New Hardtail Strat Build

C

CrackedPepper

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You may have seen my Swamp Ash Hardtail Strat in the Just Out of The Box Section.  Before I start posting pics, I just want to document a couple mistakes that I made.

All Strat hardtail bodies come drilled for vintage string spacing by default.  It's been well documented on this forum that narrow spacing works better for most Warmoth necks except the Superwide.  I did not do my research and I left it as vintage. 

When it came time to get a hardtail bridge, I realized my mistake.  I was going to get one of these because I think they are really nice looking:

125_cover.jpg


Then I realized that the mounting pattern and string spacing was going to be off.  "Fine", I thought, "I'll get a narrow spaced bridge." Well, there are problems with that from a string hole spacing standpoint as you'll see later.

My next thought was I could ship it back to Warmoth and they could rectify my mistake.  After all, I literally just took this thing of of the box.  They will make the modifications but at great cost.  From one of their customer support reps:

As long as the body is in the same unmodified condition that it was received in we can accept it in return for additional work. Take in mind that there is a $65 inspection fee and all shipping costs would be billed to the card that was used on the initial order.
Click to expand...

$65?!? I just received it!  From a cost perspective, that's obviously designed to deter people sending things back for this kind of work.  I began looking for other options and I am grateful to Cagey who PM'd me with some advice.  More on that later...

My second mistake was not to order screws along with the neck and body.  My bad.  Warmoth's minimum shipping costs make ordering from them cost prohibitive. Folks on the forum have been very helpful and a special shout out goes to Black Dog who generously offered to send me some from his personal stash.  Sadly, he was out of gold screws :laughing7: so I'll be getting them from somewhere else. 

Anyway, I just thought I'd document these issues - maybe someone else will learn from my mistakes. 
 
I love those Hipshot bridges, they make them in a few different depth/spacings too so I'd be surprised if you couldn't find one that works w/ the existing holes.

That being said,  I'd probably go for a fill and drill locally if you have any decent techs/builders/luthiers around you rather than shipping it back to WA. 
 
Cagey and I exchanged some PMs that made me feel like my mistake was not going irrevocably doom this project from the start.  So I "settled" on the Hipshot version of the narrow spaced hardtail bridge.  The folks at Hipshot were great.  Their suggestion was to use the bridge plate as a template to drill new holes if needed and offered to take the bridge back if I could not make it work.  So here is the bridge overlayed on the body.  The mounting holes will match perfectly:

2e3pekl.jpg


 
A closeup of the string holes - the camera angle actually exaggerates the severity of the misalignment:

20iwdwo.jpg


The E & e strings have the most but still only a little overlap.  The A & B strings even less.  It's almost non-existent on the 3rd and 4th strings.

According to Cagey, the biggest issue with this will be some difficulty when restringing as the string will hit the back of the plate and may require some finesse to get them through.  I'm inclined to leave them be and see how it goes.  I can always drill them out at a later date.
 
My .02, I agree that looks like it should work just fine as is.  Drilling out would only present the opportunity for something really bad to happen for a not very significant return if things go w/o issue IMO.  Good luck w/ the build either way you go!  That a good looking body and a good choice for a bridge  :icon_thumright:
 
Sid Nitzerglobin said:
My .02, I agree that looks like it should work just fine as is.  Drilling out would only present the opportunity for something really bad to happen for a not very significant return if things go w/o issue IMO.  Good luck w/ the build either way you go!  That a good looking body and a good choice for a bridge  :icon_thumright:
Click to expand...

Thanks Sid!
 
I came across this exact problem on a friend's Telecaster recently. Instead of redrilling the body, I took a crappy old drill bit and reamed the high and low E holes in the plate to open them up a bit. Worked like a charm and the changes are hidden underneath the saddles so no worries about the holes being a bit ovoid.
 
MikeW said:
I came across this exact problem on a friend's Telecaster recently. Instead of redrilling the body, I took a crappy old drill bit and reamed the high and low E holes in the plate to open them up a bit. Worked like a charm and the changes are hidden underneath the saddles so no worries about the holes being a bit ovoid.
Click to expand...

Thanks MikeW - I actually have a nice set of precision needle files that I could use to do just what you did but I can't bring myself to make mods to the body or the plate.  It's brand new and I am way too anal-retentive  :dontknow:
 
IMHO FWIW, you not only don't need to make the body string-through holes bigger - but doing so would actually make it worse, not better. If the holes were larger, the strings would just have more room to butt into the bridge plate.

That said, it would only be the same as any Warmoth with the 'narrow' bridge holes, so we're only talking about stringing being a bit fiddly - which it generally is anyway.

If you want to make stringing easier, do as MikeW suggests and enlarge the holes in the bridge plate a little. Maybe try it as is first though because I can't really see the need.
 
Fat Pete said:
If you want to make stringing easier, do as MikeW suggests and enlarge the holes in the bridge plate a little. Maybe try it as is first though because I can't really see the need.
Click to expand...

I left out "or plate" -  I can't bring myself to make mods to the body or the plate.  Anal part still applies.  That said, I am going to follow your advice as it is the path of least resistance.  Thanks FatPete!
 
The next step is to measure to pickup cavity depth:



Each is a uniform 24/32" (find the common denominator..., divide by 8...) which is 3/4".

That means I have plenty of room to use these inserts to receive the pickup screws:

 
I guess by now I should be accustomed to running into issues.  :sad1:

The stacks are not going to fit the pickup routes.  They aren't deep enough!  This will prevent me from lowering the pickups far enough from the strings.  Also, there is a little resistor on the bottom of the stack pickups that Seymour Duncan advises "you have to be very careful not to crush this resistor if you go with an alternate mounting method".  In this case, the "alternate method" is wood mounting.
 
For some reason, I'm seeing these in there:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/lipstick-tube-strat-neck
 
You could always make the holes deeper. Not a difficult job for somebody who knows how to use a router. Just need to make sure the finish is protected.

For the pickup colour, I'd probably go with black too - or maybe chrome. Depends what you have planned for the other parts.
 
lafromla1 said:
For some reason, I'm seeing these in there:
http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/lipstick-tube-strat-neck
Click to expand...

Ooo, good call.  I printed out the specs and will be checking tonight.
 
Fat Pete said:
You could always make the holes deeper. Not a difficult job for somebody who knows how to use a router.
Click to expand...

Rationally, I know you are right.  Emotionally, I just cannot bring myself to having deeper routes cut.  It's a brand new body.
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD7i4lgNR6w

This might interest you as well....

I might be building one of these in the near future....
 
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