I love that you never verbally abuse these instruments like some individuals on RU-vid. So many of us learned on an inexpensive guitar that was what we could afford at the time, and we loved our guitars in spite of their shortcomings. It’s always a pleasure to see a humble guitar leave your hands as a born-again good playing instrument.
whynottalklikeapirat: My first electric guitar was a new 1964 Conrad 1245 in a cherry sunburst finish. It cost $49 at a Zayre’s Discount store in Cincinnati. I quickly learned to shim the neck, replace the nut and install a new bridge that would allow intonation adjustment, level and crown the frets, and adjust the truss rod in order to correct the many shortcomings and make it a guitar that was easily playable instead of the guitar with cheese grater action that I originally purchased. I was able to purchase a brand new Gibson SG 3 years later on payments of $25/month, but I really learned to play on the cheap Conrad that was my most prized possession.
@@jts3339 I did all kinds of jobs on mine. I still do from time to time. It's still mainly annoying and I played it for years before getting another. By comparison, I found a good deal on a 2000 CS strat some 7-8 years ago. It was instantly great, and still is. It has quirks but I leave them there, because it works where it counts. I loved my first guitar for being my first guitar. I had played on borrowed shit for 2 years before I got my own. The sound and to some extent the basic feel of it however was always just a challenge, that no adjusting or modding would seem to do much about.
The reason the springs are oriented that way is for a more progressive Feel, tension, and response. If the springs were oriented in a straight line you have the same amount of tension, feel, and response, thus making it harder to initiate the "whammy" and quicker for it to finish the "whammy" it's not as obvious with a fender style trem, but it is quite obvious with a floyd rose style trem
I absolutely love a mongrel - much more interesting than a "factory standard" that anyone can own! This little mystery Strat is great and all the better for your "service"... I still use my slightly customised Squier Strat I bought when I was 14 (30+ years ago) in the studio on a daily basis (either that or my Tokai Love Rock "Les Paul")... Long live the mongrels!
I love how you treat every guitar you do anything with, as if it’s priceless to the owner and set it up to the absolute best that it can be! Great job, keep it up!
These videos from this gentleman are so satisfying! It's great to learn what they actually do for a setup, and how it's done. Also, thank you for not making fun of the guitar, or the owner. A class act!
I dunno. Mine get pretty cruddy if I don't keep them polished frequently. As soon as you start fretting and bending notes, they leave visual marks on the strings. Almost like oxidation. Because it doesn't come off. So it's not junk on the frets.
I tend to agree with your logic with why not to use an electric screwdriver. A long time ago when I was first learning how to repair and build guitars someone told me to never use an electric screwdriver. I wish I could remember who it was because that was advice I took to heart. Anytime I am unscrewing a screw near the guitar body or headstock I use a manual screwdriver. The only time I use an electric one is if I'm screwing on a neck. Even then I stop short of it being tight. I always finish by tightening by hand. That way I dont run the risk of going too tight or stripping the screw head. I always enjoy watching your videos, its refreshing to watch someone who obviously knows their craft. Now that I'm 60 yrs old I figure I've seen a few and you definitely know what you are doing. Thanks for the videos!!
Another great tutorial,love the way you work,and how you care for other people's instruments regardless of what they are,,you're an inspiration to me, I'm setting up a shop now, next couple days will be complete..thank you,,looking forward for more precise straight forward videos..
We all wish that. There was very little information available in those days, and limited access to tools. Probably why we see so many early botched repair attempts.
I’m not a physicist, but I am studying physics. If you have the springs converging to the center, they’ll only relieve tension at the center. Parallel is superior, as it gives relief to the entire trem.
putting the springs at an angle increases the distance between the ends of the spring , making for greater tension. sometimes it's the only way to get the bridge to sit down flat on the top of the body.
Another very interesting and entertaining video. It looks like a partscaster assembled from both American and Far Eastern components. You carried out quite a lot of work to get it to play nicely but the end result was well worth the effort. Good job!
Your attention to detail and willingness to go the extra mile is impressive!! I wished I lived closer to your shop :) Thanks for the entertainment Sir.
One small tip from electro-guy: On those things it would be better to use more flat solder tip. You'll have more distribution of heat so it will be faster and more even :) Man I love your videos, greetings from Czech Republic :)
When you were scraping those corroded frets with those strings, the last time I pulled a face grimmacing like that was when I watched Jaws and Robert shaw was scratching his nails on a chalkboard.
My tech, now retired, always did the little things to make things better. He fixed a case hinge for me once. When I was modding this 77 Les Paul I bought cheap, and the place I ordered a new pickguard from didn't have the round plate to cover the switch hole, my tech just cut me a custom one out of a pickguard scrap he had laying around. Perfectly round. Looks like a factory made it. He never charged me for those things. He first set up a guitar of mine in 1982, and the last setup he did for me was probably 2017 or 2018, and he barely even raised his prices for customers like me who had been with him for decades. I ALWAYS went to him, and brought dozens of friends and acquaintances to him. He is missed.
These are superb videos! I compliment you on your great craftsmanship whether it’s a parts Tele or a preWar Martin on the bench. Love the sense of humor too.
Love your videos! I've learned many things about guitars that I never knew before. You have a great way of explaining things without all the gimmicks and pitches that are on most channels these days. Just wanted to thank you for that!
That was set up for a 2-Point Synchronized Tremolo bridge and they used a vintage 6 screw bridge. Sounds good after all your work. Thanks for all your videos.
Your videos are really excellent! I love your honesty. I learn a ton from you and your approach, consistency and unwavering excellence in practicing your craft is really uplifting and inspiring!!! Thank you, Sir!!!
My 2018 Player Strat came from factory with angled trem springs and floating bridge, essentially the same as this one. I believe Fender spec is for the rear of the bridge to be floating around 1/8" above the surface of the body.
You sir are a wizard :) I have a frankenstrat I pulled out of a pawn shop. Honestly both myself and the pawn guy thought it might be fake but turns out its a parts caster made from parts of three or four different strat models hahaha. All actual parts just not factory built. Fun stuff. The upside is I am not afraid to work on it :)
I think I remember seeing a picture of Jimi Hendrix holding or playing a guitar and the back of it was visible and I know that was why I did my springs like that when I was a kid.
My strat came from the factory with the springs set that way. Along with extreme fret sprout, 5 high frets and overspray on the fretboard. So moral to the story but else where
I’ve got a ‘94 Made In Mexico Strat with a similar intonation issue, i.e. the saddles ride towards the back of the bridge plate. It intonates fine, but right at the edge of no more adjustment on the high E. I’ve had problems fitting pickguards around the bridge,too. Never occurred to me the bridge may be in the wrong place.
Man I love your vids! I’ve learned so much. You seem to think about things I would never have thought about. If I do x then y happens...you are a master. Lovin’ it from the UK!!
I'm sure you are aware of what your Countryman Dave (& his world of fun stuff) has to say about tremolo springs and the people who angle the outer springs in. If not, he HATES it! He reckons (& most agree) that you stand a chance of popping the outer springs off altogether! You should check out any of his Strat setup vids. His language turns the air blue when he sees that setup for the springs! It's one of my favourite bits of "Fun Stuff" LOL🤣🤣🤣 Edit: I just noticed that this vid is 2 years old, so the chances of anybody actually seeing this comment are slim to none!! Oh well. I enjoyed the vid anyway!
Two butterfly string trees... definitely not a US Fender neck unless it's from 1974, but that would have a bullet truss rod adjuster... and 21 frets LOL!
I think the strat bridge angle is a matter of who's gonna play with it. I think it definitely needs to be floating, as if it just rests against the body there's no way to pull the string tension back even across the nut. But also I find it more useful if it can pull up certain intervals - mine is set up to do minor 3rd on the 3rd string. So the "I don't care who you are..." statement is a bit too much. But thanks for all the great videos, I'm digging your work on sharing your expertise on repairing all the guitars.
The V-shape of the rear spring arrangement began when a photographer took a picture of one of Hendrix's Strats on stage. Jimi always left the rear plate off his Strat so he could reach in there and pluck the springs for sound effects, and the pic revealed the springs arranged in the V shape. That's the start of this goofy practice.
Installed new tuners with my recently purchased flashy high end mini power driver. Did pilot holes as required. Yup, screw head popped right off...... Thanks and blessings.
One step you may have done, but did not mention ... after adjusting the trem angle, your strings would most assuredly be sharp, and returning them to pitch will also assuredly make the bridge rise up again. So the technique I use is a) screw the spring retainer in to pull the bridge down to the body, b) use shims either under the bridge on the top or behind the trem block in the back to get the bridge angel where you want it, c) tune your strings to pitch, d) gradually loosen the trem springs (evenly on both screws) until that trem block is just barely lose and finally e) remove the lose shim. You will be in pitch and your bridge will be at the desired angle. I use the same approach when changing strings on a floating trem. It allows you to take all the strings off at once, vs one at a time, which makes doing a good neck clean much easier. TL;DR version - the key to happiness with a trem is to treat it as a hard-tail during maintenance.
Those saddles look a lot like the ones on my old El Degas strat. The body on mine is made of ply wood and the headstock is different. I'm binging your videos at the moment and thoroughly enjoying them.
That rear trem rout is the cleanest I have ever seen ..... This is most definitely an early 80's Fender, the trem block the saddles the "Bob" body rout. The neck appears to be a Mighty Mite.
My 1994 Squier Series MIM Strat had those exact same saddles. They shredded my hand!😂. The frets were horrible too. My bet is that the body is a Squier Series Strat.
People do the tremelo springs like that typically to get a little extra tension without adding another spring. The scenario you would do this is if you go up in string gauge and your tremelo starts flying. Doesn’t really kinda sort of work.
The MIM Strat I bought in new 2003 had the springs arranged in the same manner. Most others I have seen have been the same way so for whatever reason, I think this is how they are done from the factory.
Of all the strats I owned...the 1982 Squire Japanese made Stat was the best! Big headstock, vintage pickups. Japanese ash body with U neck 7.25 radius. It was well built. Stayed in tune beyond that awful 3 bolt neck. And did it shake my house through a black twin ha ha
I've been doing the "V" springs forever. That is; only TWO (2) springs in an exaggerated "V" pattern. It's the first thing I did when I got a new guitar home. It has to do with the "feel" of the movement of the vibrato system. Springs become harder to stretch as you stretch them more giving more resistance to increased movement. The more you stretch them, the harder it is to stretch them more. By angling the springs, they are under more stress already when the balance of tension with the strings is achieved. So it makes the bar feel a little bit stiffer to move. If the bar is "softer" to move, it is less controllable, and I've even seen it (usually when they used tiny strings) where just moving around could wiggle the bar and cause the notes to warble. I never had either of those problems on my guitars with bars. So I always did it that way. That certainly doesn't make it science. But that is my own observation. Maybe there's science to it. Maybe it's just psychosomatic. Either way, it always "feels" right to me.
In my lack of experience, and for i was told by my teacher., the springs are placed that way so they add more tension to counteract the tension of the strings (also done with a heavy gauge string). Ussually donde with a bad set of springs
With the middle spring attached over a shorter distance than the outer two, it isn't doing much pulling, so you have less tension than you'd get with 3 straight springs.
Definitely a franken based off Squier parts. I'd guess Korean, but my Korean Squier from the 90s had a much nicer looking neck. The curved butt end of the neck looks like a definite giveaway. Korean Strats also had those type of weird looking pickups but so did the MIM strats. Sounds better now than when it was cobbled together!
I have a early ‘80s JB Player made (at least in part) in Korea. After replacing everything but the wood, strap buttons, and neck plate(it was an odd non-Fender spacing) on it it’s become one of my best guitars. Before the overhaul it looked an awful lot like this one.
To explain the thing about the Springs it's not necessarily Superior but it is more tension for the same amount of space, because it's diagonal it has to stretch more :)
On the subject of "cheap" guitars: I've owned and played expensive as well as cheap or frankensteined ones, Fenders, Gibsons, Dean, Squier, Sunn, nameless junk... And it doesn't make a difference in how I treated them, they were allways my friends, my tools and all of them got all the attention they needed, regardless of what it said on the pricetag or the headstock. I would take my bottom of the line Squier Affinity to mr. Woodford without blinking twice if it needed expert repairs.If I would live in Canada, that is, ove here I'll take my guitars to a local repairguy in Amsterdam. Couldn't care less what it costs, just fix the thing so it can sing again. Financial value doesn't mean anything when it comes to guitars, you either play the thing because it gives you what you want or you don't, simple as that.
I have a mystery Les Paul that is a finely built instrument. I'm going to restore it (it's got issues for sure). The thing has been under my bed for the last 40 years. I bought it from a friend as a favor back in 1980 for $150. I would love to be able to identify the maker.
Eddie Van Halen famously set up his trem springs that way! I have an original Floyd Rose Manual, showing the springs set up this way, for what it's worth.
Putting spring on an angle just makes the tension stronger (stiffer), but obviously you can do exactly the same thing by putting more tension on it. So, no that does not make any sense. You only get a tiny it more perpendicular stability. Doubt if that is much at all and not doing more harm than good. All of this pure theoretical of course.