Wooden Control and Trem Cavity Covers for SE's?
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docteurseb
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I see someone selling a set of RW tremolo+control backplates for a SE made by Guildford on Reverb, so I'd reach out to Guildford as it sure looks like they make them even though they haven't one listed themselves right now..
I've only ordered truss rod covers from Guilford and they were all top notch (now I just make mine as those aren't all that hard to do with tools).
I've only ordered truss rod covers from Guilford and they were all top notch (now I just make mine as those aren't all that hard to do with tools).
I have a Guilford cocobolo truss rod cover I picked up in John Mann's shop (which actually leaves a gap of about 1/16" to the nut on 2 Custom 24 SE's I've had it on, but no matter), and I just ordered a set of cocobolo pickup rings (which I understand do line up with the screw holes on an SE) from "pickuprings.com", which turns out to be the same physical address as Guilford, go figure.
Yeah, reaching out sounds like the best option. There has to be some demand!
docteurseb
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No gap at all on both the ones I got.It sounds like you might have gotten a USA TRC ?
The SEs have a different bottom to hole spacing (longer I think, which would explain the fairly massive 1/16” gap you’re getting).
The SEs have a different bottom to hole spacing (longer I think, which would explain the fairly massive 1/16” gap you’re getting).
Yes, I'm sure it's made to fit perfectly on a US model. With only one hole I can get away with it on a SE. The gap is effectively invisible, despite the size. Just a shadow on the black nut, which is why I said no matter.
On one guitar, I actually mounted it on top of the stock TRC, which was slightly larger and made it look like it had a black margin. Extra cool!
docteurseb
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Having tried to build backplates, unsuccessfully so far, for my Custom 24 the position of the mounting holes has to be spot on.
There is very little material left between the edge of the cover and most of the mounting holes (especially with them being countersunk); have one a little too off and the wood will break immediately.
On Private Stock models the cavities are routed deeper when ordering matching wood plates, and the resulting backplates seem to be about 2-3x thicker that on Core models; the holes still have to be accurate but you get a little more leeway.
I'm actually going to give it another shot this afternoon... crossing fingers haha.
There is very little material left between the edge of the cover and most of the mounting holes (especially with them being countersunk); have one a little too off and the wood will break immediately.
On Private Stock models the cavities are routed deeper when ordering matching wood plates, and the resulting backplates seem to be about 2-3x thicker that on Core models; the holes still have to be accurate but you get a little more leeway.
I'm actually going to give it another shot this afternoon... crossing fingers haha.
Good luck! I've thought about it. I've got the tools but not the commitment, so far.
docteurseb
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So far it's going decently well...
I did a resaw (by hand which was fun) of a highly figured board that would yield 4 sets of backplates, then surface them with a router.
So far I have three backplates...
One of them has an invisible touch up to glue a tiny piece to fix tear out.
They still need to be thinned down to the proper thickness, that part usually goes smoothly but router and curly maple never cease to surprise me.
Some sanding will be needed as they don't quite fit yet.
Of course, why am I bothering with curly maple when I could just have beautiful MDF covers ???
I did a resaw (by hand which was fun) of a highly figured board that would yield 4 sets of backplates, then surface them with a router.
So far I have three backplates...
One of them has an invisible touch up to glue a tiny piece to fix tear out.
They still need to be thinned down to the proper thickness, that part usually goes smoothly but router and curly maple never cease to surprise me.
Some sanding will be needed as they don't quite fit yet.
Of course, why am I bothering with curly maple when I could just have beautiful MDF covers ???
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Man, that MDF looks amazing! Why go any further?
Seriously, it's looking good! You've obviously done this kind of thing before. It looks like you've got a lot of thinning to do, though. They look a lot thicker standing on edge than they do flat! Are you planning to put a finish on the wood when you get an acceptable set or just fine sand it?
Thought about going into business?
docteurseb
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They're 3x thicker than they need to be, but that was intended so I can keep only the portion of the cover without tear out (whenever tear out isn't along the entire edge/thickness).
They're also ever so slightly larger than they need to be, so there's be some sanding along the edges needed before the curly maples one can fit.
I plan to match/approximate the northern lights and beach fade finishes of my two CU24s, I got decent results on truss rod covers seen in couple NGD threads posted 1-2months ago. I'm looking into whether I could used magnets with set screws in the body to avoid avoid to drill holes in those backplates.
I wouldn't make it a business, it's way too time consuming to route these manually and error/accident prone that it isn't worth my time.
However Ido have many ebony/ziricote/RW/maple truss rod covers at the moment listed on a popular guitar/music site, those are way easier to make.
They're also ever so slightly larger than they need to be, so there's be some sanding along the edges needed before the curly maples one can fit.
I plan to match/approximate the northern lights and beach fade finishes of my two CU24s, I got decent results on truss rod covers seen in couple NGD threads posted 1-2months ago. I'm looking into whether I could used magnets with set screws in the body to avoid avoid to drill holes in those backplates.
I wouldn't make it a business, it's way too time consuming to route these manually and error/accident prone that it isn't worth my time.
However Ido have many ebony/ziricote/RW/maple truss rod covers at the moment listed on a popular guitar/music site, those are way easier to make.
That is a great idea!
Cover plates notwithstanding, this is how my new little friend turned out. Guilford rings, John Mann vibrato, PRS gold hardware kit.
Now I'm thinking about putting self adhesive wood veneer on the pickup bobbins.
Now I'm thinking about putting self adhesive wood veneer on the pickup bobbins.
Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
So far it's going decently well...
I did a resaw (by hand which was fun) of a highly figured board that would yield 4 sets of backplates, then surface them with a router.
So far I have three backplates...
One of them has an invisible touch up to glue a tiny piece to fix tear out.
They still need to be thinned down to the proper thickness, that part usually goes smoothly but router and curly maple never cease to surprise me.
Some sanding will be needed as they don't quite fit yet.
Of course, why am I bothering with curly maple when I could just have beautiful MDF covers ???
What finish are you going to apply to that gorgeous MDF? Ahem, cough, cough, I mean beautiful quilt?
docteurseb
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One set will be northern lights.
I actually tweaked an approximation of it today and like the results:
Other sets will be beach fade and/or frostbite.
I book-matched swamp backplates this week-end too (the piece I had wasn't large enough to make plates out of it).
This was intended for the CU24 that will instead get NL covers, that's because the swamp ash on that guitar has a very different color than my backplates (more pale and very yellowish).
However I have another one with swamp ash back whose color is a perfect match once the plates are wet/finish, the grain though is much wilder:
So wood color matches, but the grain filler also has to match and I had never done grain filling until now...
On the first try I mixed the grain filler with Keda Liquid dyes until I got a chocolate color.
This turned too dark once finished (I'm using superglue to 'wet' the wood and get a quick idea of how things will look):
Of course I didn't take any notes. On the next try I made a progression of 9 different shades taking notes at each step as I added drops of yellow, brown, and red:
Sanded, applied superglue, and compared against the body. The middle of the piece was looking VERY close:
I tried redoing that particular color for confirmation (remember I was loosing grain filler at each new color) and that's very close.
It's too good of a match to pass on the opportunity, I'll use those swamp ash backplates for this specific guitar. I just hope I won't mess up the mounting holes this time.
I actually tweaked an approximation of it today and like the results:
Other sets will be beach fade and/or frostbite.
I book-matched swamp backplates this week-end too (the piece I had wasn't large enough to make plates out of it).
This was intended for the CU24 that will instead get NL covers, that's because the swamp ash on that guitar has a very different color than my backplates (more pale and very yellowish).
However I have another one with swamp ash back whose color is a perfect match once the plates are wet/finish, the grain though is much wilder:
So wood color matches, but the grain filler also has to match and I had never done grain filling until now...
On the first try I mixed the grain filler with Keda Liquid dyes until I got a chocolate color.
This turned too dark once finished (I'm using superglue to 'wet' the wood and get a quick idea of how things will look):
Of course I didn't take any notes. On the next try I made a progression of 9 different shades taking notes at each step as I added drops of yellow, brown, and red:
Sanded, applied superglue, and compared against the body. The middle of the piece was looking VERY close:
I tried redoing that particular color for confirmation (remember I was loosing grain filler at each new color) and that's very close.
It's too good of a match to pass on the opportunity, I'll use those swamp ash backplates for this specific guitar. I just hope I won't mess up the mounting holes this time.
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Alnus Rubra
Loving nature’s wonders
One set will be northern lights.
I actually tweaked an approximation of it today and like the results:
Other sets will be beach fade and/or frostbite.
I book-matched swamp backplates this week-end too (the piece I had wasn't large enough to make plates out of it).
This was intended for the CU24 that will instead get NL covers, that's because the swamp ash on that guitar has a very different color than my backplates (more pale and very yellowish).
However I have another one with swamp ash back whose color is a perfect match once the plates are wet/finish, the grain though is much wilder:
So wood color matches, but the grain filler also has to match and I had never done grain filling until now...
On the first try I mixed the grain filler with Keda Liquid dyes until I got a chocolate color.
This turned too dark once finished (I'm using superglue to 'wet' the wood and get a quick idea of how things will look):
Of course I didn't take any notes. On the next try I made a progression of 9 different shades taking notes at each step as I added drops of yellow, brown, and red:
Sanded, applied superglue, and compared against the body. The middle of the piece was looking VERY close:
I tried redoing that particular color for confirmation (remember I was loosing grain filler at each new color) and that's very close.
It's too good of a match to pass on the opportunity, I'll use those swamp ash backplates for this specific guitar. I just hope I won't mess up the mounting holes this time.
Great work. Well done with the NL
docteurseb
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Not sure about the magnets yet:
- I didn't find suitable set screws with the correct thread pitch, so I probably can't reuse the mounting holes (this needs to be reversible). I could instead attach magnets with double-sided tape on the side of the cavities.
- the magnets need to be strong enough to keep the backplates secure, but not so strong they'd alter the magnetic field around the pickups' pole pieces.
I'm now confident I will be able to drill holes accurately enough as long as I rely on the original plastic backplate (instead of a template of a template...). I'll have to test that on scrap wood first though.
- I didn't find suitable set screws with the correct thread pitch, so I probably can't reuse the mounting holes (this needs to be reversible). I could instead attach magnets with double-sided tape on the side of the cavities.
- the magnets need to be strong enough to keep the backplates secure, but not so strong they'd alter the magnetic field around the pickups' pole pieces.
I'm now confident I will be able to drill holes accurately enough as long as I rely on the original plastic backplate (instead of a template of a template...). I'll have to test that on scrap wood first though.
