Tremolo Installed!

I finally installing the tremolo today, and I now have the bare minimum for a playable guitar.

I spent about an hour calculating center lines for the neck and body so that I could use a template that came from Stew Mac in order to mark the drill hole locations.

I made sure to measure a couple of times to be completely sure the locations would be correct (only 1 chance to get it right). The first pair of drill hole locations came from the template, which used the body routes as a reference point. However, when I checked back using the neck and nut as a reference, it turned out that the holes would be way too close to the nut, by about 3-4 mm. It might seem very trivial, but 3-4 mm is more than enough to prevent proper intonation (an older guitar I own had the bridge drilled about 3 mm too close to the neck, and would sound out of tune after the 5th fret on the higher strings).

I made sure to check the approximate position of the tremolo bridge once installed to the correct pivot post positions to make sure that the correct 25.5 inch length for the high E string had been achieved.

Once the high E string's distance from nut to bridge was about 25.5 in, I put some strings (high E and low E) into the bridge, passed them through the tuners, and checked string spacing one more time. Once everything looked good, I proceeded to drill. I used a small drill bit first to mark the center points of each hole.

The next step was drilling the actual hole. I used a 3/8 inch doweling jig to make sure the drill bit went in straight. The jig hole was an extremely tight fit for the 3/8 inch brad point bit I had, and when I reversed the drill, it would unscrew the insert. Small annoyances aside, I was relieved when I finally finished the drilling, because this particular piece of the build had been making me nervous more than any other piece.

I had a moment of panic when I double-checked by putting a template on top of the drill holes and they didn't seem to match up. However, when I mounted the tremolo and actually measured the lengths and checked the string spacing, I realized that my extra calculations and measurements relative to the neck were more accurate than the template.

Finally with all the strings on:

The tremolo looks pretty clean.

The neck to body connection looks pretty solid. I didn't have a chance to get good pictures in sunlight right after I mounted it, because it had gotten too dark.

There's a tiny bit of a gap towards the heel of the neck and the neck pocket, but I've seen a lot worse on other guitars.

The string spacing looks good.

Now that the neck has been mounted and the tremolo has been installed, this is the bare minimum required to be able to play notes. After putting on the strings, I tuned up and did a bit of testing. All of them are able to produce notes, but some are dead when fretting the note on the fingerboard. That's a good sign that the neck in relation to the bridge is not too high or too low. The notes sound clear and very resonant, and I think it'll sound very good once it's completely done. Over this next week, I'll slowly let the neck get acclimated to the string tension, and then do some more detailed setup work (any possible truss rod adjustment, bridge saddle heights, intonation). I'll have to remove the strings again at some point (to install the pickguard/electronics and also to remove the layer of finish from off the frets, but I want to get the setup in the ballpark so I can verify that nothing drastic needs to be changed.

With this weekend over, I think the Stratocaster is about 3/4 of the way done. I'll be getting the pickups and a nice case for it sometime this week, and I'll begin working on the electronics possibly the next weekend.

Mounting The Neck To The Body

Today, I finally finished mounting the neck to the body (after installing the tremolo claw).

I had been waiting for my tin of screw wax for weeks, and finally got it a couple of days ago. I decided to tap threads into the tremolo claw holes and then install it.

The reason why I waited for the screw wax is because I don't like working with soap. For whatever reason, I find the smell of soap mixed with any wood bits to be terrible.

Tapping threads is pretty easy: all that needs to be done is to coat a couple threads on the screw with some lubricant and then slowly screw the screws into the pilot holes, making sure to back out often to make sure the threads get cleaned out.

After I tapped both holes, I installed the tremolo claw. The inaccurate drilling that I did ended up not being much of a problem (thankfully).

I decided to go ahead and mount the neck after doing a quick check to make sure the distance from the nut to the approximate area of the bridge saddles would be in the right ballpark. I can always loosen the neck screws a bit and modify the side-to-side angle of the neck if needed.

The first thing I did was to tap screw threads into the holes:

Finally, I mounted the neck onto the body!

Drilling The Tremolo Claw Screw Pilot Holes

I drilled the pilot holes for the tremolo claw today.

The pilot holes are really difficult to drill because of the location. The Stratocaster back cavity is about 123 mm long, but the hole needs to be drilled in the shallow vertical wall of the cavity, so there's a shallow angle in the pilot holes.

The back of the body looks like this...

...So I had to get this:

It's a 12 inch extension for 1/4 inch hex shank drill bits. The bit is 7/64 inch. Originally I wanted to use an aircraft bit (extra long bit) but I couldn't find one in 7/64 at the local hardware store. However, I did some trigonometry by measuring the dimensions of the hardware, the body cavity, and the drill bit extension, and found out the angle would be shallow enough. What I found also surprised me, but I'll explain the interesting engineering properties of the body design in a later post.

The claw sitting inside the cavity.

Anyway, I marked up the locations of the holes and attempted to drill through the masking tape without starting the bit deep enough. You can watch the painful result of the first attempt for the first hole:

Yeah...the bit wandered. I ended up realizing pretty late that something was wrong. You can probably tell things are going to be a disaster seeing the bit bend like that...

Here's the second hole that ended up a lot better (since I started the bit by hand a lot deeper and then took the tape off):

I went back and drilled the right-hand side hole by using the claw as a jig to steady the location of the bit. It was extremely hard trying to start a good hole by hand once I had the bad drill path.

In the end, everything turned out all right, as the claw was able to fit within the position of the screws that would go into the holes.

The holes aren't as parallel as I like, but they'll be good enough to hold the claw.

I'm going to put a countersink on these holes before I use a screw to thread them, so it'll end up being better than this, fortunately.

I learned my lesson today: be careful with thin bits, and start a deep hole by hand if not using brad-point bits. Luckily, this is just the tremolo claw screw holes. This would have been bad if the bit wandered while I was drilling the body for the tremolo mount.

I'm still waiting on my screw wax, but I've got a few things left to do:

• Tap screw threads into the neck.
• Complete sanding of the neck pocket in the body.
• Remove the clear finish off the frets from the fretboard.
• Establish some measurements and mount the neck.
• Mount the tremolo.
• Order some pickups, solder them along with the electronics into the pickguard.
• Drill screw holes for the pickguard, assemble.
• Setup, then off to making music!

More Parts

I finally got some more parts earlier in the week.

Bridge tremolo parts:

Clockwise from top: tremolo bushings, tremolo pivot posts, tremolo spring claw, springs, spring claw screws (actually neck screws but they can be used for the claw).

Sorry for the blurry shots. I'm going to get a tripod soon for better shots and also so I can take better video of me doing some of the work. I also didn't take anything out of the bags yet because I know I'm going to be playing with the parts when I get bored, and I know that's a great way to misplace them.

What I'll need to do is to drill 2 3/8 inch holes into the body, and then press the bushings in. Afterwards, I can screw the posts in and then put the bridge assembly on. The claw, springs, and screws will anchor in the back of the body and keep tension on the bridge. When I get to installing it, I'll show each different part in more detail.

I'm trying to think about how I'm going to determine where to drill the holes, and I've got a couple of ideas. I think I'll measure the neck and body in a couple of different places and then establish some center lines on some masking tape. Once I've done that, I can align the neck and body using the center lines so that the neck fit will be good. I do have the tremolo routing template from StewMac, and I can use the center lines in the template to find where I need to drill. I can use this to check against the neck/body center line method as well. The annoying thing about the 2 pieces (neck, body, bridge) is that I sort of need the neck and body to get the bridge distance from the neck to be correct, but I need the bridge and body to align the neck to be straight, and I need the bridge and neck to ensure my drill holes are in the right place. I'm a software engineer, and this is why I hate circular dependencies. I'll need a lot of masking tape, measuring, squaring, and clamping to get the tremolo installation just right.

Moving on...

Plastic and mounting parts:

Clockwise from left: white Stratocaster pickguard (3-ply, white-black-white, non-aged white color), white switch tip, white volume and tone knobs, strap buttons and screws, pickup height tubing, pickup and switch screws.

I wanted straight white since I think the aged white look would be a bit weird on what will essentially be a modern-style Stratocaster. I want to reserve the vintage look in a future build. The volume and tone knobs do look slightly off-white even though the part number seems to indicate its the straight white color. It's still a pleasant look, however:

Finally, the electronics parts (and the neck plate + screws):

Clockwise from top: output jack plate, output jack, no-load tone pot, 0.022 μF Orange Drop capacitor (purdy!), grounding lug, blank neck plate and screws.

The no-load tone pot goes from 0-9 (the knobs start from 1, but I count from 0), and after a click, at 10, lets the full signal through. I intend to wire the far tone pot to affect both the middle and bridge pickups, but I want an option to be able to play the bridge pickup without any tone control on it. Traditional Stratocaster wiring has the first tone knob affecting the neck, the second tone affecting the middle, and nothing affecting the bridge. Coming from humbuckers, I prefer a slightly mellower sound and I want to be able to roll off the treble on the bridge pickup (the brightest sounding one) to be able to find a wider range of tones. At the same time, I want to be able to take the tone control out and get the traditional tone as well.

I did some more sanding of the bridge pocket over the weekend, and I still have a bit more left to be able to get the neck to fit properly. I'm working very slowly to minimize mistakes. I'm probably not going to do anything after the sanding for a while, because although I've gotten most of the mounting parts for the things I want to do next (neck attachment and tremolo bridge installation), I forgot 1 crucial component, which is lubrication for the screws. I know I can use soap to lube the screws (to prevent anything like breaking them inside the wood while I'm cutting threads, etc) but I happen to really hate the smell of soap along with wood. I'm getting a batch of special screw wax delivered to me, but it might take a week. For now, I'm going to sit tight and order any other parts I need slowly.

Tremolo Bridge

I finally got my newest shipments of goodies today.

Before I looked at the guitar stuff, I wanted to make some dinner.

The first package contained a bottle of hot sauce that I've been wanting to try for a while: Dave's Gourmet Scorpion Pepper hot sauce.

I'm a big fan of their Ghost Pepper sauce, which is really good but extremely spicy. I believe scorpion peppers are the hottest in the world now, hotter than the ghost pepper (which was the hottest a couple years ago). A couple of my pepperhead friends and I enjoy spicy foods, and I ordered a couple bottles so we each could have one.

Before reviewing the remaining items from the packages, I cooked up a couple of hot dogs for a quick dinner:

I didn't hold back on the Scorpion Pepper sauce (the orange bits on top of the ketchup). It really has an intense sting! It's got a similar consistency to Sriracha hot sauce (the chunkier chili garlic one) and has a slightly sweet, fresh pepper flavor that delivers extreme heat very quickly (where the Ghost Pepper sauce is smooth like ketchup and delivers an intense slow burn after its initial fruity, more processed flavor). Highly recommended if you like extreme hot sauces, but definitely not for the faint of heart (or weak of bowels).

Onto the guitar stuff then...

I got The Fender Stratocaster Handbook by Paul Balmer. It's got a bunch of information on maintenance and setup, and I figure having more material to look at while I continue the build will make me avoid any problems. I'm also trying to get some ideas and detailed specs on vintage Strats; once I finish this build and if it turns out well, I might think about a future build where I build something close to the vintage stuff (my current build is going to be a modern workhorse type of design).

Here's the part that has kept me waiting for over 2 weeks...the tremolo bridge!

It's only the core part of the complete bridge assembly. Fender has been constantly changing the specs on its guitars ever since the first Strats were released. For this build, I wanted an American Standard type tremolo with the 2-pivot bridge posts, but Fender switched the design a bit a couple of years ago. I wanted the newest designed assembly but couldn't find any place that was selling the complete assembly. Most places only offered the upgrade unit (only the changed parts) intended for replacing already existing Strat tremolos. My solution was to order the upgrade unit and then source all the other parts myself. I priced everything out and realized I'd save a bunch of money this way rather than buy the old assembly plus the new upgrade or buying the new assembly complete, directly from Fender (waaaaay overpriced). Another difference is the fact that the American Standard spaces its outer strings 2 1/16 inches apart, compared to the vintage spacing of 2 7/32 inches. I'm more familiar with the Superstrat (rock/metal Stratocaster-inspired guitars that have a lot more modern specs focused on playability) and therefore, I prefer the narrower spacing, which is another reason why I chose to go with the American Standard tremolo.

When I ordered the upgrade unit, I wasn't sure which parts I'd actually receive and which parts would be missing. Now that I've gotten the unit, I can order all the rest of the parts before. When I've gotten all the rest of the tremolo parts, I'll have enough to be able to drill the posts to mount the tremolo, and also to mount the neck to the body. That's probably the most critical part of the build because the alignment of the neck with body/strings/bridge, alignment of the bridge mounting locations need to be done together to make sure everything fits and will intonate correctly. If I screw up the tremolo positioning, it'll affect the neck alignment, whether or not I can ever get the guitar intonation right, and pretty much whether the guitar will work. I can always plug and redrill, but I'd much rather get it right the first time, especially since the body is so nice. Once I have neck + body + bridge, I'll have enough to be able to put strings on it and begin the setup process.

Shiny...

...Metal...

...Parts...

...♥

The Fender American Standard bridge is fundamentally different in design to the vintage design because of how the plate mounts to the guitar. The American Standard bridge has 2 pivot holes rather than the traditional 6 screw holes (1 for each string) to reduce friction. The guitar trem is like a lever that can be pressed down to move the strings and change the pitch of the notes. The problem with the older vintage design is that the 6 screws can cause a lot more friction as each screw might bind on the tremolo action. With too much friction, the strings have a hard time getting back to the correct tuning. The 2 pivot design is supposed to reduce friction and allow the strings to get back into pitch more accurately.

Bent steel saddles.

The bridge block. This thing is surprisingly heavy. It's got a bevel so that when using the tremolo, there's a bit more room to continue to push the tremolo arm down without the block hitting the inside cavity of the body.

A reminder of what the body looks like:

Just putting the tremolo unit in to show where it'll be once I install it.

Patience Is A Virtue...

The feeling of waiting on a new shipment...

If there was no way to track where your package is, then there would be a lot more surprises and a lot fewer impatient finger-taps...

...But at least I know some goodies are on their way!

Installing The Tuning Machines

I decided early on that I wanted this guitar to be a workhorse, and I decided on Schaller locking tuners. The locking tuners can help to keep the strings in tune if the tremolo's going to be used heavily. For me, I decided on the tuners because of the tuning ratio (1:16). This means that for every 16 turns of the peg, the head turns once. Other tuners that I had considered were 1:14 or lower ratios, making tuning a lot less accurate.

The first order of business was to get all of the parts that I'd need together. The particular mounting type of the machine heads required holes for the pins to be drilled first (the traditional way used screws, which required test fitting the parts first and then marking and drilling).

Here are two pictures of a tuning machine looking at the side which would be mounted to the headstock. The pin is pretty obvious, being the little nub to the right of the main tuning machine barrel.

Gathering all the parts required. Counterclockwise from top: the neck, masking tape for protecting the finish, 12 inch straight edge, drill jig, 6 inch straight edge, clamps, #38 drill bit, countersink bit, tuners, digital caliper.

I then proceeded to measure the depth of the drill jig and the pin on the tuning machine itself.

The result was 12.48 mm for the drill jig depth and 4.08 mm for the pin, resulting in 16.56 mm total for the drill bit (this degree of accuracy would end up not being relevant, but more on that later). The instructions for the drill jig stated that the correct drill depth would be 11/16 inch, which is 17.4625 mm, but I decided to go with the conservative route and set the drill depth to be 16.56 mm.

Next, I had to make sure the jig would be squared on the headstock. My solution was to use the 2 straight edges and produce 2 parallel edges for squaring the jig.

I first placed masking tape around the neck to provide a cushion upon which the straight edges could be clamped:

I also taped the locations where the drill hole would be, because I wanted to be extra careful with the finish. Drilling bare into finish is a great way to chip or crack it, so I wanted to be as careful as possible (that didn't end up being required since the drill jig pressure on top of the finish was enough to keep it safe).

Straight edges clamped on and guiding the jig:

Once I was ready to drill, I went ahead and cautiously drilled through the masking tape, being careful to do a couple of passes and making sure to back out the drill properly and often to clear out the wood chips.

The first drill hole:

The drill jig ended up being really accurate... too accurate in fact, as I ended up having to freehand, but more on this in a bit...

All the drill holes done!

I was pretty happy when all the holes were complete, but when it came time to install the tuners, I found that they weren't mounting flush. I ended up using the deeper 11/16 inch drill depth as instructed by the drill jig documentation, but I found that there was still something wrong.

As it turns out, the drill jig was so damn accurate, with absolutely no free play for the tuning machine pin fit, that the inaccuracy of the tuner holes for the barrel caused the pins to not fit properly!

I ended up trying to redrill the holes with the jig and with the straightedges removed, but there wasn't even enough free play in the jig to slightly elongate the holes. I tried countersinking the holes, but that didn't work either.

In the end, I finally decided to elongate the holes freehand using the existing holes as a guide, and that finally got the barrel-pin distance right for a couple of the holes that had problems. Sometimes, being too accurate when the rest of the pieces aren't can cause problems.

Once the pin holes were right, I installed the tuners, and it was a simple task just tightening the nuts with a 10 mm socket.

The finished installation:

Shiny!

You can see the 3 + 3 staggered heights of the string holes. The 3 tuners on the left have lower string hole placement while the 3 tuners on the right have heigher string hole placement. This is to help keep the angle of the strings from nut to tuner consistent, for consistent tension of the strings over the nut.

Late afternoon sunlight and the headstock.

Looks great, but did I mount it straight?

Looks promising...

That's about as good as it gets!

Aw yiss!

Now that the tuners are in, I have to deal with the two most critical pieces: fitting the neck to the body, and installing the tremolo.

But for now, I deserve a nice cold soda.