dalandser

I think I'm going to try raising the studs a little, it seems like the only thing I can do at this point. I guess my biggest concern was loading the inserts with too much of a moment by raising the studs and having the inserts press into the wood, tilting forward toward the neck, but at this point I can't do much else unless I'm missing something. I'm sure there may be some situation in which sustain would decrease because the studs are not screwed all the way into the inserts, but I'm not sure if they are already to begin with, and it's not going to be noticeable I'd imagine, even if there is some loss of sustain. I wish there were maybe some longer studs available for recessed guitars, but c'est la vie. If anyone has some info please let me know. Thank you and have a great day. Anthony

I read about people doing that. Thank you. Unfortunately it's a neck-through.

Hello, I have a guitar with a recessed wilkinson vs100 and it's giving me a bit of a headache in terms of setup options. The guitar is intonated, but the E, A, and D strings are too low and ringing on the frets for most of the neck. I've raised the saddles to the point where it looks like they're at the top of their set screws and there's not much more they can go before it slips out of the bottom. The neck relief is pretty generous - I don't know that straightening it any would help, but it started quite straight, back bow actually since the person I bought it from hadn't played it in the years since he bought it new. So my question is what do I do? Can I raise the two posts higher so I can reduce the amount of height needed for the set screws? If so, how high should I go? Are there taller posts specifically made for people with guitars that have recessed tremolos? I know I can experiment, but I'd rather ask before I get around to doing something that might make something strip or worse on the guitar. Attached is a link to some pictures. Thank you and have a great day. Blessings. Anthony https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?hl=en

My oh my. The neck pickup had staggered poles causing this. Please have mercy on me! Thanks for the heads up. The frets were amazing on this guitar for what it is, that was another thing that was confusing me. Lol, wow, my bad. Have a great day.

Hello, I bought a cheap Johnson strat copy for a student. He's left handed so I was pretty happy to find one. The problem is now that I'm trying to set it up is that the strings almost all completely fret out from about the 10th-12th fret and up. The neck adjustment seems OK and I tried shimming the neck end of the neck pocket with a piece of calling card, but then the nut was so high relative to the bridge that the action looked like a cheap acoustic. Does anyone have any advice for me? It will be greatly appreciated. Have a great day. - Anthony

Hello, It's been awhile since I posted here, but this is what happened: I bought a used Schecter C-1 E/A semi-hollow (think ES-355 or PRS Semi hollow) on ebay that has two humbuckers and a tonepros / graphtech ghost saddle piezo and a 3 way on-on-on switch to toggle mag only - mag + piezo - piezo only. Here's the wiring diagram: http://schecter.musicianscentre.com/home/schecter-wiring-diagrams - it's the sixth one from the top. The stock pups were swapped with some duncan humbuckers. When I plugged the guitar in with a fresh battery, I got an intermittent thunder sound that sounds like a loose output jack wire or some other grounding issue. I have a feeling that who ever swapped the pickups made a mistake and didn't wire something properly. There's a push-pull coil split on the mag tone pot which I think was an aftermarket mod as well. I have a 14 day return policy and I'm thinking of returning this guitar because it's a semihollow and there's a piezo bridge which I'm not used to dealing with (and which are expensive to replace if it's in fact a faulty bridge - most likely not, but...?) One more thing - I watched a video on youtube that showed how to switch the pickups and I saw that you have to go through the battery compartment to wire them to the three way switch. I wanted to check out the tech's wiring, but the battery compartment is press fit into this guitar so that after removing the screw that 'holds' the compartment into the route, it is as stuck in there as ever. Here's the video: Anyway, I'm pretty sure I'll be returning this guitar because I don't have time and / or interest for making this guitar into a project and I paid too much for it as well to be spending more on it than I already did in order for it to be worth it. But just incase someone can tell what the easiest way to diagnose this problem may be or how to fix it, please let me know and I can send the information on to the original owner. I wiggled each pot and the output jack and nothing was any more to blame for the thunder sound than anything else. Also, the thunder comes through all three of the positions on the three way on-on-on switch. Turning down volume or tone with the pots didn't fix the problem (unless I turn both volumes off completely - even still there would be some signal making it through intermittently into the input readers on my line 6 toneport when I had the volumes turned down completely). Also, when the piezo is selected, simply running my fingers over the saddles makes a really bad sound. I know that they pick up vibration, but that seemed unreasonable to me. So, if there's anyone out there who has an idea of what could be faulty or how to fix this guitar, please let me know and I can at least pass this on to the original owner when I return it. I'm pretty sure he has little experience with guitars because he said he bought it with the intention of learning, but never got around to it. And FWIW, I realize this may be like asking someone how much spare change I have in my pocket... but I thought I'd ask anyway. I took some pictures from the outside of the guitar, but I know they won't help any unless I tear the guitar apart and take more, which I don't want to do. Have a Blessed day. Sincerely, Anthony Mancini

Thanks for the response. I'll give that a try. Have a great day. God Bless, Anthony

Hello, It's been a while since I posted anything here which probably means I've been doing more work on guitars and playing them than talking about it. Anyway, I have a Schecter 006 Elite with a s/h pickup setup with a Wilde Bill Lawrence L45 in the neck and a L500L in the bridge. I'm getting some hum when using it with my laptop with emulated amplifiers and equipment. Granted the settings are high gain (overdriven marshall with a dirt pedal in front - all emulated). There is usually hum with other guitars I've used with this setup, but the curious thing is that I'm getting more hum (volume) with the humbucker than with the single coil. Shouldn't the humbucker be relatively silent when compared with the "single" coil L45. The humbucker was coil split with the tone pot so I switched the tone pot and the output jack thinking it was something to do with either one of those, but same story afterward. I'm not sure if it's a grounding issue and I'm not sure how a string through guitar is grounded to the bridge (to one of the inserts for the TOM?). Also, when I press down on the strings and contact them to the frets there is more feedback and hum (even when barely touching the string to the fret). Is that supposed to happen? I'm sorry about all these questions. I don't have another guitar to take apart and experiment with right now and I need this one to play at church so I'm hoping someone can give me some good advice. Have a great day, Anthony

Hello, I have more experience tinkering, upgrading, setting up, and playing guitars than I do building them. I can get a guitar set up pretty well in terms of low-ish action and correct intonation at the 12th fret. I recently bought a used Schecter 006 Elite that was really beat up cosmetically and that had really old rusty strings with worn down frets. I tuned it up and it had the lowest action of any guitar I've ever had, including an Ernie Ball Music Man JP6 (bought new, then fret leveled), another 006 Elite that I had fret leveled, and a Made in USA Parker MaxxFly. The Ernie Ball and the Parker were disappointments in terms of how high the action ended up being after a setup. Then this Schecter with crusty rusty strings and worn frets had the lowest action of any of them. I changed the strings and unfortunately the action wasn't as good after a setup. The low E is now probably a string width higher than it was before. All this has got me thinking about what really makes a guitar capable of having low low action with no string buzz. Since I've never built a guitar or a neck, I'd like to hear what some builders have to say about this. I'm looking for honest to goodness experience in terms of finding what can really get a guitar to have nice low action. Here's my intuition, please correct me if I'm wrong. It seems that first of all having level frets and a bridge that is the correct radius for the frets are a must. Secondly it seems that the strength and tolerances of the truss rod threading are important. For instance are there really nice truss rods that have a higher number of turns per bend similar to how nicer tuning keys have higher tuning ratios? Finally it seems that the specific arc that is created from the interaction of the truss rod and the specific neck material and dimensions will create the correct circumstances for the lowest action possible. From a set up point of view, I had been told in the past to straighten out the neck as much as possible until low E string clamped a the first and last fret will barely vibrate or make a tapping sound when pressed against the middle most frets. I've tried this and consistently had to raise the bridge too high to get rid of string buzz. Only after giving the neck more relief have I found that I can get a moderately low string action again without buzzing strings. It's now my intuition that making really small truss rod adjustments will find the true sweet spot for each guitar during each setup to achieve the lowest possible action and that it's actually a process of trial and error rather than simply dialing some measurements and assuming it's a done deal. I've read many posts on multiple forums about people getting 'super low' action with no string buzz. Are these statements accurate? I know that 'super low' is a subjective value and I'd say I can get about a little more than two full millimeters away from the last fret with the low E string. I wouldn't call this 'super low' especially compared to how low the action was when tuned up this most recent guitar with crusty strings and the same value was more like 1.5-1.75 mm before I threw on new strings and had to give it a full setup. I like to play moderately technical stuff higher up on the neck and this is why I really like low action, so that I'm not having to really press down on the strings and find the fret at the same time which really slows things down. I'm not obsessing over this, but since I've spent a fair amount of time setting up the guitars I play in the last few years, I'd appreciate any feedback from some people that are more experienced and knowledgable than me. Thank you and have a great day, Anthony

Looks like no answer may = too expensive. I'm going to try to lighten the fretboard to look more like maple, we'll see how it comes out.

Thanks for the feedback. Whoever had this guitar did some crazy stuff. There's more pick scratches on it (on both sides of the strings) than any guitar I've ever seen. The frets around 12-19 are pretty flattened down. I had another 006 that I got leveled and crowned and it worked fine after, however these are worn down pretty far. I'll see if I can get some pictures. I'll also bring it by the local shop. Basically my questions is how much more would it be for a new fretboard installed with frets if I end up having to get the guitar refretted. That way I can pick whatever fretboard I would like. The neck wouldn't have to be refinished because I can do that myself / not too concerned with the aesthetics since I usually sand down necks to the sanding sealer. I'm also thinking of staining the fretboard if a new fretboard installation is very expensive, but I'll post that in the appropriate section. Thanks again for the feedback. Have a great day, Anthony

I was wondering what the price would be to either refret or replace a fretboard with new frets on a 24 fret Schecter 006 elite. Thank You, Anthony

Hello, I'm refinishing a basswood bodied project guitar. I would like to have a transparent white finish. I have been researching some and have found that since I don't have a sprayer, the most common approach will be using a sanding sealer and a transparent white rattle can to get the right level of color / transparency and then a clear protective coating. I do not mind if some character of the wood shows through so I would like to omit a grain filling step. I would like to start by use a brush on sanding sealer such as Zinnser Bulls Eye Wood Seal Coat. I have read to sand after a first coat and apply a second and then sand to about 320. The next step is a toss up between Reranch Mary Kaye lacquer rattle can and this: http://www.amazon.com/Montana-Gold-Transparent-Spray-Paint/dp/B00251O2OC Montana Gold Magic White Transparent spray paint which seems to be a high quality paint. I would rather go for the spray paint since it's a lot cheaper. One thing I have read about spraying a color coat of lacquer is not to sand it before applying clear. Why is this? I figured if the color is too opaque and I want to make it more transparent I can just lightly sand it down uniformly over the whole body. I'm pretty sure there will be no problem doing this with the spray paint if I go that route. Why is this said about lacquer? If it is because scratches from sanding will show through the clear, then this is not a problem for me since I am going for a matte / satin finish. The final step, the clear, may depend on whether I go for the spray paint or the lacquer for the color coat. I am not planning on buffing the clear coat, rather sanding it very smooth / rubbing with steel wool for a matte / satin finish. Would a lacquer or Krylon clear coat be more durable? I know each requires a long time, perhaps two weeks to fully cure or evaporate in the case of the lacquer. Also, would a lacquer clear work on a spray paint color coat and would a Krylon clear coat work on a lacquer color coat? My focus for this project is achieving a durable and ascetically pleasing finish for a low price. I do not expect it to look like a factory finish since I would like a matte or more likely satin appearance that is also resistant to denting from careful use. Any help will be appreciated. There's no rush since I'm still finishing smoothing out the contours and am getting better about planning ahead and being patient with my projects. Thank you and have a great day, Anthony

I'm not much of an expert, or even familiar with staining fretboards, however it seems like a safe idea to test out each idea on your test scraps and rub them with your fingers after they completely set.

I like those quick thinking ideas. Keep it moving

My .02 regarding the nut: A $10 graphtech preslotted nut with the correct width and string spacing is going to do a lot more for tuning stability than a new set of tuning keys no matter how expensive those gears are. Taking the old nut off and installing the new one is a piece of cake. Just make sure you have the correct size before purchasing and installing it. Graph Tech's website makes that pretty easy to do. If you don't have the nut files, just make sure none of the open strings are buzzing before you glue in the nut so that you know it's not too low and bring it to a shop tech to cut the slots to depth. The shop down the street charged me $20 so for $30 total I went from retuning after every song to every half hour or more. I also had graphtech saddles on that guitar and while it mellowed out the sound of the guitar in a good way, that thing sustained for days. I know you're going for a vintage sound and often that means twang or nice and bright with a telecaster. Graph Tech makes new saddles that are supposed to keep that quality. I never tried them so I'm not sure about it. That guitar also had pickups from http://www.wildepickups.com/ and they sounded awesome. I gave that guitar to my brother otherwise I'd still be playing it. Also, everyone feels differently about messing with the finish of their guitar so you may not want to do this, however I really like to sand down the back of the guitar neck on factory finished guitars. I'll either use some 320 grit or finer or some steel wool to make the glossy finish more satin and reduce the surface tension between the finish and my hand. I don't go through the original finish, it usually makes for a nice finish once it's sanded a little. With a few mods that you've talked about and a little work on the neck that I just mentioned, a $200 guitar can feel like a whole new instrument.

Contacting Ibanez directly or perhaps the guy at www.ibanezrules.com may be the best way to get the proper replacement truss rod. You can reuse the fretboard if you remove it carefully. There's a nice tutorial in the tutorial section on this site for how to do it here: http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/removal.htm and http://www.projectguitar.com/tut/attach.htm

I saw a picture of a side adjust truss rod after I googled it. I like that idea. I guess it would be less intrusive than an Ernie Ball style truss rod in a vintage Strat style guitar. Other than that, I really like the Ernie Ball style truss rod simply for ease of adjustment making. Come to think of it, I don't mind the regular style truss rods either since I take the truss rod covers off guitars I work with.

I recently bought a new Washburn WM 24 made in Indonesia from Ebay for under $200. I like the price, size of the neck, the epoxy fretboard, and the general shape of the body. It has some pretty aggressive horns so I decided to refinish it and reshape the horns. After I used a heat gun to remove the paint I found that the body was not mahogany like it was advertised to be. The neck is definitely mahogany and the body is a lot lighter color with a grain that looks like ash. Since there was a black tinted sanding sealer I couldn't get a good look at it. I took a picture of the end grain which I can post later. The body is pretty heavy so I don't think it's basswood. Any ideas as to what it might be? I know the picture of the end grain will help, I just don't have my phone with me right now. I'm not concerned, just interested to know what it might be and why such a mistake may be made in the advertising. Also, I got a rash on my had after sanding some sanding sealer recently. Has anyone else had this problem in the past? I bought some gloves and some steroid cream and no problems since. Have a great day, Anthony

I really like how that came out. I never saw a guitar just like that. I'm working on a guitar with a reverse headstock and I like it as well. Nice work.

I just did a beach test on some quilt maple veneer and found that bleach will make white dots left all through the wood if it is left on for too long. Another forum member had good results by soaking rags in clorox bleach and letting them sit on the wood for 20 minutes then neutralizing the bleach with hydrogen peroxide. I wanted the wood really white so I left the rags on for over an hour... oops. I sanded down the other side of the veneer and I'll try the 20 minute application hopefully with the same results as the other forum member.

Here's a testimonial from Tom Morello regarding pedals and such: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTnrkamfJSc

As others have mentioned, the list of pedals that can be purchased is potentially endless. The way I've gone about it is finding major sound areas that I find I use when playing music. I try to use as few pedals as possible to achieve these areas. Here's what I use: Dunlop Crybaby Classic Wah Ibanez DE7 Delay Ibanez SM7 Distortion (Modified by Pedalhacker @www.pedalhackermods.com) Holy Grail Reverb (for my practice amp that doesn't have reverb) I can play all of the original and cover songs I like to play (and they tend to be in your prescribed musical genres) with these being used at appropriate times. If I want to add a little more flavor to songs I may use: A phaser for short lead passages ala Van Halen or a chorus for rhythm passages ala RHCP. Another cool pedal is something like a Boss PSM-5 that can put all of your pedals in a loop so that you don't have to step on multiple pedals if you go into or come out of a heavy spot in the music and need to multiple pedals on or off at the same time. Those pedals are usually a lot cheaper than the new line selector pedals. One thing to watch out for with pedals (speaking from experience): There is such thing as too many. Trying to find new and funky pedals eat up time that can be used to learn new and funky styles and take a lot, a lot of practice to get to sound good together when used live and when going from amp to amp. This led me to just buy a new multi-channel amp that eliminated some of my pedal needs and music was way more fun to play again. Finally, I've found that a single pedal can sound very different by simply switching between pickups or adding one other pedal. For example: my distortion pedal can go from basic blues when used with my guitar's neck single coil pickup, to Hendrix with the wah pedal, to Dream Theater with my bridge humbucker pickup and the delay pedal without switching any settings on the distortion pedal itself. These subtle differences allow for a lot of range with a small amount of pedals and I that's the way I like it.

Thank you for the info. Anyone regarding the Krylon Clear? Thank You, Anthony

I found someone getting about the same results as I would like here: http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot...ured-maple.html and here: http://www.crenshawweb.com/texastele/ttp14.htm I'm still not sure about spraying Krylon Clear on bare wood though. Thank You, Anthony