First timer on board

[tim290280]

Hi Kev,
I'm not from the south-west of W.A. as much as Augusta is, but I know where you are on about (I'm in Merredin). I was just down there this past week. You have some great local woodworkers around that area and they have wood for sale. I think one was called Fine Timbers near Capel. There is another at Margret River. I'm sure there are loads of others...... care to mention them

[Kev McD]

Thanks for everyone's help and advice on this project so far.

Were we stand:

Sourcing wood for the body. I have looked at most of the online guitar building sites - as suggested I'm going to see some of our local blokes. The jarah is not a problem as my mate down here in Augusta has some on hand (a 10mm thick burl for the top cap).

Also looking for the right neck. I reckon I will just purchase a completed neck for my first attempt. Problem is I am pretty 'picky' regarding what i play. Will probably end up ordering a Warmoth from the States if I can't find something suitable. I've haven't heard very good reviews regaring mighty mites and not sure of the quality of the imported necks our Aussie suppliers provide. I would prefer to support an Aussie retailer.

Hardware: I have a brand new Bigsby (B5) sitting around and a roller bridge to suit. There are part of the plan.

Pickups: we just had a visit from a rep from 'Lace' pickups down our way. I'm looking at putting two of their humbuckers in with the bridge pickup being switchable to single coil.

So my 'Tele' will be bastardized already with two humbuckers, a Nashville bridge and whammy, and I would like to show off the top wood by not covering up half the top with a pick guard.

The bloke whose shop I'll be using his tools (he's got thicknesers, band saws, drill press, door sander etc.) is off tomorrow for three weeks for his annual fishing trip up north of WA. That'll give me time to source the body wood and neck.

Stay tuned; I will keep you all updated and of course, continue the brain picking.

Regards,
Kev

[Andrew_B]

sounds good man....

if your going with the bigsby then im assuming the roller bridge is a tune-o-matic style?
you may want to think about putting and angle on the neck pocket when you rout it?

the lace humbuckers are great.....
you wont be dissapointed with a set of them

as for necks,
a google search will give you results on the best out there as well as various reviews....
but with the reviews... be careful.... some people like to "assume" without trying...

[Kev McD]

Good morning Andrew (well it's still morning on the West Coast)

Yes, the bridge is a 'tune-a-matic' (a schaller one). Regarding the neck pocket angle you mentioned. Can you give me a bit of a heads-up regarding how much angle or would using a shim be suffice.

On the neck purchase, can anyone comment on these:

Allparts neck from ALS for the Tele - 264.90

or

Ace guitar parts have a Japenesse built necks to suit in the 300 dollar range.

If there are any others I should look at please chime in.

Cheers,

Kev

[Andrew_B]

neck angle....

well a tele/strat has a straight neck pocket because the bridge is mounted flat on the body,

a (tune-o-matic equipt guitar), lets say, gibson, has an angled neck because the bridge is raised off the face of the body...

if you have a tune-o-matic and a flat neck rout as per vintage tele... your gonna have like 1.5cm between the strings and the 12th fret!!!!!!!!!! lol....

you can rout out a pocket to set the tune-o-matic bridge deeper into the face of the guitar though....

im not too sure on how bigsbys are meant to be set up as iv never physically done one...
whether a large break angle is needed over the bridge or a smaller one....
maybe someone else on here has more experience with them?

ill tell you what....

if you remind me later tonight,
ill attempt to email you through my copies of the various bigsby setup guides i have, they are all pdf form, about 6 i think.... (different models)

[floody_85]

Is there anything you dont have andy??

You should get an award for worlds best helper lol

[Kev McD]

Back again,

The Bigsby I have is the B5 (suitable for flat topped solid body). I bought it with the adapter mounting plate for my 335 (didn't want to make holes in a 30 year old guitar). The plate simply mounts where the original stop tail piece sits (using the existing holes). Took a good 10 minutes to install. First gig I did with it I broke a string 3 songs from the set end and tried to replace while on stage. Not the easiest thing to restring under pressure. The string broke over the bridge - happened again the next night (spare guitar to rescue) so I took it off and ordered a new roller bridge to suit. Decided I'll use it now on the Tele build.
Will search for the correct bridge to use with Tele/Bigsby combo.

Of course the strings will sit a mile above the neck with using a tune-o-matic. Must think things thru before butchering wood.

Anything you'd like to send Andy will be put to good use - thaks again for all your help.

Floody, I second him for that award.

Cheers

[Andrew_B]

ooooo an award!!!

i just sent you through what i could find under "bigsby" in my files
if they are no good i will have to go through and have a look one by one....
im sure i have 5 or 6 pdf's to do with bigsbys.... must have saved them under random names or numbers

if your going to put the bigsby on and have no ntention of ripping it off then a neck angle would be great.....

the other option is using the bigsby with a vintage tele 3 saddle ashtray bridge.....
alot of people do this... you need to file slots in the back of the bridge,
in my opinion. from what iv seen and read, that method isnt the greatest...

i think a bigsby and a roller bridge would tune and intonate much better...

your previous bigsby string breaking experiences were probably due to break angle...
some people put the strings through the bigsby then wrap under to achieve a greater break ange over the bridge,

some people put the strings through the bigsby and wrap them over, which gives a lesser break angle....

well i think thats how its done.... or maybe that was something else .. hmmm

but iv never used one, so i dont know first hand what its like


oh yea.....
iv bought from ace guitar parts...
good blokes, fast shippings, good contact.... products were good too

havnt used one of their necks though....
but im sure if you email you could work something out along the lines of returning it if it isnt your style....

[Andrew_B]

just saw this....

roller bridge + bigsby


http://www.cyrguitars.com/TS_NeckThruSGProject.html

[dadovfor]

Doncha just love those kinds of threads where you see it all come together. That build will look great finished.