FT Stringlock base...

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Just back from a few days out of town, and Ricks' parcel was waiting when I got home, so I got on with it... :-) Thanks, buddy, for sending them to me!!

These are the beta versions, so I wasn't expecting too much, and Rick had told me that, but these are GOOD... I was, quite frankly, gob smacked

...OK, so there are casting imperfections in the aluminium, but, really, who the hell  - outside of Rick - cares a jot about that?! Nothing that a coat of paint won't fix!

The bottom plates did require some effort to push home, but nothing that wasn't manageable without tools, though a pair of tweezers and a set of small sidecutters - used for the rubberised handles - made pushing the plates home into the recess easier; the top plates are fine and require nothing at all special. And remember; those holes in the plates line up PERFECTLY with the holes in the base...

Not sure that I'd buggerise around with re-casting these just because they are a tight fit in the recess; a bonus is that you ain't gonna lose the bottom plates too easily!!

I'll drill and tap the holes tomorrow and whack one onto a guitar....



... underneath; looks crisp and sharp!



... bottom plates installed; a little jiggery-pokery required!



... top plates on; no problems at all!

The units seem light after handling the pot metal OEM versions, but not flimsy or insubstantial; just different!

This is great, Rick - you do good work!

Noice - look forward to seeing them on a GEETAR 

corsair wrote:...Not sure that I'd buggerise around with re-casting these just because they are a tight fit in the recess; a bonus is that you ain't gonna lose the bottom plates too easily!!

Exactly what I have been thinking all along John. Anything that captures these little buggers is an improvement!

Great team work fellas!!

Thanks John  and Barry

I have another package coming your way in the next day or so.  I want to send one with the locking bits I will be casting in the next day or so.

The mounting holes and strings lined up on my guitar, however I did not mess with my locking bits as I only have a few sets that Sgt. Vimes so kindly sent me.

I hope we get a thumbs up from John once he has it mounted on a guitar!

They are quite a bit lighter than my original, I noticed that too, better for shipping?

I can cast them in other metals too, anyone want to sent me a pound of gold to play with?    lol

I do like the aluminum because we can anodize them and dye them any color we like, well except in white for some reason...

I have a few lil bugs to work out with the anodizing/dyeing process but I hope to have that worked out soon, I think it was buffing compound.

That's just so fantastic Rick, not only a better replacement part, but also the option to have them in colour!

Right. Here is the guitar to be used... Spectrum X198MB LX.  Excuse the filthiness of the thing...


... and here is the OEM stringlock in situ.... note the little packing pieces of paper in the lock recess and I note, too, that the botton plates on the OEM lock are most reluctant to shift!!



... and here, after drilling and tapping - 4mm x 0.75 for the bolt holes and 3.3mm holes for the screws if you're interested - is the new model, made by Rick...



So far, so good!!

After opting not to use the OEM lock plates, I got some of the new ones that David Blair sent me, and after humming and hawing about it, decided to just belt them in, rather than delicately filing the edges of said lock plates, and it worked a treat.

And here it is, suited and booted!!



.... take no notice of the finish on the base - the paint was still soft and I'll need to re-do that one! Holes all lined up beautifully, though you've got to be extra careful and get them exactly vertical; I have a drill press and still got one a little crooked because I took not enough care putting the piece in the press vice!

Now... strings... hang on a minute....

...at this stage I took stock of the poor, bloody thing and decided a jolly good clean and polish was in order and commenced a strip down...



My goodness! I have been in here at some stage, eh! That;'s my doing on the reverse of the cover plate...



45s front and back...

... everything was de-soldered and dismantled, ready for cleaning the thing to within an inch of its' life!!



...se the Goldo backbox in there i installed in Jersey!

lastly, in pieces on the bench...



At this stage, I am sorely tempted to re-finish it simply because it is black and gets no love at all around here, but the stark reality is that I have yet to pay Don for the 'new' Avenger and have the Corsair which needs some expenditure, so probably just cleaned, polished and set up again will be its' fate...

Ricks' stringlock will be going onto it, too - it felt really good and firm when I ran the bolts into it!!

All in all, I feel a win coming on!!

Looking like a "win" to moi aussi!

(And the designer rust is a nice touch too. )

John,

You are going down the same rabbit hole as I did!

Come on down and meet Alice, she knows how to avoid the queen!

But seriously looking good, I cant wait to see it together with some strings clamped in!

Mate.... this is the rabbit hole I live in; the queen is a personal friend and Alice, well, she's away getting banged by the Wizard of Oz!! 

It's all looking and feeling pretty damn good, Rick, although the caveat here, as always, will always be not to over-tighten the bolts!

If they over tighten, I’m like Doritos, I’ll make more!

That's the spirit!!  

Anyway, I have completed ablutions on the LX and have bolted the string lock on... to whit...

... and for those who were wondering what the thing looks like now, I offer these 2... not exactly Damians' X350MA with its' boiled sweet vibe and utterly gorgeousness, but a very nice Spectrum nonetheless!!



... gloss metallic black is the absolute pits to keep clean, I tell you; everytime you touch the damned thing, you leave marks!



... and you know, when I'm done with it - strung it up and thrashed it about for a bit to check on the viability of the aluminium stringlock - it'll probably go back into a case for another 3 years...

Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it as a guitar; it makes all the right noises however you want to make them but - (and I am ashamed at the sheer trivialness of this) - it is black. I am not terrifically keen on black guitars...

We're done here... I've strung it up, re-set the action and intonation and given it a damn good thrashing, to quote Basil Fawlty, and it's a keeper! I'm going to leave the new lock on rather than faff about and replace the OEM one that came off it because I think it's going to be just fine!

Outstanding
And you have it looking all pretty too

I’m going to be sending you the other one to try out on Monday!

Well done boyz!

Outstanding! And I guess a tad more stable than the resin base?

John I love that LX, reminds me (again) of the lovely black sx I sold to GasMan, I still regret letting that one go and miss it often