1981 Ibanez Blazer BL-400: Part Four

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Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

This is the fourth and final instalment on a lovely Ibanez BL-400. Now that the electronics and hardware had been dealt with, it was time to fit a new bone nut. The old nut finally came off after putting up a good fight, no thanks to the copious amount of glue employed.

It was then that I realized something peculiar, in that the top of the bullet truss rod nut was protruding from the bottom of the nut slot. As the repairman before me had cleverly filed a slightly rounded recess into the bottom of the nut to accommodate the protrusion; I did the same. Following this was the normal run-of-the-mill procedure: tracing of the first fret height/profile, marking and filing of the nut slots, final shaping; and sanding/polishing.

As the new nut was now ready; the "stunt" strings were taken off and the neck, fretboard and frets given a good clean/polish. While cleaning the maple fretboard of gunk and grime, I actually discovered what looked like dried blood. How did it get there? When I casually mentioned this to the owner, he just laughed. Aha, so I guess it was blood after all!

The BL-400 was then strung with Ernie Ball RPS Super Slinkys (009-042) and set up in the usual manner. It's been a great adventure overhauling this gorgeous instrument, and I thank you for being with me all the way. Until we meet again, stay home, stay healthy; and God bless.

 

 

2010 American Special Stratocaster® | Part 5

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Bone Nut Setup

Howdy folks :) It's CA again, with the fifth post on this gorgeous Sunburst American Special Stratocaster®. Let's start the ball rolling, then. Now, before carrying out a refret or fret dress, I usually remove the nut to allow me to follow through on my sanding beam strokes. I realize not everyone does this, but well; it's easier for me this way. And it so happened that while I was gingerly removing this Strat's nut, it somehow cracked just below the A-string slot.

"Definitely a case for a new nut," I thought. After some discussion with the owner, it was decided that a new bone nut be installed. He had heard good things about bone; and was eager to try one out. I had on hand a 43mm Strat cow bone nut blank that had "starter slots" already cut; this would be a good choice.

The first step was sanding the peghead side of the nut to reduce its width so that it would fit snugly in the slot. That being done, it was time to radius the bottom of the nut; as it was dead flat. The bottom of the nut needed to be radiused to 9.5" to match the curve of the bottom of the fretboard nut channel.

This took lots of time and patience; but finally seeing the bottom of the nut fit nicely on the fretboard brought on a deep sense of satisfaction. Once the nut fit properly in the fretboard nut channel, the next step was to mark the maximum depth of the slots. No, I did not use the "half-pencil technique," as I lost the last one years ago; and did not have a belt sander on hand.

Instead, a stack of feeler gauges and a mechanical pencil were used to draw a curved line on the fretboard side of the nut. This line was a tad higher than the height of the first fret as a safety measure. Following this, various nut files were used to gradually deepen each nut slot until the bottom just touched the pencil line. Having reached this stage, I was now able to file the top and sides of the nut to create a rough profile; and also dress the slots.

Then, once the strings were on; the final setup was carried out. This began with further deepening each nut slot until there was just a hair's width between the bottom of each string and the top of the first fret. With minimal string clearance such as this, you'll achieve optimal action at the first fret. No more sore fingers from F or Bb Major barre chords ;)

Once the slots were at the targeted depth, the top and sides of the nut were once again filed, sanded and polished until the desired profile was achieved. Kindly note that the top of the nut needs to be filed down to where no more than half of the wound strings sit in their respective slots. I have found that a string buried too deep in its slot is a sure recipe for a host of problems further down the road. Meanwhile, here are three useful online resources on nut making and setup:

Fitting Nuts: The Curved Bottom — Haze Guitars

Fitting Nuts: Pre-Shaped Nuts Part 2 - Installation — Haze Guitars

Making a Nut, Step-by-Step — Dan Erlewine

Well, folks, that's basically how this lovely Sunburst American Special Stratocaster® was fitted with a custom bone nut. Thanks for dropping by, and I'll see you again real soon :)

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Four

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

This is the fourth and final installment of a series of posts on a lovely custom neck-through Telecaster-style guitar I've been working on since the beginning of this year.

Now that the job is done, I have time to reflect on the many fine features found on this custom instrument. Among these is the use of quality wood and sturdy construction. The body is of dark-stained wood, while the chunky neck (think: baseball bat) is a five-piece sandwich of maple and the same wood used for the body. This neck extends through the center of the body right to the butt end -- definitely a neck-through build.

The body feels solid and is of good weight, somewhere between that of a Strat and Les Paul. The top is capped by a rather thick layer of attractively-grained veneer; stained darker than the rest of the body for good contrast. I just can't get enough of the wood grain pattern -- it's raw yet sophisticated. Initially harboring the thought that this was a quarter-inch solid wood cap as on Les Pauls and the like; I was disappointed upon closer inspection of the sides.

Stringing is through-body, a feature that definitely enhances sustain. The only let down here is the haphazard arrangement of the string ferrules. Surely the person who handled this task could have done some research online, and then practiced on scrap wood beforehand.

I suspect that he or she simply used a hand-held power drill and bludgeoned through the body in one go. In any case, here's a step-by-step video tutorial by Fletcher Handcrafted Guitars on how to get the job done right. Key word: drill press!

The maple fretboard features a bone nut, 12" radius, 25.5" scale, 22 medium-jumbo frets, black plastic binding; and intricate abalone inlays. Abalone has also been used for the gorgeous floral inlays along the butt end of the body and in between the pickups. A classy touch indeed!

This custom Tele came to me in rather poor shape, silent testament to the various ill-executed mods, rough handling and neglect suffered over the years. I'm blessed to have been part of its rehabilitation and return to a giggable state. Well, that's about it for this post. Stay home, stay safe; and do enjoy the pics :)

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Three

Quick Links:    Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Well, let's see here. I've already refinished this Tele in Tru-Oil and installed the electronics. Now it's time to string it up and do a proper setup for maximum playability. Easier said than done, huh?

The maple fretboard's already as straight as an arrow, so I reckon there won't be much truss rod tweaking needed. So on goes the Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys, I tune up, and then realize the first issue: excessively-high action at the nut. Boy, are you going to have problems fretting barre chords such as F or Bb major!

In case you're wondering just how I determine nut action, it's pretty simple. With the guitar tuned to pitch, press any string at the 3rd fret and eyeball the distance between the bottom of that string and the top of the first fret. There should only be a tiny gap, a hair's width; one might say. I know there are more scientific ways to measure the gap using feeler gauges and what not; but eyeballing it works just fine for me. If there's just a tiny sliver of light shining through; you'll be good to go.

Anyway, out come the fret and torch nozzle files; and away we go. Now I've lowered the nut action to where I like it, the strings are sitting way too deep in their slots. And then there's the fact that this bone nut is really gnarly and needs a face lift. A nut reprofile job should kill these two birds with one stone, methinks.

I start by filing the top of the nut down to where about half the diameter of the wound strings are visible, and then do a cleanup and polish with successively finer grits of 3M Flexible Polishing Papers. I really like these polishing papers as they're flexible, durable; and offer a degree of control you won't get with regular sandpaper.

So now the nut's been taken care of. The fretboard's still relatively flat with the strings tuned up; and there's only the tiniest bit of relief in the 7th to 9th fret area. Nice, but fretting any string at the 21st and 22nd frets produces the same note. This means that the 22nd fret is way too high -- when you fret a note at the 21st fret, it's actually fretting at the 22nd!

The solution is to do a really minor fret dress on just the 22nd fret to lower it. I do just that; problem solved. Of course there's lots of fine sanding and polishing to do after lowering the fret height; but that's life. I've finally got the action and intonation just right, so I'm calling it a day on this job. Here's a YouTube video of yours truly trying out this Tele straight into my Fender Champion 40, no effects; no nuthin.

Custom HSH S-Style | Refret and Bone Nut

Here's a custom HSH S-style build featuring two Ibanez humbuckers and a single-coil; plus genuine Fender hardware. After years of heavy use it needs a full refret, new nut; and setup. As per the owner's request, I've installed Dunlop Accu-Fret 6000 fretwire and a bone nut; and refinished the maple fretboard in Tru-Oil. Now, while I actually completed this job in 2019, I'm only blogging about it now as I misplaced the majority of the pics I took; and the ones you see here are all I could find. A thousand apologies, folks.

Epiphone Les Paul Special Gets Some Love

Work done on this grimy Epiphone Les Paul Special included cleanup and polishing, hardware servicing, fretboard reconditioning, restring and setup; plus a new bone nut. The rosewood fretboard was so dry that it soaked up three applications of lemon oil!