Obi-Wan zenabI Posted September 28, 2020 Report Share Posted September 28, 2020 I’ve come across this sweet semi-hollow body that looks like it was built with a trapeze. It seems to be a project guitar of some kind. The seam of the back to the sides and the mis alignment of the tuners makes me think so. I think it has a lot of potential for sure. I’m seeking advice for getting this guitar playing — it needs a nut, and I’m wondering if string trees/.guides are going to be needed. But the main thing is the tailpiece. I just think that maybe the guitar was misdesigned because I can’t imagine a trapeze on a body this flat getting enough angle to solidly connect the strings to the bridge. I welcome all ideas! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 28, 2020 Report Share Posted September 28, 2020 That's an interesting looking one, both the body and headstock look nice! If the headstock is at an angle no string trees should be needed. If it ever has been played then it has had a trapeze. There's longer and shorter ones and I guess a long one might apply more pressure on the bridge. However, since there's obviously solid wood under the bridge a wraparound might also be an option, with some luck even without extra drilling. And of course if the inside block is big enough a tune-o-matic endpiece could also be installed. Or a Bigsby... Choices, choices! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi-Wan zenabI Posted September 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2020 On 9/28/2020 at 2:56 AM, Bizman62 said: That's an interesting looking one, both the body and headstock look nice! If the headstock is at an angle no string trees should be needed. If it ever has been played then it has had a trapeze. There's longer and shorter ones and I guess a long one might apply more pressure on the bridge. However, since there's obviously solid wood under the bridge a wraparound might also be an option, with some luck even without extra drilling. And of course if the inside block is big enough a tune-o-matic endpiece could also be installed. Or a Bigsby... Choices, choices! Thanks! It does have the three small holes from a trapeze bridge By the end strap button location. The string guide seemed like it might be necessary given how far in the b string tuner is... the angle from the g string at the nut makes things look crowded! If regular trapeze bridges for thin hollow body guitars usually work on more LP style axes, it’s worth trying. Great to know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted October 1, 2020 Report Share Posted October 1, 2020 10 hours ago, Obi-Wan zenabI said: The string guide seemed like it might be necessary given how far in the b string tuner is At first I thought you were concerned about sufficient string pressure on the nut which I can tell is sorted by the headstock angle. But after a closer look I now understand what you mean! The middle and farthest tuners are in a row instead of being fanned and the two middle strings indeed are crowded. That's a flaw in the design, fancy looks instead of functionality. There's several ways to fix that, a string guide being an option but not necessarily the best one. Plugging and redrilling the middle tuner holes some 2 mm closer to the edge would help and the plug would be hidden under the washer on the top and the tuner at the bottom side. That'd be a pretty easy fix. Even better it would be if you could also put the farthest tuner a bit closer to each other but that would require reshaping the headstock narrower to allow for the buttons to turn. The carve makes it more difficult but with a template and steady hand it's not impossible to reroute. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gogzs Posted October 1, 2020 Report Share Posted October 1, 2020 (edited) I think the strings from the top tuners will barely miss the middle ones. You can always go with string trees or: https://www.thomann.de/gb/dietrich_parts_string_butler_v3_full_black.htm I think this would fit in nicely and sort everything out, perhaps a bit over the top solution to a rather simple problem. As for the rest, I'd love to see a Bigbsy on it for the bridge, but I think any trem system would be a pain to use since the arm would be directly over the knobs, so a nice clean fixed bridge will have to do. Nice guitar tho Edited October 1, 2020 by Gogzs 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted October 1, 2020 Report Share Posted October 1, 2020 3 hours ago, Gogzs said: I think the strings from the top tuners will barely miss the middle ones. You can always go with string trees or: https://www.thomann.de/gb/dietrich_parts_string_butler_v3_full_black.htm I think this would fit in nicely and sort everything out, perhaps a bit over the top solution to a rather simple problem. As for the rest, I'd love to see a Bigbsy on it for the bridge, but I think any trem system would be a pain to use since the arm would be directly over the knobs, so a nice clean fixed bridge will have to do. Nice guitar tho saw a cool take on this once... where they headstock was extreme. they took a couple of the balls off of a used string... and put a set screw thru it with a small spacer under. the string was kept in the groove in the ball end of the string perfectly and didn't look like it would have much tension issues. Thought it was a pretty low tech but good solution and it even looked kind of cool. in case it helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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