Strat Copy - Partial Fret Dress

Yes, it's another Strat copy; this time from a jamming studio. Notes played on the 18th fret upwards were dead, ie all you could hear was just a dull 'thunk.' Neck relief was spot on, so that wasn't the problem. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the fretboard had no 'fall-away' built in, and as such; the upper frets were making contact with the strings whenever you fretted above the 17th.

The obvious solution was to dress the offending frets and create a fall-away. This was done from the 15th fret upwards, to smoothly blend in the fall-away with the rest of the frets. After the fretboard was straightened, the frets were leveled with a leveling beam and then re-crowned and polished in the usual manner. I'm glad to say that this partial fret dress took care of the dead note problem.

The other issue was with the output jack socket. Plugged in, output was weak and intermittent. The jack socket itself was loose, even after tightening the hex nut. Everything looked nice and shiny on the outside, but it was a different story once I removed the jack plate. The output jack was totally rusted and was in danger of disintegrating. So into the bin went the old rusty socket, to be replaced with a Neutrik/Rean NYS229. That's about it for this post. Thanks for dropping by, and have a nice day :)

Note: Fender®, Stratocaster®, Strat®, Telecaster®, Tele®, P Bass®, Precision Bass®, and the distinctive headstock designs of these guitars are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part Two

Related Posts    

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

To date, I've completed the Tru-Oil refinish, fabrication of a control cavity cover, and slight neck pickup cavity enlargement to fit the new humbucker-sized P90 clone. Conductive shielding paint, copper foil and grounding tabs have also been utilized to reduce rogue interference as far as possible. 

I've also adjusted the neck pickup in its cavity for optimal string/polepiece alignment with the help of "dummy" low and high E strings. Electronics-wise, the guitar has been rewired with a new 3-way switch, Alpha A500K pots, poly film 0.022uF cap; and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. 

Everything works as it should, thankfully. All that's left now is to string this guitar up with a set of Ernie Ball Regular Slinkys (10-46) and do a full setup. I think I'll take care of that tomorrow; now it's time to take a break and listen to some Nat King Cole. Thanks for reading this, and I'll see you soon :)

Flood Victim #4 - SX Vintage Series Jazz Bass Copy

This happened to be the fourth victim of the great flood of December 2013 that had come my way to date. The earlier three were a Washburn XB125, Yamaha RBX775 FSL and '70s Fender Jazz Bass. This particular SX Vintage Series Jazz Bass Copy was well built and oozed a '70s vibe: 3-bolt neck plate, maple neck/fretboard with block inlays, solid wood body finished natural, chunky open-gear tuners; and a Fender-ish headstock profile.

The owner confided in me that after salvaging the bass from flood waters, he'd cleaned and dried it the best he could. However, of late, it had become increasingly difficult to play due to high action and malfunctioning electronics.

After closely examining the bass and trying it out for a couple days, I identified these main issues:
(i) excessively high action at the bridge even with the saddles at their lowest,
(ii) totally corroded metal components,
(iii) frozen saddle height adjustment screws,
(iv) excessive neck relief,
(v) incorrect neck/body angle -- the neck was tilting upwards,
(vi) grimy, cruddy, rusty and tarnished hardware and plastic components; and
(vii) barely functioning pots and output jack, even after servicing.

To address these issues, the bass was first disassembled down to the"nuts and bolts," so to speak. Following this, hardware and plastic components were cleaned of crud, grime and rust as thoroughly as possible. The pickguard, control plate, and saddle height adjustment screws were replaced as they were beyond saving. The bridge was lubed thoroughly so that it would be functional once more.

The truss rod was still working, thank goodness. I was able to tighten it to where the neck was straight without any strings on. To correct the neck/body angle, I inserted a shim of appropriate thickness; and the neck now tilted downwards slightly.

As the electronics were shot, I rewired the bass with new Alpha A250K pots, a 0.033uF tone cap, and Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. After putting the bass back together, I was able to set it up with the lowest possible action sans buzz. Plugging this SX Vintage Series Jazz Bass Copy into a bass amp produced growly, midrangey tones that evoked memories of other '70s Jazz Basses I'd had the pleasure of working on. They sure don't build 'em like they used to!

BC Rich Warlock SE Body Repair and Electronics Upgrade

This BC Rich Warlock SE guitar had a set neck and strings-through-body design. The only problem was that over the years, an unsightly gap had developed all around the perimeter of the neck heel. My job was to eliminate the gap and make it look presentable. This I did by filling the gap with StewMac ColorTone Clear Grain Filler, sealing the perimeter with super glue, leveling it with successive finer grits of abrasive paper; followed by a good polishing. The stock electronics, save for the BHC neck and bridge humbuckers; were upgraded to Alpha A500K pots and a Neutrik/Rean NYS229 output jack. Kudos to BC Rich for shielding the pickup and control cavities with conductive paint, albeit with no grounding tab.

BC Rich Revenge Bass Refinish and Electronics Upgrade

The owner of this BC Rich Revenge Bass decided he didn't like the look of the gloss black body finish any longer. Instead, he wanted the front of the body refinished in matte black; while the back and sides remained untouched. As the body was bound, there was a fair deal of binding scraping to be done right at the end of the refinishing process. He also wanted an electronics upgrade. Out went the stock crappy mini-pots and cheapo jack; to be replaced by Alpha A500Ks and a Neutrik/Rean NYS229. And, as shielding paint had already been applied at the factory, all I needed to do was add a grounding tab to the control cavity wall.