And the final step for now … Hipshot bridge and Graphtech Ratio tuners. New NYXL mixed set strings hand carried home from Sweetwater. It sounds monstrous. I’m very pleased.
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Ooh, very nice. Love the finish.
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Nice.
I have a Delano big pole pickup to put in my Squier CV 60s P. Need to get that done. And need to stop coming up with projects.
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Not a bass, granted but my tort pickguard arrived from UK today (SCRATCH PLATES) and it is a beauty.
In person it is like beautiful wagyu.
Going on my Donner Thinline Tele clone- to make me want to play it more and learn guitar.
This will be a job for the weekend.
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Stunning - like the aesthetics on this one a lot 
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If you want to commission something, the artist is nearby in Wolfsburg!
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Thanks, but I am all commissioned out for the moment. Also, I own a bass that shares some of the same aesthetics
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The ratio tuners are something else. I have the traditional one on my fender and the Y key on my Spector they are just a dream to tune especially the B and the E string.
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Agree! I spent some time getting the intonation just right too.
I don’t know if it’s the new strings, but it seems to me like the tone texture is better with the hipshot bridge. I wonder if the little bent metal one acts like an absorber or vibrates and interferes.
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Well, not happy Jan!
The pickguard looked like it fit (using a template) and laid over when attached it looked like it fit, but…
It is just enough different to not fit and not be able to be made to fit.
The neck cutout it slightly too small, which would be fixable.
It is fractionally undersize- approx 3 screwholes are in exactly to same place but others aren’t and I am unsure if the would leave exposed holes and the pickup cut outs are too big but don’t fit the plates I got without significant re-working.
To the point it is not worth starting.
A pity because the pickguard is really nice.
I may find something to use it for tho.
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That stinks.
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That’s very common when changing a pickguard. You can glue some toothpicks in the misaligned holes on the body, then cut them flush, and then drill new holes in the body where the pickguard needs screws. I do this all the time.
(on this one, you can see that I had to do something similar for the bridge, which was misaligned)
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What do you use to cut them, diagonal cutters?
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often a good’ol Olfa , but it can be a (very sharp) small wood chisel too
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Someone (I forgot who…) had recently shared this video, where you can see a master luthier do that kind of repair (from around 2 minutes up to around 8 minutes or so):
He uses different tools to cut the wooden pins/toothpicks.
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Ahh yeah, a flat blade in Olfa’s art knife would work well too.
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You know it’s true dedication when he sharpens his drill bits between drillings.
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All good ideas, one of the problems is the plates I got to sit around the pickups-nothing is aligned.
I may need to remeasure and see if I can get something that works if i go ahead with it.
This was supposed t be an easy drop-in
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I gave up trying to get the “close” to be exact, the “standards” are a mess, including on the bass manufacturer side. I now always trace and get WD to make custom ones when needed. Costs more but you get what you want first time.
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