Quilted Purple Strat Build

[stratamania]

One thing I try not to do with anything that needs attention to detail, is work on it when I may be sub par or pressured for time. Especially when it is for myself on my own time.

Funny thing I noticed is sometimes the folks rushing around have the least time. You say what did you get done, and they reply they rushed around.  :dontknow:

 

[stubhead]

If you don't feel like investing the attention something deserves into a particular thing but force yourself to do it anyway out of impatience, chances are good it'll end up sub-par.

One thing I try not to do with anything that needs attention to detail, is work on it when I may be sub par or pressured for time. Especially when it is for myself on my own time.

This do be some of the finest advice ever on this forum. If you start getting frustrated or even mad at the thing - put down the soldering iron, put down the hammer (hammer?) and WALK AWAY from it for a while. Read a book, chase a girl, walk the dog, heck, you could even... play your other guitar? :icon_scratch: I'm sure that frustration causes more geek'd guitars than stupidity, overconfidence, lack of understanding why certain methods have certain steps. YOU ARE NOT THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD. If/when something starts going a little weird (finishing!) STOP, back up, don't try to use sheer determination to substitute for knowledge. 

If you want to trap a bear, you find you a nice big old barrel. Then you put spikes in it, angled to one end. Then you put a pot of honey at the end the spikes are all pointing at. The wandering bear smell the honey, goes into the log a bit - he can feel the first little spikes. BUT - he just keeps going forward, getting deeper and deeper into the spikes - BECAUSE ANIMALS ARE STUPID, THEY ALWAYS KEEP GOING FORWARD. Cats up a tree... gophers in a hole... lobsters in a trap... this is why we won the war, OK?

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The War On Bears?

 

[stratamania]

Strung up...

So the strings are going on. Elixir Nanoweb, Custom Light 9 - 46, which are basically 9s on top and 10s on the bottom.


StrungUp (1) by stratamania, on Flickr


StrungUp (2) by stratamania, on Flickr

All strings on...

StrungUp (3) by stratamania, on Flickr


And so after that, there was height adjustment and tremolo spring adjustment, intonation. Some testing via an amp. It feels and sounds great and it is not finished yet.

I have about three weeks of work travel now, and so will let the neck acclimatize to the string tension, come back to do more fine-tuned adjustments and then look at getting the rest of the tremel-no installed.

So for the final step of the build thread and the complete instrument, you will have to bear with me  :icon_biggrin:

Right off for some honey...

 

[stratamania]

Metal Work Day...

So I am back from my work travels of about three weeks duration. And yesterday I got back to working on getting this build almost complete.

Before I set off on my travels in the last part of the build I had got to the point where I had strings on and could do some initial set ups and intonation and the like.

I had found with the guitar strung up to pitch for the last three weeks or so the neck had settled into just the right amount of relief, this was a good bit of luck, however there were a couple of points that were not quite right.

If you take a look at this photo it may be possible to see that the Tremel-No Claw is slightly proud of the trem cavity by about 1- 2mm meaning a backplate would not sit flush. Even if a backplate was not used I did not like the idea of something being proud of the body however slight.


Metal_Work_2 by stratamania, on Flickr

Although the holes were predrilled and I pre-threaded the tremolo claw screws very carefully for whatever reason the situation is as it was. I looked around and found I was not the first to encounter this "Strat tremolo claw problem" http://unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=17241.0  I didn't get around to having a look inside one of my Fenders, as I am wondering if the claws they make are slightly smaller which may account for why this may have happened.

So filing down the claw looks to be my best option, however, the Tremel-No also has Allen screws in it that tighten down onto the claw screws so filing here may damage the integrity of the Tremel-No. However I have the Gotoh claw that came with the trem unit itself, this on checking would also sit just slightly proud also but it will file down and still be structurally sound.

So the possibilities of using the tremel-no will be gone on this build as I adapt and improvise for the situation at hand. The Gotoh claw it is then, filed appropriately to size.

As the strings obviously need to come off, I first rolled up a paper receipt which went under the tremolo to stop it going into the body when the string tension is released.


Metal_Work_1 by stratamania, on Flickr


After the strings and the tremolo block were carefully removed, the tremel-no packed away for possible future use that meant it was metal work time.

Here is the Gotoh Claw after filing off about 3mm at the top above the screw holes. Basically, you mark what you want to take off and file down to it with whatever tools you have to hand and then round off the corners so there are no sharp bits. There is still plenty of metal above the holes.

Metal_Work_3 by stratamania, on Flickr


Earlier in the thread, there were photos of fret leveling, polishing and so on. But the player had pointed out to the quality control department that he could feel something not as smooth as was would be preferred when doing bends in certain parts of the neck. Seen as the player had asked nicely and seemed like a rather decent chap, I put our best fret man onto it as the strings were off the guitar in any case.

On investigation with an optivisor it appeared that although the frets were shiny and polished and overall done very well, there were indeed one or two spots where there were some marks on the land part of the fret where the finer grits had not been able to take out the marks on the original polishing. Fortunately, while your intrepid reporter was away over the last couple of weeks or so, he had popped into Halfords, in the UK and bought wet and dry in every grit that exists between 600 and 1500 and a nice rubber block to put it in. Prior to this, I had down to 600 as it was all I could get hold of in DIY stores, I also had Micromesh starting at 1500 and going down to 12000. When the initial polishing was done, it was the missing grits that had caused the issue.

As I now had every grit between 400  - 1500 in wet and dry, and then micro mesh from 1500 - 12000 and the strings were off, what was possibly going to be looked at is maintenance when changing strings has now become part of the build. Note: don't skip grits...


So here we are masked off for the third time. The first time was for the initial fret work, the second as I was waiting for a beveling file and decided to get on with finish work in the meantime and now a third time due to lessons learned along the way and an insistent player and quality control department insisting on fret polish correction.


Metal_Work_4 by stratamania, on Flickr

A handy rubber block for holding wet and dry and working on fret polishing.

Metal_Work_5 by stratamania, on Flickr

So basically I worked down through the wet and dry grits from around 600 - 1500, without any skipped grits, and then my micro-mesh starts at 1500 - 12000. I also checked with my optivisor after each grit every fret and only moved to the next grit when totally satisfied. I also used a marker to mark the frets so I could see my progress. When I did them the first time I didn't have an Optivisor and so could not see the tiny marks that as a player I could feel. So good light and vision are important, who would have thought

After working my way to 12000

Metal_Work_6 by stratamania, on Flickr

Autosol chrome and metal polish in progress with a Dremel buffing wheel and shop towel. I worked quickly with the Dremel to prevent the frets getting hot, which may melt any glue holding them in.


Metal_Work_7 by stratamania, on Flickr

And the results.

Metal_Work_8 by stratamania, on Flickr


Metal_Work_9 by stratamania, on Flickr


Metal_Work_10 by stratamania, on Flickr


Metal_Work_11 by stratamania, on Flickr


In case anyone is wondering, when doing this type of work on the frets very little material gets removed, so although it looks like I have done them three times, I basically have ended up with the result that I could have arrived at the first time of masking off. In other words, they have only been leveled, crowned and beveled once, but the polishing needed revisiting.

All in all more experience and lessons learned for future projects.

Next up is soldering the ground wire to the claw, restringing and backplate fitting, then its done.


<<< Thanks for looking and Christmas Greetings to all >>>

All characters and departments in this thread were played and directed by yours truly 

 

[Updown]

Here is the Gotoh Claw after filing off about 3mm at the top above the scew holes.

Oh no … you've lost ALL your tone now.  :icon_jokercolor:

Next up is soldering the ground wire to the claw

Since you have a Dremel.

Here's an easy way to do that.
I go from underneath the trem claw, so you don't see it.

Stick the trem claw in a vice.
Mark a spot towards one end of the trem claw (on the bottom side) with a nail punch or similar.
Have your soldering iron heated and wire ready to go.
Now with your dremel tool with a bit like this http://www.dremel.com/en-au/Accessories/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=952 in it.
Grind half way into the trem claw at the point you marked.
*Note* .. what that does is heat the crap out of the trem claw  :icon_thumright:
Then you will find the soldering way easier to do as it is already heated up.
Solder wire ..... done, easy as.

*BUT .... Don't do what I did the 1st time I was doing this.
Don't pick up the trem claw with your fingers after grinding it ........... it's bloody hot  :doh:

And all the best season greetings to you from Downunder  ccasion14:

 

[stubhead]

That's quite a big operation you've built up there! Some wise guy once said something to the effect of "You're never lonely when you're schizophrenic..."

I don't know how old your orbs are, mine just clocked 56 years old and I absolutely consider magnification of various sorts to be the most important tools, the optivisors are necessities but a few 10X jeweler's loupes are real handy, too. They don't have to be real expensive, there's not really a "10X" that's more "10X" than another. Besides the dictum "never skip a grit" a lot of commercial shops of all sorts simply use counting, and timing, to help "guess" when to switch grits or buffing compounds or rouge and such - them little eyes are devious, for some reason the more tired you are of polishing the more quickly things look "done" - the first time through... :laughing7:

Sadistic Ron Kirn, in his excellent sadistic Strat-making tutorial, sadistically insists on taking his work outside into genuine sunlight  and going over it at all angles and sight lines to sadistically make trouble for himself....

http://www.ronkirn.com/tutorial/

But having to jump back 3 or 5 steps to re-finish fundamentally lumpy & scratchy stuff is it's own kind of torment.

P.S. Adendumdedum: Or, as long as you are at some point surely sitting there with the trem claw and a DRILL at hand, just blast a hole through  the claw and hook it up with a 6-32 screw and nut. It's not adding steps, it's removing steps, if you think about it. There's a time & place for everything, and if you happen to have your drill mojo workin', you can even drill... EVERYTHING, straight through.

 

[Cagey]

P.S. Adendumdedum: Or, as long as you are at some point surely sitting there with the trem claw and a DRILL at hand, just blast a hole through  the claw and hook it up with a 6-32 screw and nut. It's not adding steps, it's removing steps, if you think about it.

That's what I generally do, except I also tap the hole. I don't currently have a soldering iron large enough to solder something like a trem claw.

 

[stratamania]

@Updown, thanks for the tip on the Dremel method, but I have already sorted it out. And seasons greetings to you too from the old world.  I wondered who would say it will affect the tone, but it was carefully filed to a shuffle beat so all is well.

@Stubhead and Cagey, thanks for the tips too. I had thought of drilling a hole and tap but realized I had a reasonably decent soldering iron somewhere which I found.  I also tended to count how many strokes of each grit around five to six per surface. As strange as it sounds I am quite grateful having to back up and redo things here and there as it has given me a lot more insight into the process.

Yep the orbs have just turned 53 last month, and I have not worn glasses yet. But I need to get a check soon. Its mostly when there is a lack of light and driving but this close up stuff is challenging.

 

[stratamania]

The Final Countdown set ignition and may someone's love be with you.

Some masking tape checking that the claw has fit underneath the level of the body. This was also used to get the new claw to a similar position as the last one in a bid to aid set up.

Final_Assembly_1 by stratamania, on Flickr

As I had a 60W soldering iron and some thick solder, I decided to just solder the earth wire. Good tips above if you want to make a more mechanical connection which I sort of prefer but in this case, it was going with the tools to hand. I scratched the area of the claw where I was going to solder to help the soldering. The ground wire I had pre tinned previously when I had fitted the tremel-no.

It's a pity tremolo manufacturers don't put on the claw an easier mounting point as standard. Even some of the most finely engineered tremolos come with primitive designs for claws.

Final_Assembly_2 by stratamania, on Flickr

Soldering was done. You heat up the metal first and then run the solder to it and then put the wire in and hold it with something like a screwdriver as the solder sets. Note the use of towels, to be honest, if I had planned to do it this way initially and not backtracked I would have soldered the claw out of the body and then ran the grounding wire to the body cavity. But it was too late for that.


Final_Assembly_3 by stratamania, on Flickr

The other two tremolo springs in position. Note the rolled-up paper holding the trem from the face of the body.

Final_Assembly_4 by stratamania, on Flickr

Strung up. I don't normally reuse strings, but these Elixirs aren't exactly inexpensive and had hardly been used. Fortunately, I was lucky to get away with reuse. Note it might be better when doing initial builds to use a similar gauge but a less expensive brand of string. And put the more costly ones on later.

Final_Assembly_5 by stratamania, on Flickr

Marking out for the back plate, you could do this by eye but I chose to measure and go by eye.

Final_Assembly_6 by stratamania, on Flickr


Backplate taped in position ready for marking holes.

Final_Assembly_7 by stratamania, on Flickr


Next, the back plate was removed, followed by drilling the pilot holes, countersinking to avoid or reduce the risk of popped finish, pre-threading and finally fitting.

And here is the final screw, finally almost in its final position.


Final_Assembly_9 by stratamania, on Flickr


So that brings all the build to a close, any setup tweaks will be now post-build and so not included here as that's just part of ongoing adjustments.

I have played the instrument a little and the fret work was definitely worth the extra work as it is so smooth now it is as stainless steels should be.    arty07:


<<< Thanks for looking and for everyone's feedback, encouragement, suggestions, and help >>>

If you have any comments or questions, please feel free as I will answer them below.

 

[stubhead]

I forgot, we can just add cheezy-spring-claw to the list of 47-things-wrong-with-electrics-since-the-1950's-that-nobody-can-FIX.... I had mentioned the dumber&dumbest, which to me is the humbuckers with only one height screw per side, which every Asian maker had tried to fix at least twice in the 1970's and 1980's but gave up.... and E strings that fall off the sides of the neck, because Fender's neck spec's are too narrow. Schaller actually tried to fix the spring claw thing with their sturdy Teutonic "Sure Claw", which is sturdy enough, but if I remember right, it doesn't leave enough room for the springs to get tight and it tends to poke screws into the pickup, which doesn't help matters.
http://guitar-tremolo.com/hp235396/Sure-Claw.htm?ITServ=C329b40a9X14320aa78e5XY7285

But you can adjust it without taking off the cover! Whew!

It really is sort of... odd; the functional difficulties inherent with a design from... 59 years ago? Unsolvable, or insoluble? Or just really, really unimportant.... Can't we at least pretend to get more sex & better mileage till somebody FIXES the damn things or are we gonna have to.... TAKE THINGS INTO OUR OWN HANDS!?!? :headbang:

 

[Cagey]

Don't be silly. If it's not what the guitar heros play, IT'S CRAP! You don't dare change a design that's been used by a hero unless you want to lose business. Look at Leo's fall from grace. Everybody knows a Fender Strat is about as badass as it gets, but the guy who designed the thing forms a new company and starts to weed out the deficiencies of the design and what happens? He practically goes out of business. Twice! Why? Because how many heros play Music Man or G&L guitars? Almost none. Jimi played old Strats. Eric played old Strats. Every swingin' dick since then plays old Strats. You wanna take over the world? Probably better get an old Strat. Never mind that they're noisy as hell, won't stay in tune, and play like suck; that doesn't matter. The greats played them, so end of discussion.

 

[stratamania]

Quilted Purple is complete.  Posting some photos and specs for you all.

Specifications

Body


Wood: Quilt Maple on Swamp Ash
Rout: Top Rout
Bridge: Custom route for Gotoh 510 Tremelo
Stud Install: No Stud Install
Jack Rout: Strat® Top Jack Rout
Neck Pocket: Strat® Shape
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Countours: / Tummy Cut / Forearm Contour
Battery Box: No Battery Box Rout
Binding: Natural Masked Binding
Top Finish: Purple to Clear Burst
Back Finish: Purple to Clear Burst


Neck

Construction: Warmoth Pro
Orientation: Right Handed
Neck Wood: Birdseye Maple
Fingerboard Wood: Ebony
Nut Width: 1-5/8"
Back Shape: Standard thin
Fret Size: SS6100 (Stainless)
Tuner Ream: Schaller (25/64" 11/32")
Radius: 10-16" Compound
Scale: 25-1/2"
Fret #: 22
Mounting Holes: Standard 4 Bolt
Pre-Cut Installed String Nut: Earvana GraphTech Black TUSQ XL
Inlays: Mother Of Pearl Dots
Side Dots: White Side Dots
Finish: No Finish from Warmoth, but completed with Satin Nitro for the headstock and Birchwood Casey Tru Oil for the neck by myself.

Pickups

Kinman Woodstock Plus set with K9 Harness

Tremelo, Gotoh 510TS-FE1 (Steel block) trem in chrome

Tuners, Hipshot Locking tuners.

Strap Buttons, Dunlop Dual Design Straploks.

Custom Neckplate, FSR Custom Neckplate made based on a design I sent in


The neckplate design was based on something I found online where someone had taken the Deep Purple, album cover of Deep Purple in Rock, with the band in Mount Rushmore guise and the logo from The Battle Rages On, and it just looked somehow right to me for this guitar. The two albums were the first and last album recorded by the MKII line up of Gillan, Glover, Lord, Paice and Blackmore. I had started thinking about dragons for the logo and purple dragons ended up with me finding this image. It somehow seemed right as the Purple to Clear burst was something I really liked on one of Steve Morse's guitars. Of course the Deep Purple line up featured on the backplate was Blackmore.


Complete_1 by stratamania, on Flickr

Complete_2 by stratamania, on Flickr


Complete_3 by stratamania, on Flickr

Complete_4 by stratamania, on Flickr

Complete_5 by stratamania, on Flickr

Complete_6 by stratamania, on Flickr

Complete_7 by stratamania, on Flickr


Thanks for looking and feedback appreciated.

 

[6stringer]

Wow...that is just gorgeous. I'm doing my first build, and I've already learned twice as much as I knew going into it. Thank you for posting this build diary. My parts will be here in a month, and I feel mich more confident going into it.

Doing the fretwork is the only thing that still scares the hell out of me. I better start perusing that section of this forum. Any recommended posts for a scared fretwork newbie?

 

[Cagey]

Doing the fretwork is the only thing that still scares the hell out of me. I better start perusing that section of this forum. Any recommended posts for a scared fretwork newbie?

Yeah. You don't do your first bump and paint job on a Rolls-Royce. You find a rag ride, and practice on that.

Send the neck to me. I'll take care of it.

 

[stratamania]

@6stringer. Thanks for the feedback it's appreciated.

On the fretwork, Cagey, probably has hit it on the head. Don't especially if it scares you to death do the fret work for the first time on a good neck. I had an old neck that I used to practice with the tools. I was still cautious and methodical with what I was doing and spent the time needed. Now I have done this work on this one my confidence level has come way up and I would be able to be more efficient on future work.

Also the tools you will need to do levelling and crowning, can end up costing a reasonable amount and if you are unlikely to use them again, Cagey and others offer the service to help you out and it may be a cost effective option with less stress to consider.

A number of folks use the necks without doing any fretwork, but it's highly recommended to get them done.

And finally good luck with your build.

 

[6stringer]

Hmmm, I may take you up on that Cagey. You both make good points, and I don't have a throwaway neck to practice on...nor the tools...nor the desire to mess up a $300 neck.

Just out of curiosity, how much would you charge, Cagey? If you'd rather PM me details, that'd be fine.

Sorry to derail this fine thread. Now back to your regularly scheduled Purple Strat thread. Nice work Stratamania!

 

[stratamania]

Thanks, and it's a good discussion point to consider, what to do yourself and why you might want some help.

 

[Rocktrond]

Really nice guitar - and details from the build process.
Why do you prethread the screw holes? I'm about to put the pick guard on my build and don't want to screw it up.....

 

[stratamania]

Really nice guitar - and details from the build process.
Why do you prethread the screw holes? I'm about to put the pick guard on my build and don't want to screw it up.....

Thanks, and hope the details and comments in the thread are useful. The reason for pre threading screws is to avoid, finish pops but more importantly to avoid the possibility of a screw breaking off in the hardwoods that guitar bodies and more often necks are made of. You don't want a screw breaking when installing a tuner or what have you.

There are some tools for pre threading and so on in this really useful kit below.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Special_tools_for_Cleaning,_maintenance/Guitar_Tech_Screwdriver_Set.html