Polishing a turd

[dcindc]

After I put the nail polish on the pot, I waited about 10 minutes for it to dry. You don't want to move the wiper and drag wet nail polish all over the pot's trace.

Then I tested it to make sure that I was successful.

I put the ohmmeter set on the 1 meg scale across the outer two terminals. I read about 460Kohms. Ok it's a 500K pot. Then I put one lead on the outer terminal that the wiper sits on when the pot is all the way up, and the other lead on the wiper's center terminal. I turned the pot all the way down. The reading was 500K, the whole value of the pot. Then I turned it towards up. The reading decreases as I decrease the distance between the wiper and the top terminal. Then right at the end, the reading goes to infinity or an open connection.

The way this will work is with the pup selector in either the neck or bridge position and the tone pot all the way up, only the pup selected will be heard. Then as I turn the pot down, the other pup will be blended in progressively more and more. Where the blend falls on the knob is set by which wires go where. I could have made 0 on the knob be minimal blend instead of max blend by moving the outer wire to the other outer terminal of the pot.

Many things to see in this pic of the modified switch wiring, tone cap, and blender pot.



First off, I moved the wire that used to run from the near tone pot to the end terminal of the switch. Now it goes to the two center terminals of the switch. That's the output to the vol control. This makes the middle tone knob act on all settings of the switch, as a master tone.

Next, I had to remove the tone cap, cause it was used for both tone pots. Then I re-installed it from the end of the tone pot to the case of the pot (ground).

Then I ran a wire from the wiper of the blender pot to the end terminal on the switch. Then I ran another wire from the end of the blender pot to the switch terminal of the neck pup. That's the green and white wries coming from the far pot. The terminal between them on the switch is not connected to anything.

I needed an additional piece of wire for the second connection. I cut it off of the pickup wiring. In an earlier pic you can see that the pups wires are bundled together with a tie-wrap. I cut it and trimmed the wires to fit with about 2 inches extra instead of six inches of excess wire.

I also braided the pup leads to minimize hum. This is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce hum. The lengths of the wire and their dressing ensure that they will fall in the pup routes and not get hung up between the body and the pickguard when it is reinstalled.



I also put some more solder on the volume pot. I like to have separate soldered areas where the pup grounds, the trem ground, and the jack ground connect to the pot. It makes disassembly easier.

[dcindc]

Answers to posts:

I shouldn't have to shim the neck due to the work I've done. I'm removing very little material. The bridge has plenty of adjustment range left to accomodate what I've done. If it needs a shim due to falling away from the strings at the upper frets, I'll use a pick under the neck. During setup, if I think it needs it, I just slack the strings and neck screws and drop one in there. I use thin picks for this.

I ordered a blem Shoreline Gold VM Thinline today. Never even noticed a VM Strat.

The stock tone cap is a .033 which is a bit large for my tastes, but there are 500k pots so maybe that's why they selected it. I'd rather have an overly brilliant sound and be able to turn it down, than wish for what isn't there. Guess I'll change it. Thanks for reminding me about a treble bleed cap, but I don't have any. I like them but can live without em.

[dcindc]

I made a mistake. I assumed the pup signals flow thru the switch regardless of position. Not so. So I moved the blender pot wires over to the pup lines on the other end of the switch. Compare this pic to the one above.

[Large]

This is a great thread.

[SmoothJK]

Whoa, you lost me there haha. But I'll try to keep up...

[allthumz]

Whoa, you lost me there haha. But I'll try to keep up...

This is going to take a couple of reads for me to take it all in. I might just grab a guitar and do what dcindc is doing. I learn better by doing!

[Doctor Morbius]

Here's how to make a no load pot. This is the stock far tone pot. The arrows point to the little tabs that you need to bend out to remove the back of the pot. I use a right angle dental pick. Here's the pot with the back off, and you can see the back with it's little tabs bent out enough to clear the front of the pot. The insides are kinda gummy with lube/grease. I used a Q-tip to try and get it off of the trace area so I can put nail polish on it. I bent one of the fingers with the Q-tip. Then I took my soldering iron and melted the round black part to give better access. Shoulda just done that in the first place. There's three fingers that are all the same piece of metal so it doesn't matter. The yellow area is where I put the nail polish. The objective is to insulate the last bit of the potentiometer's trace, where the fingers would land when the knob is turned full up. What this does is take the wiper of the pot out of circuit at max rotation. I use the cheapest nail polish I can find. I found a clear topcoat at the dollar store. That's the right price This pot which will be in the far tone position will be a blender pot connected between the neck and bridge pups. When turned all the way up, there will be no connection between them. When turned down from max, it will connect them together varying with the knob. This will allow Bridge and Neck for a Tele-ish sound, which isn't normally possible on a Strat.

Here's where the new stuff begins for me. Now I'm on the edge of my seat.

 

Here's a wiring diagram for a blender pot. I don't know if it's the one you're using or not.

http://www.acmeguitarworks.com/pdf/WiringDiagram_Strat_Blender.pdf

 

Also, I don't use those types of switches so I'm not following the wiring there. I prefer CLR or Oak Grigsby type switches. I've also been using 0.022 caps and 250k pots, except for 1 Strat where I used a 0.045 cap. I can't really tell much difference.

[dcindc]

That drawing will function the same as mine. Even though my physical connections are different, it is electrically the same.

I forgot to mention that the blender pot allows for all 3 pups on at the same time. That's another combination not normally available on a strat.

[Doctor Morbius]

That drawing will function the same as mine. Even though my physical connections are different, it is electrically the same.

Cool. I think that's what I'm going to try on the Agile when I get in the mood to finish it up.

[PEBurton]

First let me say, thank you for taking the time to do this thread.

After reading this thread you inspired me to go into my garage where I have kept my very first guitar I bought almost 29 years ago. I saved up for 8 months working as a paperboy to buy this guitar back when I was 13 years old. I was a proud owner of a 1979 Memphis - Strat copy.

I was shocked when I opened it up to find that it was a plywood body and the electronics were, well you have to see for yourself. Should I just scrap this turd or do you think there is hope.

I currently have in my stock a Guild D55, Nashville Dread, I have been more along the acoustic electric line of guitars over the last 20 years but would like to have a good playing and sounding electric. The bonus would be to have my very first guitar sounding and playing like a champ.

Thanks for your input.
PEBurton

[dcindc]

No. Never give up on a guitar.

I have plywood guitars that rock. So that's not a killer for me.

The pups look corroded. If you want to replace them, GFS clearance pups are like 17$ a set. The stockers can probably be fixed up, though.

[dcindc]

And just to answer an often asked question, yes Mighty Mite necks fit on Squiers. That's a MM Ebony compound radius neck sitting very nicely in the pocket.




No, it ain't stayin. But damn it looks good, doesn't it?

[StratoSlacker]

sweet sweet ebony

[PEBurton]

No. Never give up on a guitar. I have plywood guitars that rock. So that's not a killer for me. The pups look corroded. If you want to replace them, GFS clearance pups are like 17$ a set. The stockers can probably be fixed up, though.

 

 

A couple of questions.

Where would I get GFS clearance at that price and do you have a link to the site?

On this guitar would you stay with the maple neck?

The Switch is only a 3 way and it seems to me that I would want a minimum of a 5 way switch.

 

Thanks for you input.

PEBurton

[mrbrown49]

A couple of questions. What is GFS and do you have a link to the site? On this guitar would you stay with the maple neck? The Switch is only a 3 way and it seems to me that I would want a minimum of a 5 way switch. Thanks for you input. PEBurton

 

 

http://store.guitarfetish.com/

 

They sell a lot of great pups and hardware for cheap. Great for improving low to midrange guitars.

 

I would keep the neck maple but thats me.

 

5 way switch is an easy mod and will offer some versatility.

[PEBurton]

How do you think Tonerider ALnico3 and Eden Alnico 5 pups comparison to the GFS?

[Doctor Morbius]

How do you think Tonerider ALnico3 and Eden Alnico 5 pups comparison to the GFS?

There are several GFS Strat pups that are value priced. You'll have to narrow down the GFS selection.

 

 

EDIT: You may want to start a new thread on this topic so DCinDC can finish up his thread.

[dcindc]

[PEBurton]

I am leaning towards getting Alnico pickups which should give me a warmer vintage sound from my understanding. I will spend a little more on them but the guitar should sound much nicer, I hope. The GFS 17.00 clearance are ceramic pups.

Thanks.

Edit: I will hold the questions down.

[Alecto]

Subscribed.

BTW, are you planning on swapping out the pickups in this guitar, DC? I have a Marina MiJ Strat copy (apparently made by Tokai) that I'm turning into a baritone and I'm looking at this thread for ideas.

Thanks in advance.

[brandass]

And I'm thinking about dropping in a third testacle - three's gotta be better than two, right DC? Any thoughts on wiring in a five-way switch?

[dcindc]

[lukeswall]

hey man, how can I tell if my frets need leveling?

I'm a noobie!

[TheMrDoug]

DC: Any chance of getting a shot of the back of the neck pocket when you are all back together, so we can see the result of sanding it down? Wondering how tight to the body it should look.

 

Thanks!

[dcindc]

Well my soldering iron clearly doesn't have enough heating capacity to make the steam necessary to pop the dents out. After about an hour of trying, I threw in the towel. I would need one of those big electric plumbing soldering irons. Which I don't have, and am not gonna buy. So the two dents stay. I don't care about them any more.

I put a coat of tru-oil on the neck, after a thorough cleaning. Oops too far forward. Rewind.

Ya ever gotten a neck with grunge and shmutz all caked up next to the frets? Sure ya have. I use 409 to clean it. If it needs more cleaning, I use acetone. I always have a gallon of acetone around, and it isn't gonna hurt a cheap guitar's poly finish.

I only put one coat of Tru-oil on the neck. I also put it on the fingerboard. This neck reminds me of a MIJ laquered neck so I figured hey why not?

I like it for a couple of reasons. It makes the fingerboard grain really pop and lends a nice color.

The neck had one of those "barely there" finishes so I'm liking it much better now that it has the tru-oil on it. It had aged into kindof a grey color. This put some amber into it and I think it looks good.

I had filed the heel of the neck flat. I had smoothed the bottom of the pocket with the file. All that schmutz in the pocket was either sawdust or polishing compound. There was bunch in the pup cavity too. I cleaned it all out. Not that it would hurt anything other than possibly getting into the switch and pots, but if something can be made nicer by cleaning it, I do.

Here's how I reinstall a neck.
I put it in the pocket, guitar face down. I put the plate on, and put in the upper left screw. Meanwhile I am holding the neck in the pocket with my left hand. I tighten the screw snug. Then I break flat toothpicks so that when dropped in the hole they don't extend above the countersink for the screw head.

Edit: I put soap on the screws so that they will go in easier and bite better. The softsoap works better but I'm trying to use up slivers of used soap.




Then I tighten the remaining screws down. I only use the screwdriver shown above. If the screw does not get tight and stop turning, then I remove it and add another toothpick. When it's right, you can't tighten the screw any more. It just stops. Then I go back and re-do the first screw the same way. I was only using it to hold the neck in place.

This makes a difference, I swear.

So I put the guitar all back together. I had previously reassembled the body.

I had also replaced the nut with a graphite one that I got from GFS for cheap when they had the Body and neck buyout. The string spacing was a little wider than what was originally on here. Eyeballing showed that it would actually be an improvement. It was pretty cramped before. I had to clean the bottom of the nut slot with my square needle file to remove glue residue. I had to lop the ends of the new nut off. I used the fret file because I could use the 90 degree side to ensure that the nut was filed square on the bottom. I used a sponge abrasive pad to round the corners of the nut.

I whacked it in and it's so tight that no glue is needed. but I also need to shorten it more still. I'll get back to that.

I strung it up with a new set of D'Add 9s.