Heh - gonna destroy my only Floyd axe...

[deeaa]

I got bored with the Floyd on my Yamaha...and the guitar needs a complete work-over anyway...so I ordered a Gibson-style wraparound-bridge and I'll do the Davette thing on the axe...rip out the Floyd, carve a large opening in its place and glue in a big block of new wood...plane it nice and install a fixed bridge. Sand down and slightly V-shapify the neck, re-shape the headstock, sand and re-finish the entire body. Might install a single EMG at the neck position...or then just cover the holes therein. Haven't decided on that yet. One interesting idea I'm thinking of as well is to get a nice, not thick, maple veneer and plane the entire top down to accommodate for it...it would make for a nice looking new wood surface and cover all the unnecessary holes simultaneously.

First step is go buy a proper router, been thinking abut getting one for ages anyway, and then start looking for possible maple veneer top to use.

 

[Eric]

Cool -- that should be an interesting project. Are you going to track that via blog?

 

[deeaa]

Maybe I should, yeah. Actually I came up with an idea to cover the guitar front with sheet metal after the block is glued...

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[Eric]

Sheet metal? Why?

 

[deeaa]

It needs a lot of work to get a nice finish when the block of different wood is embedded under the bridge...and it has two single coil slots to cover too...be easier to cover the entire front with either a slab of wood like a maple cap...but that means again lots of work for controls routing etc...so easiest would be to cover all front or most of it with one thin sheet like a huge picguard a la sg that extends under the bridge too...so why not a sheet of metal! It is thin and rather unique...

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[Tig]

This could turn out cool!

 

[deeaa]

It could, if I can pull it off nicely, methinks.

I'm thinking just regular sheet metal would be fine, but copper would be an option too. Even easier to tool and might turn to an interesting color over time. It'd be way too bright at first, though. Something to ponder and look for...I'll have to find a suitable sheet of metal somewhere, and not gonna buy a huge one either just for this. Aluminum would be nice too but I doubt I could find a nice sheet cheap.

I've seen some guitars with covers made of that diamond pattern stuff they make truck stepboards etc. of, it's too metal-looking IMO for this, but a possibility, if I can locate such a sheet.

I'm gonna look for a suitable metal/wood bonding agent today in the shop, because I want a tight fit and hold, no screws or possibility for rattling metal etc. and for same reason I'll fill the empty pickup cavities beneath with some foam or something. Already located my vices, got eight of those here so I should be able to glue it nice&tight when I find a suitable material.

 

[marnold]

I was about to recommend diamond plate.

 

[Katastrophe]

Another "Dee-constructed" project! Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[deeaa]

Heh yeah...just finished taking the apart. Bought a router and a bit that I now realize is too short...and a big enough plate of aluminum to cover both sides if I like. Next will need to rip out the Floyd inserts but before that, need to mark the saddle medium line on the body sides so I can put in the new bridge in correct spot for intonating. Also got a big pack of 2-component glue that should be rock solid forever, thats stuff that can be used to fix heavy plates on stone walls even.

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[deeaa]

Here's some progress info:

Got everything taken apart, drew outlines to the aluminum sheet & got the router sorted...so all that remains now is to start working! I'll first have to route the cavity for the wood block (in the picture; I'll make it smaller first tho) and then glue it in and await a day or two...then saw and shape the aluminum & glue that on and again wait a few days...and meanwhile need to go over the neck. Already gave it a slight fret job and cleansed and oiled the fretboard nice. Next ripping off the lacquer and reshaping it gently.