NGD Donner DST550

[ehdwuld]

So I just couldn't pass it by

Beautiful finish
Roasted neck
Spoke wheel truss
HSS
pop in arm
Locking tuners








I think I'm gonna play it a bit before I put a roller nut on it

It arrived super nice
Bridge was a bit high lowered the studs and its perfect

Nice modern c neck
Rolled fretboard edges

I know i mentioned it in the other thread but I figured i would make its own rather than derailing that one

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Very sweet looking axe. How does it sound , the pups and stuff?

Does it really need a roller nut? I always avoid messing with nuts unless there's an issue. They can be tricky to replace.

 

[ehdwuld]

Very sweet looking axe. How does it sound , the pups and stuff?

Does it really need a roller nut? I always avoid messing with nuts unless there's an issue. They can be tricky to replace.

I posted the progress on replacing two nuts with roller nuts in the last two weeks

The first one didn't turn out pretty but functional
The second one my Candy Apple Squire looks much better

The pickups are a bit darker than the single coils in my other two strats

The CA Squire has the ceramic magnets glued on bottom

And the Sunburst has the Alnico polepieces

Both of which are bright single coil sounding

It may be the pots are different on the new Donner making them more dark

When I pull the pickguard I will check and post here

But right now it plays so nice

If I do anything, it will be a roller nut
There is nothing wrong with the nut it has other than I have an obsession.....

You know what I'm talking about....

 

[Mincer]

I am a big fan of roller nuts, too. It is super easy to adjust the height, and it eliminates binding at the nut.

 

[ehdwuld]

Eliminate the string trees

Yeah and binding is a thing of the past

Once the strings stretch in it is almost as stable as a Floyd

 

[ehdwuld]

Well there is a guy on YT that has one just like mine and posted images of the back of the pickguard




Dude taking apart his DST550

Look at that swimming pool route

 

[ehdwuld]

Alright so my LSR knockoff showed up today and it took less than an hour to pull the strings off the fretboard, knock out the nut ( the backside of the Laurel fretboard chipped a bit behind the nut slot
It was glued in pretty good, came out in three pieces)
I dont think it was real bone anyway, I could see the markings where I think it was a Tusq

Anyways, it ain't there no more

Roller in

So I loosened the strings and pulled them round back of the neck. Held them in place with som wide blue tape I used to mask the first fret area.

Made my mark
Started my cut short of the mark
Used a file to ease back into the fretboard to open the slot
Then once it dropped in
Installed my screws, brought the strings round and up to pitch
Check the string height on the first fret
Loosed the screws, not all the way out pulled up , slid in shims from the edge

Sharp little boogers , used a flat screwdriver to tuck them in

Once they were set and I had clearance on the first fret .... I put the screws in place tuned it and made the following video

I do like the roller nut

Oh yeah
I need to take the string trees off

I just watched the video
Dangit

 

[GuitarStv]

Cleans sound pretty good. Sparkly and delicate.

 

[ehdwuld]

The YT guys say the pickups are dark and bad sounding

I kinda like the way they sound

 

[Mincer]

The YT guys say the pickups are dark and bad sounding

I kinda like the way they sound

Me too, they are wrong.

 

[ehdwuld]

The neck is thin
Not as thin as my wizard II
But very comfortable

At the moment
It is my favorite

But that is subject to change

 

[ehdwuld]

It was $ 150 to my door from Ebay

I am debating another one at that price

 

[FuseG4]

That's so good looking and so inexpensive, kinda shocking what you can get these days

 

[ehdwuld]

I know , I didn't need another but they made a ridiculous offer

I couldn't let it go

I would recommend everyone get one
If not two

 

[ehdwuld]

Once the roller nut got in...
It has stayed in tune perfectly

Still has the OEM strings

 

[ehdwuld]

So I was looking at the resistance on the pickups

The singles are both 3.8K and the bridge is 14.K

These have the ceramic magnets

I plan to get a inductance reading later tonight.

But I am thinking the low resistance and strong magnets may be why they are so dark

And there is a weird thing with the screw poles in the humbucker being raised really high with the pickup sunk really low.

I need to do some more comparison with the alnico pole pickups in my other new one. The alnico pole singles have a wind of 6.8k roughly

 

[GuitarDoc]

Beautiful guitar. I personally would replace the pups, but that's just my personal taste.

Best way to remove a nut so you don't get ANY of that chipping is to saw right down the middle then squeeze it together with pliers. Usually it will come right out. Worst case is half will come right out, then you can tap the remaining piece out.

I put a roller nut on one of my guitars a long time ago and actually liked it. No problems with it at all but since I began making compensated nuts, I have no use for them. If a nut is cut properly, you should not have any tuning issues. I've got guitars that have been played heavily and are still in tune, and I've got guitars that have been hanging on the wall for over 5 years and they also are still in perfect tune. It's not easy or quick to make a perfect nut, that's why you don't see them on cheap guitars and even not very often on expensive production guitars.

 

[Mincer]

I do get that some people live in an area that don't have any competent people making nuts. I know that I am not great at it, so I know my limitations. I like roller nuts for that purpose. I also dig zero frets, but those are getting scarce.

 

[ehdwuld]

I do get that some people live in an area that don't have any competent people making nuts. I know that I am not great at it, so I know my limitations. I like roller nuts for that purpose. I also dig zero frets, but those are getting scarce.

I approve this message

I prefer rollers and Zero frets myself

When ordering custom guitars from manufacturers I usually specify zero frets on non trem guitars.
And I have recently started honing my skills on converting my strats over to LSR

 

[ehdwuld]

Beautiful guitar. I personally would replace the pups, but that's just my personal taste.

Best way to remove a nut so you don't get ANY of that chipping is to saw right down the middle then squeeze it together with pliers. Usually it will come right out. Worst case is half will come right out, then you can tap the remaining piece out.

I put a roller nut on one of my guitars a long time ago and actually liked it. No problems with it at all but since I began making compensated nuts, I have no use for them. If a nut is cut properly, you should not have any tuning issues. I've got guitars that have been played heavily and are still in tune, and I've got guitars that have been hanging on the wall for over 5 years and they also are still in perfect tune. It's not easy or quick to make a perfect nut, that's why you don't see them on cheap guitars and even not very often on expensive production guitars.

Would you elaborate on the compensated nut you spoke of

I saw a brass compensated nut on Ebay
And was curious if that is really a thing

It seem to take and move the string break back slightly

But it didn't mention scale length or anything