Transcript
Res-O-Glas Guitar Body Product Disclaimer Res-O-Glas™ Guitars and related parts are not toys. This product contains small pieces that are choking hazards. Assembly should be completed only by adults or by children 16 years of age or older. Construction of this kit should only begin after thoroughly reading the enclosed instructions. Any modifications made to this product should be completed while wearing protective eyewear. This product has sharp edges and should be handled with care. When touching the edges of the guitar (such as when applying the white stripe binding), protective gloves should be worn. Your Res-O-Glas guitar body should be kept away from extreme hot or cold temperatures, whether unfinished or as a completed guitar. Consult the specific manuals of any tools used to build this product for proper safety tips and care. House Brands, LLC, the manufacturer of this product, does not manufacture or endorse any electronic equipment supplier or manufacturers to be used in conjunction with this guitar body. All installed electronics should be checked and tested by a professional prior to use.
WARNING!!! HANDLE WITH CARE Fiberglass Product May Have SHARP Edges! Res-O-Glas Guitar Building Preface These guitar bodies accept 2-3/16" wide necks with a square heel style finish (Telecaster, Epiphone bolt-on, Eastwood). Virtually any scale length neck is possible with this guitar body since the design accommodates a floating bridge (not included) that can be moved forward or back to achieve proper intonation. Wherever possible we have used the most commonly owned tools to complete this project and purposely shot our photos in a typical basement workshop setting using these types of tools. The assembly of a Res-O-Glas Guitar is different from traditional guitar kits and we recommend that you read the instructions in their entirety before you begin construction to ensure that you have all of the tools necessary to complete your project, and that you are comfortable with the build level of the project.
Tools and Supplies Needed To Complete Your Guitar Philips and flat head screwdrivers of various sizes Soft cloth to cover work area Drill and various drill bits Dremel tool or hobby saw (if routing body for pickup selector) Diagonal pliers Pencil or pen Yardstick or T-square Clamps Two tubes of Loctite Quick Set epoxy (or similar brand) Sandpaper Eye protection Additional Guitar Parts Needed to Complete Guitar (not included with guitar body) Guitar neck Tuning pegs Strings Pickups, pots, input jack and all related electronics Universal mount pickup ring(s) and pickguard (optional). These items are all available at our store www.guitarkitsusa.com if you have not already purchased them. If you do not have the necessary parts to complete the project and would like to return the guitar, please do not open your package any further. Contact
[email protected] to coordinate the return of your product. Please mark the subject of your email “return.”
Before making any modifications to your guitar body it is important that you test the guitar neck you intend to use for fit. Please note: The fit of the guitar neck on this model is different from conventional guitar necks. When installed, the guitar neck will sit approximately 3/4" to 7/8" above the surface of the guitar body. This is similar to the original Res-O-Glas Guitars manufactured in the 1960’s.
Photo of vintage Res-O-Glas Neck and Body
Photo of New Res-O-Glas Body with Tele* style neck
Res-O-Glas Body Contents Fiberglass guitar top (A) Fiberglass guitar bottom (B) binding (C) Internal maple block–top (D) Internal maple block–bottom (E) Neck plate bag (F) Internal wood support blocks (G) Foam (H), Bridge Base (I), Bridge (J).
Instructions Before assembly, place a sheet or towel over your work area to protect the body from scratches. Our guitar bodies and parts were designed to allow multiple configurations and accept numerous parts. We encourage you to design your own one-of-a-kind guitar. Given this flexibility, we suggest you lay out your guitar design prior to assembly and make sure that you have all the parts necessary to complete the project. Be sure to confirm that the wire length you have between your pickups and pots is sufficient (or make sure that you have the wire necessary to extend the length of the connections), and that parts such as the volume, pots or pickup selectors do not interfere with the internal wood support blocks of the guitar. Finalize your design before drilling or making any modifications to the body. The photo below shows the interior of a nearly completed Res-O-Glas Guitar prototype. The neck pickup is about to be wired to the selector switch. We selected this photo as an example of how a neck pickup wire is threaded through the center support block and it shows how pots can be located near the wood support blocks, and how the location of these wood parts will affect the potential location of your pots and switches.
We suggest making a template of the interior wood parts of your guitar out of cardboard or paper. Place the template on top of your guitar as a visual aid when laying out your guitar design. The ideal location of the five interior support wood blocks for the Jetsons model is noted on the bottom of the guitar by five small dimples. These marks indicate where the connecting screws enter the back of body. The Belmont style guitar does not have these markings.
Tracing the wooden blocks on paper.
Concern: Pots located too close to the internal center wood block – Neck pickup wire not long enough.
Placing the templates the body. (Be careful not to scratch the surface.)
Concern: Pots located above wood block – neck pickup wire not long enough
Spending time conceptualizing your guitar design before you build will help eliminate erroneous drill holes or unnecessary routing. Please read the design concerns above and keep these in mind when planning your guitar build.
Neck Fit The Res-O-Glas Guitar body will probably have more extra room in the neck area than the fit found on a traditional guitar. This is similar to the fit found on a vintage trapezoid Res-O-Glas model from the 1960’s. There are a few reasons for this
“loose” fit. If the fit had been too tight the body would have cracked in this area. Wood has more “give” than fiberglass when under pressure. Also, the manufacturing process of fiberglass determines the actual shape of the guitar neck used on the vintage models. The trapezoid heel found on the vintage necks allowed the neck to rest in the neck pocket without meeting the guitar at a right angle. There are no 90 degree angles in the neck pocket area or anywhere else on the original guitar body design, again, because the fiberglass would have cracked or chipped if sharp angles were used. This body style provides the snuggest fit possible for 2-3/16" width necks while maintaining maximum strength throughout the body.
Place the top half of the guitar body (the half with the neck pocket) face-up on a soft or padded surface. We recommend starting your project with a blank neck. If the guitar neck you are using already has holes drilled in it from its previous installation, we suggest that you fill these holes with wood dowels and glue before proceeding. If the neck does not fit, sand the sides of the neck until the neck rests comfortably in the pocket. Do not force the neck into the pocket. This may cause cracks in the fiberglass. Check the adjusted fit of your guitar pocket frequently from both sides and below. Place the neck into the neck pocket. Make sure that the neck rests all the way at the back of the pocket (side closest to where the pickups will be located) and is flush on the bottom of the neck pocket. The example below left is a body whose neck will require additional sanding before it fits properly. (See gap at right hand side of pocket.)
Clamp the neck in place and run a straight edge (yard stick or T-square) down each side of the guitar neck and mark the edge of the neck location with a pencil (not a permanent pen) at the base of the guitar and draw the line all the way down to the edge of the body (see above right photo). Turn the top of the guitar body upside down on a soft cloth and locate the pencil marks on the bottom of the guitar body. Position the internal maple block (D) directly between these marks. The wood block in your kit is already sanded and cut to provide a basic fit for the contours of your guitar body. Since each fiberglass body is handmade, it is recommended that you spend time checking the fit of this part and allow time to sand the block into an even more snug fit for your guitar (3 next page, top left). Do not worry if the fit is not perfect. Vintage ResO-Glas Guitars used a great amount of epoxy filler in these areas. (Vintage example: photo next page, top right.)
Checking the fit of the maple block.
Example of vintage Res-O-Glas epoxy.
Butt the bottom internal maple block (D) almost against the back of the guitar body. Allow space for the binding to pass between the body and wood block. There will be a gap at the neck end of the guitar of approximately 0.4" to allow the binding to pass through. Ideally, when you place the two body halves on top of one another, the body should close almost flush and show no major gaps near the front of the guitar (see photo below left). Now place the top internal maple block (C) on top of the bottom internal maple block (D) (photo center below). Place the bottom of the guitar back on the guitar. Apply a small amount of pressure to the back of the guitar to see if it closes. The photo below at right shows that overall interior maple block still needs more sanding. Reduce approximately .008" (or 2 millimeters) near the front of the guitar for the body to close properly without excessive pressure.
Once the fit of the maple block is satisfactory, epoxy the wood block in the direct center between the two marks that you penciled earlier using the straightedge (photo below middle). The wood block should be centered in the neck pocket as well. You will use a great deal of epoxy to bridge gaps between the wood block and fiberglass body. A good example of an area where this will be prevalent is between where the neck pocket ends and the wood block begins. Allow the epoxy at least 24 hours to dry.
Centering the wood block
When sizing drill bits for the various pilot holes used in this guitar kit, we recommend holding the drill bit next to the screw and making sure that you can just barely see the thread of the screw on either side of the bit. Whenever drilling into the body, we recommend using masking tape to mark your desired depth on your drill bits so that you do not drill too far into the body or wood. Center your tailpiece between the two pencil marks you made earlier (when using your straight edge as a guide). Drill pilot holes using a 3/32" drill bit through the top two tailpiece holes, through the fiberglass and into the bottom internal maple block that is now epoxied in place (photo below left). Attach the tailpiece with the two screws holes that you just created pilot holes for. If you have not installed the tuners or nut on your neck, you will need to do so at this time. Clamp the neck again in place and test the alignment of the strings in relationship to the edges of the guitar neck. (Make sure there is equal spacing between the strings and the edge of the neck on both sides of the neck.) You will need to position the bridge base and bridge you will be using with your build assembled on top of the guitar to test the fitting (see photo below right). We recommend using cheaper or old guitar strings than you would normally use, because of the possibility of having to remove the neck/strings several times before the guitar is completed.
Attaching the tailpiece.
Checking the neck/string alignment.
If the neck is out of alignment with the tailpiece, you can shift the bridge a small amount until proper alignment is achieved. If shifting the bridge and neck still does not provide proper alignment, we recommend trying a shim in the neck pocket for a more aligned fit, or shifting the tailpiece slightly in the direction needed to improve the alignment. Attaching a Neck to a Res-O-Glas Guitar Body Position the neck plate in the center of the maple block. You want the back edge of the plate to be between 1/2" and 5/8" from the back of the neck pocket. Confirm this measurement from the topside of the guitar as well so that your four drill holes do not extend past the center wood block or neck pocket in any direction and are aligned to meet the neck square. Also, be far enough from the edges of the wood block so the screws do not split the wood (photo below left –next page). Clamp the neck in place. Make sure that the neck is all the way against the back wall of the neck pocket. Mark the screw holes that are accessible in the center. Drill a 1/8" pilot hole 1.5” deep using the marks in your neck plate as guides. Mark your drill bit with tape so you do not drill too far. You may need to remove the clamp and position the clamp on the other side of your guitar to drill the last hole in your neck. Drill the neck screws into place making sure that the neck does not shift when you are completing this step (photo below right-next page).
Position the bottom internal maple block on top of the maple block already epoxied in place. You will not epoxy this part. The internal maple block for the WL style guitar body has a notch cut out on its underside to allow the block to slide right over the neck plate (photo below left). Test the guitar body to make sure that it closes (same step as performed on the bottom of page 6). If the body does not close, you will need to sand more wood off of the block at this time. If the fit is acceptable, drill a pilot hole 1" deep and screw the two screws that secure the top and wooden blocks together (middle photo). Add the 1/4" foam to the top of the block. Vintage Res-O- Glas Guitars had the foam extending almost the entire length of the block. The use of the foam is up to the preferences of the builder. We recommend having the foam run approximately 9" across the top of the narrow wood block (photo below right).
DO NOT USE standard size neck screws. Standard screws are longer and may split your guitar neck.
Installing the Five Mounting Blocks, Foam and Neck Strap Buttons This step can also be completed later, after you install your electronics, but since it involves using epoxy we suggest doing the installation now. The drawback to installing the five mounting blocks now is that you run the risk of interfering with the placement of the guitar’s electronics. Therefore, be sure you have spent adequate time laying out your build design and taking measurements. The use of the mounting foam is an optional step during your build. All vintage Res-O-Glas Guitars used a strip of foam for cushioning along the bottom maple block (see photo next page left) and on each of the square mounting blocks. To install on the mounting blocks, cut 1-1/2" x 1-1/2" squares of foam, remove the protective back and attach them to the mounting blocks. Stack them on top of one another to achieve the desired height. Simply trim an approximate 5”-8" length to the width of the bottom maple block for use in this area. All remaining foam can be used for adjusting the height of your pickups (see Adjusting Pickup Height section of instructions).
The strap button at the base of the guitar will be located in the center (remaining hole) of the tailpiece. Drill a pilot hole before installing the strap button. For the strap button closer to the neck, the location of this button is up to the builder. We have designed a longer internal support block to accommodate numerous locations of this strap button. The hole is traditionally drilled on the bottom side of the fiberglass near the white binding. A portion of the strap button rests just under the binding.
Installing Electronics The easily accessible interior of our guitar makes the Res-O-Glas guitar ideal for customization and modification. House Brands, LLC, the manufacturer of this product, does not manufacture or endorse any electronic equipment supplier or manufacturers. All electronics should be set-up and tested by a professional for safety purposes. Again, before routing or drilling for the placement of any electronics, make sure that the wood blocks inside the guitar will not impede the positioning or location of your electronics. Next, position the pickguards and pickup rings that you will be using on your guitar on the top of the guitar body. DO NOT fasten these pieces to the guitar yet. It is important that you position your pickguards on top of the guitar before you install your pickups and pickup rings. This way you can make minor adjustments to your parts before making any permanent drill holes. We recommend our surface mount retro style single coil pickups if this is your first build. P90 / Soapbar pickups are perhaps the next easiest pickups to install on a Res-O-Glas Guitar. The height of these pickups vary by manufacturer, but if you have a soapbar style pickup that has a height clearance of 5/8" it can be mounted directly on top of the guitar without any modification needed for this type of guitar setup. If you are using our vintage Valco style pickups mounts you will install the pickup into the pickup ring using the outermost pole piece screws. The holes are pre-drilled to accept the vintage pickup threads. Pickups are screwed directly into our pickup rings via the outermost pole pieces (located below the two E strings when mounted). Our rings accommodate two common size pole piece spreads: 2.015" and 1.925". The opening of the ring measures 1.525" by 2.885". Our pickup rings are available in heights of 0.48" (neck position) and 0.675" (bridge position) thicknesses. They accept a wide variety of pickups and have the height pickups that have tabs used in conjunction with the spring height adjustment mechanism will need to be removed. This can be done by bending the metal until it breaks. Once this adaptation is made it cannot be reversed. Place the pickup ring over the area where you will be installing the pickup ring. Check the placement of the pickup ring by making sure that the outermost strings pass directly over the pole pieces of the pickup you are installing. Depending on the spacing of the bridge that you are using with your guitar body, one or more pickups may need to be angled in order to properly align the pickup pole pieces. Note: When you drill the hole, it will most likely go through the center wood block of the guitar if it is in the bridge position. For pickups located in the neck position you will probably will not hit the wood center block when securing the pickup.
Align the outer most e strings of your guitar with the pole pieces.
Example of a drill hole for feeding the pickup wire.
Mark the area where you will feed the pickup wire through the body.
Pickup ring drill hole should align with drill hole on the body. The pickup ring has been moved to show the drill hole on the body.
Drill a 3/16" or 7/32" hole to feed the pickup wire through the pickup ring and through the guitar body. For the retro pickup ring you will only need to drill the body because the ring already has a space for the wires to pass through. We recommend that you test the drill hole sizes you plan on using for your switches and controls on a thin piece of wood before drilling your fiberglass guitar body. Wire all electronics on the underside of your guitar and have all connections tested by a professional prior to use.
Adjusting Pickup Height Our Res-O-Glas pickup rings convert today’s most widely used humbuckers to a surface-mount configuration. The pickup mounting method that we suggest is similar in many ways to the method used on vintage Valco guitars from the 1960’s, where there was no routing of the body and the pickup rested on the top of the guitar (instead of in a pickup cavity). The following section deals with the installation of humbucker pickups used with our universal pickup rings. This is an optional purchase item and may not have been included with your guitar body. Below is a photo showing the height at which the pickups rested above the body on a three pickup vintage Airline. The height of the knobs in the foreground is approximately 0.63". With the top of the pickup extending another 0.15" above the pickup rings, you can see just how high the vintage pickups rested above the surface of the guitar compared to a conventional guitar made today.
The photos below show the underside of a vintage Valco-made pickup. Notice the longer outer pole pieces that extend on the underside of the pickup. These longer pole pieces would be located directly below the high and low e strings. The second picture below shows how these longer pole pieces secure the pickup into the base of the pickup ring. These outer pole pieces had a c-clip attached to their base so that the threads of the pole piece could enter the pickup ring while the height of the pole piece above the pickup remained constant.
We have designed our Res-O-Glas pickup rings to accept as many modern humbucker style models as possible. Given the wide variety of pickup dimensions in use today, an immediate fit for your pickup will be improbable. Most likely you will need to spend some time (and a bit of trial-and-error) to find the right combination of heights and parts to end up with the ideal pickup height to string relationship that you want on your guitar. In order to allow as many looks as possible, our pickup rings are shipped in a dull finish. To increase the shine and smoothness of your pickup rings, simply sand with a medium sandpaper and finish with a fine grade sand paper. This plastic may be painted if desired. You will want to sand your pickup rings prior to installation. A couple of items should be checked before you modify your guitar or pickup rings. The first thing you should confirm is that the neck screws you used in the construction of your guitar passed through the center wood block easily before threading the wood of the neck. This will ensure that the neck screws are pulling the neck securely into the neck pocket and that it rests at the true bottom of the neck pocket when fully tightened. If you are confident that you did the previous step correctly, string the guitar with the string guage that you will use with the guitar. The neck and bridge that you use with your Res-O-Glas guitar will determine how high the strings will be off of the guitar body (and also how high your pickups will be off of the guitar body). We suggest adjusting the neck and bridge first before finalizing the height of your pickups. After doing this we suggest doing the basic set-up and intonation of the guitar. Check the relief in the neck using a long straight edge and play the upper frets of the guitar. Make sure that there are no areas where the guitar buzzes. Make the necessary truss rod adjustments on your guitar neck if needed. If you are unhappy with the guitar’s action, you might need to use a shim in your guitar’s neck pocket to resolve this issue.
Once the desired height of the strings is obtained, you will want to have a gap of about 3/32" between the underside of the strings and the top of the pickups you are using on your build. For instance, after the guitar is tuned and the strings are at the desired height, subtract 3/32" from the string height above the guitar body – this will be the desired height for the top surface of your pickups. Please note you will need to do this for both your neck and bridge pickup if you are building a two pickup guitar. Once you have performed these basic set up items on your guitar, you will need to determine which method of securing the guitar pickup to your pickup ring and guitar is best for your project. Your universal pickup ring adapter packet includes two pickup rings of various heights. Going forward, we will refer to the shortest pickup ring as pickup ring #1, the pickup ring that is slightly taller than this one is pickup ring #2. Let’s begin using pickup #2 in the bridge location. Line the outer pole pieces of your humbucker pickup with the mounting holes in the pickup ring #2. If the pole piece spacing does not match one of the two pre-drilled holes that our ring offers, you will need to drill new holes to accommodate the spacing of your pickup. Ideally, the pickup will secure itself tightly to the pickup ring by using the existing outer pole pieces as screws into the predrilled holes in the pickup ring. Drill a hole for the pickup lead wire and pass it through the base of the pickup ring. If your pickup does not sit close enough to your guitar strings, add a piece of the enclosed ¼ inch compression foam underneath the pickup ring to raise it up. If you need to lower the pickup ring you can bring the height of the ring down by using a belt sander.
Photo of a bridge pickup in ring before threading the pickup wire through the body.
Installing the replacement outer pole pieces.
The neck pickup and its pickup ring usually require modification. One option is to sand the bottom of the ring on a belt sander until you achieve the ideal height for your build or remove the inner plastic from the ring all together and install the pickup keeping the original height adjustment tabs as shown below.
Removing plastic from pickup ring #1.
Photo of pickup installed in pickup ring #1 with removed interior.
Installing the mounting foam underneath the pickup ring allows some height adjustment flexibility (but may not be necessary). Check all measurements before proceeding. If needed, simply trim a section of the included mounted foam to the width of the pickup ring (the above example has not been trimmed yet).
However, most likely you will need to remove the height adjustment tabs of your pickup in order to accommodate a proper fit. If you purchased our universal pickup rings, we included four extra long fillister screws to replace the outer pole pieces of your pickup. These will only be needed if the existing pole pieces are too short to secure the pickup into the pickup ring. After removing the height adjustment tabs on the pickup (just bend back and forth until it breaks or cut off), the neck pickup will still have a small amount of thread showing through the base of the ring (see photo below left).
This will cause your pickup ring to sit a little off the body. You can either cut /file down the ends of the pickup pieces – however remember to leave enough thread for the outside pole pieces to grip the base of the ring. The other option is to drill holes in the body to allow the pole pieces to pass through. The ring will cover up the holes (see above right photo).
Fastening the Back of Your Guitar in Place Complete your guitar body by fastening the five grommets and screws into place over the five hole guides on the back of your guitar. (For the Belmont style guitar, it will be four and the location of these blocks is determined by the builder.) These holes should align with the five internal mounting blocks. If you used the foam on your mounting blocks, drill a large pilot hole through the foam so it does not grip your drill bit and tear.
Installing the Res-O-Glas E-Z Binding Please note, the installation of the E-Z binding is irreversible and removal would require using additional new binding. We have included two sets for this purpose. Regardless, be sure to test all electronics before installing the binding so you do not waste a set. Once the gaps on the outside of the guitar have been addressed, remove the protective backing and slowly work your way around the guitar applying downward pressure to the tape as you go. After attaching the binding to the outside of the guitar, we recommend using multiple rubber bands to hold the binding in place and help it adhere to the guitar body’s surface. Leave the rubber bands in place overnight. This is critical in the places where there are sharp angles/contours along the body. Below is a detailed photo of what this procedure would look like on the left and when completed on the right.
Please note, if you ever need to remove the binding after it has been attached, use a hair dryer to heat the material and loosen the adhesive. Slowly pull the binding away from the guitar body to avoid damaging the guitar body. This step completes the assembly of your Res-O-Glas Guitar. We thank you for your purchase and hope that you will share photos, MP3 files or video with us. Send any projects or feedback to
[email protected]. If we use your clip or image, we will provide a link to your band’s website, “like” you on Facebook or link to your personal Myspace page – just send us the address. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We hope that you enjoy your Res-O-Glas for many years and we look forward to offering you more great products in the future!
Build Tips Specific to the Belmont Guitar Body Style Thank you for purchasing a Res-O-Glas Belmont Guitar body. Please note the photos used throughout the main instructions show our other body style (the Jetsons body style). The build for your guitar will be exactly the same as this model, it just utilizes a different body shape. We have included the following photos to help you visualize areas where the different body shape effects on the placement of internal parts compared to the Jetsons body style. The photos below show the interior of a vintage Supro Holiday from the 1960’s. Please note the placement of the internal wood blocks. We have included one block that is longer with a rounded edge. Place this block in the upper horn to provide an “anchor” for the strap button. We strongly suggest that you spend time laying out your design before securing any parts to your guitar body. Please refer to this section of the instructions for directions on this process. Your body style does not have dimples (or guides) on the back of your guitar body to indicate where the four support blocks should be located. This body style has more flexibility regarding the location of these items due to its more symmetrical shape (compared to the Jetsons model). If you plan on placing your pots in a location where a block is located in the sample photo, you will have some flexibility repositioning the block elsewhere within the body as long as it is in the near proximity.
Photo: Vintage Supro interior. Please note, the neck screws used for attachment to the body are different from our modern Res-O-Glas Model which uses a neck plate. Also, The interior tone block has a slightly different shape compared to the one used with our other body style. All directions related to the placement and installation of this part are exactly the same as our other body style.
*Strat and Tele are registered trademark of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. Res-O-Glas Guitars is not affiliated with Fender Musical Instrument Corporation. Guitar Kits USA is not affiliated with Supro, National, Valco or Airline Guitars and their respected companies. Any mention of these brands is a historical reference to the original vintage products of the 1960's.
The photographs, text and ideas contained within these instructions are the sole property of Guitar Kits USA. Any authorized use, reproduction or distribution of these materials is forbidden.
V 103113
