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Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

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  • #16
    Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

    NOOOOOOOOO. Too easy for a power tool to run amuck. Use a tapered hand reamer---takes a little longer but it always works. What's the hurry?

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

      Originally posted by beaubrummels View Post
      If im doing a wiring scheme I’ve never tried before, I’ll wire the whole thing with alligator wires to make sure it works and does what I think it will do. I spend the time tinning all the contact points and wires before soldering. Makes it go faster and more reliable when I actually solder.
      How? What kind of alligator wires you're using to make them fit inside cavity?

      Sounds great idea.
      "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
      Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

      Comment


      • #18
        Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

        Originally posted by Jacew View Post
        How? What kind of alligator wires you're using to make them fit inside cavity?

        Sounds great idea.
        I don’t put it all in the cavity. I just wire it up outside and connect the pickup leads to it outside the body. Basically the pickups are the only thing in the body during testing, and I have the entire wiring on a sheet of plastic, cardboard or wood drilled to the same hole pattern as the guitar (that helps me cut the wires to the right length when it come time to solder) - kind of treating the volume/tone stack and switches like an outboard pedal. When it does what I want without problems, I’ll correct whatever drawing I was basing it on and proceed to soldering. Packing the soldered version in the cavity is one of the last steps.

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        • #19
          Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

          The folding sanding paper trick for quick nut slot tune-ups is priceless. Search it on The Vault if you don't know what I'm talking about.
          Also, some pencil graphite in every contact point for the string doesn't hurt.

          Also, always troubleshoot, test and identify before you start ripping cables away. We had a customer deliver us a guitar with a broken jack input, and we were about to open the guitar up when I tested it and it turned out that the jack was OK.
          The guitar had a faulty ground solder and that's what made it noisy. We'd trusted the customer's analysis and forgot to do our own. It happens.
          Epiphone LP Standard PlusTop Pro
          Ibanez SZ320 / A8 DD103 bridge.
          Ibanez RG270 / Screamin' Demon bridge.

          Egnater Tweaker 15 Head / Laney Cub 8 / 2x12 - Celestion V30+K100
          Line 6 M13 and plenty of stompboxes I rarely use!

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          • #20
            Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

            Originally posted by 80's_Metal View Post
            These are all great ideas boys!

            Now if we could figure out a good way to start screws into the pickups.... Like a tiny spring compressor or something.

            Gosh maybe GuitarDocs hemostat idea!
            What I use

            -Chris

            Originally posted by John Suhr
            “Practice cures most tone issues”

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            • #21
              Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

              This is such a great thread.

              Step bits for enlarging holes.
              Last edited by Xeromus; 11-09-2019, 09:19 PM.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                Originally posted by Ayrton View Post
                What I use

                Maybe I don’t get it, but the hemostat idea never worked for me. When I try to turn the screw into the pickup baseplate, the clip twists with it and hits something and flys off, leaving the spring to fly off also and drive the screw back out of the baseplate. My best effort has always been to hold the spring with two fingers while a third guides the screw into the initial turns of the baseplate for one or two twists, using my thumb to cover the coils so my screwdriver doesn’t stray into the coils. (The last point is mainly for SD pickups where they only supply flat head screws. (Why oh why? Some traditions should die.))

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                • #23
                  Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                  Hemostats or alligator clips? The alli clips allow the screw to spin, were the hemostats do not.
                  -Chris

                  Originally posted by John Suhr
                  “Practice cures most tone issues”

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                    Originally posted by beaubrummels View Post
                    I don’t put it all in the cavity. I just wire it up outside and connect the pickup leads to it outside the body. Basically the pickups are the only thing in the body during testing, and I have the entire wiring on a sheet of plastic, cardboard or wood drilled to the same hole pattern as the guitar (that helps me cut the wires to the right length when it come time to solder) - kind of treating the volume/tone stack and switches like an outboard pedal. When it does what I want without problems, I’ll correct whatever drawing I was basing it on and proceed to soldering. Packing the soldered version in the cavity is one of the last steps.
                    Being a strat guy I didn't thought of that... Usually just put it all together on table and slap the pickguard on guitar... Then open it half dozen times tweaking the wiring...
                    "So understand/Don't waste your time always searching for those wasted years/Face up, make your stand/And realize you're living in the golden years"
                    Iron Maiden - Wasted Years

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                      Originally posted by Ayrton View Post
                      Hemostats or alligator clips? The alli clips allow the screw to spin, were the hemostats do not.
                      When used for the purpose for which you are implying, the clips work better that hemostats. When you just want to grip and hold wires in place the hemostats work way better. Every job has its most appropriate tool.
                      Originally Posted by IanBallard
                      Rule of thumb... the more pot you have, the better your tone.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                        Originally posted by 80's_Metal View Post
                        Add tips and tricks that you use to make guitar/pickup work easier.


                        I use needle-nose pliers when to pull and guide the wires when I'm soldering pickups, so I don't burn my fingers.

                        Also this:
                        [ATTACH=CONFIG]101919[/ATTACH]

                        When I solder pots I use this cheap clamp.
                        [ATTACH=CONFIG]101924[/ATTACH]
                        I like to start from scratch and when I do that I always mount everything on cardboard, use sandpaper to scuff up connection areas, and sure - use a really long thin needle nose.
                        I like to then hook this up to my test harness and find out what I did wrong. I hate getting it in the guitar to realize that phase isn't right. I freq combine differing brands so if you don't do that - probably not a problem.
                        If I'm doing something complicated I always draw it out and get it organized before I start.
                        it's one thing to wire up a simple strat w/o messy wires... it's another thing when it's a super switch plus several push pulls and a preamp.
                        always heat the part and push the solder into it... never put solder on the iron and then touch the part.
                        now you know what I know.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                          Originally posted by Diego View Post
                          The folding sanding paper trick for quick nut slot tune-ups is priceless. Search it on The Vault if you don't know what I'm talking about.
                          Also, some pencil graphite in every contact point for the string doesn't hurt.

                          Also, always troubleshoot, test and identify before you start ripping cables away. We had a customer deliver us a guitar with a broken jack input, and we were about to open the guitar up when I tested it and it turned out that the jack was OK.
                          The guitar had a faulty ground solder and that's what made it noisy. We'd trusted the customer's analysis and forgot to do our own. It happens.
                          I get that. When my patients self-diagnose, they are almost always wrong.
                          Originally Posted by IanBallard
                          Rule of thumb... the more pot you have, the better your tone.

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                            Originally posted by 80's_Metal View Post
                            When I solder pots I use this cheap clamp.
                            [ATTACH=CONFIG]101924[/ATTACH]
                            That is a great idea. It also works great for holding a pickup cover in place and tight to the pup while soldering it on.
                            Originally Posted by IanBallard
                            Rule of thumb... the more pot you have, the better your tone.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                              Now if we could figure out a good way to start screws into the pickups.... Like a tiny spring compressor or something.
                              Have you never heard of StewMac? They call them "Humbucker Helpers"....
                              aka Chris Pile, formerly of Six String Fever

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: Working on guitar (Hacks) What do you do to make life easier?

                                I bought a couple aluminium guitars from Electrical Guitar Company which basically require no maintenance besides occasionally changing the strings.
                                green globe burned black by sunn

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