Who do we like for hardware bits and bobs?

ThePrettyDamned

Anyone seen one of these? Thinking it would do me for pedals, guitar repairs and (for the ladyprettydamned) jewellery repairs with silver solder.

https://cpc.farnell.com/atten/st-60/60w-digital-soldering-station/dp/SD02056?mckv=scrjBv8nW_dm|pcrid|224654335881|kword||match||plid||slid||product|SD02056|pgrid|50784539401|ptaid|pla-903870662631|&CMP=KNC-GUK-CPC-SHOPPING&s_kwcid=AL!5616!3!224654335881!!!network}!903870662631!&gclid=Cj0KCQjwiqWHBhD2ARIsAPCDzakHjYMlta86BhOJFtbC22sR8kkTm1er28ytU0hyMrinIa8b3TPxRbcaAjZ6EALw_wcB

BillDL

I used to buy the bulk of my stuff by shopping on eBay, and I saved a few as my favourite sellers after I had assessed the goods over time.  One was Black Dog Music mentioned above.  I got fed up with trying to filter out results in eBay to show specific categories of items and only UK-based sellers, so I stopped shopping there and prefer to buy directly from companies' own  websites.

In the last few years I have bought the bulk of my stuff from Axetec, and it has comprised quite a number of orders.  I really like their IronGear pickups.  The impression I get of Axetec is that the owner has taken the time to source good quality hardware and personally inspect it, and is somehow able to sell it at a price you would tend to get inferior cheapo things elsewhere.  An example is their machine heads, and in particular their locking ones.  These are much better quality than any other generic tuners in that price range (and some more expensive ones too) that I have previously bought.  Their Schaller-style strap locks are, in my opinion, as good as the real thing.  They don't have an enormous range of items, but they all seem to have been hand picked for quality.

I buy metric F-style saddle height adjustment grub screws in bulk from Westfield Fasteners.

https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/A2_ScrewBolt_GrubFlat_M3.html

Every Strat-type guitar i am asked to set up or work on has sharp saddle screws sticking up to catch your hand, so I swap the M3x10mm ones for M3x8mm A2 stainless steel ones where possible.  Vintage style pressed metal saddles means you sometimes need to leave the 10mm ones in the middle saddles.  I can get about 50 screws for what it would cost for a ziploc bag of 12 from most guitar spares retailers.

If I can't get what I need at Axetec I can usually find the items at CH Guitars.  I liked the pickguards and other plastics I recently bought from Guitars Electric, and will use them again.

Acdeezee86

Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but Has anyone tried Northwest guitars’ telecaster bridges? 

https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/telecaster-ash-tray-low-profile-bridge-compensated-saddles/

This looks intriguing, somewhat similar to the Gotoh/Wilkinson versions, but am wondering about quality and durability.  

Thanks!

ThePrettyDamned

Recommending @FelineGuitars. Everyone already knows they're awesome but I received my order super quick and the prices were as good as anywhere I could find. Good selection on other bits too, I wish I'd ordered straplocks. Maybe in the new year. 

Flip

I'd like to recommend efoam.co.uk for foam and practically everything to do with foam - their range is huge. I was modifying a synth gig bag to take a headless guitar and was pointed towards them by a member here. Good service and prices. 

dsgb

For branded and unbranded factory direct parts in the U.K., I like Guitars Electric:

https://www.guitarselectric.co.uk

They also have a new Website dedicated to 'Aged/Relic' guitar parts:

https://www.vintageguitarparts.co.uk

Doug

alexh

Where can i buy a jazzmaster style pickguard for a jaguar, i.e. one without any chrome.

prowla

robinbowes said:

axisus said:

No grounding to the pot cases? Is that because of the metal plate that everything is sitting on?

The pot cases are not "ground" as such - just a convenient place to connect several wires in a smallish control cavity. Yes, they are used as a common ground point, but it's not necessary if some other point is used.

They should be grounded for shielding purposes, though.

(Which I guess they are by contact with the pickguard backing foil in this case.)

texasbloos

Hi guys having a new luthier build me a Stratocaster neck for me to my specs like a 3 AAA 1/4 sawn maple if the As are not possible then just a !/4 sawn maple neck blank, if possible, we are looking together but company's here seem to be sold out?can anyone recommend getting one in the UK or anywhere? Thanks in advance for any help received.  thanks ray

hollywoodrox

I’ve had quite a few things from North West  , oooh & axetech I think it’s called 

texasbloos

hollywoodrox said:

I’ve had quite a few things from North West  , oooh & axetech I think it’s called 

texasbloos

Hi and thanks but they do not supply blanks probably will have to get one from the states. ray

Neilybob

I +1 on @BillDL recommendation of https://www.blackdogmusic.co.uk/. Order came super quickly and was quality parts for me dosh. 

I can also recommend highly recommend http://www.bloodstoneguitarworks.com/ who I had a conversation over email with and ended up purchasing there 5 way tele wiring harness for my gold foil build. This was my first time installing a harness and I’m not much of a solder but the instructions made it dead easy and it sounds great! 

Mike58

axisus said:

Mike58 said:

Thumbs up for Six String Supplies


 

That looks amazing! So neat and perfect. My soldering is a bloody disaster! I need to get better ...

No grounding to the pot cases? Is that because of the metal plate that everything is sitting on?

Sorry for late reply ( like 3 years late!! ), yes no pot case grounding. If you enlarge the pic and look at the 5-way switch you will see at the bolt holes two 3-way ground lugs. The top one has had the individual pickup grounds attached, the lower one has the vol ground and the remaining two lugs will share output , trem and tone cap grounds. It’s a very neat solution, and years later there have been no grounding problems, but 5-way bolts have to be tight , threadlocked or both.
Apologies for poss irrelevant stuff, the wee 3-way ground lugs you can  get them here https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/x10-brass-tin-plated-3-way-non-magnetic-quality-solder-tag-lug-earth-829-/164159882420?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

And just so so you know the 3-way ground lugs accept 2.8mm female spade connectors, so you can solder output and trem earth to a spade, whack that onto a lug, and simply pull the spade off to remove entire scratch plate from guitar.... neato.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150pcs-2-8mm-Electrical-Wire-Terminal-Spade-Crimp-Connectors-Insulation-Sheath-/134161042118?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0

revsorg

BillDL said:

<snip>

I buy metric F-style saddle height adjustment grub screws in bulk from Westfield Fasteners.

https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/A2_ScrewBolt_GrubFlat_M3.html

Every Strat-type guitar i am asked to set up or work on has sharp saddle screws sticking up to catch your hand, so I swap the M3x10mm ones for M3x8mm A2 stainless steel ones where possible.  Vintage style pressed metal saddles means you sometimes need to leave the 10mm ones in the middle saddles.  I can get about 50 screws for what it would cost for a ziploc bag of 12 from most guitar spares retailers.

<snip>

This seemed such a good idea - I have an American Strat and an Indonesian Tele and thought it would be nice if the Strat's grubscrews didn't rub my hand while I'm playing.  Also, the original grubscrews look a bit old and worn and wouldn't it be nice to have bright new ones.

I just thought I'd tell you my experience so far so you might avoid the stupid mistakes I've made.

I ordered the following grubscrews from Westfield for a mere £14.95:

50 x WF1605  ISO4026/DIN913 Grub Screw Flat Point M3 x 8mm in A2 Stainless

40 x WF1606  ISO4026/DIN913 Grub Screw Flat Point M3 x 10mm in A2 Stainless

30 x WF20971 ISO4028/DIN915 Grub Dog (Allen) Screw M3 x 6mm in A4 Stainless

60 x WF20972 ISO4028/DIN915 Grub Dog (Allen) Screw M3 x 8mm in A4 Stainless

30 x WF20973 ISO4028/DIN915 Grub Dog (Allen) Screw M3 x 10mm in A4 Stainless

My reasoning was that (i) this quantity should last me forever, (ii) getting a variety of lengths and types might help me work around sizing issues, and (iii) particularly on my Indonesian Tele bridge it feels like there is a lot of mechanical uncertainty in the way it all holds together while I'm playing so I figured having different shaped grubscrew tips might help the bridge saddles make optimum contact with the bridge plate.

The first mistake I made was failing to slacken the strings before swapping out grubscrews.

My low E Strat bridge saddle has just about survived the process, although it seems like at least one of the grubscrews wobbles more than it did when I started.

On the Tele I'm wondering if the thread might be slightly different - well whatever is the case, one of the grubscrews cross-threaded the hole and I was lucky to salvage the situation, it's now tight and unsatisfying to adjust.  Getting spare parts or replacing an Indonesian Squire Tele bridge is easier said than done, the problem could have easily been avoided if I'd slackened or removed the string before starting work.  Also, not forcing a 3mm grubscrew with a dodgy Allen key would have been a sensible move.

The second mistake was to think that if the original grubscrews were 10mm then 6mm and 8mm versions would give me the necessary choice.

Turns out, on my Strat, the low E grubscrews weren't actually 10mm - some of them look worn from contact with my palm, and in fact are worn, so they're actually closer to 9mm.  Consequently on all six strings, virtually none of the new grubscrews were actually the perfect fit I envisaged.

So this morning I spent (I'm tempted to say "wasted") half an hour filing off the bottom millimetre of some of my new Dog-type grubscrews so their shiny tops are now flush with the top of my low-E bridge saddle.

Honestly, I think it would have been better to have never gone down this rabbit hole.

Axe_meister

A new supplier (to me at least), has recently popped up https://www.guyker.com/en-gb?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=YF-Guyker-Search-BrandOnly-2024.07.24&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21505353242&gbraid=0AAAAAqq6Dd5Wun8A7acGQejaqYVcv2cnG&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyvfDBhDYARIsAItzbZFSNxAze--D-fD8Bi7pKzRxZKeqnVIf5eD7jZyjA6A73o7yvrtP57caAtGNEALw_wcB
They do some interesting stuff, a great range of pickguards and knobs, pickup covers, etc.

erratic_assassin

Based on the last year or so spent tinkering on various projects, I recommend: 

https://www.axetec.co.uk/- for IronGear pickups, of course, but their wiring kits are also pretty good. Hardware selections are limited, but it all seems to be decent quality. 

https://www.armstrongmusic.co.uk/- for good quality hardware (Gotoh, CTS, Switchcraft) and Kent Armstrong pickups. (Though I should say I haven't bought any Kent Armstrongs for ages, so can't comment on current quality; I put a set in an Epi Les Paul about 25 years ago and they're still going though. ) 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/theguitarroom- for general bits and pieces. 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/partscaster - mostly for their amazing replacement necks. I had one of their roast maple necks installed in an old Squier strat and it completely transformed the playing experience. 

https://guitaranatomy.com/- another source of replacement necks. I have an all-maple neck waiting to go into another project... 

partscaster

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/partscaster - mostly for their amazing replacement necks. I had one of their roast maple necks installed in an old Squier strat and it completely transformed the playing experience. 

Really pleased to hear this! Many of our customers have done the exact same thing with fantastic results! Just a heads up that customers buying from our partscaster.co.uk webstore can message to request photos so that they can choose a specific neck

Axe_meister

partscaster said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/partscaster - mostly for their amazing replacement necks. I had one of their roast maple necks installed in an old Squier strat and it completely transformed the playing experience. 

Really pleased to hear this! Many of our customers have done the exact same thing with fantastic results! Just a heads up that customers buying from our partscaster.co.uk webstore can message to request photos so that they can choose a specific neck

Would really be interested to know how the hidden fret ends are done. It does not look like a binding of the same wood type. Is it CNC based fret slots and pre-cut to length frets.

WezV

Axe_meister said:

partscaster said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/partscaster - mostly for their amazing replacement necks. I had one of their roast maple necks installed in an old Squier strat and it completely transformed the playing experience. 

Really pleased to hear this! Many of our customers have done the exact same thing with fantastic results! Just a heads up that customers buying from our partscaster.co.uk webstore can message to request photos so that they can choose a specific neck

Would really be interested to know how the hidden fret ends are done. It does not look like a binding of the same wood type. Is it CNC based fret slots and pre-cut to length frets.

i've never seen a way to do blind fret slots without a CNC. 

You can however get close with a separate strip of well matched binding - cut from the fretboard blank before slotting

After that it will be the usual  process of fretting a bound neck, trimming the tang from the underside of the fret so it sits over the binding. 

Ones like shown in the link that have been pre-cut to length and ends fully rounded before installation.  If you search for Semi-Hemi frets you can see how it is done