Final Hardware Assembly
Final assembly involved many
straggling tasks not yet done or committed to, in addition to the obvious
stringing the neck up and plugging it in to watch the sparks fly (hopefully not
literally, although there is always the possibility I guess…..!). This project had been two months in the making at this point, and I was really eager to actually play it. I decided not to wait for weeks on the headstock paint as I had done for the body. After the headstock was sanded and polished, it was game-on for the final build.
What I really needed to do at this point was set the neck. I had marked and drilled holes in the heel of the neck according to the corresponding four holes in the neck pocket. These were lined up with the neck plate, and depth assessed per the screws provided. I wanted a snug clamping force and erred on the side of smaller holes, but had to widen them slightly and drill a little deeper in order to get the screws in and countersunk all the way. A quick check with the straightedge demonstrated that things were perfectly in line. Huge weight lifted.
Next the tuning pegs had to go on, along with the string tree (I used the B and E strings as guides to center the tree opposite the A string tuning peg). Function over aesthetics, but it looks alright. The strap holders had to go on as well - anything that requires drilling into a brand new finish is hard to bring oneself to do. But they had to go on and I figured a mm here and there would not be a huge problem. Still, I marked and measured several times before drilling holes and screwing these in. They look pretty good, actually; and it is something that 'belongs' on a guitar, so that was that.
Another final assembly element that had me going slowly and carefully was the pick guard. The two points I was most concerned with included the centering of the neck pickup and the cut-out section around the control cavity. As with many choices and actions on this guitar build, I knew that I would eventually have to commit to cutting or drilling something new somewhere and that this would be a point of no return, possibly ruining hard work on the finish or some other aspect of the project. There are seven mounting holes in the pick guard, for example, and this meant that its position had to be perfect before I drilled those seven holes and locked it in forever. Compounding this issue is that the neck pickup is screwed directly to the pickguard, thus its location is affected by the location of the pickguard. I focused on this and the shape of the cutout for the control cavity. Getting these lined up in order to mark and grind down with a Dremel tool took a lot of time. Mostly eyeballing it, I got to a point where I felt comfortable in committing to and marking the seven pick guard screw holes. No matter how much care I took in this, I still ended up with one hole not in the center. No idea how (although I was making screw marks while hand-holding the guard...). Oh well, still got it snugged down flush (and after countersinking each hole in the pickguard so the screw heads fit more flush). Again, not a huge issue as the screws used are very small and the plastic pick guard is a little flexible. I also counter-sunk the holes in the pick guard so that the heads of the screws fit more flush to the surface, which helped.
So, pick guard in place, neck on, the rest of the hardware in place, it was time to string it up!
But - the final big step involved setup, so this collection of pieces actually fulfills its destiny to become a musical instrument. Check out the next blog entry...
What I really needed to do at this point was set the neck. I had marked and drilled holes in the heel of the neck according to the corresponding four holes in the neck pocket. These were lined up with the neck plate, and depth assessed per the screws provided. I wanted a snug clamping force and erred on the side of smaller holes, but had to widen them slightly and drill a little deeper in order to get the screws in and countersunk all the way. A quick check with the straightedge demonstrated that things were perfectly in line. Huge weight lifted.
Next the tuning pegs had to go on, along with the string tree (I used the B and E strings as guides to center the tree opposite the A string tuning peg). Function over aesthetics, but it looks alright. The strap holders had to go on as well - anything that requires drilling into a brand new finish is hard to bring oneself to do. But they had to go on and I figured a mm here and there would not be a huge problem. Still, I marked and measured several times before drilling holes and screwing these in. They look pretty good, actually; and it is something that 'belongs' on a guitar, so that was that.
Another final assembly element that had me going slowly and carefully was the pick guard. The two points I was most concerned with included the centering of the neck pickup and the cut-out section around the control cavity. As with many choices and actions on this guitar build, I knew that I would eventually have to commit to cutting or drilling something new somewhere and that this would be a point of no return, possibly ruining hard work on the finish or some other aspect of the project. There are seven mounting holes in the pick guard, for example, and this meant that its position had to be perfect before I drilled those seven holes and locked it in forever. Compounding this issue is that the neck pickup is screwed directly to the pickguard, thus its location is affected by the location of the pickguard. I focused on this and the shape of the cutout for the control cavity. Getting these lined up in order to mark and grind down with a Dremel tool took a lot of time. Mostly eyeballing it, I got to a point where I felt comfortable in committing to and marking the seven pick guard screw holes. No matter how much care I took in this, I still ended up with one hole not in the center. No idea how (although I was making screw marks while hand-holding the guard...). Oh well, still got it snugged down flush (and after countersinking each hole in the pickguard so the screw heads fit more flush). Again, not a huge issue as the screws used are very small and the plastic pick guard is a little flexible. I also counter-sunk the holes in the pick guard so that the heads of the screws fit more flush to the surface, which helped.
But - the final big step involved setup, so this collection of pieces actually fulfills its destiny to become a musical instrument. Check out the next blog entry...
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