Christmas project

As a couple of you already know, Lately I have this habit of buying well used/abused guitars and stripping them down and making them usable again ( well that's the theory )
Bought this a little while back and decided that the Christmas holiday was a good time to start it.



Had already started to make new scratchplates/truss rod covers before I finished work.
Just wasn't happy with the plain black.



Today I removed the headstock nuts as they seem to have been cut by a butcher with a blunt knife.
One and three from the top are the old ones... the slots are far too deep.
Plus the old 12 string nut had been cut completely the wrong way around.



Next job is making sure the necks are completely straight and then check for high points on the fret wire.



Both fretboards were then masked off.... just leaving the fretwire showing.



Frets were then sanded using a sanding beam.



Now the frets are level they have to be re-crowned to get the radius back on them.
All in all today... about 4 hours work.
Re-crowning will take about another 4 hours...... but won't have time tomorrow.
Still to do....
Change all headstock tuners.
Change switches and knobs.
Reset the 2 necks again.

Maybe the wife will get her kitchen table back in about a week lol.

 

Looks like a lot of work and a labor of love.
I bet it will be awesome when you are finished.

 

Nice, really nice. What is it? Maybe a Gibson SG?

 

Wow looks like a lot of work but I believe the end result will be worth it.I give you a lot of credit for taking on this job my back would never make it.Please show the finished results can't wait to see it.You have a great talent there thanks for sharing it.

 

I wouldn't complain. I'll tell my husband we have to go out to eat. (Forget we also have a dining room table and a set of 4 tray tables. )

 

It's definitely based on the Gibson SG, but there's no makers mark on the guitar.
A Gibson SG has a fretboard radius of 12 inches..... this has a fretboard radius of 16 inch, which brings it more inline with Ibanez guitars which normally use 15 3/4 inch radius.
Quite awhile back there was a German Company selling similar guitars in kit form.
I'm sure this was build by someone who purchased it as a kit.... although not put together as well as it should have been.

 

I had an original SG Junior. Fun little thing.
I had a Strat once, but didn’t care for the narrow neck. So I ended up with “The Paul” which I haven’t picked up in over a year. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibson_The_Paul
Sometimes I pick up my acoustic.

 

Last project I did was on a Strat.



after....
Complete neck sanding and re-lacquering as the finish felt horrible.
Neck had to be reset and shimmed as the angle was well off.
Scratchplate and all hardware change as none of the pots worked correctly.



plays nice now.

I do have an Epiphone SG 400 custom shop, but favorite has to be the Tele.
My Takamine accoustic hardly ever gets a look in lol



Have often thought about a Les Paul.......
but wife thinks that 5 is plently.... but as she's never played guitar she doesn't understand. lol

 

Envious I am.

 

Thought it was about time I continued with the project....
After sanding the frets level there was quite a flat on them, so time to crown them again



After filing with 400 grit, 600 grit, 1200 grit and then 1500 grit wet and dry... the flats have been reduced



and then 0000 grade wire wool to finish off....



Now to do the same on the other neck!

 

You have a lot of patience, Pete.

 

Took about 4 1/2 hours to complete both necks.
This week I'll get the tuners changed and fit the new bone nuts.
Then comes the easier bits ..... setting it all up again.

 

Wish you lived closer. My Takamine acoustic has one note that buzzes. Can I just take some sand paper to it?

 

Hi Tony,
There are basically 3 main reasons for string buzz.
String action to low
Neck relief incorrectly set.
High fret ( or frets )

As this is an Takamine acoustic, you probably can't do much about a too low string action .... as most Takamines have a fixed bridge.
If it's just an odd buzz .... I'd bank on a high fret somewhere on the neck.
The easiest way to determine if this is the case..... is to use a fret rocker to check the fret heights.
This video will explain the procedure....



Fret rockers are quite cheap .... but you can use anything that will cover 3 frets at a time.
Obviously the 4 different side lengths on the Fret Rocker will cover any combination of frets on the neck.

If it's just an odd fret that's too high, this video will explain how to deal with it.



If the buzz is on the high E or B .... I doubt it's the neck relief.
As the low E and A strings are thicker, they'll vibrate more.... so these will buzz before the high E and B strings.

 

Just a word of warning if you do decide that it's a high fret and you want to tackle it.
Don't use a file as in the video.
The file used is a specialist crowning file..... there's a better and safer way to file the fret down.
Just use a small sanding block with about 400 or 600 grit wet/dry ... it may take slightly longer as it'll remove the excess slower ( meaning there's less chance of taking off too much material.)
Then when you're close..... use about 1000 or 1500 grit to finish off.
There's a nice safer way to crown the frets.... watch this: ( I used a piece of 2 x 1 )

 

Good stuff. It hadn't hit me how important crowning is. What materials are used for frets? In the video, they're soft enough to crown them with sandpaper, but they have to be strong enough to withstand constantly being abused as a guitarist presses metal strings against them.

For that last video, I'd think using that took lengthwise would make the job easier. You would use the entire length of the wood across the fret affording less effort to sand because you'd be sanding the entire fret at the same time - instead of only 1/4" at a time.

My guitar has a problem with one string on one fret only. If I play G# on the 13th fret of the G string, it buzzes. I used a credit card as a fret rocker and found that the 14th fret under the G string is indeed high. How about I just hit it lightly with a fine file and while doing so try to keep the crown?

 

Fret wire is mainly a mix of nickel and copper, with a bit of zinc and cadmium thrown in.
Before you file or sand the fret, I'd run over the top with a felt marker.
Then when you file the top you'll be able to see if you're filing it evenly.
Once the felt marker line is gone, re mark it.
It's important that you keep the fingerboard radius.
Just go easy as the fret wire will file easily.
Might be best to use wet/dry instead.
Even taking a small amount off the top will require the fret to be crowned again.

 

Excellent idea.

 

Obviously this is a lot easier if there's no strings on the guitar.
If you are not ready to change them, there is a little trick that you can use that will save the strings but get them out of the way.
This is easier if you have the Bridge pin system ...... being a Takamine I'd guess that you have.
Slacken the strings right off .... but leave them still attached at the tuners.
Now fit a capo at about the 5th fret.



Keep some tension on the strings between the capo and the tuners .... so that all of the slack is between the capo and the bridge pins.



You can now pull the Bridge pins out quite easily and fold the strings out of the way.
The capo will hold the upper part of the strings in place so that they don't pull out of the tuner holes.
When finished .... pop the strings back in the Bridge holes and replace the pins.
Release the capo and retune the guitar.