as you have a spare guitar ready, you can do some crazy stuff with a Floyd.

My one is holding out OK around the pivot points

The replacement locking nut from Gotoh is good value for 20 bucks, you get shims in case it needs raised a bee's todger, a string retainer and if you look down the bottom of the bag an awl I'm guessing for marking the drill points.

Neck straightness is holding out nicely

I did consider a lam neck, it makes sense that they might hold straightness better than a one piece.

And the finish is holding up pretty good, you can see only small amounts of buckle rash

Talking about stuff popping up again, I laughed to see that some guys on the Misc Stuff thread still haven't got over their man crush on Jeff Litchfield, it's been half a decade since that $%&* stirrer posted and he has still got people talking about him, wait a sec, I'm doing it too Litch probably looks in on this forum every few months and caks himself

[StormLeader]

Hey, can you take some pictures of the trem cavity plate? That access door looks very sweet!

[Muzz]

Hey, can you take some pictures of the trem cavity plate? That access door looks very sweet!

Yep, no worries, I am going to fit the new locking nut first and replace the strings and then put the trem cavity plate on, so probably later today or tomorrow for the pics.

[StormLeader]

Just whenever you get around to it!

Thanks!

[Muzz]

I took the old stripped nut off

And compared it to the Gotoh replacement (the one on the bottom of the pic)

Everything lines up OK, the Gotoh is sitting a little bit higher, I had to take a bit off the rosewood, I hate a nut that is sitting up too high. I had to fill in the old holes with glued in toothpick ends.

Remember you do not have to drill holes right through your neck and weaken it to bolt your locking nut on, screws and the tension of the strings will hold it in place.

All done, and the strings back on, I am hoping the Gotoh is stronger metal and the threads won't strip out for the string clamps.

Now to put the spring cavity cover on

[Prostheta]

Are you going to correct the spelling?

[Muzz]

Are you going to correct the spelling?

Got the plate on, the holes lined up perfectly, whew, no drilling and filling.

Screwed it on

Good access to the springs

Edited January 9, 2011 by Muzz

[StormLeader]

Thanks for the back-plate pictures Muzz! I do have one question though, how is the access plate held on? I can't see from the pictures. Do you stick like a screwdriver\coin in the slot in the back?

[Our Souls inc.]

Muzz, great to see this thing still rockin .

They sell backplates with two slots cut into it for screwdriver access to the tension screws. no trap door, no plate removal. I'll see if I can find a link.

As you have discovered, floating tremolo's are a finicky lot. You'll go flat doing unison bends on one too. Unless you get one of those whammy-stopper-things.

[Muzz]

Thanks for the back-plate pictures Muzz! I do have one question though, how is the access plate held on? I can't see from the pictures. Do you stick like a screwdriver\coin in the slot in the back?

Heya Storm, That's it exactly, a small coin or screwdriver in the slot easily gets the cover off, you can get these covers from http://www.allparts.com/White-Backplate-p/pg-0548-025.htm

Muzz, great to see this thing still rockin .

They sell backplates with two slots cut into it for screwdriver access to the tension screws. no trap door, no plate removal. I'll see if I can find a link.

As you have discovered, floating tremolo's are a finicky lot. You'll go flat doing unison bends on one too. Unless you get one of those whammy-stopper-things.

Hi there Mike, yep this guitar gets played a lot, once the high maintenance stuff is done on the whammy, I love the way it feels and sounds. It is a bit heavier than a basswood strat so it feels substantial, but not heavy enough to give the sore shoulder thing after a long play.

I did not know either about the plate you described, you learn new stuff on this forum all the time, pop the link up if you find it, I'll check it out.

For me this is the work of Satan, SATAN

Hope everything's going good with the bass, chuck up some pics when you get a chance.

If anyone didn't see this thread about 6 months ago and wants to see and hear this guitar getting played I'll repost the link to the vid below

And you can hear the whammy getting a workout here

Happy building

[Our Souls inc.]

Hey ! That guy can really kick it ! ( your playing was chill too )

That last shot messed up my next swirl tho. I was just about to dip when he struck........

oh, here's a linky to a trem cover like I was mentioning.... they are on Jems, ( and I'm sure others, as I've had em ) so it'd be perfect for your Ibemuzz.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f15/spotting-a-chibanez-jem-tutorial-part-1-a-106764.html

I don't actually know where to buy them, sorry......

[Juntunen Guitars]

Hey ! That guy can really kick it ! ( your playing was chill too )

That last shot messed up my next swirl tho. I was just about to dip when he struck........

oh, here's a linky to a trem cover like I was mentioning.... they are on Jems, ( and I'm sure others, as I've had em ) so it'd be perfect for your Ibemuzz.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/f15/spotting-a-chibanez-jem-tutorial-part-1-a-106764.html

I don't actually know where to buy them, sorry......

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBANEZ-RG-SERIES-TREMOLO-TREM-BACK-COVER-/180608193440?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2a0d1653a0

You can find them on ebay. I put a link to one in this post. Some ebay stores sell them pretty cheap as well. Look at the STRATosphere store I have seen them there before.

[StormLeader]

Thanks Muzz for the info, I'm sure to ordering one of these VERY soon!

[Our Souls inc.]

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBANEZ-RG-SERIES-TREMOLO-TREM-BACK-COVER-/180608193440?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2a0d1653a0

You can find them on ebay. I put a link to one in this post. Some ebay stores sell them pretty cheap as well. Look at the STRATosphere store I have seen them there before.

Awesome ! Thanks for that link.

Hope your finger makes a full and fast recovery.

[Juntunen Guitars]

http://cgi.ebay.com/IBANEZ-RG-SERIES-TREMOLO-TREM-BACK-COVER-/180608193440?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2a0d1653a0

You can find them on ebay. I put a link to one in this post. Some ebay stores sell them pretty cheap as well. Look at the STRATosphere store I have seen them there before.

Awesome ! Thanks for that link.

Hope your finger makes a full and fast recovery.

No problem. There are several stores on Ebay where you can find good prices on things like that but you just have to look. I was in a rush this morning so I couldn't put a few more links. I searched for "Jem tremolo cover" to get the one in the link.

I hope my finger heals fast too. I think I pissed off some customers when I told them about that but hey I can't work on guitars with it how it is so yeah.

[Muzz]

Thanks for those links JG and Osi, if this spring plate cover craps out on me, that is the next in line, I wonder if I could route out the screwdriver access holes? Hope the finger is better already/soon JG.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Thanks for those links JG and Osi, if this spring plate cover craps out on me, that is the next in line, I wonder if I could route out the screwdriver access holes? Hope the finger is better already/soon JG.

I took the wrapping off yesterday to get a look and it looks like it's healing pretty good. However; I got to see the xray when I went in to get the stitches checked and found out not only is the bone broken, which I already knew, but it is shattered. If you know what a gut hook on a knife looks like that's what the end of my bone looks like and then it breaks into what the doctors called "Y" breaks and so they said I now have three extra weeks for the bone to heal. Luckily I can still get back to building in a couple weeks now but I won't be able to play guitar or anything for two months.

Why would you want to route out screwdriver holes if there is already a slot to slide the screwdriver in? Or am I thinking of something different?

Edited January 15, 2011 by Juntunen Guitars

[Muzz]

Double post

Edited January 23, 2011 by Muzz

[Muzz]

Thanks for those links JG and Osi, if this spring plate cover craps out on me, that is the next in line, I wonder if I could route out the screwdriver access holes? Hope the finger is better already/soon JG.

I took the wrapping off yesterday to get a look and it looks like it's healing pretty good. However; I got to see the xray when I went in to get the stitches checked and found out not only is the bone broken, which I already knew, but it is shattered. If you know what a gut hook on a knife looks like that's what the end of my bone looks like and then it breaks into what the doctors called "Y" breaks and so they said I now have three extra weeks for the bone to heal. Luckily I can still get back to building in a couple weeks now but I won't be able to play guitar or anything for two months.

Why would you want to route out screwdriver holes if there is already a slot to slide the screwdriver in? Or am I thinking of something different?

Oh wow, so lucky there was enough blood vessels left in place to support and heal the tissue. It's amazing that your bone will quickly fill in those gaps, hope you get better soon

So I have this plate in now, as long as the little tabs holding the insert don't loosen with time it will stay there, there is great access to the spring cavity, so easy to change strings without unscrewing the cover plate.

But if the insert loosens and starts to fall out, I will replace it with a JEM style back plate. I will either buy one or just route the slots in the old standard strat plate.

I am off to go and get a long shaft DC power plug for my ADA MP-1 MIDI pedal, sick of the old one falling out. I would love if I could power it with a 7 pin MIDI cord (the current to power the pedal runs down the 6th and 7th pins connecting the pedal to the pre amp) and have ordered one, but I don't think there is much chance of it working since the pre amp must have come from USA and had a 120 Volt power supply in it, when I had the power supply swapped out for an Aussie 240 volt supply, I am pretty sure that would screw up the 9 volt power out from the unit. Never mind a power brick will still power the MIDI pedal.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Oh wow, so lucky there was enough blood vessels left in place to support and heal the tissue. It's amazing that your bone will quickly fill in those gaps, hope you get better soon

So I have this plate in now, as long as the little tabs holding the insert don't loosen with time it will stay there, there is great access to the spring cavity, so easy to change strings without unscrewing the cover plate.

But if the insert loosens and starts to fall out, I will replace it with a JEM style back plate. I will either buy one or just route the slots in the old standard strat plate.

I am off to go and get a long shaft DC power plug for my ADA MP-1 MIDI pedal, sick of the old one falling out. I would love if I could power it with a 7 pin MIDI cord (the current to power the pedal runs down the 6th and 7th pins connecting the pedal to the pre amp) and have ordered one, but I don't think there is much chance of it working since the pre amp must have come from USA and had a 120 Volt power supply in it, when I had the power supply swapped out for an Aussie 240 volt supply, I am pretty sure that would screw up the 9 volt power out from the unit. Never mind a power brick will still power the MIDI pedal.

I would like to get an MIDI pedal, it would make things a lot easier for me.

Where did you get that spring cover from by the way?