Pick Guard and set up Jay Turser

Got a pretty looking Jay Turser Strat for a set up and new pickguard.  The original one seemed to be delaminating.  It looked like it should drop right on, but of course, it did not.

 

 

 

I could not determine that till I got the strings off, and the original pickguard out of the way.  The fingerboard has an end lip the pickguard slides under, and the new pickguard would not fit under the fingerboard without adjusting the neck pocket area on the pickguard.  I placed the new one over the original one, and made my marks with a sharpie to the area I needed to remove.  The new pickguard is Perloid and I thought I'd better not use any power tools to avoid the risk of catching the material on fire.  I settled for a hand file, and little by little, I shaved away the material down to my sharpie line.  The pocket had to be deeper and wider to fit under the fingerboard.  It took about 1/2 hour to shave her down.  When I got to the point where it would clear the fingerboard lip, I lightly straightened my file lines nice and even.  It was time to transfer the pickups and controls over to the new pickguard.  I unscrewed and unbolted the hardware and one by one, started to install the components onto the new pickguard.  I got the three pickups in and the switch before I discovered the holes for the volume and tone pots were too small.  Back Paddle!  I got an old big towel to cover the guitar body, and using a round file, began to enlarge the holes.  After cleaning up any dust, I mounted the three controls, cleaned up some wiring issues left by some hack before me, I layed the new pickguard into place.  Several screw holes did not line up, but enough so I could determine the pickguard would lay in the proper orientation to the body.  I screwed down the screws that did line up with the original holes, and using a pointed awl, made little holes for the rest of the screws.  Done with the pickguard install, it was time to restring it.  I first tightened up the nuts holding the tuners on the headstock, put the new strings on, and began to check for adjustments to be made.  The neck did not need a truss rod adjustment and I turned my attention to the string saddles.  I adjusted the saddles to conform with the radius of the fingerboard, then began to lower the saddles till the string just started to buzz.  I brought the height up till the buzz was gone, and move on to the next string.  After the string height was good, I checked the intonation.  I did not need to adjust any strings for intonation.  I played each string on all frets and checked for dead spots or buzzing and adjusted.  When the string action was where I wanted it, I adjusted the three pickups in height and balance.  It turned out pretty nice if I say so myself!  The customer was pleased with everything and invited me to come hear him play this weekend!  I just might go hear Earl!

 

 

 

 

Fix'n the Shoddy

I've had a customer in a young man, in his twenties, bringing me his guitars to fix and set up for the last couple years.  Always nice when I guy (or gal) is a repeat customer.  This guy is a stickler for tone.  He knows what he hears and strives to get it.  Good taste for a young guy, not that I didn't simply adore the Fender Stratocaster as well as most of the rest of the Fender family.  He called last month and asked if he could bring over his Wah pedal.  He found a broken wire under the bottom cover, and could I find the place to hook it back, and could he watch?  I said sure, but I have stuff on the grill and would tend them both. 
   It was the black wire going to the 9 V battery holder.  The ground side of the battery connector.  I scanned the circuit board for solder points near the red or positive connection point.  It could have been one of several to choose from.  Goal: find solder point going to ground.  With one probe of the continuity test clipped to the frame of the output jack, I began to probe the many solder points near my red wire point.  Close, but a few points to the Starboard, I found the point.  I trimmed the black wire clean, stripped it back, tinned the end, and by then, had to find the solder point all over again!
I heated up the point and drove my black wire home.  I checked my food on the grill, and we tested it.  It Wah'd, just as he wanted.  He tipped me $ 5.00 when he found out it was my birthday.
The shoddy part of that Wah was, the battery connector should be secured tight to the circuit board, so that the solder connections are not compromised.  I advised him to be aware of the fragility of the shoddy. 

The Bronco that wouldn't Buck

I got an interesting job in a couple weeks ago.  What made it interesting was, just that week, I read a repair article sent to me by Stew-Mac, a luthier parts and tools house.  About once a week, I get an e-mail with their "Trade Secrets," and particular week, the article showcased a vintage Fender Bronco Bass.  They were low end student instruments, short scale, and budget priced.  Their worst quality was that the pickup was bright and wimpy.  The repair tech at Stew-Mac discovered that the bass came with a guitar pickup installed.  In fact, they used the same pickup for the Fender Mustang, Music Master and others, including their low end short scale basses!  For the sake of "Vintage" the Stew-Mac guy, created a bass pickup of the same size as the original, but using the proper gauge wire, pole pieces, and windings, thus making a clone to act as a nice deep toned bass guitar!


While the article was still fresh in my mind, I get a fairly new Squier Bronco Bass in for the same complaint.  The bass had too bright a tone, and pretty much, no output to speak of. 

The owner and player of it was a lady, who liked the short scale and light weight, but wanted a deeper tone.  I have not the equipment, nor expertise's to tackle the same project as the Stew-Mac guy, but got the OK to install a P Bass style, split coil pickup and remove the wimpy original

 As we can see, the new pickup is shorter and thicker, using two coils instead of the original thin straight one.  That meant that the pickguard and the body underneath had to be routed to fit the new configuration. 

At first, I thought I'd be able to cover any left-over original route in the pickguard by the placement of the new pickup.  I soon realized the pickup placement would end up in different areas to line up underneath the strings. 
I marked the area to be routed on the pickguard and created that modification first, using a fine cut wheel on a Dremel tool on low speed.  I cut, using the Dremel up close to the final lines and used a series of files to finalize my lines.  The hand work, I knew was going to throw me off my budget estimate!  Oh well....
Next, I marked the body and used a router and template to rout the body to fit the new pickup.  I cut out a cardboard cover to protect the top of the body of the guitar from router scrapes.  That part of the project went smoothly and with the pickguard over everything, only the pickup showed, except for the extra cut left over from the original pickup.  That ended up being covered by a facade of tortoise-shell thin pickguard material I cut and glued in. 
The pickup installed in place and re soldered to the controls, I gave it a light tap test for a signal.  I got nothing!  The pickup, which I had on a shelf in a box for years was dead!  It registered an open circuit.  I unsoldered it and removed it from the bass and then I noticed a broken wire underneath, linking the two split coils together.  I was sure and confident I could merely re solder the wire back in place under the coil.  Unfortunately, the area was old and weak and my repair did not do the job.  I closed up shop for the day and thought I'd give one of the local music stores a try to see if they had anything used that I could replace my broken one with.  Was God ever on my side;  the guy came back on the line and they had a used P Bass style pickup for $ 5.99.  By noon the next day, the Bronco bucked up to order!  Lessons learned, and God on my side, and they even tipped me!  Long live the Bronco!

The case of the Yamaha with a Lawnmower switch

A few days ago I answered an ad on Craigs List for
a Yamaha electric guitar for $ 20. The picture looked a bit vague, but I thought for the price, I'd take it.  When I met the guy, I had to hide my laughing inside when I saw how someone tried to repair it.  The blade was missing from the 5 way switch, and they put next to it a switch identical to the one I used for a kill switch on my riding lawn mower!  Next to that, was a small push button switch.  I paid the guy and he said this goes with it.  It came with a nice stand and a bag of cords and a cheap tuner.

I got home and looked closer.  The jack was not in sight, but wads of electric tape, folded and screwed to the lower edge of the guitar.  I didn't even try to diagnose anything, I fired up the soldering iron, cut the wires going to the two bogus switches, and unsoldered the pickup leads and the rest of the wires from the original switch which was in fact still in the guitar.

I then removed all the switches leaving the pickups, volume and tone controls.  The "lawnmower" switch left an ugly irregular hole which is still there for now.  The other added switch, luckily was a small neat round hole. 

The next step was to take Ohm resistance readings on the pickups and pots.  They all seemed to be alive.  I found three used switches in a parts drawer which I could use; a 3 way Tele (or Vintage Strat), an import YM-50 5 way switch, and a new Stew-Mac Super Switch with 4 poles, 5 lugs to a pole.  I did not want to use the Super Switch on this baby.  The used Tele switch would limit my pickup selections so I opted for the used YM-50 switch.

I tinned all the wires and in some cases, cut back and re-tinned.  After wiring up the new switch, it hummed, but the pickups were not working.  I again took readings with the multi meter and it should be working.  I was guess'n the used switch of mine was bad.  There was still one thing I could try with the switch.  I was only using 1/2 of the switch, the other 1/2 would be used to run wires to tone controls.  This model Yamaha, had a single volume and single tone control wired off the volume, not the switch as is the way with a Strat.  I decided to wire the pickups to the other 1/2 of the switch.  Bingo!  Everything worked.  I now had a functional three pickup guitar wired to a 5 way switch.  Now, what could I do bout those two extra holes in the pickguard?  Again, I dove into the parts box and found a mini push-pull pot, and a mini On/On switch.  I decided to use the mini switch to wire the neck pickup to as well as the main 5 way switch.  That gave the guitar two more selections or tone options.  With the original switch, the neck pickup can be selected alone or with the middle pickup.  The remaining 3 positions were to select the middle alone, the middle and bridge, and the bridge alone.  In those remaining 3 positions, I now can add the neck pickup too.  That gives the option of using the neck and bridge together or even all three together. The only part I needed now was a jack plate.  I got a football shaped one for $ 4.50.  I might as well install a new jack too.  After I strung her up, I could see the neck needed a truss rod adjustment.  The vintage tremolo system had been screwed down tight making the bar useless.  I got it adjusted nice and shimmery loose and it stayed in tune pretty good.  As for the ugly hole left by the "lawnmower"switch, maybe I'll put in a doll googly eye!

Shadow's Supro's Sick!

While rehearsing with an old band mate from years back, last night, he showed me his Supro Lap Steel and wondered if I could breathe any new life back in her.  The pickup was cutting out on him and worse yet, one of the tuning knobs had broken away, leaving just the steel shaft.  He acquired it years ago for $ 15.00 at a lawn sale.  He did not want to put any big investment in it. 

The body had two huge gashes in it! 

The first thing I did was plug it in and play it.  It seemed to work OK.  The tone control did not seem to work, but the volume rev'd up n down good.

Shadow, having told me that it broke up and was noisy's words rang in my ears as I opened her up.

Someone, years ago had changed the jack.  They replaced it with an enclosed long acoustic guitar jack with the strap button.  It was pressed in tight.  When I got it apart, one of the two wires going to the jack had broke off.  I used my handy dandy knob puller to slowly pull the jack out.  A quick solder to the ole wire and tapped the jack back into the body using a rubber hammer.  Now for a quick clean'n lube to the pots with WD 40.  Using Electronic Contact Cleaner on these old pots could result in freezing them up for good.  The tone control was not working because the old original oil/paper capacitor was Kaput.  I made a judgement call on this relic, worn though she is.  I decided to leave the cap in the system for originality.  Knowing my friend, he may run it through a wah pedal which will alter the tone. 

Now for the broken tuner. 

The tuners were made by Klusin, as many in the 40's and 50's.  I removed the cover, exposing the gear and shafts.  I was hoping that it was the type of tuner where I could bend open the keepers a bit and slide out the broken shaft.  No cigar.  These babies do not come apart.  John did not want to change the tuners if possible.  The buttons on this were smaller than a guitar; more like a mandolin.  I did have  one half of a set of mando tuners on a strip.  I took one tuner off the strip and locking the shaft end in a vise, I cut the button off the shaft using a hack saw.  Next, locking my cut off button, face up in a small vise, I placed on the drill press.  I used a drill close to the shaft size (A Mistake!) to attempt to drill out the steel shaft end out of the button.  I've read where guys use all sorts of elaborate techniques to establish the center of the part to drill, but those expertise's are beyond my skills.  Well, the button tapers down where you place your fingers to hold and turn it.  My drill was just big enough that it drilled out through the side, ruining it.  Sigh.........
Oh well, I had four on the strip; three to go.  I sawed the second button down.


This time, a bit of the shaft stuck out from the button.  I filed the nub down so the button bottom was nice and smooth.  This time, I used a much smaller drill bit and locked my 2nd button in the vise and drilled her. 








I drilled till I knew I was short of length still but wanted to see where it stood with the old tuner shaft.  The shaft was too big and required filing down to accept the new button.  File, file, file; rotate, file, file, file, repeat...........


Eventually, I whittled her down to a point where the button could do on.  My center hole was not perfect, but pretty close.  I mixed up some J B Weld Epoxy and glued my new button onto the old tuner shaft.  I wiggled it to what appeared to be a straight alignment and waited for ole J B Weld to cure.

My new button was white.  These old ones were white 50-60 years ago.  I took a cherry wood stain marker to create my old patina.

Of course, I lubed up those ole tuners generously before I replaced the covers.  My new button felt great under the string winder.

We'll leave that gash alone!  Even the Shadow doesn't know how that got there!!!!

Helpful Tools for Guitar Repair

Today, I'd like to talk about re-wiring techniques and give some simple tool construction tricks to help the job go easier.

Many hollow body instruments make getting the the electronic controls a challenge.  The volume and tone pots, switch, and jacks can be hard or impossible to reach without the right tools to facilitate.  you can make these specialty tools easily.
I made this little guy to help install the selector switch in a thin line electric.                                                               

I took a knob from a selector switch, drilled a small hole through the top, ran a guitar string from the bottom up through the top hole I just drilled.  The ball end of the string should not pass through the hole.  Then I melted some solder and drizzled it over the ball end of the string and letting it melt into the inside of the knob.

To install the switch, I simply fish the knob through the hole where the switch is housed and through the body to a point where I can screw it onto the switch, once it's wired up.  By slowly pulling in the loose end of the guitar string, the switch is easily guided into position.  Maintain firm grip on the switch knob and slip the washers and nut over the guitar string and knob and tighten.  Remove the knob tool and replace with the actual knob and finish tightening the switch.

To get to a hard to reach jack, I took a 1/4 male jack, ground the base with the threaded end down flush with the 1/4" shaft.  Again, I used a guitar string to solder to the base of my jack.  By grinding the jack down to 1/4", the jack will pass through the mounting hole.  Wire up the female jack and clip your jack tool into the female jack and fish it through the hole.  Slide your mounting hardware into position and tighten.  Remove the tool and finish securing the hardware.  To keep the jack from turning as you tighten, if room allows, slide a toothed washer over the jack before installing the helper tool.  You can also screw a 2nd nut at the top of the jack to hold onto with needle nose pliers, while tightening the primary nut.  I have an extra thin wrench to fit into tight places for this purpose.

The absolute trickiest of all jobs is replacing the potentiometers in a thin bodied guitar with no control plate to access the cavity.

 Adding to the challenge is the fact that the volume and tone controls are wired closely together, making it necessary to remove and replace all two, three or four controls together.  My Brother in law devised these cool spring tools for this operation.  Taking a spring, just the right diameter to slide over the shaft of the pot, but offer resistance (sotra like those Chinese finger traps).  These hold the pot shafts firmly while I get the pots in place. 

When rewiring the controls, I also made a cardboard jig, the same shape as the control cavity to pre-wire most of my work with the pots out of the guitar.  Once the wires are soldered, the four controls all have to go back at the same time, as in TOGETHER.  Get the spring tools fished through the proper holes and slipped over the pot shafts.  Slowly pull all four into position, making sure you don't catch any part of the harness on anything inside.  A slow steady pressure should be exercised to ensure keeping everything intact.  When the controls are directly under the holes, pull them up one at a time and slide the mounting hardware into place.  You should be able to hold the pots in place, with a finger in the F Hole while the final tightening takes place.  Use the toothed washers if you can.  Some times the pot shaft is too short for that additional washer.

Patience is a virtue with these endeavours!  Good Luck!                  

1966 Guild Starfire III

                                                                                                                        
A High School buddy called and made arrangements to drop off his Guild Starfire Guitar that had three fairly critical issues.  It was great to hear from Dave after many years.  He was a year or so ahead of me in high school, and was the school band's upright bass player.  He also played electric bass guitar, something I'd only seen on TV before that!
The first issue was, the output jack had broken through the guitar, leaving an ugly hole in it's swath.

Yep, ugly!  He informed me that if I used a jack plate such as one for a Les Paul guitar, although the originality would be altered, he was OK with that.  I used a black steel one and it does cover the damage. (Barely)

The next issue was the plastic headstock lamination was peeling back off the headstock.

The third issue was that the strings seemed to want to wander off the fretboard towards the treble side. A closer peek showed that the strings were cocked from the string bar on the Bigsby tailpiece on the travel to the bridge.

 When I pushed the edge of the bridge to the left to align the strings straight on the fingerboard, you can just make out the strings shifting to the left on the tailpiece, trying to pull the bridge and strings to the right.  Closer inspection showed the tailpiece was aligned perfectly straight with the center of the body.  It seems over the last 47 years, the neck has shifted ever so slightly, throwing the string alignment off it's travel.  After consulting a local luthier, here in Rochester, we came to the solution of removing the tailpeice and re-aligning it slightly to the left to force the string pull to be straight.  This is crucial to the proper operation of the vibrato. 

Back to the headstock lamination.  I slipped a thin knife under the plastic and began to slowly insert it under to free the rest of it from the headstock.
                                                                            

As we can see, a thin layer of wood

                                                              has remained on the plastic lamination.  I used 60 grit sandpaper to slowly remove the old wood and glue.  To make matters more critical, the Guild pearl inlay and design inlay had to be dealt with.  Patience is a virtue!                                  

Well, it did come nice and clean; wonders never cease!  I was concerned that the inlays would break away from the lamination!

After sanding, scraping, primping, and preparing, I brushed on my Titebond to both surfaces, and used the two truss rod cover holes to screw the lamination down straight, and a couple pieces of wood and 8 clamps to hold the old rippled plastic lamination down tight.  Over the years, the plastic has shrunk, peeling off the wood headstock.  The wood has remained the same size, however.  When it's all said and done, the top edge of the wood headstock will be exposed beyond the plastic lamination, ever so slightly.  The plastic has not only shrunk, but rippled, making it harder to straighten and glue flat. 

Today, I squirted more glue along the bottom of the lamination and worked it in with a razor blade and clamped. 

Remember the ugly hole?

BEFORE

AFTER

Well, today all the clamps came off and we got her cleaned up.  I couldn't wait to find out how my tailpiece alignment turned out.  This was the first time I strung it up since she came in.  The re-alignment worked great.  The strings are nice and straight over both pickups poles and much straighter along the fingerboard.  I put D'Addario Jazz Light Flatwounds 11-50.

 

http://www.gimmesound.com/BuckyGelo/index.cfm

Above's a link to listen to the test drive of the 1966 Guild Starfire III

The song's called Four Handed Guild.