skip to main |
skip to sidebar
OK, I did it. I couldn't wait any longer. I pulled those damn bushings out of the body. I had promised my 12 year-old nephew that I wouldn't do anything without him there, cos he's a budding guitar player and wants to watch me build this mahogany strat from the parts I have assembled. I just couldn't wait!
By the way, I looked everywhere for a real bushing puller. No place in the GTA appears to have anything similar. I had some challenges with making one, per this post, so I thought I would shop around, call around, ask around ...nothing. I was describing the device to my 76-year-old dad, that took quite a while, but he kept asking questions. Well, whaddayaknow, he shows up at my house the next day with one that he made in a half our in his garage, based on what I described! He had never seen one before. Here is his.
Holy crap! Wow, I am impressed, Dad! I added the lock nut, but the rest was all his. Look at this one for $35 USD at StewMac. The biggest difference is that my dad used a piece of aluminum railing instead of steel tubing to make the slotted box.
All I did was add a washer around the nut/pivot screw to pull it out. I couldn't wait any longer to see if it would work, so I laid a cloth on the guitar to protect the finish, and a large washer under the bushing puller to distribute the force across a wider area. Bingo, the bushings came right out. But there was a minor accident...
I'm a little embarassed. The guitar finish is far from ruined, but the finish is visibly marred around the top bushing and mildly marked around the lower bushing. Here's what happened: Fender installed the bushings before finishing the guitar, and some stain/clear coat covered the edges of the bushing. I didn't check what was happening before it was too late. I ovviously did the upper bushing first, then I used a sharp knife to scrape away as much of the finish around the lower bushing before pulling it. Oh well...a victim of my own impatience...
So, the next step is to put the Wilkinson bushings in place of the ex-Fender bushings. Easy enough!
Well, yet again, the AllParts claim as a drop-in Wilkinson VS100 is bogus. The AllParts Wilkinson bushings provided are 1mm wider than the Fender bushings, so I have to (ever so slightly) enlarge the holes. I will never purchase AllParts products ever again! I'll put the bushings in and move on to the next step...
Okay - I have assembled all the necessary parts, I think, except for one: a simple 5 way switch. I ended up with a 5way SuperSwitch, but I don't know if I can use it, for the reasons outlined in a later post. Here's the list of parts:
- Mahogany Strat body - Fender USA 2004
- Fender USA 60th Anniversary neck - 2006 (mmmmmmm), with LSR nut, abalone dots
- Brushed chrome Sperzels (already installed them)
- Fender Deluxe neckplate
- B-W-B SSS pickguard (I might get a black mirror or solid black one in the future)
- Black AllParts Wilkinson VS100 bridge (see previous post for more on this)
- Kinman AVN pickups (currently on my PRS SE)
- Clapton mid-boost circuit (active circuit with volume, TBX, mid-boost)
- Black jackplate
- Black pickguard screws
- Some interesting black knobs I pulled off a Spector NS-6 (korean)
I haven't pulled the Kinman pickups out of the PRS yet, since I need it for gigging. Not sure what I will do with the PRS, one of the nicest guitars I own. Let it be known that, IMHO, Korean-made PRS SE guitars are some of the nicest you will find in the price range. A true steal, and lend themselves very well to upgrades - pickups, tuners, bridges, etc. Where else will you find a mahogany body, mahogany set neck, rosewood fretboard, PRS tremolo, 25" scale for so cheap? Even the ceramic-magnet pickups sounded OK, although I don't know why they put 500k pots in it. Really bright! I also own a PRS Tremonti SE upgraded with TonePros bridge and SD pickups. Anyway, I'll talk about all my guitars in another post.
I'll get started putting the guitar together later this week maybe...I have to make some sort of bushing puller first...
Cheers,
p
Found this one out the hard way, folks!
Those of you that are modifying strat-type guitars with this bridge, BEWARE!
Wilkinson VS100 bridges are licensed to different manufacturers. Different manufacturers have their choice of metals, apparently. AllParts licensed Wilkinson VS100 bridges appear to made of inferior metal. I don't know what the pivot screws are made out of, steel I think, but the sustain block is definitely not steel. In addition, the AllParts version is not a simple drop-in replacement as you may think: the pivot screws are a different size thread than the original Fender bushings. If you buy an AllParts Wilkinson VS100 you will have to pull the original Fender bushings out. It's not impossible to do, but it is far from "drop-in".
I think the Gotoh Wilkinson VS100 has a steel sustain block. The pivot screws for the Gotoh-licensed Wilkinson VS100 will screw into the Fender bushings, but you will lose the "locking feature" of the Wilkinson pivot screws.
This is very cool... The Wilkinson pivot screws are hollow with an internal screw that allows you to set the depth of the pivot screw. To use this, you need to use the Wilkinson bushings that have a solid bottom. It is my understanding that the original Fender bushings are hollow all the way down, so that if you were to keep them in the guitar, the locking screw would begin pushing into the wood rather than the solid bottom of the bushing. I will be finding out over the next week or so, and I will let you know. Either way you would have to pull the bushings out.
The reason this pisses me off a little is that I would have bought a Gotoh Wilkinson VS100G instead of an AllParts Wilkinson VS100G, had I know the difference! The online store where I purchased it did not specify Gotoh or AllParts, so make sure you ask. I will likely make do with the AllParts version and look into upgrading the steel block at some point if I'm not happy with the sustain.
Another PITB: the body didn't come with the pivot screws, so I had to order them in. Odd that no place in the greater Toronto area had any in stock. Thank god for ebay! I couldn't even find a bolt/screw with the right threads over at Home Depot (I think they are 1/4" - 28). You need the bolts/screws so you can pull the bushings out. I'll let you know how that goes in a later post...
Cheers,
p
By the way, I looked everywhere for a real bushing puller. No place in the GTA appears to have anything similar. I had some challenges with making one, per this post, so I thought I would shop around, call around, ask around ...nothing. I was describing the device to my 76-year-old dad, that took quite a while, but he kept asking questions. Well, whaddayaknow, he shows up at my house the next day with one that he made in a half our in his garage, based on what I described! He had never seen one before. Here is his.
All I did was add a washer around the nut/pivot screw to pull it out. I couldn't wait any longer to see if it would work, so I laid a cloth on the guitar to protect the finish, and a large washer under the bushing puller to distribute the force across a wider area. Bingo, the bushings came right out. But there was a minor accident...
I'm a little embarassed. The guitar finish is far from ruined, but the finish is visibly marred around the top bushing and mildly marked around the lower bushing. Here's what happened: Fender installed the bushings before finishing the guitar, and some stain/clear coat covered the edges of the bushing. I didn't check what was happening before it was too late. I ovviously did the upper bushing first, then I used a sharp knife to scrape away as much of the finish around the lower bushing before pulling it. Oh well...a victim of my own impatience...
