RG350 rebuild

[Prostheta]

What you don't see, etc? It'll work, however it can't create missing material...

[badger6]

3 hours ago, ScottR said:

It also hardens the inner walls of the hole and binds loose fibers. I have no idea of how long a fix like that would last, but I did that with a strap button screw hole in end grain and it has been rock solid for a couple of years now. On the other hand it doesn't get hard use all that often.

SR

The screw holes aren't really stripped, they're still holding pretty good. The screws are just a little looser than I would like. So I think this would work pretty good. Or either just put some PVA on the threads and let dry. I think either way will be fine for my purposes. 

Edited June 9, 2016 by badger6

[Prostheta]

At the very least wax your screws to prevent whatever glue you use from sticking. I think that that SM article mentioned something along those lines anyway.

[badger6]

Been sitting detached from it's body for many years without any strings on it. Had a little bit of a back bow but I got the neck straight, taped off, and leveled.

 

Then did a fall off from the 12th and since the 21 and 22 frets were a little low I did another fall off at the 18th. 

Edited June 11, 2016 by badger6

[badger6]

Crowned with this thing they call the "little bone". Seems to work OK. I used it a couple years ago with pretty good results. Probably only good for 4-5 fret jobs at most.

 

I only used what I had on hand. So I went with 400, 600, 1500, 2000 wet sand paper. Then polished the frets with steel wool, scratch x, and cleaner wax. Then cleaned the fretboard with alcohol and buffed with a little lemon oil. I left the slightest amount of chatter in the tops of the crowns. Not sure how true it is, but I read somewhere a few years ago that if you left a little chatter in the crowns when polishing that you don't risk removing too much from the fret tops and ruining your level job. And that the strings would polish them in short order when you play it a couple times. Anyhow, seems reasonable and makes sense to me.

Edited June 11, 2016 by badger6

[Prostheta]

I get the same impression about those LittleBone tools. The maker refuses to send me them to review. I wonder if my blunt honesty is unwelcome, or whether people would rather have a market shill? 

[badger6]

9 minutes ago, Prostheta said:

I get the same impression about those LittleBone tools. The maker refuses to send me them to review. I wonder if my blunt honesty is unwelcome, or whether people would rather have a market shill? 

When I ordered it I had never done a fret job and the seller recommended the 400 grit for beginners in the ad. I think that's why it might not last more than 4-5 fret jobs. I think the 150 grit would have been better and lasted longer. But hey, it was only like $16-17 if I remember correctly. It does it's job for the price but I'm sure that a nice file would work much better.

On another note, I'm not sure that the tru oil was a good idea with basswood. I lightly bumped the edge on a wooden stool and dented the edge. Doesn't matter much because the jack plate will cover it but there's not much protection with the tru oil and basswood combo. A wipe on poly might have been better choice. This might be a wall hanger or case queen. Anyhow, live and learn!!!

[Prostheta]

I applaud anybody that has a new idea to bring to the table. In my opinion, the sheer lack of abrasive surface area means that all the work will be concentrated in that piddly area, killing the tool far quicker than the established norms.

[badger6]

Well that wasn't very fun. Took the whole roll of tape. I think that I'll go with the cavity paint next time and save the copper tape for the pick guards and cavity covers, lol. 

Anyhow, from what I've been reading I'm supposed to solder a ground wire from the copper in the cavity to the back of the volume pot to ground this whole thing. But wouldn't it already be grounded due to the fact that the volume pot is already in contact with the foil on the pickguard which in turn is in contact with the copper overlapping the edges of the cavities. Wouldn't a separate wire be redundant and unnecessary? 

Edited June 25, 2016 by badger6

[curtisa]

Only if you know (or suspect) that the copper-ised surfaces on scratchplate and cavities will never contact properly. In your case I reckon you'd be pretty safe - it looks like you have lots of places where there's sufficient overlap.

If you're still worried about it, just extend a little flap of copper tape over the edge of one of the cavities so that it reaches one of the scratchplate screw holes. The ones near the tone pot or the 5-way switch would be good spots.

[badger6]

Jesus Christ, I can't solder for shit. Soldering to the switch lugs and pot lugs is easy. WTF is the trick soldering all the wires to the back of the pots? Solder doesn't stick to the back of the pots. I used some sandpaper to scuff them up. And when the solder did stick to the pot, the damn wires popped out. Now I have a big glob of solder and I can't get it to melt off. I would have never thought that soldering would be so frustrating. I'm done for the day, maybe I'll try again tomorrow. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Maybe you should get a third hand and that can help hold the wire in place while you use your normal hands to hold the iron and the solder. It helps a lot for wiring pesky small things. 

Edited June 26, 2016 by SIMpleONe89

[badger6]

I'm thinking the cheap soldering iron that I bought isn't getting hot enough. It melts the solder and works on the lugs of the switch and pots. But it's not working on the back of the pots for the ground wires and capacitor. Got a big glob of solder on the tone pot and it won't melt it for some reason. I might have fried that pot trying to get the solder flowing, hahaha. 

[SIMpleONe89]

Maybe it's worth getting a soldering station where you can adjust the temperature. The dollar store cheap ones aren't very good at getting hot and I've ruined some good pots before! 

[curtisa]

You should be able to get a good solder joint with any iron with a rating of 20W or greater. Try making the point you're trying to solder on the back of the pot closer to the corner where the sides meet the back. There's less mass to heat up there.

The trick is to use the iron to heat up the part you're trying to get the solder to adhere to, rather than trying to transfer a big glob of solder from the tip of the iron to the component.

Increasing the amount of surface area the tip of the iron is making contact with helps too, as it can transfer more heat more effectively. Angling the iron so that the conical side of the tip rests on the part will improve things, as will adding a tiny dash of solder between the tip and the part as it heats up. Reheating a previously-soldered blob is the same process.

You'll know when things are getting hot enough as the solder will start to spread outwards across the surface of the pot case instead of forming little lumps and droplets. Once it's at this point make all your connections as quickly as possible to prevent damaging the internals of the pot.

[Prostheta]

I cheat by using an 85w iron. My earth wires are usually thick solid core point-to-point stuff like you'd find in valve amps. It gives the loom shape so it's easy to handle rather than flexing all over the place.

[badger6]

Got a question about pickup ground wiring. Is the actual ground wire the wire that goes to the bridge or trem claw? If so, is the back of the pot is just used for convenient merge point for all of the ground and finish wires. So technically, you could pigtail all of the ground wires into one wire, then go straight to the bridge or trem. If that's the case, then the pot really has nothing to do with it. Or am I getting this whole thing wrong. 

[Prostheta]

There's a number of ways. Star grounding to one point, etc. What you're trying to avoid is a ground loop which is where there are redundant routes for current to flow to/from ground. This can occasionally induce stray currents and interference. Star grounding can be done off the back of the pots or a common solder tag. I prefer pots since they're a big mass of metal.

[badger6]

Thanks, Prostheta. Say you have 2 pickups. You'll have a black ground and a braided wire going to ground from each pickup. So that's 4 wires. Then you have the output jack ground wire and the volume lug going to ground. So you have the pot connecting 6 wires and then the pot is grounded to the bridge/trem claw. So basically, is the pot  just tying them all together or does it serve some other function? What would happen if you just connect all 6 ground wires somehow and then just run a wire to the bridge/trem as the main ground? Would that even work?

 

Edited June 29, 2016 by badger6

[ScottR]

Carl, correct me if I'm wrong, but my understanding is that pretty much describes star grounding to one point. As long as it also goes to the ground point on the output jack it works quite well.

SR

[badger6]

After looking up star grounding, I think that's what I'm talking about from the diagram I found. It looks like all grounds go to the same point. All pickup grounds, volume and tone grounds, trem ground, output ground all go to same point. Which I guess would be the star location. So in theory you should be able to pigtail all the pickup grounds and and wires from the pot lugs. Then attach the output and trem claw ground on the other side of the pigtail and shrink wrap the whole lot. I only have 2 pots and one switch so it should be easier than the diagram.

 

 

Also, I'm trying to find a DIY way to use some sort of quick connectors for the pickups and output jack for quick easy pickguard removal and/or pickup swaps. Any ideas on connectors?

Edited June 29, 2016 by badger6

[curtisa]

Don't sweat it - no such thing as a ground loop in a guitar. Ground whichever way you feel makes it easier for you. Just make sure your connections are clean and solid. Bus grounding works just as well, as does a cluster of smaller stars joined together.

Historically the pot casing was used as it makes a convenient location to attach so many points of the circuit to ground. The fact that it also looks like "star-ish" grounding is a byproduct of its appearance and probably contributes to the myth that ground loops can cause noise in a guitar.

[Prostheta]

It would explain why I've never had one, hence "occasionally". Simply just not in my experience, however I wasn't sure if I could fully discount them. I tend to run ground from the jack to the pots where I create a thick earth bus and tie things to the closest point. Complete star grounding is inconvenient and inelegant.

I guess that the likelihood of ground loops are zero because of the tiny currents involved in a guitar? Unless one were to taser your drummer or play on a radio tower?

[curtisa]

1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

I guess that the likelihood of ground loops are zero because of the tiny currents involved in a guitar?

Pretty much. It matters more when you have two completely independent paths to earth where significant current flows (eg, one guitar feeding two guitar amps), or you have different circuit elements trying to dump current into a common grounding point (eg, the pre and power stages in a big PA amplifier). The chances of being able to get a ground loop to form inside a guitar are vanishingly small. At the end of the day there's only one way for all the grounds to get out of the guitar - via the socket.

 

1 hour ago, Prostheta said:

Unless one were to taser your drummer

Best thing for them, really ;)

[Prostheta]

It certainly goes some way as to explaining why things like the differential preamps I make are inky-black silent.

"Earth? Yeah-nah. What's that?"