Beginner build thread - Harley Benton TE kit

DartmoorHedgehog

BluesLover said:

Dinosaur template = french curves, such as

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FRENCH-CURVES-TRANSPARENT-TEMPLATES-STENCILS/dp/B001ENH5X2/ref=asc_df_B001ENH5X2/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=214458080830&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10654271300621211191&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045802&hvtargid=pla-423435126177&psc=1

French curves - that's the things!  I've always called them dinosaurs  

BillDL

I've never known them as either French Curves or "Dinosaur" Templates.  It had actually forgotten the name that the teachers at school referred to them by and needed to look it up.  Burmester Stencil.  I have one somewhere in a box out in my garage but haven't had it in my hand for many years.  I must search for it.  I have a project coming up where it will prove useful.

PhilM

Those R numbers on the tuners probably relate to which machine/press made them. The same happens on Fender tuners - you get I, II, III, IIII etc, but it bears absolutely no relevance to their position on the headstock.

RichAC

I’m going with “dinosaur templates”, because it makes me smile every time.

RichAC

PhilM said:

Those R numbers on the tuners probably relate to which machine/press made them. The same happens on Fender tuners - you get I, II, III, IIII etc, but it bears absolutely no relevance to their position on the headstock.



Thanks, that’s interesting. (Sorry, on mobile and can’t get the quote function to work).

Funkfingers

PhilM said:

Those R numbers on the tuners probably relate to which machine/press made them. The same happens on Fender tuners - you get I, II, III, IIII etc, but it bears absolutely no relevance to their position on the headstock.

The only other possibility is the diameter of the string holes in the posts. To be fair, I have only ever seen this on Sperzel and Gotoh Magnum.

RichAC

So, a bit of an update - having assembled the guitar, I'd describe the initial setup (i.e. not having done anything apart from screwing the bits together and putting on strings) as "challenging", or maybe "OK for slide".

I decided that before doing anything radical such as attacking the headstock or finishing the body I'd try and give it a setup as is to see what I had to work with. I popped on a set of D'Addario 10-42s and worked through the Haze Guitars Sketchy Setups issue for T-types.  As a result, I got the guitar a lot more playable (which says more for the quality of Haze Guitars's guides than it does for my luthiery skills!)

The only turd in the fondue bowl is that I couldn't quite get the action as low as I'd like. It's liveable with, but the bigger problem is that the saddles are down hard against the bridge plate, which means that the little adjustment grub screws are sticking right up, making palm mutes spikier than they should be. As I understand it, I have the following options:

1. Live with it
2. Grind the little grubs screws down. This would fix the palm muting problem, but doesn't address that I'd like the action to be a little lower yet, would limit future higher action (such as if I wanted to set up for slide, or decided to develop a heavy right hand) and would require tools I don't have, such as a grinder of some sort.
3. Aquire shorter screws. Again, this would fix the palm muting problem, but doesn't address that I'd like the action to be a little lower yet. I'm not convinced that the HB kit uses standard dimensioned parts, so getting drop-in replacements might be tricky.
4. Shim the neck. I've read the Haze Guitars article on this, and I understand the principle. I'd look to buy a pre-made shim since my level of wood working skills aren't really up to precision machining ("within an inch or two" probably doesn't cut it for this job...)

Open to thoughts and advice on this!

jasonbone75

Shim it with a bit of business card to try it out. You will soon know if it's enough to sort your issues! Just a small rectangle across the pocket close to the pickups will be enough to tilt it back and give you a new reference to reset the bridge and see where you are at.

RichAC

jasonbone75 said:

Shim it with a bit of business card to try it out. You will soon know if it's enough to sort your issues! Just a small rectangle across the pocket close to the pickups will be enough to tilt it back and give you a new reference to reset the bridge and see where you are at.

Thanks @jasonbone75 - good advice. The Haze Guitars article I linked to above has dire warnings about business card type solutions causing neck humps, and I'd got so fixated on "doing it properly" that it didn't occur to me to do a quick job as a test to see what effect it has. I happen to have a drawer full of business cards from a former job, so that's a good start...

WezV

 Business card is fine 99.999999999% of the time.  It compresses well in the pocket, very unlikely that the card will squash the wood instead of the wood squashing the card.

Harder shims can cause humps in extreme circumstances, but more likley just compress the wood slightly in the pocket.


You might still want to grind some screws down if they are all the same length, but definitely shim first

jasonbone75

I seem to recall my 1992 Ibanez JEM BFP coming out of the FujiGen factory with a cardboard shim on it :-) It wasn't as thick as what you might be needing though.

RichAC

jasonbone75 said:

I seem to recall my 1992 Ibanez JEM BFP coming out of the FujiGen factory with a cardboard shim on it :-) It wasn't as thick as what you might be needing though.

Was it a business card for a Mr S. Vai? 

RichAC

Thanks @WezV and @jasonbone75 ;

Another question - if I shim the neck, is that likely to affect relief, needing further tweaks to the truss rod?

WezV

It shouldn't, but it is possible you didn't set relief correctly first time round due to the poor action so there is always a chance it might need another tweak

RichAC

WezV said:

It shouldn't, but it is possible you didn't set relief correctly first time round due to the poor action so there is always a chance it might need another tweak

Thanks @WezV ;

RichAC

Hi everyone. I haven’t done anything else on the build since my last post due to a combination of work and. Ow being on holiday (hooray!). I am thinking about what’s next, though. I think the plan is (not necessarily in order):
1) Jam a bit of card in the neck pocket, as discussed above, and get the action nice.
2) Cut the headstock to shape. I’ve got a print-out template I’m going to use.
3) Finish it - likely with Annie Sloan chalk paint.
4) Sort out the wonkily aligned top E tuner
5) Replace the supplied scratchplate with a black one, partly for aesthetic reasons, and partly because the supplied one appears to be made out of cheese - it scratches as soon as you look at it. 

6) Maybe put locking tuners on 

One question - is it worth thinking about shielding it? I’ve played it through an amp and didn’t notice lots of buzzing or interference, albeit at bedroom levels and without much gain.

BillDL

If the guitar is still temporarily assembled, turn up the amp quitye a bit louder than you will be playing it at home and walk around holding the guitar so that it is facing several different things like powered computer monitors, dimmer switches, TV, fluorescent lighting (if you have any) and other electrical things that are most likely to cause hum.  If you hear any taxi or police radio communications or the hum is pretty annoying, then it might be a good idea to screen the cavities.  Otherwise you can probably hold off until the guitar is finished and finally assembled, because you can always screen the cavities later when you change strings if you get humming.

Screening can bring its own issues, especially on a body that is a bit thinner than a full thickness Telecaster and may not have much clearance under the pots and/or pickups to the screened floor of the cavity.  It should be easy enough to measure how much clearance there will be under and around the cavity floor and sides with a ruler and by peeking under the control plate with it aligned with the screw holes but lifted up slightly.

Sometimes on copy guitars and kits the metal control cover screw holes and/or cut-out for it in the pickguard can be misaligned and cause switch lugs and pots to come very close to or even touch the sides of the cavity.  It isn't an issue if the metal bodies of the pots touch the screening because they are grounded anyway, and with a Telecaster layout the solder lugs face inwards towards each other and shouldn't be pointing sideways towards the sides of the cavity.  I see that the kit comes with a push-fit wiring loom but I can't see whether the connectors for the solder lugs of the pots are insulated spade type connectors.  If they are, there is less likelihood again that the solder lugs or any bare wires would be able to touch the screened sides or floor of the cavity.

If you do decide to screen the cavities you need adhesive backed copper tape with conductive adhesive OR conductive screening paint and it's a good idea to use a cheap electronic multimeter with a "beep" continuity test function to probe all the various places on the shielding.  There are quite a few instructional videos on YouTube.

RichAC

BillDL said:

If the guitar is still temporarily assembled, turn up the amp quitye a bit louder than you will be playing it at home and walk around holding the guitar so that it is facing several different things like powered computer monitors, dimmer switches, TV, fluorescent lighting (if you have any) and other electrical things that are most likely to cause hum.  If you hear any taxi or police radio communications or the hum is pretty annoying, then it might be a good idea to screen the cavities.  Otherwise you can probably hold off until the guitar is finished and finally assembled, because you can always screen the cavities later when you change strings if you get humming.

Screening can bring its own issues, especially on a body that is a bit thinner than a full thickness Telecaster and may not have much clearance under the pots and/or pickups to the screened floor of the cavity.  It should be easy enough to measure how much clearance there will be under and around the cavity floor and sides with a ruler and by peeking under the control plate with it aligned with the screw holes but lifted up slightly.

Sometimes on copy guitars and kits the metal control cover screw holes and/or cut-out for it in the pickguard can be misaligned and cause switch lugs and pots to come very close to or even touch the sides of the cavity.  It isn't an issue if the metal bodies of the pots touch the screening because they are grounded anyway, and with a Telecaster layout the solder lugs face inwards towards each other and shouldn't be pointing sideways towards the sides of the cavity.  I see that the kit comes with a push-fit wiring loom but I can't see whether the connectors for the solder lugs of the pots are insulated spade type connectors.  If they are, there is less likelihood again that the solder lugs or any bare wires would be able to touch the screened sides or floor of the cavity.

If you do decide to screen the cavities you need adhesive backed copper tape with conductive adhesive OR conductive screening paint and it's a good idea to use a cheap electronic multimeter with a "beep" continuity test function to probe all the various places on the shielding.  There are quite a few instructional videos on YouTube.

@BillDL thank you for your comprehensive reply - that’s very helpful. 

steamabacus

One thing you can do to minimise rf interference pick-up is to twist the two pickup wires around themselves (assuming they're separate 'hot and ground' wires like traditional Fender pickups and not screened cable like on humbuckers). Also assuming the holes through the body are large enough to get the twisted wires through.