2001 Strat Truss Rod seized

This US made player's Fender Strat was brought in with concerns that the truss rod may be seized or at the end of it's threads.  It's also in desperate need of a fret dress.  As usual, I conducted a preliminary inspection and something jumped out at me right away ~ can you see what it is?

Notice the alignment of the strings?  At the 12th fret, the low E was 3/16" closer to the edge of the fretboard and the high E was 3/16" further away.  You can see it clearly where the strings align off-centre over the pole pieces of the pickups.  This will need some further investigation...

A quick way to check is to remove the D string and pinch it between the 3rd and 4th saddles, then hold it taught at the middle of the nut.  The string should align perfectly centred down the fretboard, and you can use the inlays as a guage...

At just the first inlay you can see how off-centre it is with the string riding slightly higher than the centre of the dot.

It's the opposite at the 15th to 19th frets, where the string rides slightly lower than the centre of the dots...

Unfortunately I didn't have another Strat on hand to compare, but mounting the neck on a known good body would help the process of elimination.  Using some schematics I found online of Strat routing measurements, and considering the neck itself is perfectly straight, I was able to determine that it is most likely the neck pocket being slightly off.  We'll have to see what the owner would like to do, as this makes a perfect set-up near impossible with this compound radius neck...



Now for the truss rod...
A close-up inspection of the nut shows a considerable amount of debris compacted in the allen-key adjustment nut.  Using a scribe and some contact cleaner I was able to loosen and remove it.










Just to be sure, a few swabs put the finishing touches on it and I could now see the nut clearly ~ and the allen-key now fit perfectly too!


I was now ready to see if the truss rod would turn ~ and it didn't!  But with a little added leverage it did move back & forth slightly.  Perhaps a little heat will loosen it up...

Inserting the allen key firmly then holding a high-heat soldering gun to it allowed enough heat to transfer to the truss rod threads.  This is a gradual process, but with a little time the nut was unseized and moved smoothly.  A little mineral oil to keep it that way will do the trick for another ten years!

During set-up I noticed that the saddle on the low E was almost flush against the bridge plate ~ a clear indication that the neck angle is off..

You can see how the end of the neck dips slightly into the body.  While this can eliminate some buzzing, the proper way to set it up is to keep it as level as possible so the saddles have some travel and adjust the bow of the neck to alleviate buzz.  This particular Strat has the "micro-tilt" adjustment in the heel of the neck plate, which can back off over time with so much tension on it.  This is a very minor adjustment that can have a major affect on playability.  After a fret dress and set-up, this axe was ready for action!

1989 Fender Strat Plus Refret

It's back!  The Strat that I did some minor work to in Sept 2010 (see blog) is in for some new frets.  This will be a bit of a challenge, as Fender used remarkably thin strips of Rosewood on their fretboards during those years.  Rosewood is particularly brittle, and when left untreated and played a lot it results in a lot of small chunks being lifted away when removing the old frets.

Prior to removal, the fretboard was thoroughly cleaned and treated with a generous dose of lemon oil and I even increased the humidity in the shop for a few days.  After romoval of the original frets, however, there was still some patchwork needed even after levelling and dressing the board. The first half of the new frets went in quite well, but once I hit the "busier" part of the board I started to have some problems.

Enough material chipped away as the old frets were removed that the fret slot became too wide in some areas to receive the new frets.  Several things can be done in this case.  The tang of some frets were crimped to allow a wider bite, and the wood dust saved from dressing the board was used to build-up the chipped areas after mixing it with crazy glue.  Regardless, the ends of some frets were still floating and would have to be glued-in individually after install.

Using several solid maple cauls to apply pressure specifically to the fret ends, the opening was filled with water-thin crazy glue then the floating fret end was pressed in to place and secured with a clamp.

A piece of veneer was used to prevent any possible indent in the fretboard made by the caul.

This process was required for several frets and on both sides of the board.  Once securely in place, the refret routine could continue as normal.

Godin 5th Avenue Archtop pickup install ~ UPDATED!

The folks at Godin have done an excellent job re-creating a classic acoustic archtop design.  These Canadian made guitars are very well crafted and in many ways better than the various manufacturers that mass produced these types of guitars in the 30's-60's.  With the solid top, they are sure to age well and sound better and better as they are played.

Although they come with optional soapbar style pickups installed, the owner of this one wanted something a little different.  He dropped this off with most of the components required for a pickguard mounted humbucker and thumbwheel volume & tone controls.

The pickguard will be a bit of a challenge, as it has become warped over time as the owner likes to rest his fingers on it while playing.  This was bound to happen with the usual two anchor points not providing support where he needed it.

The first order of business is to protect the pickguard and lay out the components to see how they'll line up.  This pickup will be mounted in the neck position up against the end of the fretboard.  As you can see, the pickup housing will encroach into the pickguard 7/32" for proper string alignment.

After a visit to Dad's old scroll saw and some minor hand filing, the pickup mounting tab slid nicely in place under the pickguard.  Now for some creative fabrication...

The height of the pickguard causes the pickup to be pressed against the strings if the mounting tab was flush against the underside of the pickguard.  I need a way to add height adjustment screws without sacrificing stability of the pickup mount, considering it's only anchored on one side...

After selecting some similarly coloured hardwood, I made an "elevator channel" with a cork bottom that will protect the soundboard of the guitar.  It's the same height as the spacer that mounts the pickguard to the body just below the fretboard, and allows about 1/2" of travel up and down for the pickup.

Mounted to the underside of the pickguard with countersunk screws, it will provide lateral stability for when the spring loaded pickup mounting screws are installed.

Holes drilled and machine screws inserted ~ now I need a way to stop the nuts from spinning independently when adjusting the height of the pickup...

















That should do the trick ~ after carefully measuring the distance between the edges of the nuts when mounted then adding 1/8", a small hole was drilled in the side of the nuts and a piece of lockwire was soldered in.

The full assembly.  From the bottom:  The cork layer that will sit flush against the body, the adjusting nut, the pickup mounting tab, the adjustment spring and the pickguard.  Now to wire it all together...

Removing the tailpiece revealed a hole already drilled (top).  I imagine this was done at the factory, as some of these guitars come equipped with soapbar pickups that would require a grounding wire to the tailpiece.  Saves me some work!  The bottom hole I drilled after removing the strap pin that had a stripped screw that required a little extra drilling and extraction.

The jack will also serve as the strap pin once installed in the bottom hole.

After sanding off the plating from the underside of the tailpiece, a grounding wire was soldered on which will be fed through the top hole.

Piecing it all together ~ this being a jazz neck pickup, I selected a .15uf capacitor to retain some high end and leave it with some bite at higher volumes.  The controls were adhered with industrial double-sided tape that is strong enough to stand the test of time but can also be removed for adjustment if needed.

Prior to assembly, I gently flattened the pickguard from it's warped state by using an iron at it's lowest setting and a damp cloth while applying lots of pressure.




The final result ~ a great sounding, height adjustable, pickguard mounted pickup with no additional holes drilled in the body of the guitar.