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It is now a matter of assembling the parts. I begin with the jack plate, thread the wires through the hole into the electronics cavity. Note I do not shield the jack rout. It’s not necessary. Without getting into a discussion of the science of electronics, suffice it to say, spiraling the wires as seen here accomplishes the same thing as using a shielded wire. This is why you automobile audio guys can use Cat 5 Networking cable as audio leads between your head unit and the amp in the trunk. The Cat 5 is spiraled together in pairs inside the cable.
I take an awl and locate the start point for the screw. Remember, it’s recessed and I don’t want the countersunk screw off center shoving the plate into the edge of the recess… crack!!!!
OK, get 2 screws and a screwdriver, and figure it out. A little Guitar Assembly Grease is good too, since a cold snap came through and the temperature dipped all the way down to the high 90’s. Humidity’s pretty crisp too… barely got up to 89%.
Dammm I didn’t photograph soldering the pickguard and related electronics, but run the ground wire through to the spring cavity, and solder the jack leads to the appropriate points. That was hard wuddnt it?
So we place the pickguard in place. Remember with all the copper foil, if you feel resistance, stop. Remove the pickguard, straighten the bent foil and try again. A bent piece of foil can short the electronics.
I’ll run in a screw or 2 to secure the location of the pickguard, then place the tremolo to be certain the “dimples” I cut several pages ago still bring everything into alignment.
If good, drill the pilot holes, and countersink them slightly to keep the lacquer from chipping as the screw forces it out of the way.
Place the tremolo and run in a few screws.
I’ll now check the neck/neck pocket fit. Since I made the body while the neck was being made by Tommy (USACG) I couldn’t do this until after the fact. Necks are never the same, even those labeled “Whoever Licensed Replacement Neck” They are hand sanded thus can vary by as much as a 1/16th of an inch. But here it’s dammm close, but the corner radius is different.
And that is why Fender and others have gone to the Mouse Ear neck pocket so the pocket can accept any neck from any of the companies whom have produced them. Yep, it’s known as “out-sourcing”. If ya wanna argue, consider if they were all made in house, on their CNC machine, controlling such anomalies would be easy, but if they’re coming from all over the place, ya gotta do something, or pay a technician to fit each and every one.
So I Dremel it.
Sand the edges.
The little block is a piece of MDF I cut precisely square so the smooth bottom would ride the bottom of the neck pocket, and the edge with sandpaper attached would cut the width exactly at 90 degrees.
Sand any accumulated crud, lacquer, whatever from the neck pocket.
I then apply a liberal, (the only time I’m liberal) coat of paste wax to the neck and neck pocket walls.
Then slip it in.
That is what a neck pocket and neck should look like.
Encore, Encore.
Well OK. Know what? I totally forgot the nut after it is finally cut correctly.
Once the guitar is properly setup, the nut slots will be way to deep. They should not cradle the string any more than ½ the diameter of the string.
After I’m happy with the playability, I remove the nut (it has not been glued yet.)
And return to the shop, if the slots are very deep, I’ll return to the small disk sander to rough it down to final size. That disk sander is a Mini lathe that I have made a disk attachment for, it works so great because it’s a variable speed, giving me great control over the cut. and I can make Chess pieces too.
Now I sand the top with 600 grit.
Then step over to the buffing machine, and polish it. OK, I did not photograph that, so again, imagine a 14 inch diameter buffing wheel rolling along at 700 rpm, with me holding a tiny little piece of bone against it.
Once polished, I clean it thoroughly to remove any compound residue. Now, using my very exotic and expensive nut installation kit. I prepare for the last thing, actually before the really, really very last thing, the second setup, which precedes the extra for sure very, very, very, last thing, shipping it to Paul.
Oh, that’s the exotic installation kit above.
Guys, you don’t need to use the latest hyper strong adhesive to come out of Allied Chemicals Labs to secure the nut, Remember, the guitar will probably out-live you, so somebody just might want to remove the little bugger at some point in the future, so I use wood glue, and a very small dab at that.
I was reshaping a couple of necks the other day and had to remove the old nuts. They were glued in with epoxy or CA, whatever it was, I darn near had to destroy the nut slot to get them out. That’s ridiculous.
Just a touch on each end of the slot, about at the location of the 2nd and 5th strings, and run a small line…
That’s it. Slip the nut into the slot. Clean any ooze that may squeeze out, and tune ‘er up.
For those arguing that a nut’s gotta be solid to make for “best” tone. Get outta here. Tone schmone. The nut only comes into play tone wise on 6 notes. Every other note on the guitar has a finger and fret, or a slide, or a capo between the note and the nut, every one. So if you have good nut material, and a lot of the junk too, you will be fine. And the nut can be removed with a mild tap to one end.
Now’s the time for any commemorative notations.
And I mark the back of the neck plate.
Add a bit of bee’s wax.
And carefully run the screws in. As the heads come into contact with the neck plate, watch carefully, often the screw heads are not concentric, or the holes will be off slightly, but the angle of the underside of the screw head will force the neck plate in the opposite direction. By gradually working the screws in, allow them to push against each other, they will seat perfectly.
Where are we?? What’s left??
OH yeah… details.
Well we aren’t quite there yet. Those cheep plastic parts, even on the 6000 masterbuilts just blow my mind.
So the Switch tip, with it’s beautiful sharp mold lines gets worked. I made a special tool to hold it. I put a dab of CA on it to hold the tip, then chuck it into a drill. I then hold it against some 320 grit. While it’s spinning and watch until the casting lines are gone.
I then move up to 800 grit and continue until it has a nice matte sheen. Be careful the tip is plastic and this generates heat. I do this while holding the sandpaper in my fingers so I can feel the heat. Once ready, I’ll step over to the buffing wheel, on slow, and polish it. I forgot to snap that photo so imagine a cotton wheel 14 inched in diameter spinning at 700 rpm… with my old hands holding the tool with a plastic button glued to the end against the wheel… again, be careful, the heat generated can melt the plastic faster than you can say dawggoneit I hate it when that happens… where’s the Assembly Grease?
It now looks like Ivory.
I normally remove the tip from the Tremolo arm too, but this is a Wilkinson Vintage, And it doesn’t seem to want to come off, so I’m not going to force it. Protect the arm so the sand paper doesn’t scratch it, then sand by hand. Same grits. Then polish… and Ivory again…
Now, I guess I’ll use D’Addario 11’s.
String ‘er up. Want me to show ya that too? Nah, I didn’t think so.
Now, time to string er up and convert it from a collection of parts to a musical instrument.
First thing I do is check the relief at the low frets.
I now cut each slot to bring the action down to something close to playable.
And check again.
Now I’ll get the saddles dialed in, adjusting each until the action at the 15th is about 1/16 inch.
I’ll also get the intonation approximated.
Now, just to be certain, I’ll fret the G 3rd at the 1st and 20th fret and check the clearance around the 7th or so, it should be a few thousandths, about the thickness of a business card. If not, adjust the truss rod, about 1/8th turn at a time.
Now it’s a matter of going back and forth between the nut and the bridge, to get low action. I leave about .040 action at the 1st fret particularly on the 5th and 6th, and about the same at the 12th.
Once I can play it with minimal buzzing at the height, I’ll raise it to real world action and call it done.
I begin intonation with the pups pretty low. The Alnico magnets are very strong, and can pull the string into an assymetrical vibration if raised too high. This is a phenomenon known as Stratitus, since it is most often seen in Strats and Teles.
Stratitus is most often heard on the 5th and 6th strings and sounds exactly like a very bad case of no intonation and cannot be corrected by saddle movement. None, nada bit.
To intonate, I tune ‘er up, stretch the strings, retune, let ‘er sit. Retune. Then pick a string open. And at the 12th fret, and check the tuner. If flat, move the bridge toward the neck. If sharp, move it away. Retune, check again. And readjust accordingly. Do that on all strings. Check the tuner to insure the note played on an open string, is harmonious with the same note played at the 12th. Once you have that, I play the harmonics of the open notes at the 7th fret and again at the 19th. If it works. It’s good to go. I do allow the guitar to sit at least a day, several if possible, to give the wood a chance to get acclimated to the tension of being under pressure. I’ll repeat the entire setup, fine tuning as I go. Ain’t no Pleck ever came back the next day and double checked.
She’s done. I’m sure I neglected to mention a few things. But that’s how I do it.
Here she is.
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