Squier '51 Projects

Greg, what made you decide to make all those modifications?

Dennis -

As they were so inexpensive, I bought three as low risk project guitars for a bit of experimentation. The reasons for changing each vary. In all cases, they could look a bit better. That's the easy part: pickguard and maybe a bit of hole filing and painting. Other reasons:

Playability (all or most): new nut, setup, strings-thru-body bridge mod (kill buzzing saddles), fret end filing (still to be done), changing pup switch to toggle

Durability and mechanical integrity (all): Threaded inserts in neck + machine screws allows neck on/off with no wood stripping. Good for travel break down (these are perfect, low risk travelers). strings-thru-body bridge mod also because the body wood is soft and strips easily -- not much holding that bridge down

Tonal variety (all different): Having three, I don't need them to sound the same as each other or my other guitars, so I'm giving a couple of these "unique" voices with pup changes, addition of tone circuit, maybe a Bigsby on one (TBD). One will remain essentially "stock" AFA pups, but I'll probably add a tone control.

I also like have somewhat unique guitars. The only "common" guitar in my collection is a Lite Ash Tele. Even that will get a few playability and durability upgrades.

Playability (all or most): new nut, setup, strings-thru-body bridge mod (kill buzzing saddles), fret end filing (still to be done), changing pup switch to toggle

Hi Greg, I am thinking of changing the bridge and the nut also, since the bridge does not seem to be great, and if I start messing with it, might as well do a bit more :-) Did you find a pre-cut nut that works off the shelf for this? If so, which one and where?

(On the bridge, I am not sure I am brave enough to try for a through-the-body bridge that will involve getting holes drilled at precisely the right place, inserts added etc .. I was thinking of just getting a better replacement bridge from GuitarFetish).

Durability and mechanical integrity (all): Threaded inserts in neck + machine screws allows neck on/off with no wood stripping. Good for travel break down (these are perfect, low risk travelers).

Not being much of a wood working guy how do you go about doing this? How do you ensure that they are at the right location so that the neck is properly aligned when you are done? Did you just drill out the existing holes and hammer in some inserts? As you say this could make for a rather good travel guitar.

Thanks.

Playability (all or most): new nut, setup, strings-thru-body bridge mod (kill buzzing saddles), fret end filing (still to be done), changing pup switch to toggle

Hi Greg, I am thinking of changing the bridge and the nut also, since the bridge does not seem to be great, and if I start messing with it, might as well do a bit more :-) Did you find a pre-cut nut that works off the shelf for this? If so, which one and where?

(On the bridge, I am not sure I am brave enough to try for a through-the-body bridge that will involve getting holes drilled at precisely the right place, inserts added etc .. I was thinking of just getting a better replacement bridge from GuitarFetish).

The quality of the original bridge is fine, and the design is good except for the string anchoring, which does not provide enough downward force on each saddle to firmly press both saddle height adjustment screws to the base plate (rattle and buzz). Going string-thru-body fixes the downward force issue. It also fixes the "soft wood" issue of the '51 by taking the string tension off the bridge screws and transferring it to the ferrules. I've found at least one bridge screw of the five close to stripped out in every one of my '51s. It makes me wonder how long before we hear about a lifting off of someone's bridge.

Difficult to do? If you are good with a scale ("ruler"), center punch and drill press (and have access), then it is pretty simple to drill the six holes in the bridge plate -- close to centered from front edge to back edge outside of L bend. Do this drilling off the guitar and don't forget to deburr the holes (top and bottom of bridge plate) to prevent string breakage. Then mount the drilled bridge plate back on the '51, and use it for a template to drill the pilot holes all the way thru the body. I recommend tape masking the back of the guitar and backing it with a soft, flat wood block to minimize damage to the back finish on the '51. Now the tough part to do nicely: Using a drill press, drill the back of the guitar to accept the string ferrules. This is where the finish is easily damaged and slight mis-alignment of the holes is cosmetically noticeable. I apply a little clear lacquer or superglue to the side of the hole before knocking in a ferrule with a rubber mallet and finally seating it with a philips screw driver and hammer.

It is not so hard to do all this and make it work, but it is really easy to botch the job cosmetically. So a replacement GuitarFetish bridge might be the easiest route. If you do this, I recommend using larger mounting screws than those supplied with the original bridge, and reinforcing the holes. For reinforcement, the easiest method is to put the screws in once and remove, lightly wax the screw threads (Chapstick or paraffin), lightly coat the threads with yellow glue and screw them in for the final time. The glue will reinforce the wood threads; the wax will keep the screws from sticking to the glue (makes 'em removeable).

Edit: Forgot to answer about the nut. I've been buying Allparts flat bottom Strat/Tele graphite nuts. These are okay, as they fit the slot pretty well; but the nut is very tall and requires a fair amout of top filing and recutting of the string slots.

Durability and mechanical integrity (all): Threaded inserts in neck + machine screws allows neck on/off with no wood stripping. Good for travel break down (these are perfect, low risk travelers).

Not being much of a wood working guy how do you go about doing this? How do you ensure that they are at the right location so that the neck is properly aligned when you are done? Did you just drill out the existing holes and hammer in some inserts? As you say this could make for a rather good travel guitar.

Thanks.

I purchased double (inside/outside) threaded brass inserts from Lowes. (These screw into the hole -- they are not hammered in.) I've used both 10-24 (a bit oversized) and 8-32 inner thread sizes. The 8-32 is an easier fit. I drilled out the four neck holes just slighty smaller than the inserts' outer diameters, waxed the inserts with soap and screwed one into each neck hole very gently using a flat blade screwdriver. The "very gently" is because the edges of the insert are easily broken making it difficult to continue insertion or removal. After doing this mod several times, I found the easiest method is to thread two inserts onto a philips-head machine screw. Make sure the inserts are snugly screwed next to each other on the machine screw, and thread the entire assembly into the neck. After the first insert is all the way in plus countersunk a couple millimeters, I back out the screw along with the second insert (which barely entered the hole), leaving the first insert firmly lodged in the neck. Repeat 3 more times. Now the neck may be mounted using 1.25 or 1.5 in 8-32 stainless steel, oval head machine screws. The body holes have to be enlarged slightly to accommodate these, as their diameters are slightly larger than the original wood screws.

A company called Vintique will do this for you for about $100 USD. DIY is considerably cheaper: I believe parts for one neck are about $5 at Lowes.

Wow Gnease, after your technical descriptions, I think you could have made a highly successful luthier.

Perhaps you, Slej and Nick can start a guitar mod and repair company ?

The quality of the original bridge is fine, and the design is good except for the string anchoring,

There were reports of other problems with the '51 bridges, most notoriously in some cases the saddle height screws were actually too small for the holes - with finger pressure I could force one through without turning it; also there were reports that the intonation adjustment screws were too short and the saddles would fall off (yes, mine too!)

That's why I went with the Schaller replacement bridge, which at the time seemed like a good alternative. A year later GFS came out with a very inexpensive replacement bridge for the '51 which got good reviews.

By the way, using the threaded inserts in the neck is genius, Gnease! I'm surprised that guitars which need to have the neck removed to afford access to the truss rod screw (such as the Fender Mustang bass) don't use those.

Perhaps you, Slej and Nick can start a guitar mod and repair company ?

I know you're joking, but I'll say that from what I've learned about DIY projects, I'd only do these for personal pleasure and use, and I would not want to do them more regularly. I'll help friends with set-ups and string changes, but that's it.
8)

Perhaps you, Slej and Nick can start a guitar mod and repair company ?

I know you're joking, but I'll say that from what I've learned about DIY projects, I'd only do these for personal pleasure and use, and I would not want to do them more regularly. I'll help friends with set-ups and string changes, but that's it.
8)

Yeah -- it's a hobby, and I enjoy it as that. In the back of my mind there is always that nagging worry about hand injuries. I know of one player-luthier/repair tech who suffered a very serious and permanent injury.

Then, of course, there's the spectre of working with Nick day after day after day -- trivializes the fears of that hand injury.

It is not so hard to do all this and make it work, but it is really easy to botch the job cosmetically. So a replacement GuitarFetish bridge might be the easiest route. (...)

Edit: Forgot to answer about the nut. I've been buying Allparts flat bottom Strat/Tele graphite nuts. These are okay, as they fit the slot pretty well; but the nut is very tall and requires a fair amout of top filing and recutting of the string slots.

Greg, Thanks very much for your detailed answer. I can do a decent job with electronics, but I am pretty bad at woodworking or machining skills, and all I have access to as far as drills go is a Makita screw-gun. So, I think I better stick to the GFS bridge.

I will follow your pointers for that. I will dig around the web to see if anyone had other pre-cut nuts which worked out well. Looks like GFS does not sell them.

One more question: any pointers on the shielding or supplies for shielding? My plan is to do the following:
- New bridge
- New nut (if I can find the right pre-cut one)
- Change strings to 10
- Shielding
- Setup
- Maybe new pickguard

I bought the guitar with a view to learning how to set up a guitar, and it's not getting much playing time right now because the setup is not that great, I need to do something with it ..

- New nut (if I can find the right pre-cut one)

I think I used the preslotted flat-bottom Tusq nut for "import" Telecasters, part # PQ 5010-00. Just needed to sand down the bottom and sides.

I will follow your pointers for that. I will dig around the web to see if anyone had other pre-cut nuts which worked out well. Looks like GFS does not sell them.
Maybe one of these will work? http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddles/String_nuts.html
One more question: any pointers on the shielding or supplies for shielding?
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding.html

I will follow your pointers for that. I will dig around the web to see if anyone had other pre-cut nuts which worked out well. Looks like GFS does not sell them.
Maybe one of these will work? http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddles/String_nuts.html
One more question: any pointers on the shielding or supplies for shielding?
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_pickups/Supplies:_Shielding.html

I've used both the Graph Tech 1865 and 1866. I prefer to start larger and file down, so usually the 1865. I've gone through lots of the 2" wide copper shielding tape, and find it does the job ... but you might like the shielding kit better.

Guys,

Thanks for all the pointers. I've ordered the Graphtech nut and the shielding kit from StewMac, will soon order the bridge from GFS as well.

my first electric was a 51.....got about 2 years ago i think. haha i had no idea they could be modded like this. very cool. slejhammer how much did it cost to make the "bel air"?