Quick luthiery/manteinance questions not deserving a thread

[Asdrael]

Yes, the springs compress into a thick stack preventing the saddle to use the full movement of the screw.

 

[Soya]

So I'm wiring in this free-way switch and it has all these lugs for each pickup ground. But the ground leads on the pickups are too short to reach the switch... I think they're cut specifically to length to just about where the vol pot will be. Is there any problem just wiring all 3 to the back of the vol pot as ground?

As long as you also have ground wires to the tone knobs then it's all fine, I generally ground the pickups just to the volume ground anyway.

 

[narad]

As long as you also have ground wires to the tone knobs then it's all fine, I generally ground the pickups just to the volume ground anyway.

Thanks -- yea, that's what I normally do. Just not sure of what situation you'd want to wire all of these things individually onto this cluttered switch.

 

[Alberto7]

The saddles on my RGA321F are all very close to the neck side of the bridge (it's in E standard), so the springs aren't visible. I've never disassembled it and had assumed it was just screws.

Do the springs prevent the saddles from moving all the way back to end of what appears to be the range of movement then?

Yes, the springs compress into a thick stack preventing the saddle to use the full movement of the screw.

This. The way the bridge is built prevents you from seeing the springs. It's the same system as something like a Hipshot, except it's all under the saddles and covered by the bridge structure.

 

[narad]

Recently grabbed this body, which I think is an original van nuys rosewood body, but doesn't have any of the markings -- it was modified for a floyd (recessed) and in the process they black painted the route, and sanded down the neck pocket a bit. So I don't know exactly what to do with it, but figured I'd at least like to clean it up. Looking at it, it's actually kind of hard to tell what's dirt and what's figuring On the front, there is some black that I thought was wood pattern, but moving the pickguard shows that it was just dirt I guess, since it ends at exactly the pickguard line.

So how would you get rid of dirt such as this? I wonder if I should do a light sanding and build up a couple layers of danish oil? The finish on the back is not very pronounced, but it is very beautiful in parts.

 

[c7spheres]

@narad Amish Wood Milk is good. I've used the Gerlitz Smudge Off and Guitar honey on a plain walnut/black limba custom I had once. Even though you shouldn't do that. I put the guitar honey down first and wiped it clean and dry with micro fiber, then did the smudge off and it looked better and felt smooth. This method made the grain pop and give it that waxed feel like on gloss bodys but not quite that slick. Not oil or gross feeling at all.
- Amish wood milk on the other hand is great and doesn't leave that gross oily minwax type feel as well, like mineral spirits and truoil can. It just feels like plain but nourished wood, not oily or sticky or too dry. It just cleans it and nourishes it and feels clean. I liked it best. It lasted for a while even after several micro fiber wipe downs. I only had to put it on like once a year and it was just a few squirts. I didn't sweat all over it though.

 

[Asdrael]

0000 steelwool or synthetic equivalent with low pressure. You shouldn't even need to refinish anything. If you do, the best is obviously to refinish using the original finish (if you can guess what it is) but I am guessing some form of thin varnish was used, or hardwax.

Are you sure it's rosewood though? The color seems a bit off, as does the grain pattern.

 

[narad]

@narad Amish Wood Milk is good. I've used the Gerlitz Smudge Off and Guitar honey on a plain walnut/black limba custom I had once. Even though you shouldn't do that. I put the guitar honey down first and wiped it clean and dry with micro fiber, then did the smudge off and it looked better and felt smooth. This method made the grain pop and give it that waxed feel like on gloss bodys but not quite that slick. Not oil or gross feeling at all.
- Amish wood milk on the other hand is great and doesn't leave that gross oily minwax type feel as well, like mineral spirits and truoil can. It just feels like plain but nourished wood, not oily or sticky or too dry. It just cleans it and nourishes it and feels clean. I liked it best. It lasted for a while even after several micro fiber wipe downs. I only had to put it on like once a year and it was just a few squirts. I didn't sweat all over it though.

Thanks but it seems Amish wood milk is like $100 here lol Man, it is super annoying that 90% of the recommended products don't seem to exist in Japan, or not in an easy Amazon-able way at least.

0000 steelwool or synthetic equivalent with low pressure. You shouldn't even need to refinish anything. If you do, the best is obviously to refinish using the original finish (if you can guess what it is) but I am guessing some form of thin varnish was used, or hardwax.

Are you sure it's rosewood though? The color seems a bit off, as does the grain pattern.

Not totally sure. Old Schecter stuff came in a variety of woods that I have no experience at all with. Some of the figuring on the back is very walnut-ish, but the color doesn't seem so right for that. It has a very fragrant smell.

 

[Asdrael]

In my experience, roasted woods give a much stronger smell but they were not in fashion until recently. What it could likely be is a lighter wood finished with a stained something, as the neck pocket would also suggest.

 

[narad]

In my experience, roasted woods give a much stronger smell but they were not in fashion until recently. What it could likely be is a lighter wood finished with a stained something, as the neck pocket would also suggest.

Nah, it might not be rosewood but it's not a (significantly) lighter wood. I have a Van Nuys era walnut body and it has the same sort of effect on one corner where it's worn through and dry. But yea, it shouldn't be roasted. It's likely a legit Schecter body from the 80s, but some doubt as to whether Van Nuys or MIJ, and what wood.

 

[youngthrasher9]

What is a good way to put a rolled edge on an existing guitar? I’ve seen the screwdriver method and that seems pretty yucky to me, from the standpoint of someone who has done some woodworking. My first instinct would be to tape the face of the fretboard off, and tape up to the edge of the fretboard on the neck and use some sort of sanding technique or jig then refile the fret ends.

How far off am I?

 

[MaxOfMetal]

What is a good way to put a rolled edge on an existing guitar? I’ve seen the screwdriver method and that seems pretty yucky to me, from the standpoint of someone who has done some woodworking. My first instinct would be to tape the face of the fretboard off, and tape up to the edge of the fretboard on the neck and use some sort of sanding technique or jig then refile the fret ends.

How far off am I?

I've always done it on a spindle sander for about the 15th fret down, and then a round file in a drill/dremel for the narrower higher frets.

I don't tape off anything really.

 

[Asdrael]

You can also run rolled sandpaper / micro mesh starting at like 320 on the side of the fretboard, increasing to taste (800 or so). This should be done without fretboard tape but then you'd need to repolish fret ends.

 

[Soya]

If you're talking about rolling the fretboard edge, I've generally done it scraping with a razor blade then blending with steel wool or micro mesh. More tedious but it gives me a bigger window to mess up, and I don't have to do any fretwork.

 

[High Plains Drifter]

You guys doing this... are you rolling the edge right up to the base of each fret? Or is there more of a concave edge with more pronounced roll at the middle of the frets? I'm guessing that you don't want to roll the edge all the way to the fret because it would/ possibly expose the sharp underside and end of the fret-wire? Just curious.

 

[Asdrael]

I am personally digging into the fretboard just a tad when I bevel to 25°, do fret dress then let the fret and fretboard sanding process as explained above take care of the rest. The fret to fretboard connection is usually not an issue this way.

 

[NoodleFace]

So I done fucked up a little. My Les Paul (maple neck, lacquered I guess), I was changing the nut and the only way to get it out was to hacksaw it in half and push it out. So the inevitable happened but not from the blade. Part of the handle scratched off the lacquer on the first fret (pic below)).

My immediate thought is can I use one of those stewmac lacquer pens to fix this or do I need a different solution? The scratch is about 1mm wide and about 1/4 inch long.

Sorry for the gore.

 

[Soya]

If it's just the lacquer and not the wood, you can top it off with some CA glue then sand flat and polish to match the lacquer.

 

[NoodleFace]

If it's just the lacquer and not the wood, you can top it off with some CA glue then sand flat and polish to match the lacquer.

Thanks - a bit worried about this repair and the lacquer pen really did not help. Is CA glue safe for the lacquer on the fretboard? I was worried about it melting it.

Also which polish do you guys recommend for something like this?

 

[wheresthefbomb]

I guess I'm a troglodyte but I used a screwdriver to roll the edges on a few fretboards in the house and was totally happy with the results.