Fig. 4 - Close to the edge: While you’re filing the edges to size, it’s best to avoid the corners, so that you can give them whatever radius matches the pickup.
Fig. 5 - Hot rats: A rat-tail file will put a curve into the corners of the pickup cutout. The close to the end of the file, the tighter the radius will be.
But where exactly should the holes be? If you
look at the control rout on a Strat, there are areas - such as alongside the pickup selector – where there is not enough wood to hold a screw. In the case of my guitar, there’s also a hole on the bass side of the bridge plate where a humbucker was originally going to go. Rather than make a mistake at this late stage, I
Fig. 7 - Almost there: Now I’ve finished the plate, I can assemble my guitar to check out that everything works.
five-position selector switch and maybe a push/ pull switch on the tone pot. But that’s the great thing about a custom guitar: there is no ‘right’ answer, it’s what you want out of the instrument that matters. We haven’t finished with this plate yet, though. For one thing, we need to drill the fixing holes. Turning the plate over, I drew a line all the way round the cardboard template about a ¼ of an inch (7mm) in (fig 6). With practice, this is something you can do by hand and eye, which is a lot faster than using and kind of tool. The reason I put the line there was so that all
my screw holes would be the same distance from the edge. If you’re not sure if you’ve got your line to the same depth all the way round, I suggest you check each position with a rule before you drill.
marked those ‘danger zones’ on the top of the guitar body, then transferred those marks to the edge of the plate. Finally, with the plate flipped over, I was able to mark specific drilling points. I’m not sure there’s any real science to this – you just need enough screw points to make sure the plate doesn’t buckle too much over the years. I keep a sheet of thick ply specifically for drilling. That way, when I drill through sheet, I send up making a hole in scrap ply, not the worktop. Once you’ve drilled your holes, you’ll need to countersink them, so that the screw heads sit right. If you don’t have a countersink, you can improvise one using a large Posidriv screwdriver. The blades of a Posidriv are quite sharp, so a few turns is all it takes to cut the soft plastic. (Please note, this trick won’t work with a Philips, which has rounded blades.) I wanted to put a bevel on the plate to enhance the curves and to show the black layer under the pearloid top. This is another step that takes longer than you might think because to get a really good-looking bevel, you need to keep the file at a constant angle. Otherwise, the bevel will look thicker in some places than others. The easiest angle to judge is 45°, as it’s halfway between upright and flat, and it shows
EXTRA ONLINE RESOURCES Even though we’re using pre-made parts on this phase of our guitar-modifying project, there are several extra details I’d like to share with you that there just isn’t room for in the magazine. So if you’d like to see a lot more tips and tricks that can make the difference between an OK guitar build and one that knocks yer socks off, please visit the web site for the videos and PDFs I’ve put together.
www.playmusicpickup.co.uk
Fig. 6 - Walk the line: With practice, you can mark the line for the fixing screws by hand and eye (and a pencil).
off about the right mount of the edge. Then I finished off with Wet or Dry paper. The grade isn’t critical but around 600 does a good job. Once you’ve done that, you can take the protective film off the front off the plate and remove any surplus bits of plastic with the Wet or Dry. You’ll also want to get rid of the cardboard template, which you can do by soaking the plate in lukewarm soapy water. Next month, I’ll ‘dry assemble’ my guitar (fig 7) to find out how she plays and sounds before I put the finish on the body. Meanwhile, there are now two videos on the Playmusic web site showing you how I made the scratch-plate. PM
Q & A WITH SIMON
Q A
Is it possible to fit a vibrato arm to an acoustic guitar? I realise a Strat-type unit isn’t going to work but I was thinking about maybe a
Bigsby. Stuart
It depends what you mean by an ‘acoustic guitar’. There are plenty of semi-acoustics out there with the long Bigsby unit (ie model B6) fitted instead of a trapeze tailpiece (fig 8), so if you wanted to do something similar to a completely acoustic archtop guitar, I’d say no problem. I’d suggest having it fitted professionally though because you’ll get
tuning issues if the bridge and vibrato unit aren’t lined up correctly.
On the other hand, if you’re thinking about fitting one to a flat-top guitar, such as a dreadnought, I’d say forget it. By the time you’d put enough reinforcement under the top, you’d have about the worst-sounding guitar ever! You don’t mention what you’re hoping to get from this but have you considered fitting a piezo bridge system to a guitar that’s already got a Bigsby? That would give you ‘acoustic-type tones’. At least if that didn’t work out for you, all you’d have to do is slacken the strings and put the original bridge back! PM
Don’t try this at home: An artist’s impression of an acoustic guitar in the five seconds before someone tries to use the Bigsby and launches the top into outer space.
www.playmusicpickup.co.uk 433
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