The Shop > Wood & Stuff
Scalloping the guitar fretboard - possibly also renovation of the instrument
sorveltaja:
Today, while wondering how to make the tremolo more 'twangy', I browsed the online version of the '507 mechanical movements', and suddenly an idea popped out of thin air:
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To increase the eccentricity, using already existing combination of parts, the blue ones will be added. The eccentricity should then go from 2.5mm to 8.5mm.
I'll use mild steel for them:
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The axles and 'crank webs', after machined, are then silver soldered together. Before that, I should probably make the webs from aluminum, and use grub screws for both axles, to test, how close or far that 8.5mm is, when compared to 'traditional' floating tremolo like Floyd Rose.
Also the end pieces, housing the ball/needle bearings, need to be made of metal, as the printed ones are way too elastic.
sorveltaja:
Frankenstein Tremolo has a new, temporary arm:
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It's a Strat-style tremolo bar. I had to increase the eccentricity 2mm, as I don't have M4 grub screws, and the ordinary ones didn't fit so closely. So now it(eccentricity) is ~10.5mm.
When testing, and comparing the action to commercial tremolo, it's almost there, so it's close enough for me. Stability(or how the strings return in tune) is to be found out only after the construction is all-metal. The end parts(currently printed ones) might then have ball- or needle bearings, if necessary.
After all, I'm glad that the essence of the "flunkenstein tremolo" has finally started to show signs of usability. I'll do some finishing(filing/machining) only for the parts, that are protruding, or are in the way, like the aluminum ones, that form the linkages between string retainer and eccentrics. Also that M8 stud, in the middle of the 'fork' is to be shortened.
What's left, is to make the additional 'crankshafts' out of steel parts, that are then silver soldered together, to get rid of the lowermost pair of M4 screws. The M8 stump(once shortened), is better suited for the Bigsby-like tremolo bar. If memory serves, I should have some very soft, 5mm aluminum sheet, which could be used to make that.
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Other things, after that tremolo is done:
- make the roller nut housing from alu/brass
- remove as exact as possible amount of wood from the end of the fretboard, to get the rollers center in the 'zero fret' -position
- make new roller elements for the bridge, which follow the neck's 400mm radius(part of (possible) fine tuning process)
I could go on and on, but better to take one step at a time.
sorveltaja:
New, soldered parts for the tremolo:
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I used round 12mm mild steel bar for the webs, as there was a lot less material to be removed, when compared to 25mm one, that I originally intended to use. The lathe, that I have, has a whopping 60W of raw power, and it would take forever to machine such pieces from a bigger steel blank.
The bottom surfaces of the webs need some rounding, as they will end up being quite close to the surface of the guitar.
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In the meantime, I've been also looking ways to machine the roller nut housing out of metal. Only problem is, that it's a bit over 43mm wide, and would need a rather long 1.5mm drill bit to make the hole for the axle. At some point, I'll order couple of them, but for now, it'll have to wait.
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I guess, that now fiddling with the tremolo mechanism can take a rest, and it's time to concentrate on the tremolo arm. I found the previously mentioned 5mm aluminum sheet, so it will be used. The form of the (tremolo)bar isn't yet clear, but for a starters, something like this:
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Cylindrical aluminum(or steel) part could hold ordinary M8 steel nut in it, as it doesn't wear out so easily, as alu does.
sorveltaja:
Today some filing:
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The shape is from Bigsby B11 -3d model. I had to scale it up quite a lot, so that it has a similar "reach", that Strat-style(although usually being closer to the bridge) one has:
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As can be seen, the latter has slight upwards angled part in it, which allows more range, when pushing the bar all the way down. Otherwise the end of it would hit the guitar's surface, when doing something like 'divebombing'.
To 'compensate', using the straight bar, an angled part could be added to the end, where it connects to the tremolo itself. The angle of the Strat-style bar could then perhaps be a used as a 'reference', or as a starting point, when testing the action.
sorveltaja:
The tremolo bar doesn't seem to need the angled part, as same can be achieved by moving the end parts(printed ones) closer to the bridge:
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A bit of linkage shaping:
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The upper half should preferably be even slimmer than that, so perhaps it needs to be made of brass or steel instead of aluminum.
Although the eccentric rod has ball bearings in it, pushing the tremolo bar down tends to drag the string retainer down also, and therefore limiting the range.
Don't know why that still happens.
Nevertheless, how about the analogy of an engine, that uses crankshaft, connecting rod, and a piston. Only thing, that keeps the piston movement linear, I guess, is the cylinder.
Fortunately the cylinder isn't needed in this case(but who knows). A metal plate, having suitable thickness, under the linkages, appears to do the trick.
Not a perfect solution, but it increases the range of the tremolo bar to much more usable level.
Besides, the bottom surfaces of the linkages need to slide along the metal plate only, when the bar is pressed down, so(hopefully) no constant contact is necessary.
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