Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Stratocaster neck screw mod

I picked up this tip here:

http://www.callahamguitars.com/neck_screw_adj.htm

So here goes nothing, I get to take all the strings off and see what I've got under the pickguard while I'm at it.

Taking the neck off is easy as expected.

I've heard about this, apparently they wax the screws at the factory to ease assembly. You can see the excess wax here.


This I think is unusual though, haven't heard of this before. There was a spring inside the neck cavity. At first I thought that a loose spring got accidentally assembled into the guitar, but then I saw the marks on the sticker and inside the pocket






Marked in blue here is the divot from the spring inside the pocket. I guess this was intended to maintain tension on the screws? Weird. Marked in red are holes for CNC machining of the body, marked in green are the neck mounting screws.





I'm pretty pleased with what I got, there isn't a ton of over spray in the pocket. My goal is to have a wood on wood connection between the body and the neck. I'll do just a touch of sanding to smooth it out. I'm not counting on my made in Mexico mass produced guitar to one day have value as a vintage instrument, so the sticker has got to go from the bottom of the neck.


Looks like my guitar bought in 2015 was made in 2012




While I've got the strings off, might as well have a look inside. I'm pleasantly surprised. Routed for three singles, and they did a very nice job to make sure that paint was only where it needed to be. Zero shielding. But I'll take care of that myself.





Well, well, well, what do we have here? Genuine CTS 250K Audio Taper 013446 pots (of course with the famous huge blobs of solder).




Tone capacitor is meh. Reads ICMSR104K 250V S B14. I read that to mean Illinois Capacitor MSR series, 0.1uF. Quick lookup on Illinois Capacitor shows this to be a polyester metal film cap. Well...it's cheap and easy to replace.





Ok. Oak grigsby 5 way switch. That's nice.




What type of pickups? Well there is no bar magnet, so they aren't ceramic. AlNiCo something. What exactly? The world may never know. Unclear markings. Note plastic insulated wire throughout.




So it's a mixed bag. The pots and the switch are nice. The cap and the assembly is cheap. The pickups are AlNiCo, but unknown.

Anyways, I tried using a drill bit to open up the neck mounting screw holes in the body. I didn't really have the perfect sized drill, so I didn't make much progress. I used a trick I read, which was take the screw with an electric drill with a screwdriver attachment and run it through the holes in the body, stripping the threads out. That worked great, because the screw is still a snug fit in the body, but no longer threaded.

Obviously don't do this to the neck. You don't want to strip the screw holes in the neck.

With the stickers removed, mating surfaces sanded smooth of wood finish or paint, I screwed it all back together, replacing the screws with Callaham Guitars Neck Plate Stainless Steel Screws.



Everything went back together very nicely, once strung up, the action was the same, everything lined up as before, intonation didn't change.

Can I hear a difference? Acoustically no. Once plugged in, maybe, but might be the placebo effect. I'll have to take a little time and re-record a couple guitar parts to compare with before the mod. The logic here is sound though. You want to clamp the neck to the body as tightly as possible without, of course, damaging the threads in the neck. You want a wood on wood connection, not a wood on lacquer on sticker through screw in wood connection. The neck plate is there as a clamp. Let the screws slide through the body to use that clamp. Anyway, lets say this is maybe a 3% improvement. If I do 10 such improvements, I'll have a 30% better guitar!

Fender Classic Series '50s Stratocaster

I got back into playing guitar. Last year I bought a Squier Bullet Strat for a ridiculously low amount of money and had fun playing it and modding it. For what it's worth, it was a pretty good guitar, I would say it was excellent straight out of the box with some setup changes. Unfortunately, over time, it seems like the neck warped considerably...anyways, it is a super cheap guitar. I can't complain. Decided to take a step up, and got a Made in Mexico, Classic Series '50s Stratocaster.

I'm going to do a lot of mods to this thing for fun, but I'm going to do it smarter this time, taking pictures all the way, and recording a couple of the same guitar parts every time I make a change, so I can hear and share the difference. For those of you who may wonder what you get if you buy this guitar, here are some pictures.


You'll notice I've still got the plastic on the single ply pickguard. Probably the whole loaded pickguard is going to go, so I'll just leave it.















I got a display model that was already set up at the store. Action set to 1mm on the high E at the 12th fret, set to about 1.25 on the low E at the 12th fret. There is just that slight little twang of fret buzz, consistent across all strings up the whole neck. Very Strat sounding, nothing unpleasant, however, I will raise the action a touch.



Tremolo decked. Will it return to pitch?



Notice the way they wind the string on the tuners at the factory. The high E was wound around the tuning post about 10 times.



As far as I know "P.W" means "Ping" tuners made in Asia. I'll be replacing these sooner or later.



 6mm shaft on the tuners


 And it looks like the bushing fits into a 8.5mm hole


Interesting that this model, purchased in 2015, made in Mexico, has vintage American tremolo mount and string spacing at 2 7/32" (5.64mm). Note the pickup poles are already rusting straight out of the box.


Also find it interesting to see that all the pickup poles in all positions are spaced at 52mm




The only flaw I can find in the whole guitar is that just below the 4th fret on the low E side of the neck, it seems that a little piece of the finish flaked away. I chose to buy a display model from a store, and saved about $100, so I can't blame Fender for this. The neck could have just taken a good hit at the store.




Specification as advertised at Fender

Model Name: Classic Series '50s Stratocaster®, Maple Fingerboard, Surf Green
Model Number: 0131002357
Series: Classic
Color: Surf Green

Body Shape: Stratocaster®
Body Material: Alder
Body Finish: Polyester

Neck Material: Maple
Neck Shape: Soft "V"
Scale Length: 25.5" (648 mm)
Fingerboard Radius: 7.25" (184.1 mm)
Number of Frets: 21
Fret Size: Vintage-Style
String Nut: Synthetic Bone
Nut Width: 1.650" (42 mm)
Neck Plate: 4-Bolt Vintage-Style
Neck Finish: Gloss Urethane
Fingerboard: Maple
Position Inlays: Black Dot

Bridge Pickup: Vintage-Style Single-Coil Strat
Middle Pickup: Vintage-Style Single-Coil Strat
Neck Pickup: Vintage-Style Single-Coil Strat
Controls: Master Volume, Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Tone 2. (Middle Pickup)
Pickup Switching: 5-Position Blade: Position 1. Bridge Pickup, Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup, Position 3. Middle Pickup, Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup, Position 5. Neck Pickup
Pickup Configuration: SSS

Bridge: 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Synchronized Tremolo
Tuning Machines: Vintage-Style
Orientation: Right-Hand
Pickguard: 1-Ply White
Control Knobs: Aged White Plastic

Strings: Fender® USA 250R, NPS, (.010-.046 Gauges)
Unique Features: Aged Knobs and Switch Tip, Vintage Styling, Synthetic Bone Nut
Included Accessories: Deluxe Gig Bag

Here is what I can add from my inspection:
Bridge: 6-Saddle Vintage-Style Synchronized Tremolo with 2 7/32" mount and string spacing
Tuning Machines: Ping brand Asian made Kluson style vintage non-locking tuners with 6mm shaft and 8.5mm bushing

Moving on

Well for now, there is going to be no more Vespa action. It was perhaps too ambitious of a project for where I am. Anyways, sold it, moving on.

Going to talk about some guitar stuff