Seismic Audio

Transcript

SA SEISMIC AUDIO www.seismicaudiospeakers.com SADIYG-11 SA SEISMIC AUDIO Intro SADIYG-14 Congratulations on purchasing your new Seismic Audio DIY Guitar Kit. All the parts needed for your own custom guitar are included. All holes are pre-drilled, making installation a snap. These are general instructions. There may be small differences between this manual and your guitar. Following these instructions will allow you to complete your new custom guitar. If you have questions beyond the scope of this manual, call us at (877) 347-6423 or email to [email protected] for answers. Tools Needed Assembly: Phillips Head Screwdriver, Soldering Iron Finish: Sandpaper (a range of grains from medium to fine), paint, stain, sealer, lacquer Parts Checklist: Body and Necks Tuner pieces and screws Pickguards, Cavity Cover and screws Pickups and screws Switches Knobs Output Jack and screws Neck Plates and screws Strap Buttons and screws Tools (hex wrenches, solder) Strings, Cable Test Fit Before beginning final assembly or finishing, it is beneficial to test fit all the parts in your kit. You can follow the final assembly instructions below, except for making solder points. Also, it isn’t necessary to tighten every screw. In this step, you just want to learn how the guitar fits together and identify all the pieces included. Shaping the Headstock At this point, you’ll want to reshape the headstock if that is something you want to do. Be sure to clamp the guitar down firmly while cutting a new shape. This is not necessary and is strictly a cosmetic change. Also, this applies to the guitar body. If you plan on changing the overall shape, this is the best time to do that. FINISHING There are many ways to finish your new custom guitar. Paint and stain are the most common ways, but a myriad other options exist. Here, we’ll cover a few popular techniques. These will be very general explanations so be sure to follow the recommended instructions that come with whichever finishing product you choose to use. The important thing is take time to plan and apply your finish properly. Rushing a guitar’s finish never turns out well. No matter what finish you choose, your first step will be sanding the guitar. Starting with a medium-grit sandpaper, go over the entire body and all of the neck except for the fretboard. You want to create a smooth even surface to work with. Applying a grain-filler can be beneficial for filling in pores in the wood and creating a smooth even surface to work with. Before applying any finishing materials, make sure all screw holes are pre-drilled. Drilling a hole after can easily crack your finish. Reopening a pre-drilled screw hole, however, is simple with a toothpick or small drill bit and will not damage your finish. The most common finishes are paint and stain. Stain is preferred when you want to show off the wood grain of your guitar. This is particularly good for guitars with a veneered top, like the Flamed Maple of SADIYG-08 or the Spalted Maple of SADIYG-09, or with a prominent wood grain, like the swamp ash of SADIYG-05. Paint will cover the wood grain of your custom guitar in any color or pattern you can imagine. Pretty much any painting technique can be used on a guitar, from spray-paint to hand-brushing, solid colors to intricate patterns or images. Following will be a quick rundown of the steps involved in several popular finishes to help you decide which finish you want to create. These are general rules of thumb. Instructions included with your finishing materials should be followed closely for best results. STAINED FINISH • • • • • • Start with a well-sanded guitar body and tape off any parts you do not want to stain. The body cavities can be ignored. Use a rag or sponge to apply the stain, keeping it damp throughout the process. Allow the stain to dry completely. It will be soaking into the wood during this process. Check the instructions on your stain to find out how long this will take. It usually takes an hour, but some can take longer, or be ready to work with sooner. Sand the stained area with a fine sandpaper or steel wool. The finish will remove a lot of the color and leave a faded, washed-out look. This is normal and necessary to the process. It will enhance the grain of the guitar. Re-stain and re-sand with progressively finer sandpapers or steel wools until you achieve the desired effect. PAINTED FINISH • • • • Start with a well-sanded guitar body and tape of any parts you do not want to paint. The body cavities can be ignored. When painting a guitar, you’ll want to begin with a primer coat. Bare wood is a difficult surface for a paint topcoat to adhere to. The primer coat will create an interface between the guitar body and the topcoat that will keep your finish looking good for many years to come. Apply the primer evenly over the surface to be painted. Allow it to dry according to the manufacturer’s instructions. There is usually a specific time that is best for applying paint to primer so follow the directions closely. Use a medium grain sandpaper to smooth the primer coat before applying paint. • Apply the paint evenly across the area to be painted. Lightly sand with wet/dry sandpaper between coats to smooth imperfections and create a good surface for the next coat of paint. CLEAR COAT / SEALANT • • • • • After painting or sanding, it is advisable to protect your work with a clear coat or sealant. Clear coats and sealers are available in different forms. Spray cans make application very easy. Apply multiple coats, using damp wet/dry sandpaper between to create a smooth glossy surface. This will remove the “orange peel” effect, though it will leave a cloudy surface. Use progressively finer sandpaper between each coat, working up to 2000 grit. Use a rubbing compound to remove the cloudiness and create a shine to your finish. Finally, use a polishing compound and a dedicated guitar polish to bring out a mirror finish. TUNG OIL FINISH • • • • • • The easiest and cheapest way to finish your guitar while still providing professional results, this method will not require a clear coat and is commonly used on guitar necks regardless of the body’s finish. Start with a well sanded guitar body. Use a paintbrush or small rag to completely coat the guitar, excepting only the fingerboard. Body cavities and the neck joint should receive tung oil during this first coat. Wipe of the excess and allow several hours to dry. Check your tung oil packaging for exact times. Sand down the dry coat of tung oil to remove imperfections and apply a heavy second coat. It is not necessary to coat the body cavities or neck joint on this or any remaining coats. Wipe off the excess and allow to dry. Repeat as necessary to achieve the desired effect, using progressively finer sandpaper with each coat. Finish with a single coat of furniture oil to bring out the sheen of the wood. Tung oil creates a protective waterproof surface so it does not require a sealer for long life. SA SEISMIC AUDIO TIP #1 Tape off the fretboard of the guitar before applying paint or stain to the neck. The fretboard does not require any finishing. TIP #2 Be sure to completely mask the neck pocket and the heel of the neck when applying finish to the guitar. This will keep your finish from changing the dimensions of the neck joint and possibly pushing it out of shape. ASSEMBLY When your finishing is complete, it is time to start final assembly. Proceed slowly and carefully. Be sure to double-check each step before completing it. It is helpful to read the full instructions first, before assembling anything to gain a better understanding of the entire process and how all the parts work together. We will begin by installing the neck hardware. NECK HARDWARE TUNERS - Each tuner comes unassembled in four parts. You need the tuning machine itself, a washer, a ferrule, and a screw. The pieces are interchangeable. Place the tuning machine against the back of the headstock, with the post sticking up through the pre-drilled hole. On the front of the headstock, place the washer over the post, then loosely screw in the ferrule. On the back of the headstock, align the predrilled screw hole with the screw guide and insert the screw. When that is tightened, you can finishing tightening the ferrule. The neck is hard maple so be wary of stripping the screw when installing. Now, repeat this process for each tuner. TRUSS ROD COVER - Install the truss rod cover. This is a small black triangle-shaped piece of plastic. You will notice it has a thin plastic sticky film to protect the shine on it. Leave the film in place until final assembly. NECK TO BODY ATTACHMENT Locate the neck plate, the plastic bed for the neck plate, and the four large wood screws. Start from the heel of the neck, sliding it carefully into the neck pocket on the guitar. Place the neck plate, shiny side up, into the plastic bed. Align it with the pre-drilled screw holes in the body and attach. Be careful not to allow any gaps in the wood or angle changes to form while attaching the neck. BODY HARDWARE FLOYD ROSE TREMOLO SYSTEM - You should not install the Floyd Rose Tremolo System until you have completed wiring this guitar. The first step is to install the trem claw in the back cavity of the body. This is done just like a normal tremolo system. Use the two large wood screws to attach the trem claw to the body through the pre-drilled holes. You’ll be adjusting this later to balance tension so you do not need to screw it all the way in. Set the springs aside for when you have the rest of the bridge installed. The next step is to install the bushings and studs in the bridge cavity on the face of the guitar. Gently tap the bushings in with a hammer and then do the same to insert the studs into the bushings. Draping a piece of cloth over the hardware can protect the gold finish from the hammer. Next, it is time to install the bridge itself. First, take a pair of wire cutters and remove the ball ends from the included strings. Place the bridge against the studs and connect it to the trem claw with the three included springs. Install the strings by placing one end into the hole behind the saddle and securing it there by tightening the black screws beneath the fine tuners on top of the bridge. Secure the other end around the tuning pegs like normal. As you tighten the strings, the springs on the back of the guitar will extend. Adjust the tension by loosening or tightening the trem claw until the bridge sits level with the body. When you have achieved this, the bridge is floating in place and the whammy bar can be used to raise or lower the pitch of notes played on the guitar. There are three black thumbscrews and three nut locking caps that need to be installed. Once these are in place, use the fine tune screws on top of the bridge to tune the strings. Finally, screw the whammy bar into place and your Floyd Rose system is complete. STRAP BUTTONS - Install the strap buttons by placing the rubber grommet between it and the body, then attach both to the body with the long thin wood screws provided. ELECTRONICS WIRING - Follow the wiring diagram below to see how to rout the wires through the body cavity. This can be a daunting process for the novice. Contact us at [email protected] or (877)3476423 if you have any questions. All of the remaining hardware on the body is connected to the wiring so these following steps will be taking place simultaneously. Read the entire instructions before starting to assemble the rest of the pieces to understand how the whole process should flow. PICKUPS - There are two humbucker-style pickups included with your guitar, one neck pickups and one bridge pickups. Although they appear similar, they are not the same. The neck pickup will have a thinner plastic ring around the base, the bridge pickup will be thicker. When identifying your pickups, also note that the ring on each is tapered with a thicker side and thinner side. The thinner side should face the neck. Gently screw down the pickups once all the wires have been run. The plastic rings can break if the screws are overtightened. THREE WAY SELECTOR SWITCH - This piece is installed through the singular circular predrilled hole near the guitar neck on the pickguard. Two nuts and one washer are provided and should be attached to the switch already. Unscrew these, place the post up through the predrilled hole. Leave one nut in place to sit beneath the pickguard. Reattach the other nut and the washer on top of the fretboard to firmly hold the switch in place. VOLUME AND TONE CONTROLS - You’ll notice the volume and tone controls are mostly pre-wired for you. The tone controls are the ones with the green capacitors attached. Similar to the selector switch, the nut and washer you need are already attached to the posts. Use these plus the included knobs to attach the pots to the pickguard. OUTPUT JACK - The output jack should be inserted through the large hole drilled into the back edge of the guitar body which opens into the body cavity. It is attached with four small screws. The ground wire will connect with the square lead and the signal wire will connect with the round lead. The contact may need to be adjusted where it contacts the guitar cable to ensure a tight fit that locks the guitar cable in place. ELECTRONICS CAVITY COVER - It doesn’t directly connect to the electronics, but this piece cannot be added until the wiring job is done. The only thing to be aware of is that the fit may have changed when finishing was applied to the guitar. The easiest fix is to sand down the cover to the new size. Usually, it is only a small adjustment. There is one cover for the electronics cavity and one cover for the bridge cavity. SETUP Setting up an electric guitar is an intricate and rewarding process. It takes time and practice to learn. Also, some specialized tools are required for a perfect setup. Most music stores will have a guitar tech on duty to perform a setup for you, if you do not wish to undertake this process yourself or do not have access to the proper tools. Truss Rod Adjustment The first step in properly setting up your guitar is making sure you have a straight neck to work with. A hex wrench tool is included in the kit. Sight along the fretboard to identify any curve in the neck. Insert the hex wrench tool into the end of the truss rod at the headstock. Make small adjustments until the neck is straight. A notched straight edge tool will sit directly on the fretboard and take the guesswork out of this process. Fret Leveling It is highly recommended to purchase a fret leveling kit if you want to setup guitars yourself. Tiny differences, to a fraction of a millimeter, can cause fret buzz. Even starting with perfectly level frets, playing the instrument over time will cause wear which will translate into height differences and string buzz. This is true of all stringed and fretted instruments, from DIY kits like this to top-of-the-line models from the largest manufacturers. A fret leveling kit should consist of a Fret Rocker, a Fret Sanding Beam, and a Fret Dressing File. The Fret Rocker will allow you to identify the high and low points of your frets so you know what areas need to be sanded down. The Fret Sanding Beam is used to create a uniform height across all the frets on the guitar. The Fret Dressing File smoothes imperfections left from the Fret Sanding Beam and creates an ideal playing surface on the fret itself. Setting Action A guitar’s action is the difference in height between the strings and the frets, or how high the strings are above the frets. Action is determined by personal preference. Some people like it higher and some people like it lower. Start by checking the action over the first fret while fretting the low E string between the second and third frets. The action here needs to be .006 of an inch. If it is too high, use a needle file to deepen the string groove in the nut. If it is too low, you can build up the groove with nut a combination of nut shavings and super glue. Once the nut action is set properly, the overall action can be set at the bridge. A small hex wrench is included in your kit to make these adjustments. Measure the height of the strings over the twelfth fret. Starting at a height 1/16th of an inch will get you in the right neighborhood. Adjust to taste, higher or lower, from there. Intonation Intonation means having the string sound the correct pitch at every fret up and down the length of the fretboard. This is a simple adjustment, accomplished with a screwdriver on the bridge to shorten or lengthen the string itself. Check the intonation by comparing the 12th fret note against the harmonic on the twelfth fret. Use a digital tuner, because you want this to be exact. Tighten and loosen the screw for each string until the open note and the harmonic match pitch. Keep in mind that there is a break-in period for guitar strings and you may need to repeat this step several times over the course of a few days until the strings settle. Guitars and basses and all stringed instruments are based on tension of the strings, the metal and the wood. There is no such thing as a one-time setup. Through the life of the instrument, you will be performing these tasks multiple times to keep it in top shape. Purchasing the correct tools and learning to use them will save you money in the long run. There are numerous resources available on the internet and we are always happy to help. Contact us at (877) 3476423 or email [email protected] with any questions.