Don't Fret it? Do Fret it!

I'm back with another update. The setup process was not going well for the Black Strat. I have been struggling with it for some time. I even used a Guitar setup DVD from Gibson for assistance and it confirmed that something wasn't right. I did some reading on the internet and started to learn that the Might Mite necks, as nice as they are, do require some attention to the nut and frets.  The problem I was experiencing was random fret buzzing indicative of unlevel frets .  The only solution I was able to do was raise the bridge until all the buzzing went way.  The action (distance from the strings to the fretboard) on the Black Strat was atmospherically high (ideally you want this to be as low as possible).  I started to suspect that some kind of fret work needed to be done. I have zero experience with fixing frets on a guitar but thankfully, I have connections to a professional luthier at Nordstrand Pickups (www.nordstrandpickups.com).  I packed up the Black Strat and headed over to their shop for help.

The Carey gave me a wonderful crash course in guitar setup and access to proper tools, for example nut files.  Nut files allow you to cut the correct spacing gauge for each string.  A set of 6 files can run well over $100.  Using these files in about a minute, the nut of the Black Strat was correctly adjusted and lowered my string action by almost 50%.  Next I learned how to properly level all the frets of the guitar neck. This is a time consuming project and not overly difficult so I scribbled notes so I could try this at home. I also made a short list of some tools I would need.  Now, with a ton of confidence and an email address and phone number in case I had any questions, I was off to do some tool shopping.

I needed a fret leveler but there are 2 schools of thought; 1. level the frets with a file and 2. level the frets with sandpaper.  I decided to level the frets with sandpaper since this was the advice I got from Nordstrand Pickups.  So my first item was a 16" precision-ground heavy steel tube, along with 220 grit roll of adhesive sandpaper. The second item was an 8" fret dressing file, this is used to shape the frets after they all have been leveled.

Here's a photo with most of the tools I'll be using on this adventure;
From left to right; Screwdriver, 8" fret dressing file, Exacto knife, black sharpie, blue painter's tape, 220 adhesive sandpaper, 16" steel level tube, toolkit specifically for guitars, laser level.

Sixth Purchase: Pickguard Mounting Screws $4.99 (Total: $704.05)

Are you kidding me?  The David Gilmour pickgaurd arrived but it didn't include any screws for mounting.  So I had to purchase some for 5 bucks putting me just over the $700 mark.  BAH!!

I'm drilling the holes for the screws.

All Screws are in.

Time to finish this project off.

Fifth Purchase: Pre-Assembled Pickguard $249.99 (Total: $699.06)

Based on all the overwhelming feedback <end sarcasm> I decided to go with the pre-assembled pickguard.

Here is an image of the top

 And here is a image of the back.

 

This should be the finial piece.

Dilemma

I'm in a bit of a dilemma. One of the goals, although minor, of this project was to build the pickguard with individual pickups, based on David Gilmour's Black Strat. However Seymour Duncan makes a replacement pickguard containing all the correct pickups, switches, potentiometers and control knobs already assembled for $249.

I priced out the componants if I were to buy them indiviually and this is the cost I would be facing;
Fat 50 pickup                                  $80
69 pickup                                        $80
SSL 5 pickup                                   $53
black fender pick guard                     $18
White volume/tone knobs                  $6
Fender 5 way wiring kit                      $30
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Total (before shipping and tax):          $267

The primary goal of this project was to keep overall cost down.  But If I purchase the per-assembled pickguard that would be the last purchased piece for this project.

Anyone care to voice an opinion?

Guitar Jack Assembly

Now that all the major drilling is complete I can install some of the other components I ordered from my previous posts.  This entry will cover the installation of the guitar jack.

Here are the genuine Fender parts for the guitar jack.

I soldered 2 wires 1 red for hot and 1 black for ground to the two contacts of the jack.  It is very important to connect the wires properly.  A simple google search will tell you which wire needs to go to which connector.

The guitar jack with wires is attached to the guitar jack plate with a nut.  Make sure the guitar cable contact connector (the bit that looks like the letter J) is on the opposite side of the jack plate.  This guarantees the smooth insertion and removal of the guitar cable.

A second view of the assembled guitar jack.

Insert the wires through the guitar jack cavity into the main body cavity.

Drill 2 small guide hole and screw in the 2 small screws and you are done.

Drill Baby Drill

My father-in-law has a drill press, which is the only tool of choice to make the proper holes for the 2 post pegs.  The gold post peg is 10 mm in diameter. I don't own a 10 mm drill bit so I had to improvise a little. 3/8 inch is about 9.5 mm, from my research this was good because you do want to have a VERY tight fit.  My research also stated that I needed to be careful when pounding in the gold pegs so that the holes don't split.  I taped off the proper depth on my drill bit so that I knew I was deep enough.  (Note: I didn't account for the rounded end so my holes originally were not deep enough.  I had to go back and make them deeper.  I guess my previous post should be titled "Measure Twice Cut Twice")

After a few practice runs on some scrap pieces of wood I was ready to drill for real. Drill bit is in place and the guitar is clamped down.

The drill press has a nice laser "X marks the spot" guide on it.  I'm lining up the first hole.

Lining up to drill the second hole. You can see the first hole has already been drilled.

Aftermath of drilling the second hole.

Here are the two holes after removing sawdust and drafting tape.

I place a towel over the top of the guitar and pounded in the gold pegs with a rubber mallet. It was definitely a tight fit and I had to use a lot of force towards the end to get the pegs flush with the body.  But again everything went smoothly, no splits or any damage to the body.  I screwed the 2 posts into the gold peg.  The Wilkinson tremolo will pivot on these 2 posts.

This last image shows the Wilkinson tremolo in place resting on the 2 posts.  It fits nicely into the hole in the body and has plenty of clearance to pivot up and down without any rubbing.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

In the image below you can see that the body came with a pre-cut hole for a tremolo system.  This hole is made for the standard Fender 6 screw tremolo system I mentioned in a previous posting.  But as luck might have it, the 2 point Wilkinson tremolo system I like was designed to fit in this exact same hole and use the same back cavity for the tension coils.

This image shows the back cavity that will contain the tension coils (springs).

I own 3 guitar routing templates for altering/customizing/destroying guitar bodies.  One of these templates is specifically designed for the 2 point Wilkinson tremolo system.  You can get similar templates online for free, they are a pdf version that you download and print.  I purchased mine from Stewmac online supply store. Stewmac has fantastic supplies for hobbyists (and professionals) that want to mess around with guitar projects.

If you look closely at the template you can see the main tremolo hole and 6 small holes on one side and 2 small holes on the other side.  One side of the template is used for the Fender 6 screw tremolo system and the other side is used for the 2 point Wilkinson tremolo system.  To avoid any confusion for myself I marked the side I want to work with, with a W and an arrow pointing toward the neck of the guitar.
It is also very important to find the midpoint between the 2 points. This midpoint will fall on the center-line of the guitar.   First I scratched a line through the 2 points. Next I marked the midpoint between the 2 points with a Sharpie. Last, I scratched a perpendicular line at that midpoint.

Now I could have just placed the template down and lined it up with the pre-made tremolo hole, marked the two holes I need and be done with it.  However I want to double check the template to make sure it is correct.  Therefore I need to do some measurements.

I place some drafting tape down on the guitar and began to mark my center-line. I recommend using a laser level to find the center-line, but I used a piece of string that I ran down the center of the neck making sure that the string went through the center of the fret dots (you can see 4 of them in the image below).  I made a number of marks on the drafting tape and then...well...connected the dots with a colored pen.

The bridge location is at a distance of 25 1/4 inches (for a stratocaster) from the nut at the top end of the fretboard. I made a mark on my red center-line 25 1/4 inches from the head of the guitar. I then made a perpendicular line at this location. So my guitar center-line is in red and my bridge distance of 25 1/4 inches is marked in green.  The 2 posts for the Wilkinson tremolo will be located on the green line.

The moment of truth! Did the template line up? Yes, it did!  Spot on! as David Gilmour might say. I used double side tape to hold the template in place and I used a black Sharpie to mark the locations for the 2 post holes.

Things are going very smoothly so far.  I removed the template and placed the Wilkinson tremolo in the hole and lined up how the bridge would sit and did some extra checking.  I used a piece of string and placed one end in the top groove (low E string) and ran it to the bridge to see if the string would lie on the fretboard.  Looks pretty good!

I did the same for the bottom string groove (the high E string) and that looked pretty good as well.

Well everything looks pretty good. I've done multiple measurements so I guess it's time to cut!