FT wang bar...

Rightio, peoples - I am going to make me a bar for the FT trem on the SX. yes... I know I could just buy one but the ones that are sold as "metric, imported" aren't quite the ones for the FT; they're fine for the Deluxe, though.

Hies me forth to the friendly local engineer, who even before I've opened my gob, espies what I have in my hand and says "Nope!"

Whereupon we all fall about laughing....

... however, he says he cannot make one with what he has on hand; 6mm high tensile bar stock not being a big over in Maryborough, Qld.

"Hell!" thinks I.. "Hi tensile, eh?" "Yep" replies friendly engineer and says even if he did, cutting the threads into h-t is a bitch and that factory threads are rolled on... and that the bends should really be heated, bent and then re-annealed....

This is getting real ugly, real fast....

A ray of hope does the friendly engineer shine for me... "Whip along to the local bolt shop and get two long 6mm bolts and I'll cut, weld and grind one up for you!"

And so here we are...



... the bolt shop had 150mm bolts so I grabbed two and shall whizz them into the friendly engineer tomorrow. He'll carve the heads off and cut & weld the two together, grind 'em back and then bend the thing up by heating and re-annealing. This isn't going to be cheap, but it's a small project that keeps me off the streets!! Economies of scale are in play here, I guess; it costs peanuts to set up jigs and stuff and run off a few thousand, but to make one from scratch is a beggar of a thing.

Oh, he did say that the machined groove just above the threads is most likely a stress relief device...



So there we go, good folk - something to be going on with!!

More anon....

By heck John, you're a sucker for pain ain't ya?

It does look like a more complicated project than first meets the eye. And that stress relief groove is an interesting design consideration. Good old Uncle Mats!

That stress relief, interesting, I don't think that I fully understand why?! 

Cool project!  Excited to see how this works out...

The Chad wrote:That stress relief, interesting, I don't think that I fully understand why?!...

I think the idea is to transfer the compression area (movement) from the radiused portion to the straighter section. Being slightly smaller in diameter at the groove means it offers less resistance and will move easier than fighting the curve.

Theoretically, it should stop premature metal fatigue "at the bend" and maintain the integrity of the bar's function.
Then again, how often have you seen a wang bar actually fail?

Good explanation, right on.  That's what I was thinking, how often does a bar fail?   But seems a good idea anyhow. 

I suppose if you repeatedly work the bar like Godzilla after a bad movie date you could do serious damage to not only the bar but the connection point in the bridge. Some relief in that area would be welcomed in that case.

I'm also wondering if it might add a little bit of "liveliness" or spring to the bar?

I had bars bend at the insertion point before, but that little stress relief would probably do nothing to prevent that?  NEVER buy a cheap Kahler bar, just saying.    They bend!

The groove is to enable the nylon insert to bed in.

The nylon insert can be tightened with the bar in position with the adjustable locknut.

The bit that goes walkies.

You know, I've never seen such a nylon piece on any Bendmaster bridge - I've seen the nylon washer underneath the Deluxe bridgeplate, but that's all - fascinating!!

Interesting,too, that a manufacturing engineer saw that groove and immediately saw it as a stress relief process, eh!!

corsair wrote:You know, I've never seen such a nylon piece on any Bendmaster bridge...

Me neither.

Barry wrote:

corsair wrote:You know, I've never seen such a nylon piece on any Bendmaster bridge...

Me neither.

You've obviously never looked.

It's a sleeve just above the thread in the block. The lock nut tightens down on it to tension your trem arm.

It sits right where the so called 'stress relief' groove is. When you tighten the adjustable locknut down on it the nylon is forced to grab onto the wang bar, simple really. Stress relief, no.

Ahhhh, ok - I see it in there!! And you're right; I've never looked down the hole! 

Gonna do just that right now.... 

So, winding the collar down crushes the nylon sleeve into the wang bar, and especially into that groove, to put some tension onto it to stop it swinging around like a dogs nuts?

Ah, once again schooled by the master. There is indeed a grommet/washer in there. So the simplest explanation is the correct one. Ya gotta admit though it was a heck of an attempt at an explanation!

Now, on to to another thing. Here's a pic of the bar from my 1986 Spectrum SX with a Bendmaster Deluxe:


They've simplified things quite a bit. No groove.

A completely different set up to the FT type though being fully adjustable to any angle for the trem arm.

Screws into these magoodies.

Ta-da!!

Truth be told I had forgotten that these were sat waiting at the engineers to be uplifted.... what a twat!

Simply beautiful job of welding, grinding and bending and with a gloss coat, you'd never know the bloody difference....

... and for the princely sum of $A40.00; job done!

Result!!   

Neat!
Good thing you are independently wealthy.

And, good too that you have another project guitar to work on!
The populace can rest easy while you're off the streets of Oz playing with your wang bar.

I thought $A40 was a good price, once you take into account the amount of fiddly hands-on faffing about, eh!

Especially for a one-off piece...

Besides, Lucy has horses and they make all other pastimes look positively cheap by comparison!!

Horsies?

Now that is definitely more pricey than a wang bar.

$$$$

Hell, yes they are!!

Still.... I have a few things to be buying up next year, eh... heat's off this kiwi!! 

Hmmmmmmm.... that Hannes bridge is looking REAL good...

Damian... is there any problem leaving a locking nut on as a nut, on a hardtail?!

corsair wrote:
Damian... is there any problem leaving a locking nut on as a nut, on a hardtail?!

String it up and see.....

 As you know a thou here and there can make a big difference.

You should be able to get the spare parts for that Kahler.

... and what Kahler would that be?! I have the hole for a Kahler, but no actual Kahler... and I'm not paying for a new one! Besides, I've got wang bar guitars everywhere, but few hardtails...

Err, the question you asked about a locking nut, duh!

Westbone wrote:Err, the question you asked about a locking nut, duh!

Hahahaha... sorry, Damian; I thought you were referencing the non-existent bridge!!

Yes, you can get the locking dohickeys etc. from Wammiworld....