Custom Explorer Bass Makeover | Part Two

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five

In Part 1 of this series, it was detailed how successive layers of gold flake, black paint, wood etchings, filler and goo were painstakingly scraped and sanded off until bare wood was finally revealed. In this episode, we pick up where we left off.

To begin with, grain filling was done on the back of the neck and headstock, as well as the headstock face; with  Elmer's Carpenter's Natural Wood Filler. Once excess filler had been sanded off, staining was effected using StewMac ColorTone Liquid Stains thinned with alcohol. Vintage Amber (#5030) was used for the back of the neck and headstock; and Cherry Red (#5038) for the headstock face.

Following this, these surfaces were refinished in Tru-Oil. Kindly note that I'll not be doing any refinishing work on the body until I've sealed existing screw holes and drilled new ones for the replacement bridge. Believe me, it's way safer to do any drilling before refinishing -- don't ask me how I know.

Next came taking accurate measurements before marking the all-important center and 34" lines prior to the installation of the new bridge. Once this was taken care of, the neck was reattached to the body; and the new bridge temporarily secured in the correct location. Then, two strings were utilized to check for proper side-to-side alignment. Guess what? The G and B strings were falling right off the edges of the fretboard! This meant that the new bridge could not be used as the G-B string spread was just too wide for the neck.

After some more measuring, it was determined that the G-B string spread of the original bridge was 6.8 cm; while that of the new bridge was a whopping 7.5 cm. Bottom line: the new bridge had to be put aside and the original reinstalled; no questions asked. I also suspect that the original bridge itself had not been installed correctly right from the start. The first issue was that it was not centered correctly. The second was that when aligned with the 34" mark, the G-string saddle was only about halfway forward.

When determining proper bass bridge location, I first make sure the bridge is "centered." Then, I adjust the G-string saddle to its forward-most position; and pull back about 1/16" to allow for some leeway. Next, I position the bridge so that the "break point" (the point where the string passes over the saddle) of the G-string saddle is aligned with the 34" mark. If this all sounds a little complicated, do check out these two excellent online resources:

Bridge Placement (scroll down to the post by "Rodent")

Electric Guitar and Bass Assembly Guide (scroll down to "Locating the bridge")

Going back to the drawing board, I've centered the original bridge, pulled it back so that the break point of the G-string saddle aligns with the 34" mark; and marked the new positions for the bridge mounting screws. The next step will be actually drilling these new holes, reinstalling the bridge; and checking once again if the strings are aligned correctly. Do check for further updates on this Custom Explorer Bass Makeover; and thanks for dropping by :)

Taming Noisy Pickup Polepieces

The pickup polepieces of the neck pickup on this 2004 American Deluxe Precision Bass V had, over time, begun to produce awful buzzy popping noise whenever someone accidentally touched them with his/her fingers; and it was getting to be too annoying to ignore. I believe this is quite a common problem, as it's been mentioned on various forums on the web. Relatedly, Audere Audio Engineering has come up with a very helpful and informative FAQ on this subject. Do take the time to read it as it answers many questions and offers a solution.

Upon disassembling both halves of the split P-style neck pickup, I discovered that the coils were completely unshielded; which might be a contributing factor to the problem. And, as the popping noise did not occur if you touched the polepieces while touching the strings or bridge; I was certain that the polepieces needed to be grounded.

To begin with, the pickup height foam strips were carefully pried off the underside of the pickups, exposing the bottom of the polepieces. As the strips had been attached with double-sided tape; there was some goo and gunk to be cleaned off with Zippo Lighter Fluid (naphtha).

Now that the pickup bottoms were clean, a strip of conductive self-adhesive copper tape was attached. A connection was established via a short jumper wire to the negative lug of the lower pickup; which was already connected to system ground. Yes, now the polepieces were well and truly grounded.

Next, the pickup coils themselves were wrapped with black pickup-coil tape; so that the windings would not come into contact with what was coming next. Following this was the next wrap of conductive self-adhesive copper tape. Another copper tape tab was soldered to the coil wrap, and this tab was soldered to the tape grounding the bottoms of the polepieces. In this way, any rogue interference would now be blocked and shunted to ground.

After thoroughly checking for continuity with a multimeter, the pickups were reunited with their plastic casings and reinstalled. Oh yes, I did also dab a thin layer of lacquer on the tops of the polepieces. Overkill? Well, maybe :)

Soon it was time to plug her in and let it rip. Guess what? The infamously noisy polepieces were now as quiet as mice when touched. Whew ... what a relief! So, guys and girls, you might want to try the steps I've outlined here if your polepieces ever start misbehaving. Last but not least, be excellent to each other and eat your veggies :)

Custom Neck-Through Tele Rehab: Part One

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

This is a Tele-style guitar, no doubt. It was custom built for the owner, who then handed it over to an individual or number of individuals for further "upgrades." And now it's come to me for some serious rehabilitation. Gnarly finish, no pickups or electronics; and no control cavity cover. 

A very attractive guitar all the same. Intricate abalone inlays, neck-through construction, five-piece maple neck, strings-through-body; never mind that the holes for the string ferrules are seriously out of alignment.

The first stage of rehab involved a partial refinish. Partial as in I did not sand down right to bare wood as it was stained and I did not want to have to do a lot of restaining. Turns out I did burn through the finish along the edges and center of the body, and had to restain the affected parts with StewMac ColorTone Liquid Stains. 

Vintage Amber (#5030) was used to restain the maple center, and for the edges; a mixture of Medium Brown (#5033) and Red Mahogany (#5032). Next, I filled the grain with StewMac ColorTone Clear Grain Filler so as to provide a relatively even base for the Tru-Oil that would be applied.

Then I remembered that I had not fashioned a control cavity cover yet. So I put the refinish on hold, and got right down to cutting and shaping one out of black pickguard material. I made two at one go, the other one being for the Explorer-style bass I'm also working on.

As I write this, the Tru-Oil refinish is complete and I'm moving on to the pickups and electronics. Two humbucker-sized P90 clones have arrived, and the neck pickup won't fit in its cavity. There's going to be a bit of chiseling and Cremeling to do, no doubt. Do stay tuned for the next installment. Till then, stay home, stay safe; and keep on rocking the free world :)

Yamaha ERG121C Makeover: Part One

Related Posts

Part One | Part Two | Part Three

What do we have here? It's a used Yamaha ERG121C HSH rock machine in ... wait for it ... shocking pink. I assume the previous owner was responsible for the paint job, and also some nice upgrades. He'd put in a trio of Seymour Duncans: SH-2N Jazz Model (neck), APS-1 Alnico Pro II (middle), and SH-4 JB Model (bridge). 

He'd also wired in a CRL 5-way switch, CTS 500K pots, and Switchcraft #11 jack socket. The bee's knees, I'd say. Only problem was that the wiring was a little suspect, and the ERG121C wasn't "sounding as it should" (current owner's words, not mine).

And so, besides requesting a complete rewiring job, the current owner would like to have the body stripped down to bare wood and refinished natural. Okey dokey, it's another heat gun and scraper job for me. Underneath the pink was black (the original color, I guess), a silver undercoat, thick layer of sealer; and some kind of veneer. I sanded the body down to bare wood and was pleased to discover that it was a solid 3-piece job; not plywood or something similarly distasteful. 

The next step was filling the grain with good ole' Elmer's Carpenter's Natural Wood Filler. Left it to dry overnight, and sanded off the excess the next day. Then it was time to stain the body with StewMac ColorTone Liquid Stain (#5030 - Vintage Amber). Once the stain had set, it was time to settle any woodwork before proceeding with refinishing.

Stock, the ERG121C features two ring-mounted humbuckers and a direct-mounted single coil. However, the previous owner had done away with the rings and direct-mounted the SH-2N and  SH-4 using wood screws that were too short and of all things; Strat pickup rubber tubing instead of springs or foam inserts. As you can guess, the humbuckers' height could not be adjusted.

To solve this issue, I first plugged the pickup height screw cavities with slightly over-tall glued-in wooden blocks. After the glue had dried, I pared down these wooden plugs until they were level with the cavity bottom. Following this, I reattached the neck, put the humbuckers in their respective routs, and strung up the high and low E strings. 

This was just a mock-up that helped me to align the polepieces and strings. The SH-2 lined up okay, but the SH-4 was a "little" off (to put it kindly). Someone should have told the poor guy that he needed a TB-4 JB Model Trembucker, and not an SH-4 (standard spacing) for correct string-polepiece alignment at the bridge.

Resigning myself to the fact that there was no budget for a new bridge humbucker, I proceeded to drill pilot holes for the new pickup height screws (shortened P-bass pickup height screws) and did a test run with Strat conical pickup springs in place. All went well, thankfully, and I sealed the deal by gluing small metal washers around each screw hole. These washers will help to keep the screws from wandering around when it's finally time to reinstall the pickups.

I'm now in the middle of refinishing the body in Tru-Oil. Stay tuned for later updates. See you soon :)

StewMac Delivers Yet Again

For the last couple of years, StewMac has been numero uno in my book whenever it comes to luthier tools and supplies. My latest order took less than a month to arrive via USPS First Class International Parcel. Thank you, StewMac :)

Yamaha SLG110S Silent Guitar | Part Two

◀ Part One

Full Refret

This entry is the second of two on the Yamaha SLG110S Silent Guitar. To read the previous entry (Overview), please click HERE. Now, the original frets on this guitar were so worn that there wasn't enough height left for a level and dress. That being the case, I refretted the entire fretboard with StewMac #149 fretwire. The images below outline the basic steps I took in re-fretting this Yamaha SLG110S Silent Guitar.