Whammy bar question and a little showing off
Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:35 pm
Hey guys, I'm new to the forum, and new to playing guitars too. I started about two months ago after a friend finally convinced me, and can finally play the F-chord without looking at my fingers
To start off, I got the SE312M off goodwill for $70, and I'm thrilled with it. I LOVE the feel of the satin neck, and the short body is a good match for my 5'4" height. It took some work to get it to playable condition though. Made in '89, the body and neck themselves are in almost mint condition, probably kept under someone's bed for decades. Only a few minor dents that can be removed if I ever repaint it. I did have to teach myself how to tune the action, intonation, floating bridge spring tension, truss rod, etc.
The first real issue was when two of the string saddles snapped at the pivot (look at images below). It is essentially impossible to find parts for this bridge, so after temporarily splinting them with some steel pin stock and epoxy, I made new saddles out of 1mm 4130 steel. I have access to a cnc mill, but my design required a tiny cutting kerf, so I had to have a shop water jet cut them for me. I then made a tiny sheet metal break that sat on my vise jaws, and bent them into shape. The photo is of just the test one, the ones on the guitar are much cleaner. All the holes were drilled and tapped prior to heat treating. For heat treatment, I hardened and tempered them to a little softer than what I normally make my knives. I then stuck them into a vibratory tumbler made out of a tupperware container screwed onto a sheet sander, along with ceramic media. This gave me a good surface to solder the saddles closed. At this point I remembered I needed to grind the divots at the top of the triangle that the strings rest in, so I ground each one to the correct height so the strings match the curvature of the neck. Then back into the tumbler for parkerization prep, which is the finish I settled on. After parking, I let them sit in some ATF I had lying around for the parked surface to absorb for corrosion resistance.
Ok, so here's where my question comes in: I'm not up to this point yet, but it bugs me that I don't have a whammy bar (vibrato, tremolo, whatever) to use with it if I ever want to. I called Yamaha, and they have long since lost nearly all information related to this guitar, including part drawings and details. I'm going to go to a guitar shop at some point to see if they have any arms that would fit this, but I'd still like to make one, as I'm sure you guys can understand.
I have to measure it with a caliper, but it seems the hole is 6mm, and there is a small spring clip at the end of the hole, I'm assuming to grip a notch at the end of a whammy bar that pushes in.
1) Does anyone have any opinion on what material the arm should be made out of? It seems most are made out of steel, but I figure something lighter like aluminum would not flop around under its own weight as easily. If it doesn't matter, brass could look interesting. I can't see a way to change the friction at all like the screw collar arms can.
2) Is there any consensus on what the "best" whammy bar attachment system is? As in threaded, push-in with screw collar, the current simple push-in with spring retention, maybe magnetic, etc.? I'll most likely remake the bridge baseplate and block out of a better steel at some point, so I can also incorporate whatever arm I want to.
Thanks in advance!
To start off, I got the SE312M off goodwill for $70, and I'm thrilled with it. I LOVE the feel of the satin neck, and the short body is a good match for my 5'4" height. It took some work to get it to playable condition though. Made in '89, the body and neck themselves are in almost mint condition, probably kept under someone's bed for decades. Only a few minor dents that can be removed if I ever repaint it. I did have to teach myself how to tune the action, intonation, floating bridge spring tension, truss rod, etc.
The first real issue was when two of the string saddles snapped at the pivot (look at images below). It is essentially impossible to find parts for this bridge, so after temporarily splinting them with some steel pin stock and epoxy, I made new saddles out of 1mm 4130 steel. I have access to a cnc mill, but my design required a tiny cutting kerf, so I had to have a shop water jet cut them for me. I then made a tiny sheet metal break that sat on my vise jaws, and bent them into shape. The photo is of just the test one, the ones on the guitar are much cleaner. All the holes were drilled and tapped prior to heat treating. For heat treatment, I hardened and tempered them to a little softer than what I normally make my knives. I then stuck them into a vibratory tumbler made out of a tupperware container screwed onto a sheet sander, along with ceramic media. This gave me a good surface to solder the saddles closed. At this point I remembered I needed to grind the divots at the top of the triangle that the strings rest in, so I ground each one to the correct height so the strings match the curvature of the neck. Then back into the tumbler for parkerization prep, which is the finish I settled on. After parking, I let them sit in some ATF I had lying around for the parked surface to absorb for corrosion resistance.
Ok, so here's where my question comes in: I'm not up to this point yet, but it bugs me that I don't have a whammy bar (vibrato, tremolo, whatever) to use with it if I ever want to. I called Yamaha, and they have long since lost nearly all information related to this guitar, including part drawings and details. I'm going to go to a guitar shop at some point to see if they have any arms that would fit this, but I'd still like to make one, as I'm sure you guys can understand.
I have to measure it with a caliper, but it seems the hole is 6mm, and there is a small spring clip at the end of the hole, I'm assuming to grip a notch at the end of a whammy bar that pushes in.
1) Does anyone have any opinion on what material the arm should be made out of? It seems most are made out of steel, but I figure something lighter like aluminum would not flop around under its own weight as easily. If it doesn't matter, brass could look interesting. I can't see a way to change the friction at all like the screw collar arms can.
2) Is there any consensus on what the "best" whammy bar attachment system is? As in threaded, push-in with screw collar, the current simple push-in with spring retention, maybe magnetic, etc.? I'll most likely remake the bridge baseplate and block out of a better steel at some point, so I can also incorporate whatever arm I want to.
Thanks in advance!