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.

Double post

Hey Mike, Yep all good cheers, it's a lovely sunny day today on the big island, love the elm tops knots and all, stained or natural?

Thanks Scott, I like my dog too. 80 lbs of cuddly beasty for the family to enjoy.

.....and there's a 3 letter word for Shillelagh?

That horn is kinda wobbly looking the more I stew on it....

and hear back on it...

which is one thing that encourages me to post pics during the build. Nothing like having many different viewpoints while developing a build. If it was a copy of something , or I was in charted waters, it'd be less compatible for morphing.

On a lighter note, I got nowhere with it today. My kids Honda blew a headgasket so I played frozen mechanic, cursing the Japanese in the cold.

then I came home to find my big spalted elm boards had arrived.

O happy day ...

I can get 2 guitar tops and two bass tops which will be in book-matched pairs

and I got the 4 of em for $10 each, to the door......

That sounds like a bargain, are you going to post a picture? I have never seen spalted elm before. I'm enjoying watching the very organic bass evolve.

My friend got a brand new Gibson black beauty a few months back, he said he was having trouble getting a low action on it, I said I would have a look and gun sighted it down the neck and %^&*$ me it has a back bow. I had never heard of a back bow until I joined this forum, I used to think they were as rare as hen's teeth. Now, I would resell those rods on eBay but say they are single action, and get some double action rods. A guitar build is such an investment in time, it's good to use the best materials

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.

The grain looks cool, I'm digging the reverse headstock, how come you hate routing the neck pocket? That's one of the best bits

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

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

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

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.

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

And the award for the fewest clamps ever used to attach a fretboard on this forum goes to...

#%&! missed it by .......

Fantastic job, have Meshuggah called you wanting to buy it yet?

Looking great, good to see a clamping board being used on the fretboard glue down

<!--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.

Love the way this guitar is looking, the grain on the back of the neck is cool. One thing to consider, a vinyl decal on the headstock, check out http://www.signnetwork.com/Custom-Lettering-p-46844.html cheap as chips and they look great

I was wondering what happened to this one, good to see progress and finished pics or on the way

The design looks great, have you done a model to make sure it is comfortable to play? or does that not really matter as is will be totally a promotional item rather than a player?

John - I got two words for ya :

Cloth-covered-comic-inspired Corvus.( A comic book T-shirt should do the front and back. )

Considering that I'm a comic book junkie to begin with, that would be pretty sweet.

Thats what made me bring it up. You remember the Comicaster? I could see an Incredible Hulk Corvus........ put in a hot humbucker with a coil-cut and use it in single coil mode.

Until it gets ANGRY! lolz....... then kick in the bucker and shred! wo0t.

Just throwin stuff out there...

Wez - as usual , cool pics for ideas from you - love the individual pups. wonder what some piezo's under the fretboard at the 24th fret or so would sound like?

Hmmmmmm......

I want to see a guitar made in honour of the greatest super hero in history..."arm fall off boy"..google him youll be amazed.

Is arm fall off boy dangerous?

Yep. too right. I am digging the neck to headstock border at the back

Great stuff, what does it sound like through the Egnater?

seriously deepening the neck pocket is insanely easy on a guitar with no neck angle

all you need is

1 piece of wood for a template

1 roll of double stick tape.

1 laminate trim bit

1 pattern bit

1 router

rough cut the neck pocket in the wood for the template, then tape it to the top of the guitar, now use the laminate trim bit to follow the neck pocket, now use the pattern bit to cut the neck pockt deeper.

Yep that would work, or just use a template following bit that is shorter than the neck pocket is deep and use the existing neck pocket as a template, and deepen as required. Just put some contact on the guitar to stop the router base scratching it.

Hey Dimitris, yep tear out occurs when the bulk of wood that the router blade is pushed into stops or slows the blade momentarily, the router gains torque and finds the next weakest point that will give way, the grain along the bit that tears out.

On a plunge router there are two ways to avoid this. You can have a long router bit set deep and push it very gently along the cutting face of the wood, bring it close to the wood until you just hear the the tone of the router change and shave thin slices off the edge, or just set the depth of the plunge router 1 mm deeper each pass. Either technique will stop the friction on the router bit overpowering the motor on the router. Using both techniques together is very safe.

Hi Buter, great router bits at that site, the video reminded me of the other golden rule, any time you want to have 5 fingers on each hand, pull the router plug out of the socket before you touch the bit

I am very sad today cause i had many accidents with my router...First I cut the wood with a bandsaw right off the pencil line,and routed using a template

copying the matrix..But the elm i used was very very strong and had 2-3 tear off ...i am deeply dissapoined and dont know where i went wrong....The only

which i can think is that in some point the router had to cut 3-4 mm distance to meet the template of a wood which was 4 cm deep...was that tooo much?????

Don't fear the router, learn to love it. Yep 4 mm is too much that's why you got tear out.

Follow these tips and you will be in router nirvana,

Get rid of as much wood as you can with hand tools like a rasp, this reduces the strain on the router bit.

Route down 1-2 mm at a time on hard woods, go slow. Practice on scrap first, if you get tear out on 2 mm go to 1 mm.

Use a dust extractor, safety goggles and ear muffs.

I have heard different theories on which direction is the safest to prevent tear out, I go anti clockwise around the outside, the bit is spinning clockwise as you look down on it so the bit is scooping out the cut and not able to jam down on the uncut edge.

The exception is pointy bits, route towards the point from either side and move past it.