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DaLefty's 2015 Harley Benton Guitar Challenge - It is photo intensive
Base theme by DesignModo & ported to Powered by Vanilla by Chris Ireland, modified by the "theFB" team.
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By this stage the new scratch plate is almost finished all that is left to do is the countersunk screw holes - for the screws that hold the scratch plate to the guitars body, the screw holes that are not countersunk like the ones that will hold the pickups in place as well as the five way selector switch, and the channel for the five way selector switch.
For the non countersunk screw holes, you are going to need to use the 3mm drill bit - the attachment circled in green, to drill out the holes in the areas circled in blue in the photograph below.
For the 11 countersunk holes that hold the scratch plate to the guitars body you first want to drill out the holes in the areas circled in blue in the photograph below, or where your template indicates with the 3mm drill bit - the attachment circled in green, followed by going over each hole with the 13 mm countersink drill bit - the attachment circled in black:
All that is left to do now is the channel for the five way selector switch, to do this you will need to use the cutting disc - the attachment circled in blue, to 'kiss' the new scratch plate a few times to make a hole bog enough for the coping saw with a very fine tooth blade - the tool circled in red, to fit in and cut the channel, you want to use the cutting disc in the center of the channel, highlighted in blue in the photograph below, and cut with the coping saw in the direction indicated in red in the photograph below:
That's how I made the new scratch plate.
Here is a youtube video that shows almost exactly how I made my scratch plate, but instead of using cardboard for a template, he uses MDF, the video is speeded up, but the whole process probably took the guy under thirty minutes to complete:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-evGedydIk
And here is two videos of somebody showing you how to make a fairly complicated scratch plate using hand tools:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyt_OStsaMs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuFGq3t69n4
So you don't need fancy tools, you can do it with hand tools, it will just take a bit longer and require a bit more effort, but it is possible, the first few dozen scratch plates I made where made using nothing more than a jigsaw, razor blades and a drill.
DaLefty
Feel free to post some links to examples of your super professional mad skills and expensive world class tools, because going through your post history I can find nothing that demonstrates any of your so called skills or super expensive world class tools, just you trying to act and behave like the keyboard hero, so please feel free to prove me wrong and post examples of your work and tools
Yes I did, I even went through the effort of posting step by step instructions on how I did it too, believe whatever you want though, I honestly couldn't care less.
DaLefty
Thanks, I'vre already decided that I'm going to change the white fret markers on the front of the fretboard to either ebony or black acrylic fret markers I'm just waiting on them to be delivered, though I will probably leave the white fret markers on the side of the fretboard so that it is easy to see where you are on the fretboard.
DaLefty
It's no problem, it gives me something to do while the girfrriend watches rubbish on the idiot box, and who knows, somebody might actually find the stuff useful at some stage, though I hope to god they can find better step by step instructions than mine.
DaLefty
Actually, @DaLefty, I don't think I could find any better step by step instructions than yours... There are some gems of hints and tips here - brilliant! Thanks for posting
I am all confused ??? are the photoshopped pictures above to show how you made that perfect scratchplate by hand with the minimum of tools? It would be a lot more credible if you took pictures of an in progress one rather than photoshopping over a completed guard.
I will hold my hand up and say there is no way i could get results that good with the tools and techniques you have described, so I am very interested in seeing any techniques which would allow me to improve
There is no shame in buying a pre-made guard
Instagram
I didn't make another scratch plate just so I could take photos of how I made the first one, so I just used GIMP to edit a photo of the finished scratch plate to show how each stage was done to create the scratch plate.
Believe me I wish there was a ready made scratch plate that fitted the Harley Benton Left Handed Stratocaster Guitar Kit, or if there is I couldn't find one. I tried several different ones, M.I.A. Fender, M.I.J. Fender, M.I.M. Fender, Squier, Yamaha, I even ordered a Harley Benton one in white pearl from Thomann, they don't do a H.S.S in white or didn't have one in white two weeks ago, so I was going to alter my planned colour scheme to avoid making a scratch plate or paying over £60 to have one made for me before I resorted to making my own. I was rather shocked to find out that the Harley Benton spare parts are designed to fit some of the Harley Benton premade guitars not even all of their guitars and Squiers, but not their kit guitars. None of the ones I tried or the one I ordered in was even a close enough a fit to be slightly altered to make it fit the kit guitar, they where all either far too long that either the neck pocket and neck pickup would have to be merged and the neck side of the scratch plate reshaped quite dramatically, or the bridge pocket and bridge pickup would have to be merged and the bridge side of the scratch plate reshaped dramatically, or they where too tall and would either hang below the bottom of the guitars body, or where too high up that the holes for the pickups where half over the pickup cavity and half over the body. I really do wish there was a premade scratch plate that would fit the kit, I had actually planned on having at least 2 different pickup set ups, one S.S.S and one H.S.S, possibly three with one of them being two single coils and a bass guitar pickup, but there was no way I was going to fork out over £200.00 to have two or three scratch plates made for me, so I was sort of forced to make my own. Not to mention that it took me two nights to make the scratch plate, that's two nights that I could of been working on other things for the project if I could of simply bought one that fit off the shelf.
And I wouldn't be too impressed with it, there are a few areas especially around the neck pocket that are quite rough, especially above the neck pocket, and the bottom horn of the scratch plate is not shaped quite right, it's proportion is off a little, perhaps even more than a little off, compared to the rest of the scratch plate, not to mention I used a countersink bit far too big which has caused me to have to order screws with a larger head on them. It is nowhere near perfect, if you actually look at it closely you can see it's not quite right and something is off about it shape wise, nor would I say I used the minimum amount of tools possible for the job.
As far as in progress pictures go, I might make another scratch plate to accommodate a bass guitar pickup and two single coils, it's an idea I really want to try out if I can find the right style of bass guitar pickup, I'm loking for something the same shape and size as a Seymour Duncan Quater Pounder bass guitar pickup but with a blade shaped magnet, and not single mangets dedicated and spaced for each string, the style of pickup found on a Fender Jazz bass guitar, or the style of pickups found on a Fender Precision bass guitar, but again with a blade magnet in them, and not individual magnets spaced for each string. If I can source one of them, I'll make another scratch plate and make sure I take photos of every single step I do since it's seems to have caused some form of uproar that I didn't take pictures of every single step that I went through to make the scratch plate. But I'm not going to make a scratch plate for the standard three single coil configuration, neither I am going to use the one that came with the kit since I moved two screws, so nine out of the eleven screws line up with each other on both scratch plates. I may at a later date make it, but that will only be if the guitar turns out to be better than I am expecting it to be.
DaLefty
Instagram
Glad you find it worth reading, and that it's not boring you to death or self harm.
Thanks, my advice is to take it slow, and plan on screwing up, don't do it on purpose, but if it is the first scratch plate you are going to make, expect to make mistakes and not get things quite right, material wise I would recommend that you buy quite a lot more than you think that you will need, for example if you are making one scratch plate, buy enough material to make four or five scratch plates. Always support the scratch plate as you are working on it, you want it held and supported firmly so that it doesn't move around when you are cutting it, allowing the scratch plate to vibrate and shake freely is a sure way for it to crack and snap, when drilling out holes have it clamped down to a sacrificial piece of wood so that not only will it not move, but also that you are drilling through it into something, not through it into air, It's cool that your wife makes jewelry, she will be able to show you how to use a Dremel to it's full potential, and how to getr the most out of it and the hundreds of attachments that are available for them, not to mention she will more than likely have a very very good selection of attachments and accessories for it that you can borrow and put to good use.
Steady on, I'm glad you're enjoying the thread, and if it helps you out in any way that's great, but lets not get carried away here.
DaLefty
So after leaving the guitar to cure for a week in a nice heated room it was ready for actually finishing the finish, and begining to put the guitar together, on Thursday the 9th of April I sprayed three light thin coates of nitrocellulose lacquer on the guitars body, then hung her to cure in a heated dry room for a week, after the week, she was brough back into my Laboratory of Mayhem to receive the final sanding to make sure that the layers of nitrocellulose lacquer are nice even and smooth this was done with 1000 grat and 1500 grit sandpaper.
The finished finish front:
And here is the front of the guitar's body after two coats of black tattoo ink, three thin coats of nitrocellulose lacquer, it's turned out how I hoped it would, black nut not opaque, the grain of the wood is still visible, and it's matt, it's not a high gloss finish which is the standard for a black finiah on a guitar.
The finished finish back:
Here is the back, it received the same two coats of tattoo ink and three thin coats of nitrocellulose lacquer just like the front of the guitars body, the piece of dowel that was used to fill in the hook hole is quite easy to see, it makes me wish that I had filled in the hol for the strap bitton on the horn, and placed the trap button in the dowel instead, especially with the style and size of the strap button that I'm using as you will see.
Shielding part 2:
Now that the body was finished, as well as it's finish, it was time to finish of shielding the guitar. To do this I used conductive copper shielding tape to line the inside of every cavity, including the cavity for the jack, because the cavity for the jack is connected to the main cavity for the electrics by a hole, and it's impossible to line the inside of the hole with conductive copper shielding tape to connect the jack cavity with the cavity for the electrics, what I do is use a guitar string to connect both cavities to each other, I like to use a 'G' string for this, firstly because it is not too thin, so it will not cut it's way through the conductive copper shielding tape that is holding it in place, secondly because it is not too big, so it won't take up much of the space in the hole that connects these two cavities, and thirdly, who doesn't like g strings?
First caviity final shielding:
Here is the cavity for the tremolo system shielded for the final time with conductive copper shielding tape over the graphite conductive shielding paint, the graphite conductive shielding paint provides not just shielding but also a very good surface for the conductive copper shielding tape to stick to, I placed a tab of conductive copper shielding tape outside the cavity on the guitar's body where it will make good contack with the backplate, which will have the inner side of it covered in conductive copper shielding tape, after all shielding a guitar is basically making a Faraday cage
Second cavity final shielding:
Here is the second and final cavity in the back of the guitars body shielded with conductive copper shielding tape, that is now all of the cavities in the back of the guitar's body finished being shielded.
The first hardware installed:
Finally the first piece of hardware is mounted, the battery compartment, not the most exciting part, but it is the first of the modifications that I'm using that I've mounted, here it is in the closed position.
Battery compartment in the open position:
Here it is in the open position, like I said not the most exciting of parts, but it is the first to be mounted so it deserved a mention and a photograph or two.
So that is the back of the guitar shielding finished, next up was to finish sheilding the cavities in thr front of the guitar's body with conductive copper shielding tape.
First front cavity shielded with conductive copper shielding tape:
Here is the first of the cavities in the front of the guitar's body shielded with conductive copper shielding tape.
Second front cavity shielded with conductive copper shielding tape:
Here is the second of the cavities in the front of the guitar's body shielded with conductive copper shielding tape, again like with the cavity for the tremolo system I have made a tab with conductive copper shielding tape where I know it will come in contact with the back of the scratch plate which will ce covered in conductive copper shielding tape in order to make a Faraday cage.
Third and final front cavity shielded with conductive copper shielding tape:
The last of the shielding with the conductive copper shielding tape is complete, the cavity for the jack is connected with an inch or two of a 'G' string to the electronics cavity through the hole which connects the two cavities. The copper and black looks pretty cool, it kind of makes me wish that I had made a scratch plate out of copper.
Insulating the circuit board cavity:
This cavity will house a circuit board, to prevent it from shorting out I have lined it with some foam, the foam is attached to the conductive copper shielding tape with some double sideed tape, there is a channel cut into the foam for the red and black battery wires to get to the hole that leads to the battery cavity in the back of the guitar's body. The only thing left to do now shielding wise is to cove the back of the scratch plate and backplate in conductive copper shielding tape.
DaLefty
Shielding the scratch plate:
Here is the back of the scratch plate, in order for the conductive copper shielding tape to have a good surface to stick to I like to scuff up the back of the scratch plate with something along the lines of 240 grit sandpaper, then give it a quick wipe down with some isopropyl alcohol to remove all the grease from the back of the scratch plate.
The scratch plate almost complete:
Here is the scratch plate almost complete.
The scratch plate complete with conductive copper shielding tape:
Here is the scratch plate complete with conductive copper shielding tape, the only thing left to do to it is to cut out the holes for the volume and two tone pots, but I will leave that until I'm ready to actually unstall the volume and tone controls.
The shielded scratch plate from the front:
Here is what the completed shielded scratch plate looks like from the front.
The backplate:
The backplate was treated just like the scratch plate, it was scuffed up with 240 grit sandpaper for the conductive copper shielding tape to have a good surface to stick to, then gave it a quick wipe down with some isopropyl alcohol to remove all the grease from the back of the scratch plate.
The backplate completed with conductive copper shielding tape:
Here is the backplate completed with conductive copper shielding tape.
The shielded backplate from the front:
Here is what the completed shielded backplate looks like from the front.
That is all the shielding complete, now I can start to assemble the guitar
Strap buttons:
After installing the battery compartment on the back of the guitar I decided that the next piece of hardware that I should install on the guitar should be the strap buttons. I didn't like the ones that came with the guitar kit, so I decided to use something different and better, the photo above shows the ones I used, they used to be known as bass guitar strap buttons, but nowadays they are just called oversized or jumbo strap buttons, the strap buttons on the right of the photograph are the ones that came with the guitar kit, they are the standard 15mm in diameter, the ones I'm using are 20mm in diameter, which is why I wish I relocated the strap button that is on the horn onto the piece of dowel that I used to fill in the hook hole inbetween the neck screws, it is larger than the diameter of the piece od dowel that I used to fill in the hook hole, it would of hidden it no problem.
To give you an idea of the size of the strap buttons:
This should give you an idea of just how big the strap buttons I am using are.
Both strap buttons installed:
Here is both strap buttons installed, as you can see they are not for the faint hearted.
Tools Used;
Double Sided tape
Conductive copper shielding tape
Scissors
Stanley knife
Phillips head screwdriver
Foam
Oversized strap buttons
Battery compartment
G string
Total Cost So Far;
£3.00 for three ply scratch plate blank
Number Of Fingers Lost; 0
DaLefty
So it was time to finish off the ghost frets on the fretless neck, I changed my mind yet again on the fretboard inlays, I wasn't going to use the ebony nor acrylic inlays that I had ordered, instead I decided to get all posh and fancy, I ordered some 6mm black mother of pearl inlays for the fretboard, I figured if I was going to do it, I might as well do it properly and in style.
The black mother of pearl inlays:
So here are the black mother of pearl inlays that I got to replace the white mother of pearl inlays that came installed in the fretboard of the kit guitar, I was actually surprised to find out that the inlays they used on the fretboard where mother of pearl and not plastic. The measurement of the inlays that I am using are 6mm in diameter by 2mm in thickness. Those of you who can count will notice that I have eleven inlays, and I only need ten, so I have one extra inlay incase I fuck up, or lose one when I drop them on the workshop floor.
Checking to make sure the new inlays are the correct size:
This is not an accurate way to do it, but it is a quick way to roughly tell if the inlays you have are the right size, there are two sizes that are generally used for dot inlays, 6mm and 8mm, and to be honest, for the cost of them, you might as well order both sizes just to cover your arse and make sure you have the size you need. So now that I know I have the right size, it's time to remove the old inlays and install te new ones.
There are several ways in which to remove inlays, you can drill a small hole in the old ones and use a scriber to pull or gently pry the old ones out, if they are plastic you can use a soldering iron and heat up a piece of metal to remove them with a combination of melting and digging them out, or you can use a screw to pull them out. No matter which way you choose to do it they all take roughly the same length of time, so I figured I would show you how to do it with the least amount of tools possible, and using no specialised tools, but tools everyone would probably have in their home.
The nail method:
Since finding out that the fretboard inlays that came with the kit are white mother of pearl that ruled out using any of the soldering iron methods, so I decided to use the nail and screw method, this really is the simplest and least tool intensive method there is. The first thing you want to do is to press a sharp nail into the inlay, you want to do this so when putting a screw into the inlay you have a starting point for the screw, so you don't have to worry about the screw or the screw driver slipping around on the fretboard scratching it all up. Once you have a reasonable mark to work with you then want to take a screw that is a few cm in length and screw the screw into the fretboard.
Removing the inlay with a screw:
Once you have the screw in the inlay, you don't want to the screw to go through the inlay into the fretboard behind it but just into the inlay itself even if it is only into the inlay by 1mm, you just grab the screw with a pair of needle nose pliers and gently pull it up, and it will remove the inlay neatly, or if not neatly, it will break the inlay up to the point where you can turn the fretboard over and the broken up inlay will fall out, or you can use the nail to pick out the broken inlay.
The inlay removed:
Following the above steps will give you this, all you need to do is repeat it another eight times, and you will have removed all of the old inlays from the fretboard like in the above photo, all that is left to do know is to glue the new fret markers in to the fretboard, allow the glue to dry and then level the inlays to make sure they don't stick out above the rest of the fretboard.
Installing the new black mother of pearl inlays:
Putting new fret markers in is a lot easier and quicker than it is to take them out.
First you flood with glue:
The first thing you need to do is to fill the hole left in the fretboard by removing the old fret inlay with glue, for this I'm using Titebond III, but you can use super glue just as well, though with super glue you have to be careful about spilling any on the face of the fretboard.
Drop in the new inlay:
Now it's simply a case of pushing the new fret inlay into place and wiping away the excess glue with a damp cloth, then just repeat this process another nine times, you'll notice from the photo above that the new inlay sits a little above the face of the fretboard, once the glue has fully dried and is holding the inlay in place, it can be scrapped, and / or sanded down to become flush with the fretboard.
All inlays in place:
All inlays are in place, all excess glue has been wiped away, the new inlays have not been scrapped or sanded flush with the fretboard yet, I find it best to wait until the glue has fully dried before I beging to level the new fret inlays, otherwise you will find that you will just pull out the new inlays you have just installed.
Letting the new inlays dry in place:
I find the best way to glue new inlays into place is to clamp a scrap piece of wood over them to hold them in place, I'll leave them like this for at least 24 hours to allow the glue to fully dry and get a good firm grip of the new inlays before I remove the clamps and start to level the new inlays with the fretboard.
Tools Used;
Screw
Phillips head screw driver
Nail
Cloth
Water
Clamps
White wood glue
Needle nose pliers
Black mother of pearl inlays
Total Cost So Far;
£3.00 for three ply scratch plate blank
£2.99 for the black mother of pearl inlays
Number Of Fingers Lost; 0
DaLefty
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