Orange Bullet Special aka 'Frankensquire'

[EddieDavis]

I've been wanting to give my favorite cheapo guitar a new lease on life for many years. 

Was waiting for a Gibson scale wizard profile neck to come in to Warmoth's showcase.

Finally saw one and pulled the trigger on all the parts.  Time to resurrect! 

 

[AirCap]

Pickup? Post pix when complete.

 

[EddieDavis]

Pickup? Post pix when complete.

Yep!  Waiting on pickups from BKP, it will have a Holy Diver humbucker, and we're adding a tone circuit.  This guitar previously just had a single stock humbucker and a volume knob.  Will post more pics as we move along.  Going slow to make sure I do it right because this is my learning project. 

 

[EddieDavis]

Schaller locking tuners installed!  This roasted maple is suuuuuper smooooooth, baby!

 

[Cagey]

Nicely done!

Those look like the new Schallers - is it my imagination, or do the knurled nuts on the back used to lock the strings feel like they're made of plastic now?

 

[EddieDavis]

Nicely done!

Those look like the new Schallers - is it my imagination, or do the knurled nuts on the back used to lock the strings feel like they're made of plastic now?

Thanks!  I'll have to see how it feels when I string them up.  The only difference I noticed so far was the white S logo, the old Schallers on my first Warmoth have black S's on the black hardware...

 

[EddieDavis]

String trees installed today, neck bolted on, and got a replacement of the stock Squire bridge on here.

May need to replace those Squire saddles but we'll give it some time to see if it needs done. 

Now I've got to learn three very basic skills, making sure the neck is straight and adjusting truss rod if needed, adjusting string height,and intonating. 

The adjustments on this bridge are not the easiest to make... Which may lead to upgrading saddles..  but not sure really how much that will help?  Would never stick with a top loader if I didn't absolutely LOVE this guitar, which I do...  So I have to make it work. 

Oh also I'm wondering, when would you know if you needed your new Warmoth nut filed?  I use tens.  I'd have a shop do that part but only if it needs it. 

Any tips on any of this appreciated!

 

[Cagey]

Oh also I'm wondering, when would you know if you needed your new Warmoth nut filed?  I use tens.  I'd have a shop do that part but only if it needs it. 

If you hold a string down at the first fret, the amount of distance the string is off the second fret is about the distance you'd want it off the first fret, which is typically about .012", or the thickness of a typical business card. Any more than that, and the fret slot(s) need attention.

 

[dmraco]

If your nut is aligned, it may be your neck is not on straight.  Being that is NOT a Warmoth body there is a decent probability that the holes are not perfect and the use of the warmoth neck is making it go out of alignment. 

Looking at it your heel, the bottom needs to move over to the left.  Since that part of the photo is cut off, I am not sure how much room you have.  It does not take much.

You can loosen you neck bolts, just back them out a bit.  With the guitar laying on its back, slightly push the neck from the low E side towards the high E side.  This may straighten things out.  You can then use a business car or suck to fill the small gap you may have created on the high E side.  The tighten the screws and cut out the showing card.

If it is WAY off still, you can take the neck off and take off some material on the low E side.  This however may cause a need to re-drill some holes.  Lets hope it not that bad.

Remember...this is all IF YOUR NUT is aligned like Cagey said.

I have several "Factory" guitars I have had to do this with when setting them up for a customer.  Lots of the Mexican EVH guitars have this issue...not sure how they do not fix it.

 

[EddieDavis]

If your nut is aligned, it may be your neck is not on straight.  Being that is NOT a Warmoth body there is a decent probability that the holes are not perfect and the use of the warmoth neck is making it go out of alignment. 

Looking at it your heel, the bottom needs to move over to the left.  Since that part of the photo is cut off, I am not sure how much room you have.  It does not take much.

You can loosen you neck bolts, just back them out a bit.  With the guitar laying on its back, slightly push the neck from the low E side towards the high E side.  This may straighten things out.  You can then use a business car or suck to fill the small gap you may have created on the high E side.  The tighten the screws and cut out the showing card.

If it is WAY off still, you can take the neck off and take off some material on the low E side.  This however may cause a need to re-drill some holes.  Lets hope it not that bad.

Remember...this is all IF YOUR NUT is aligned like Cagey said.

I have several "Factory" guitars I have had to do this with when setting them up for a customer.  Lots of the Mexican EVH guitars have this issue...not sure how they do not fix it.

Awesome, thanks for pointing all this out!  I'm assuming the nut is aligned but this is my learning project so all the maintenance stuff is new to me.  Before this I would go to a tech for setups etc. 

I'll try what you've suggested with my wife's help, she's the handy one around here...  I see what you mean about the alignment, you can tell by looking at the strings.  I put the neck on and tried to get it fitting flush in the heel as much as possible, it's close, but yeah I wouldn't say by any means that it fits as perfectly as it would into a Warmoth made guitar body.  I've tried some amount of raising the action and can actually play around with some scales but after the 12th fret it's hitting buzzy harmonics.  I probably need to address the issue you mentioned and adjust the truss rod... 

And I'll probably bring the nut to a shop for filing after measuring the way Cagey mentioned. 

Thanks for the tips!  Wish me luck! 

 

[Cagey]

Make sure you take it to a good shop for that nut work. The closer you get to a properly-cut nut, the easier it is to screw it up, so you need someone who will take the time to do it right.