Two new projects in the works.

[tigereyelaser]

I have two new projects I'm working on, one is a Peavey Raptor I I'm going to rebuild and refinish. You can see the first refin attempt as a jewel green hue in the cavities. I plan on painting it as a hornet theme and calling it "Buzz". The other one is a GFS partscaster with a yellow body and maple neck with black hardware. The neck has not arrived yet so I'm hunting down someone who can tell me why it hasn't shipped yet. My only problem is finding someone who can guide me through the drilling of the bridge holes process in the GFS guit. So far no luck.

[AJ6stringsting]

I had to putty in the holes of the posts holes from my Floyd Rose on my 1986 American Series Kramer, because the low E string was too close to the edge of the fret board.

Good luck on your project !!!!

[WRGKMC]

There's two main items for setting the bridge up. One is to set it to scale length, and the second is to make sure it has free movement within the cavity.

 

You really need to have the neck mounted first for both. The parts are standard fender stuff so you should be OK even if you didn't wait, but to avoid issues I would wait.

 

Once you have the neck on you should use a yard stick to measure the scale length. This is the distance from the nut to the center of the 12th fret doubled. If the distance to the 12th fret is for example 12.75" then the scale length would be 25.5"

 

Next you would measure from the nut to the High E saddle contact point for the string. This should be between the two height adjustment Allen screws. You then want to figure the bridge position by this measurement. You want the intonation screw adjusted towards the neck with enough thread in the saddle so it grips the saddle securely.

 

This is the key item. The High E saddle may match the scale length, but it wont be set shorter. All the other saddles will be longer then scale length by a couple of millimeters or more so by using the High E saddle as a limit you can figure out where the bridge needs to be placed in the hole between the neck and tail length wise.

 

If you were to guess placing it too close to the neck, you may not have enough space adjusting the saddles towards the tail setting up intonation.

If you mount the bridge too far towards the tail, then you may wind up overextending the saddles towards the neck and run out of screw thread, or be too close to the base plate edge. A little common sense here goes a long ways. If the necks a match fro the body the bridge should wind up mounting about 2~3mm from the edge of the pickguard.

 

Once you have the saddle scale length measured, make sure the bridge will move freely in that position when you use the whammy.

 

The second item after you get the length targeted is to get the side to side position right. You can use a straight edge down the side of the neck and/or center the straight edge along the center of the dots of the neck and figure out the center position for the bridge.

 

Keep in mind, Bolt on necks usually have some slack side to side in the pocket so you can tilt the neck "and" move the bridge side to side to get a good alignment. I do suggest the pickups are installed so you can also align the pickup poles to the strings. Some of this will depend on weather you have the pickguard screwed in place or not. If you haven't screwed the pickguard in place, then leave it loose. The edge around the neck pocket usually fits fairly tight so you probably wont have much to play with on that end besides the neck tilt to get that pickup aligned with the strings. The bridge end should have a little play so you can tweak that in a millimeter or two either way once you have the strings on.

 

The whole process here is checking and double checking until you're positive you have the bridge properly set before you drill the holes. Even then I suggest you measure from the edge of the bridge plate to the last fret on the neck and bake sure both sides are exactly the same. Don't rely on pickup holes or the pickguard edge for this because they may be miss-cut or improperly mounted. If you use the edge of the bridge with the necks fret it will be square with the neck which is the most important.

 

You can use masking below the bridge and then you can write on the tape to get it aligned front to rear, then side by side. Once its dead on, you can then draw pilot hole marks on the as well.

 

For drilling, you want to measure the screw length along side the drill bit. Figure in the thickness of the bridge plate, then use masking tape around the drill bit to mark the maximum depth you want to drill. Also be sure to choose the right bit size. You want it slightly smaller then the threads so the threads grip well. Don't go too small or you'll wind up buggering the screw heads up screwing them in. Most bridge screws are cheap steel so use a well matched Philips screw driver head.

 

After the holes are drilled you can remove the masking tape, and screw the screws down so they just touch the plate and leave it lying flat.

You may want to use some paraffin or beeswax under the bridge for lubrication. If can even use a candle and drip a few drops of wax on the bottom of the bridge itself. This should insure free movement for a long time.

 

After all screws are in, be sure the bridge moves freely without the springs on. If it rubs on something, don't re-drill the holes, remove the obstruction instead.

 

That's about it. The rest is just eyeballing it out for the best fit. You may also need to adjust the tilt of the neck so the saddles are the proper height. If the tilt is too low the saddles will be too low and tend to move side to side when you play. Too high and the height screws wind up being over extended and you may wind up breaking strings often. The ideal height may leave the height screws about 1~2mm above the saddles depending on the type of bridge used.

 

That's about it besides screwing in the claw. I'd Google up a bunch of photos and get an average idea of how a properly mounted bridge looks. You'll see how the High E saddle is the longest, and if you float the bridge, it will wind up being shorter to compensate.

[AJ6stringsting]

Bad thing about GFS, they never post on their site, the type of neck that would fit into the bodies they sell. You don't want to put in a 24 fret neck on a body routed out for a 22 fret neck.

[bofafiller]

There was once a snail who was sick and tired of his reputation for being so slow. He decided to get some fast wheels to make up the difference. After shopping around a while, he decided that the Datson 240-Z was the car to get.