string thru body, top side ferrules

[balooka]

I want to install a TOM and go string thru, but I cant find the ferrules (sp?) that go on top of the body. All i can find are those little 'cups' that hold the 'ball'.

i want it to be like this

any suggestions?

TIA

JP

[Scott Rosenberger]

Good Luck!

No one sells them. your best bet is to try and find steel grommets that are the correct size

[frank falbo]

I just bought compression fittings from the hardware store for about $.75 per 2 in a package. They're brass, and they have a satiny finish on the inside. They're perfect. They fan out like a bugle. They don't come out and round over like a mushroom head. (like in your pic) I might cut them down because they're a bit long. They're in the plumbing aisle with all the brass connectors. I searched all over because I needed brass/gold.

If you need chrome/silver/aluminum then there's all sorts of options. First, someone I know got Carvin to sell him some of theirs. But they acted like they weren't supposed to and that they weren't for sale. You can use the kind of rivets that have a nail through them and just take the nail out. Or you can get those mushroom shaped finishing washers and drill down with a brad point bit to match, then superglue them into place.

Before I found the compression fittings I was going to just use brass tubing from the hobby shop to line the inside of the hole right up flush with the body top. Then you'd have the protection you needed but it would be "stealth." You could use aluminum or steel too. On one guitar I made over 10 years ago I routed a recess, like a rectangle, where the 6 holes came through. Then just in front of the holes I glued in a solid brass rod. So the strings came up and over the brass rod.

[Myka Guitars]

Try these: eyelets

They were suggested to me by another luthier who uses them. Schecter, Warrior, and GMP have all used these at one time or another.

~David

[frank falbo]

Yeah those are perfect! I saw those at the hardware store, too, but they only had chrome ones so I forgot about them. You could probably do some cool things with the various colors if the string rubbing didn't chip it off.

[Scott Rosenberger]

Try these: eyelets

They were suggested to me by another luthier who uses them. Schecter, Warrior, and GMP have all used these at one time or another.

~David

I've tried those, beware they deform very easily. when the string comes out of the body and angles toward the bridge they get dented which in turn deforms the wood underneath. after a few string changes they fall out of the holes constantly. If you do use them here's my recommendation. get some stainless steel tubing that the eylets will fit snugly into. cut the tubing in 1/2" or longer pieces and put the tubing in the wood first then put the eyelets in the tubing. it will keep the wood from deforming

[Drak]

I think that this area is one where you can, and should, use your imagination to come up with something very individualistic, very wild and whacky, very YOU.

I have seen lots and lots of different ideas and designs guys have used for this part of the build, and the things you are asking about in particular are the most boring design out of all of the ones I've seen people post over the years.

Use this area to really put YOUR stamp on the guitar.

Spend a week or two just thinking of at least a dozen different ideas for this area.

If you're a cowboy, go find a little bronze cowboy hat or boot, inlay it, and drill out the 6 holes.

Or do a MOP design and inlay that, and use the 'tubes' as the stealth holes.

Or carve a piece of Ebony into any shape you want, and run your holes thru that.

Man, the ideas are endless for this part.

[frank falbo]

Since you're talking about getting creative, I'll share my latest bridge. It's for a Satriani style guitar that I'm making, and I wanted to use Steinberger saddles I had. So I recessed a rectangle into the body as the area for the saddles, and I made a bridge out of figured walnut that was a mini replica of a JS body shape, split down the middle so half is on each side of the saddles. Along the back is a "quarter round" where the strings come up through the body and round over the walnut. Then I drilled and tapped each side of the bridge to put little allen bolts in there to squeeze the saddles like on a real Steinberger bridge.

The point is for this bridge I chose to have the "round over" be done above the surface, instead of with grommets. So you could make any sort of fancy wooden piece above the surface as long as it has a smooth radius. It applies less downward pressure on the saddles, but that's okay because it's a solid flamed maple body so I don't need the extra sharp attack from the steep angle.

[GregP]

I'd dig seeing pictures of that!

[balooka]

Thank you all for your comments,

I kinda dig what Drak is saying tho so Im gonna think about it untill I get all my hardware in. That might indeed be another 2 weeks. If I'm not done being vreative by then I'll go with the other options mentioned.

JP

[samdjr74]

Your other choice is not to use them at all, thats how my godin is set-up, they just drill the holes and bevel the front

[balooka]

Are you sure that wont tear up the wood in the end??

[frank falbo]

Right now that's how my 7 string is set up:

http://www.fvcc.com/music/guitar.html

I bought the brass compression fittings for that guitar. One of the reasons I got the fittings is because you can tell in the pic that the D and G are slightly off. So I can reallign them by drilling out for the fittings. But I have done a few guitars with maple tops like this, and one trick is to make your hole, then angle or countersink it a little, then string it up. Over the next few days the high strings will press into the wood a little. Then you go back and re-do all the countersinks a little larger to match that point. So you've made your countersink to include the compression from the string. Then I soak the area in thin superglue to really lock it up. I've never had a problem after that. I think it's much harder on a mahogany, koa, alder, etc. because you really have to make the superglue do the job. That's when I thought about the stealth brass tubing. Then you would have the look of it rolling over the wood, but it would be protected. Like I said, I was all set to do that on this 7 string until I found the compression fittings.

[GregP]

Are you sure that wont tear up the wood in the end??

Half and half.

It doesn't have ferrules, but it DOES have a metal tube going through the body. Since the tube opening isn't flush with the wood, the strings bite into the wood just a little bit, but won't go any further due to the tube.

Looks killer, though. I love that Godin... it's a true workhorse guitar and the P-90s are inspiring.

(Mine's the LG, not sure what Sam's is)

Greg

[samdjr74]

I got the LGX-SA and the wood is fine around the holes, plays and sounds great for a bolt on neck, sustains real well. They make the bevel long, like 3/4" so it's a nice gentle slope for the string and I guess this is the reason why it doesn't kill the wood

[Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars]

Well, the Godin owners beat me to it.

[erikbojerik]

A real good solution here is to use the cylindrical "balls" at the end of a used set of strings. You could use the balls from guitar or bass strings. File out the inside holes a bit for the larger-gauge strings so that they don't pop out when you tune up.

[balooka]

thanks for the great info!

I'll look into each of the offered solutions. Why doesn't StewMac or any other supplier stock those things? It's not that rare to have a string thru right?

TIA

JP

[GregP]

I was wondering the same thing. ;-)

On a related note, the ones from StewMac that are flush-mounted will be less "invasive" in your design than the others.

Greg