Klein build

Roland · July 2020

I held off from inserting the neck inserts until I had time to do it carefully. There’s a lot of measure twice drill once, because everything has to more precise than with wood screws. I was glad that I have a drill press to keep things straight, and a depth stop because the holes come very close the the fretboard. As I was screwing in the inserts I wondered whether it had been worth the extra effort.

Eventually I decided yes, because the neck feels very tight.

For those of us who want to see what the finished guitar will look like here’s a trial assembly:

Those black Telecaster knobs aren’t permanent. They’re what I’ve got in the parts box. I’m wondering about turning some out of brass rather than mahogany.

The pickups are Oil City Brass Knuckles. Since these were special order only I decided to go with clear bobbins so that the coils are visible. The pickups have individual magnets in both coils, rather than bar magnets and slugs. I’m still deciding between partial taps or parallel coils for more Strat like sounds in the in-between switch positions. There’s space in the switch cavity for two trim pots.

normula1 · July 2020

I quite like the look of the black knobs

Roland · July 2020

Wired and strung today. Intonated and saddle heights set. The tuners work quite well. Far smoother than the Overlords I’ve bastardised in the past. The headpiece is holding the strings well, with no apparent slippage. The wood screws which came with the headpiece are a pile of shit. Two sheared halfway down the shanks, and the head collapsed on the third. Thankfully I have an extensive collection of real screws. All up weight is 7lb/3.2kg. Lighter than I expected.

The guitar feels quite resonant. The playing position is different from a Telecaster, and I’ll need a few days to adjust to it. Now to mess around with the switch configuration and those partial tap resistors.

Roland · July 2020

normula1 said:

I quite like the look of the black knobs

They are growing on me. They might stay out of sheer laziness, and the fact that they work well.

Roland · July 2020

The soldering iron has been on and off for the last two days while I try out different pickup switch configurations. Eventually I reversed the wires on the neck pickup because, as standard, it was out of phase with the bridge. Still playing with the trim pots to get the partial tap resistance right. Thanks @normula1 for the idea.

What I’m finding so far: the guitar neck is in exactly the same position whether I’m sitting or I’m standing with it on a strap. It encourages good hand position and technique. All that body shaping helps too.

I’m not happy with the switch location because I can’t change selection easily whilst playing. Maybe I’ll learn to live with it.

I made the wrong decision about neck dots. They are black, and don’t show up easily in poor light. White would have been better, and larger, centred on the fret board/neck join line edge. I’m not sure I can change the size or position, but I might drill them out and fit white dots.

Aside from the pickup adjustments there a little more work to do. I left the end of the neck unfinished because I wasn’t sure which head piece to use. I need to cut off the spare wood and tidy that up. I can’t find the pair of black strap lock buttons which I was going to use. I’ve fitted chrome for now, but I need to get some more black buttons next time I place a parts order.

Gratuitous pic:

GuyBoden · July 2020

Roland said:

The soldering iron has been on and off for the last two days while I try out different pickup switch configurations. Eventually I reversed the wires on the neck pickup because, as standard, it was out of phase with the bridge. Still playing with the trim pots to get the partial tap resistance right. Thanks @normula1 for the idea.

What I’m finding so far: the guitar neck is in exactly the same position whether I’m sitting or I’m standing with it on a strap. It encourages good hand position and technique. All that body shaping helps too.

I’m not happy with the switch location because I can’t change selection easily whilst playing. Maybe I’ll learn to live with it.

I made the wrong decision about neck dots. They are black, and don’t show up easily in poor light. White would have been better, and larger, centred on the fret board/neck join line edge. I’m not sure I can change the size or position, but I might drill them out and fit white dots.

Aside from the pickup adjustments there a little more work to do. I left the end of the neck unfinished because I wasn’t sure which head piece to use. I need to cut off the spare wood and tidy that up. I can’t find the pair of black strap lock buttons which I was going to use. I’ve fitted chrome for now, but I need to get some more black buttons next time I place a parts order.

Gratuitous pic:

Excellent build, well done, great job, it looks very ergonomic to play. The body colouring is very nice, I especially like the swirl.

Would you recommend the headpiece?

I have ordered the same one for my fan fret headless guitar, I have recently assembled.

Roland · July 2020

The headpiece looks OK, although the black finish wears off as soon as a string scratches it. It’s too early to say how well the threads wear. The wood screws which came with mine are complete crap.

MattNovak · July 2020

Lovely build, I've never played anything in the ergonomic style - must try out the next one I see..

Roland · August 2020

Time for an update. The Ovangkol neck has been a bit temperamental. It’s leaking a little gunk through the very thin oil finish. I’ve had this before with my cedar bodies, but that was because the cedar had been air dried for less than two years. I wasn’t expecting it with a blank which has been hanging around for quite a bit longer. It’s also a bit bendy. A 1/8th turn on the truss rod changes the relief by over 1mm. Not being sure about the headpiece I’ve not tidied up the end of the neck yet. I want to change strings a few times before deciding.

It’s needed several days to get rid of an annoying tone on the top string. It sounds like the string rattling against the frets. The frets are perfectly level where they need to be, and there’s fall off above the 15th. Raising the action wasn’t curing it. I’ve even wondered about wolf notes. The culprit turned out to be the J Custom bridge. Each saddle block has a little silver insert which carries the string. The top E insert had a small groove at the string contact point which the string vibrated in and out of. The insert also rocked in the block. A few careful stokes with a needle file, and a lot of blowing clean, seems to have sorted it.

The pickups have been up and down a number of times whilst hunting for non-existent wolf notes, and finding the best compromise of heights. I’m glad that they’re screwed into threaded inserts. I’ve also reversed the wiring on the neck pickup because they were out of phase when both pickups were in parallel.

Before deciding whether a guitar is finished I like to play it in a band context. This one has got trim pots which control how the pickups are tapped, and I won’t know whether I’ve got those right until after Sunday’s rehearsal.

Roland · August 2020

I’ve been asked for pictures of the cavities. Here’s the finished cavity and cover, showing the magnets:

One cover is grain matched, and the other is not:

Roland · August 2020

Whilst packing for the rehearsal I realised that the guitar won’t fit into any of my guitar cases. It traveled in the front seat. I’ve often wondered about making a case. If I’m going to keep and use the guitar then I’ll have to make one.

Rehearsal feedback:

Pickup combination need more thought. I liked the parallel humbucker tone, but missed the parallel single coil tone. I’ll wait to hear the recordings before making any changes.

Selector switch location is less of a problem than expected. I found I could hear/remember without being able to see the switch position.

Something which I’ll definitely have to change: I can’t see the black neck dots easily enough. I could swap to 2mm white dots, but I’m thinking about putting larger spots, possibly using 5mm fretboard dots.

That headpiece which @GuyBoden asked about, it needs a string guide. Other headpieces I’ve seen bring the string through a small entry hole which holds the string in the right position. This one doesn’t. It has a 3mm wide slot. As the grub screw turns it can push the string to any point within this, altering the string spacing.

GuyBoden · August 2020

Roland said:

That headpiece which @GuyBoden asked about, it needs a string guide. Other headpieces I’ve seen bring the string through a small entry hole which holds the string in the right position. This one doesn’t. It has a 3mm wide slot. As the grub screw turns it can push the string to any point within this, altering the string spacing.

Well done, a great build, very nice, its looks superb.

I have installed the same headpiece on my Strandberg type design, I have a nut before the zero fret, so I have no problem with string spacing. Cutting a decent nut on a fan fret was problematic, I'm on my third attempt. still not happy.

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