Kids today are so lucky! We never had a music room or bona fide music lessons in school back in the '60s and '70s. But I guess times have changed. This RC Stromm solidbody lives in the music room of a local primary school and them lucky kids get to play it. It was brought in recently by the school's music teacher, who asked for a string change, setup, fretboard reconditioning and nut work. Seems that the nut slots had been cut a little too narrow and deep at the factory, and thus were "pinching" the strings; if you know what I mean.
A closer examination revealed other issues which included a dry rosewood fretboard, excessively-high action; and insufficient neck pitch. After the old strings were removed, the frets were cleaned and polished; and the fretboard reconditioned with lemon oil. One thing I really like about this fretboard is the comfortable 14" radius and above-average fretwork on the medium-jumbo frets. No sharp fret ends here!
Following this, the neck itself was removed and a neck pocket shim added to increase neck pitch. After reattaching the neck, the guitar was strung with Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys (010-046); and then the really tricky nut work began. The nut slots were widened slightly and the top of the nut itself reprofiled so that about half of the wound strings were exposed. The truss rod was also gradually tightened over a day, and I'm glad that I finally managed to get the neck relatively straight; with a just a smidgen of relief.
Setting the saddles to match the fretboard radius and intonating them was relatively painless, thanks to the smooth-turning saddle height and intonation screws. Of course, the saddles had been prepped beforehand with my tried-and-trusted lube; Singer Machine Oil.
I guess that's all for this post. Thank you for taking the time off your busy schedules to pay my humble blog a visit. Do drop by again real soon, by which time I should have more tales of my adventures in the world of guitar repair to share; and more pics for you to enjoy. Stay healthy, stay safe; and God bless you :)
Hi. It's nice to see a Malaysian blog on guitar repairs.
ReplyDeleteI recently bought an RC Stromm stratocaster guitar at a very cheap price (rm250 + 10 delivery) for DIY modding. I had it exchanged because of some defects: fretboard chipping, neck wasn't tight fitting, tuning machines poorly aligned, poorly dressed fingerboard with sharp frets, screws not properly aligned, colour bled in the wood staining (sunburst). I received another guitar - this time it was much better with the exception of the colour stain. Hence it appears that there are inconsistency in the production line.
What are the weakest components that should be replaced (within a reasonable budget)? I think the tremolo bridge system is one of the weak link here. The ceramic pickups are OK but upgrading them may be an overkill.
Appreciate your feedback & suggestions. Thank you.
Keep up with blogging! 👍
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