Need advice on guitar build

A

Ahpook

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I got this Lite Ash Strat a few days ago. I wanted one forever, and got it really cheap knowing there where issues. The neck is in great shape thankfully. The body? Not so much! I love a fight, though :)

I plan on placing a Floyd Rose, but after hardware and of course finish removal I saw this. Someone took a butter knife to that area for some reason, and I am trying to figure out how to replace that wood and be structurally sound.

Shape a piece of ash and glue, or is there any other product that can fill that in otherwise?

Thank you
 

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How good are you with a router? You could route a clean line and glue a small block in there for stability.


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Oof. Adding wood to then drill out that same wood and anchor an incredibly touchy tremolo system seems like asking for headaches. You'd have to route an amazingly clean line and get a wicked adherence with the new wood section before even thinking about anchoring anything. Like really clamp the beejeezus out of it. You'd want the wood to be hard wood, I think, and then be verrrry precise with any pilot holes so the new wood doesn't split. Even with these precautions, the new wood will never be as structurally sound as the original wood would be. I have a hard time picturing this guitar performing as pictured over the long term and if it were my project I'd strongly consider fitting something to the existing trem holes. If floating the trem is important, what if you set up a standard Fender trem to float? You only get a few steps worth of bend compared to the Floyd's 3-4 steps, but could be a good compromise. So I guess if you want a project and don't mind it potentially failing down the line, go for it! But if you want it to hold up and hold tune and play great for years to come, or possibly sell to someone else, maybe pass on the Floyd Rose. My two cents.
 
alex1fly said:
Oof. Adding wood to then drill out that same wood and anchor an incredibly touchy tremolo system seems like asking for headaches. You'd have to route an amazingly clean line and get a wicked adherence with the new wood section before even thinking about anchoring anything. Like really clamp the beejeezus out of it. You'd want the wood to be hard wood, I think, and then be verrrry precise with any pilot holes so the new wood doesn't split. Even with these precautions, the new wood will never be as structurally sound as the original wood would be. I have a hard time picturing this guitar performing as pictured over the long term and if it were my project I'd strongly consider fitting something to the existing trem holes. If floating the trem is important, what if you set up a standard Fender trem to float? You only get a few steps worth of bend compared to the Floyd's 3-4 steps, but could be a good compromise. So I guess if you want a project and don't mind it potentially failing down the line, go for it! But if you want it to hold up and hold tune and play great for years to come, or possibly sell to someone else, maybe pass on the Floyd Rose. My two cents.
Click to expand...

After cleaning up some more it looks like this thing has had a Floyd in it before. Notice the dowels? They line up perfectly with my Floyd Rose bridge pivot points on the bridge. I checked scale which matches up just about perfect as well.
 

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And I will be gluing dowels in the old Strat bridge mount holes. I found some ash dowels that should do ok. Also, I usually deck my Floyd's to the top of the guitar for dive only.
 
I noticed those dowels. You could give it a shot... might be enough word there.


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The Dali said:
I noticed those dowels. You could give it a shot... might be enough word there.


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Click to expand...

That's where the bridge will be sitting after measuring the scale length and side to side.

Hmm. Not very much real estate there. What do you all think?
 

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I've had to fix these a lot in my career, and it's very tough - even with ash. Best suggestion is rout and replace with a BIG chunk of ash, like 3 inches square and 1 inch deep at least. Then redrill and rout for fitment. Won't be fun at all, but it should work. Pay attention to your grain when you reglue with hide glue or Titebond. Run it the same direction as the rest of the body.

If your body was alder, it would be even tougher. That is a high stress area, and many times even a repair won't mean more trouble down the road. Good luck!
 
Interesting thread. I will have to face up to a similar job that I have put off until I have acces to somewhere appropriate to carry it out.

I have to replace a non-standard spaced trem with a two point gotoh. One of the posts doesn't line up at all, the other is off-centre, so at some stage I'll have to decide between refilling the post holes and routing out a section of wood and filling with a block...
..or maybe a combination.
 
Ahpook said:
That's where the bridge will be sitting after measuring the scale length and side to side.

Hmm. Not very much real estate there. What do you all think?
Click to expand...

Now that i see it i don’t like it, especially with the fact that you would likely seem wood missing ... i think would look for another body option.


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The Dali said:
Now that i see it i don’t like it, especially with the fact that you would likely seem wood missing ... i think would look for another body option.


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Click to expand...

I know, it is kind of rough :( This is the hardest pup I've taken in so far. That's why I asked here!

I did talk to a friend at Woodcraft, and they have some ash scrap they will give me. I'm thinking, as suggested to fit a chunk of new wood in there. The tolerances are freaking me out, though. I'll have to route into the mount area a bit?

Anyway, I'm going to go with it! I have a spare SH-11 to place in the bridge position. The guitar came with VMOD singles which seem decent. I'll put those in the mid and neck placement. I'm fairly sure these Lite Ash Strat's came from the factory with Seymour Duncan single coils?

Anyone tried a Custom Custom (Sh-11) in Ash?

Thank you for EVERY response. I super appreciate it!
 
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Yeah, they came with Alnico II single coils. I think they were the flat ones, but I don't remember. They sounded great in these guitars. One of the best ideas Fender had for their strats in recent years.
 
Finally completed this one :) I ended up routing out all the diseased areas on the top and replacing it with fresh ash. After some black grain filler, a healthy dose of gel stain with a top coat it turned out well.

Getting the Floyd settled was a pain in the rear, but figured it out. The Sh-11 sounds great, and the V-mods are certainly better than the MIM singles I had in that guard previously.

Thanks for the tips, guys :)
 

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That looks like quite the machine! I love projects like this, as they force me to learn new skills, and solve problems I never had before. The best thing a guitar can have is a good story.
 
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