1986 Charvette 6 string hardware mods/updates

[Soubi7string]

Not sure if this is the right place to start BUT here goes nothing
SO way back when I had surgery done to my foot and I was rendered immobile for a few weeks my mom went out and bought me this old ass guitar that I just fell in love with before I became immobilized, I was 15 at the time.
WELL after playing it for 4 years the trem snapped and I was heart broken and guitar-less and without a clue on how to fix the damn thing.

What the Charvette looked like before, I've come to the conclusion it's a model 250 but there isn't a model number or anything on it saying it is.

The old JT6 trem:

I broke it on a dive bomb during a nile song I was trying to learn.
The lip pieces snapped and two pins/fine tuners fell out as well as the block on the bottom.

WELL anyways, 7 years later I found the sucker in the corner of the room in an old fender gig bag and decided Imma fix it up.
And so I began the process:
I bought a new floyd rose special in gold
got a seymour duncan hot rail for the neck
a 1 meg pot for the volume
and some strings

oh the shiny things <3

So, I stripped the old girl down and put in the new posts with some ancient chineses secret techniques involving toothpicks and gorilla glue

Dremel'd out a bit to fit in the new neck pick up
AND filled the old screw holes with the ancient germanic chineses secret of toothpicks and gorilla glue

I let the glues and toothpicks do their things and then installed the neck pick up and the trem

and it's starting to come back to life!!!

I plan on putting a DiMarzio D-Activator in the bridge and a Fender baby Texas special in the middle position.For now I'm researching how to fix my problem with the Locking nut not fitting in place of the old locking nut. Will post picks later!!!

 

[muffinbutton]

I think locking nuts for 6 strings come in a few different sizes. measure the old one. buy one of the same size.

 

[Soubi7string]

it isn't the sizing it's how it was setup by the factory.
the factory went ->neck -> nut ->locking nut
when now it's ->neck ->locking nut

here's what the problem is so far:

 

[muffinbutton]

I can't really help with that. Sorry. why not just leave the old nut and replace the locking one?

 

[Soubi7string]

the old one is wore out to the point it doesn't hold and I lost the old nut lol plus I want the gold one on there to match the hardware.

 

[Soubi7string]

Who was it that is on here that is god of the floating trems?
not Explorer but Maxofmetal I think...right?

 

[muffinbutton]

Yeah. Max will sort you out. If he can't you're probably screwed.

 

[Soubi7string]

true that lol

 

[tommychains]

why not make a little wood piece that fills the gap? Just cut a but our of some spare wood, paint the piece to match the headstock, and put the new nut on top? I've done that before, with surprisingly good results.

 

[Soubi7string]

I thought about doing that BUT the thing is materials are scarce and I'm going to see if I can get a Brass piece made to fit so that tone isn't affected as much and so that it can easily be painted gold to match the locking nut, just gotta find someone to make it. Any ideas on that number?
Also, going to find some rubber grommets to fit around the posts to hide the tacky looking wood filler job.

 

[tommychains]

I thought about doing that BUT the thing is materials are scarce and I'm going to see if I can get a Brass piece made to fit so that tone isn't affected as much and so that it can easily be painted gold to match the locking nut, just gotta find someone to make it. Any ideas on that number?
Also, going to find some rubber grommets to fit around the posts to hide the tacky looking wood filler job.

Sounds like a good plan, keep us posted.

 

[Soubi7string]

SO, I'm hunting down a place to find a brass block so I can grind the bastard down and drill holes in it to make a nice wedge for the nut. Any ideas on that note?

 

[Soubi7string]

Things left to do:
-install DiMarzio Crunchlab
-install Straplocks
-order Fender middle texas special
-install texas special
-refinish the black knob to gold
-refinish the black covering on the selector switch
-install rubber grommets over the posts to hide the wood fills
-trem cavity plate
-install Graphtec nut
-install locking nut behind the graphtec nut
-replace jack plate with gold jack plate

 

[Soubi7string]

I figured going with just a graphtec nut in front and then the locking nut behind it would work just as well and stay a bit more true to it's original design.

THOUGH, I am thinking of a Brass Nut.
Any thoughts?

 

[Walterson]

You need a Kahler Style Locking nut..... there are different types available.

this is mounted the wrong way (look at the truss rod cover) but you get the idea....

 

[TRENCHLORD]

I figured going with just a graphtec nut in front and then the locking nut behind it would work just as well and stay a bit more true to it's original design.

THOUGH, I am thinking of a Brass Nut.
Any thoughts?

Do the screw holes line up with the new OFR nut?
What was wrong with the original nut? What part is stripped?

 

[Soubi7string]

Do the screw holes line up with the new OFR nut?
What was wrong with the original nut? What part is stripped?

original nut broke years ago and was a cheap plastic.

And that Kahler looks lopsided and wouldn't the locking nut I have now work just the same?

 

[Devotee]

You don't need a regular nut, two nuts nor a Kahler locking nut. You can just build a small shelf for the Floyd nut to extend the area behind where the original nut was. I've seen it done plenty of times, just take some measurements and some spare offcuts and away you go:

 

[MF_Kitten]

I would try to mount the locking nut behind the regular one myself. You'd also have to get a string retainer bar to push the strings down to the right angle after that locking tuner...

Or, I guess, build up the area behind the nut. Yeah, that makes more sense.

 

[Soubi7string]

You don't need a regular nut, two nuts nor a Kahler locking nut. You can just build a small shelf for the Floyd nut to extend the area behind where the original nut was. I've seen it done plenty of times, just take some measurements and some spare offcuts and away you go:

Well I would do that if I was that crafty but alas, I am not.

SO, a Brass nut then the locking nut with the string holder bar thingy then?