My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

[B2D]

Well things aren't really going as well as I'd hoped with this. The action at the nut is too high and I'm slowly sanding the nut down to get it where I wanna be... one or two more tries and I'll have it. The Allparts neck has the truss rod adjustment nut at the heel which makes adjustments a pain. I didn't wire up the coil split on the push-pull pot correctly... it splits the bridge bucker but kills the neck pickup in the process, even though I got an answer on how to NOT have that happen in the p-up lounge. I think I also didn't ground the guitar right though that could just be noise from a crappy practice amp.

Keeping the thing in tune is a pain as well. I'm also gonna re-do the nut slots tonight and see if that fixes the problem. Also, when the guitar is being played I can get a full half step of bend out of pulling the neck back or pushing on it. I've never been able to do this with a Strat. Is this normal?

On the plus side, it resonates like mad and is LOUD acoustically. Guess there's a lotta kinks I gotta work out before I can actually perform with this thing.

Anyone got any suggestions?

 

[butnut]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

Use NUT SAUCE on yer nut and saddles! Use a 'X' criss-cross pattern when tightening the screws on the plate. Loosen all screws, start in one corner, just 'snug' it to the plate. Go to the opposite corner and do same for the rest. When back to the 1st screw, screw it tight. Continue in the X pattern. Go back to the first screw and give a final 1/4 turn on all screws. Make sure the string edge gap on the low and high E are equally parallel with the side of the neck when you start. Good luck

 

[B2D]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

Use NUT SAUCE on yer nut and saddles! Use a 'X' criss-cross pattern when tightening the screws on the plate. Loosen all screws, start in one corner, just 'snug' it to the plate. Go to the opposite corner and do same for the rest. When back to the 1st screw, screw it tight. Continue in the X pattern. Go back to the first screw and give a final 1/4 turn on all screws. Make sure the string edge gap on the low and high E are equally parallel with the side of the neck when you start. Good luck

The current routine has all of these steps in it. The neck sits really tight in the pocket and doesn't appear to be shifting... the neck wood itself just seems to be flexible.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

Is there tension on the truss rod? Just a thought. It could just be a really flexible piece of wood.

As you know, most tuning problems are due to the nut. However, make sure your bridge doesn't have any friction issues.

 

[beandip]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

If it does seem to be a "flexible" piece of wood, you're pretty much out of luck unless you start adding strength under the fretboard.

 

[beandip]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

oh, and as for the "neck bend" you're doing, I've had a few guitars that can do it as well. Don't know why they do, but they do. Nothing to worry about as long as you have tuning stability.

 

[j9fd3s]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

Well things aren't really going as well as I'd hoped with this. I've never been able to do this with a Strat. Is this normal?

On the plus side, it resonates like mad and is LOUD acoustically. Guess there's a lotta kinks I gotta work out before I can actually perform with this thing.

Anyone got any suggestions?

this is the frustrating part! when it works but you still can't play it.

my #1 strat is flexible too, its maybe 1/4 step from playing it standing up, to putting it on a table.. its got a trem so i dont have to bend it, but i do bend my tele, and can get like 1/2 step by pushing and pulling on it...

that being said the strat stays in tune really well, so its more of a scary oddity than a problem

oh yeah, you might want to check the truss rod too, ive seen new guitars with loose ones

 

[B2D]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

Update on the guitar:

Got the grounding problem fixed, but the pickups aren't working the way they should, even though I got the instructions on how to wire them up right and followed them. The push-pull splits the JB like I wanted to, but also kills the SSL5 in the neck at the same time, and I wired up the SSL5 to not do that but it's doing it anyway. Tried re-connecting it 2 different but equally correct ways... no go.

The guitar stays in tune better now, and intonates/plays in tune. The action is still on the high side, but buzzes here and there when fretted. The neck doesn't have hardly any relief but I can't adjust the truss rod to give it any at this point. It's acoustically loud but doesn't sustain as well as I'd like.

The neck isn't as bendy as before but I can still get a good amount of movement out of it... I talked to a local tech that I trust and he says that maybe the wood wasn't cured properly when the neck was made. Not curing the wood can sometimes result in a flexible neck like that.

I don't know if I wanna spend the money on this to get a fret dress and a new nut cut at this point... seems like for the quality of the body and the neck it'd be more $$ and work than it's worth. The guitar has some good things going for it (The JB8 and the SSL5 sound killer!) but it's flawed overall.

Maybe I should salvage the electronics and the hardware that I can and rebuild it with a quality body and neck from Warmoth or something... I dunno.

 

[trevorus]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

I've had a few Mighty Might parts instruments, and they never had any of these sorts of problems. Man, I hope you can get it sorted out.

 

[B2D]

Re: My strat build has a lot of kinks to be worked out...

I've had a few Mighty Might parts instruments, and they never had any of these sorts of problems. Man, I hope you can get it sorted out.

Ehh.... it's a Squier body and an Allparts neck. I anticipated having to make a few tweaks but this is turning out to be more work than I was anticipating.