RSA + Padouk Strat build

[PeterTSkelton]

Some of you diligent folks will already have seen this arrive over in the JOTB forum. My roasted swamp ash Strat body showed up via the good graces of UPS yesterday and has met a nice match with a 59 roundback contoured Padouk vintage/modern neck which I picked up a month or two back

I tore into the electronics tonight, pulling the pots and selector switch off the scratchplate, dropping in the pots for the Clapton boost circuit and a new five way switch and getting everything hooked up as far as possible.

The pickups are a trio of Lace Sensor Golds, finally got around to putting some heat shrink over the wiring to keep things neat and easy to get the wires into the body rout. Now I need to buy some solder as I've used up the little reel which came with the soldering iron.

I'm going to take advantage of GFS's Memorial Day sale and pick up a Wilkinson two-point tremolo, a set of their staggered tuning machines and a jack plate which should be about all this one needs to become playable.

 

[Cagey]

You're better off without the vintage 6 point. Those things are problem children. The two point is a superior design with a more reliable return to neutral so tuning stability is vastly improved. However, GFS supplies all their Wilkinsons with stainless saddles, which is a Good Thing, but stainless doesn't accept finish as well as steel/zinc/aluminum/brass does, so they're raw...

Depending on the finish you choose and your sensibilities they may clash. Doesn't bother me, but I've seen people get surprised by it, even though the pictures show what you're getting.

 

[Cagey]

Also, if you're going to be using a Wilkie, GFS has these lovely little roller saddles available for them...

Hardened steel rollers in stainless mounts, they work at least as well as the standard SS saddles. Generally speaking, I don't find they're necessary. But, some folks believe the inch and half of string behind the saddle contact point can stretch far enough to cause string hang-ups and the subsequent erratic tuning that results, similar to what happens at the nut if you don't use locking tuners. If you're one of those people, these will ease your mind for $15/set of 6.

 

[PeterTSkelton]

Another GFS sale landed me with a bridge, jack plate, locking tuners and shielding paint winging their way to me as fast as the USPS man can pedal.

I ordered the chrome finish Wilkinson bridge, I'm just fine with the standard saddles, roller saddles seem like they would induce another point of trouble where the roller could bind in its slots, as I assume that they're not mounted on miniature ball bearings.

Also looking forward to seeing the locking tuners, they look like a decent take on the Schaller/Fender type units and the price sure is right. I've had positive experiences with the Fender ones in the past on a Strat Plus so I'm sure they'll perform admirably.

I recently scored a pretty much unused drill press from craigslist which will do fine service to ream out the tuner holes if necessary, and also to press the bridge bushings into the body.

 

[PeterTSkelton]

Bridge pins set. I was hoping to use my drill press to push these into place, however the throat isn't deep enough, so I resorted to careful application of my trusty Mk 1 Hammer to drive the bushings into place. A little quality time with an Allen wrench and the posts were tentatively set.

Skip a couple of pictures which I didn't take of me screwing in the trem claw and installing the springs, and past a couple of applications of shielding paint and a test fit of the football plate showed things snugging into place nicely. Warmoth are pretty considerate and pre-bore some clearance at the jack end of the plate to allow the jack to fit, even more handy when you've got to get a stereo jack into the gap provided.

Then to the other end of things, the tuning machines were pushed into place and I pushed a straight edge up against them to align them all in a row. Still holding the straight edge in place, I used a Sharpie to mark the locations for the anti-rotation screw holes. This time the drill press came to the fore, with a depth controlled pilot hole being drilled for each screw.

The tuning machines were reinserted into the holes, the washers and bushings loosely installed and the screws driven home. An advantage of buying cheap tools from Amazon, the multi-tip screwdriver set I have for laptop repairs is made out of some sort of material marginally harder than feta cheese. I thought I'd stripped the head on one of the screws, turned out that the screwdriver bit had crumbled and the screw was unfazed.

Next up, the scratchplate was put into place and the screws driven home. No need to pilot holes for these, as least with the RSA and using Fender screws, they went straight in with no drama.

Now neck met body again, and a quick check to make sure everything lined up properly showed all in good shape.

Finally, time to get some strings on her and tune up. This one got a set of Ernie Ball Not Even Slinky 12s tuned half a step down. Nice quick installation with the locking tuners, a tweak to the trem claw to loosen it up and bring the bridge up level with the body and a small adjustment to the posts to lower the action a touch and she's playing very nicely.

Some plugged in testing shows that I need to pull the scratchplate back off and run another ground from the pots to the main star point on the body, as it is there's clearly some DC on the pots and the mid boost circuit isn't working quite right.

On the other hand, the Lace Sensors are now much better balanced volume wise from neck to bridge, as you might expect they play really nicely with the Clapton boost, nice and shimmery but still definitely stratty at the same time.