My SRV left handed tremolo Project

[momo]

Hello, Ive decided to start a new post for my project, I already did the beast modification and will take pictures to show soon as I dismantle my guit to prepare for a routing job ala SRV. So first question!... since I dont have a beat up sunburst, Im concerned that the hole left from the original right handed bridge will not be funky, and I would want to cover it up, so im thinking of taking the top paint part along with maybe half inch deep of the side I have to actually route. In other words I would try to "lift" a piece to reglue on the other side. Will the paint completely chip away?
Would a dremel do the job?. If the paint is going to chip, then il just route the thing without saving the paint and ill have to find another way to plug the hole.

[gfxbss]

momo, a dremel would work. however, you would be better to go w/ a router. w/ being done by hand via dremel, it just wont be as perfect as you would probably like.

Tyler

[momo]

So here are the pics of the strat with the beast modification done, al is ready to route...I also would like to point out that I dont have one of these solder suction tools and so this is not as clean as I like it, but everythig works as it should!

I will also add neck pics, Im hoping to get replies about doing the route, would you guys route this guitar? I really want and I will do it...unless someone tell me Im crazy to do this and gives me a good reason!

[sumgai]

...I also would like to point out that I dont have one of these solder suction tools and so this is not as clean as I like it, but everythig works as it should!

Ah, the master of understatement is in the house!

Im hoping to get replies about doing the route, would you guys route this guitar? I really want and I will do it...unless someone tell me Im crazy to do this and gives me a good reason!

No, you're not crazy for doing what you want to do. You've reasoned out the effect on the future value, and you say that you can live with it. So be it! Let the routing begin!

As for trying to lift some paint surface from the new hole (to use as a plug), that's not gonna work. No mater how fine a Dremel bit you use, you'll have a small error - there has to be some dimension of thickness to that bit, and if you cut the hole so that the outside is correct, the remaining inside piece will be too small for the old hole. Ditto for cutting the piece to fit the old hole - the new hole will now be oversized.

A better idea might be to gouge a chip out of the area between the pickups (which will be covered by the pickguard), and shape it to fit over the plug you use to fill the old hole. That plug will be some kind of scrap wood, true, and it can be ugly, 'cause you're gonna cover the top with that chip you just took out.

BTW, have you stopped to realize that the underside will need a new cover plate? You can't just move the current cover over, it's built with an offset for the string holes. And even if you could, you'd be exposing the old hole from the back - more ugliness! Stew-Mac sells blank plates for this purpose, as do other vendors, but working this plate to your needs will add to the time and hassle factor of your total project. Just wanted you to be aware, that's all.

HTH


sumgai

[momo]

Thanks ALOT for those comments! As far as the backside, unless its not good to have the excess not covered, i dont mind about that, but the pickup area/plug idea is awsome, but now I feel im getting into Van Halen frankenstien mode....

Would it be possible to not fill the hole and just cover/glue the cut piece on?
Does the space/deleted wood affect the tone/resonance enough that I would have to fill the missing wood?

thanks alot for the info.

Oh ,,since your reading, I was happy to see that the block on the original bridge is heavy! so I hope that the new callaham vintage series will be as heavy or more!

[momo]

So following the previous helpful comments, I used a transparent paper,penciled the outline also screws, flipped the paper, taped exactoed the paper up to outline, my template is ready!

[momo]

So now its done...WoW that was fun! ;D I treated the whole thing with respect, and from that point on, everything went well. A couple of years ago I bought a Dremel kit on a whim... now I know why! I had the router head to put on,so that was great, plus, the wood cuts like butter.I put the original bridge on backwards to give me an idea of coverage I need to cut out from pickup section. Its less than I thought. So anyway now I have to concentrate on the filler piece...

[momo]

OK last bit for today here are the detail pics of the filler pice removal, thats it for now, my baby needs to rest and recuperate....

Now all I have to do is carve the piece and wait for mt left-handed Callaham vintage bridge to arrive in the mail
Cheers!

[sumgai]

Do I detect a new member replacing fobits (Frank) in both woodworking skills and the ability to present a project in pictures? ;D

Damn, son, that's some nice work!



sumgai

[momo]

He He I think I found myself a new job ;D. I never thought I could do that , that was fun! Sumgai, thanks for all the help and encouragement. For the pictures well, I hope it can inspire other or help them in the details of this. I know I always enjoyed a project explanation with pictures. The pictures are not on the GuitarNuts server so ya, it was a free for all!

Now back to buisness, im concerned about the outline of the filler piece, even if it really tight, Im pretty sure we will detect the piece, so is this any good to fill in the ridge outline?
www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Repair_and_touchup/2/Lacquer_Stick_Finish_Repair.html

[sumgai]

momo,

He He I think I found myself a new job ;D. I never thought I could do that , that was fun! Sumgai, thanks for all the help and encouragement. For the pictures well, I hope it can inspire other or help them in the details of this. I know I always enjoyed a project explanation with pictures. The pictures are not on the GuitarNuts server so ya, it was a free for all!

Now back to buisness, im concerned about the outline of the filler piece, even if it really tight, Im pretty sure we will detect the piece, so is this any good to fill in the ridge outline?
www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_supplies/Repair_and_touchup/2/Lacquer_Stick_Finish_Repair.html

Those aren't bad, but before you spend the money for shipping, try a local supplier in woodworking supplies, like Rockler or Woodcrafters. Also, one of my favorite websites for this kind of thing is ReRanch Guitar Refinishing Supplies, they have similar stuff, and they're often a bit less expensive than Stew-Mac.

ReRanch also has an extensive archive of how-to articles - I never seem to have enough time to read even a large dose of their on-line stuff, it's pretty hefty.

HTH



sumgai

[momo]

Thanks sumgai, I will take the time to read, Im presently on a one year stop from work, for health reasons,a and so I will take the time to read this, thanks, that was great info on your part and I thank you

[momo]

Well its friday and looks like my Callaham bridge wont be here till at least Monday Its going to be a long weekend....I cant stand it, I've been watching my strat in pieces on the floor for a week now. Good thing I didn't dismantle my acoustic!
I did a complete overhaul this week, first I found a 1950's RCA blackplate 12ax7 tube in a old movie projector I had sitting in my closet for years! , so I replaced the chinese tube in my Performer 650.(I never liked the dist channel on that amp, now I think its going to be useable.)
I did the Vox V847 mods, including changing the stock inductor.
I did the tube screamer mod with a rc4558p chip and resistors.
Custom wired George L cables on pedal board.

And so now,I got all that to explore, but with no guit to try
I think I wont go outside/eat/sleep, for a while the second I plug the guitar in!

[momo]

Just a quick update, I will be posting the final pics soon, I have finished the job and I must say that I love this setup. Thanks to I forget who on this post that showed me the light as far as Callaham bridges, now acoustically my strat sounds like a good acoustic!, so imagine plugged in! Ive been experimenting my new tone, as an example, I can effortlesly duplicate David Gilmours "money/Time solo tones, and modulate the tone within the solo with my fingers, everything is much more responsive and defined....and all this into a modified tube screamer with lite distortion strait in the amp! Amazing sustain, I did have good sustain before, which is a good testament of the guitar wood/components combination, but that was about 75% of what I have now!!
The next mod will be replacing the cheap factory capacitor with my newly discovered "Grey Tiger" mustard wax ones that I found in an old projector. AWSOME!!!

They only drawback I see is that now I have no excuses for ordinary/mediocre tone!!!!
Cheers

[hammeroff]

They only drawback I see is that now I have no excuses for ordinary/mediocre tone!!!!

I just got my own rig back together today. I got some GFS hot pups and did the Strat Lovers Other Strat mod (Thanks JohnH!!!)

It's hard to get that stock Stratocaster sound now though! I went to 250k pots and different caps and stuff, but yeah...sounding like a "regular" strat is tough!

It's times like these that separate nuts from enthusiasts though. An enthusiast would just buy a new strat to sound like a strat. A nut (like me) decides it's time to build a 1954 strat replica

[momo]

Alright, I finally got hold of a camera so here are the updated pics...

New Callaham left handed kit...


Front view of filler piece shaped with an Dremel for the rough job, and an exacto knife for the detailing.


Back view, notice I did not bother to fill up the cavity with other wood.


Heres a shot of the new switching setup, one tone control for all positions,including bridge, 0.005 Grey Tiger cap, shock protect cap, Domino Cap for treble bleed.

So Im very happy with the results, as you can see, there is an outline around the filler piece, from afar its not too bad. If any of you have a vintage white laquer stick, I would be willing to pay a couple of dollars for a tiny piece. That would be a very small piece like 1/8 of an inch or so. I dont do multi guitar work so buying the whole laquer stick kit is not worth it.
Anyway, so yea, the Callaham Bridge kit is totally awsome, my sound is much more open now, the intonation is better, now I really get the bells ringing with the great harmonics!
I play with 011's and so I use the 5 springs, so getting used to the left handed method of using the tremolo, combined with the strong resistance on the bridge will take a bit of time, but already now after playing maybe 4-5 hours total, I can say that I really love it. I love the sound I get from the hard to bend/be precise kind of reaction on the bridge, its harder to do, but thats how I like it to sound, like Im getting the notes from the bottom of my toes -up!....
Cheers

[1150lefty]

I just want to say a few things here:

#1 and probably most important - This is a totally scarey project, but it's one of those things you do and not think twice about when less-intense tasks are out of the question. This is something I was going to do and that's the really scarey part! Good job man!!!

#2 - I wish I would have known, I could have swapped you bridges. I have another Jimi Hendrix guitar I building though that the reverse bridge will go on.

#3 - Spiral bits suck. I hate them with a passion. Use router bits whenever possible, if you can find them. My expensive Dremel kit sees little use, but I have a router and 1/4" collet cutout tool for jobs like this. Again - Good job MAN!!!

#4 - BUDDY GUY!

#5 - The cutout plug - Again, somethig I would do just because someone said "Aw man, that's not gonna work!" Good luck on hiding that!

[ChrisK]

I love that hideous (not) showing filler plug.

Fender stated in their catalog of a few years back that Vaughan's tech had to make a filler plug to cover the incorrect routing that he'd used.

Well, Sparky, if'n that Strat was factory routed for a right-handed 6 screw vintage vibrato, and one wanted to mount a left-handed 6 screw vintage vibrato, one would have to plug that there factory routed hole.

Don't tell anyone anything other than you'd just followed the lead of SRV.



After all,.......Vintage IS........


BTW, I've been a fan of Callaham for some time.

I'm getting ready to order a right-handed 6 screw vintage vibrato for this project;
guitarnuts2.proboards45.com/index.cgi?board=repair&action=display&thread=1172196911

[momo]

Hey thanks everyone for the great remarks, I can say now after intensly playing with the new setup, that I wish I had done that before!, the Callaham kit is just great, I now have a better sustain and louder tone also with great harmonics. It took me a while to get used to the tremolo bar, I now found a great way of using it with my forearm and wrist all the while playing!

I also got used to seeing the plug, and I now like it that way
Cheers