Kawai / Teisco
4 "nuclear" Teisco pickups; 6 Rocker Switches; Sophisticated circuit.
Pictures and info 7-18-08
~~~ Neck Joint Screw Holes Refurbished ~~~
After I strung this guitar, ....and during making it's set-up adjustments (it sounds superb!), I noticed some slight movement of the neck in the neck pocket, and heard a slight ping sound the pickups were hearing when the neck heel moved in the pocket. It did not effect the playing, but I had to find out what the problem was. So I destrung the guitar and took the neck back off to find out why.
What I found was that the neck mounting screw holes in the neck were tight at their bottom (deep) ends but slightly wallowed at their top ends. This would also mean that the neck mounting screw holes through the body were probably wallowed too, as is usually the case but a bit less in the body holes.
So I performed the toothpick filler on the neck screw holes that seemed OK when I first inspected them prior to assembly; ....and I primed the neck screw holes in the body with a thin coat of epoxy which will be finished with a rat-tail file to exact size. This will tighten the neck screws up nicely and stop the neck heel from movement in the pocket.
Shown below is the neck heel screw holes doweled their entire depth with flat toothpicks. As a screw enters the toothpicks the screw will push the toothpicks to the perimeter of the hole tighly and renew the hole. Shown below is the toothpicks inserted into the holes, broken off flush and tapped down below the surface with a wooden chopstick used as a punch (the chopstick punch shown in second picture further below). Using a chopstick as a punch, the toothpicks have to be driven deeper than the top of the holes so they will not expand upward higher than the top of the holes and interfere with the seating of the neck heel firmly flat into the neck pocket.:
Here is the chopstick used as a punch ....and the nail used as a center punch to tap a center starting hole for the screws to be guided into the center by.
Here are the toothpicks center puched with the nail as screw starter guides. You can see how even the nail drives the toothpicks to the outer perimeter of the screw holes, ....which will be dead-tight when the screws enter the holes.
The white color at the top of the neck heel is camera flash.
Shown below is the neck pocket being warmed by a heat lamp. The batch of epoxy used to prime / reduce the outer 4 screw holes is on the can in front of the neck pocket, with a clothespin stick embedded in the epoxy; Which allows the epoxy batch to "bake" cure at a similar rate under the heat lamp, and by feeling the stick in the epoxy I can tell when the epoxy in the screw holes is cured. The heat lamp is focused on the neck pocket which warms the guitar body to warm the epoxy in contact with the wood as well as direct heat lamp warmth upon the epoxy outer surface, warming the epoxy thoroughly and accelerating it's curing.
The wax paper behind the rear strap button is again to seat against the fresh refurbishing of the strap button's hole and keep the strap button from sticking to the capping paint until it cures well. If it hasn't already cured by the time it is shipped.
Here's another angle of the neck pocket under the heat lamp. Also notice that the extra left handed strap button someone previously installed has been removed and capped. It's paint is also curing under the heat lamp and will be compounded to match the surrounding factory paint finish as much as practical.
I should have the guitar reassembled, playing again and set up, in another day or two if all goes well / as expected. After touching up the paint around the strap buttons and neck planing repairs, .....compounding the lefty strap button paint caps alone will take the longest time of any single task; about 2 or 3 hours of hand compounding for each strap button area plus the entire cutaway horns interior to match. ~~~~~~~ And HEY, ....I get to play it again for awhile too while setting it up ! Life's Good !
I will also catch up on additional pictures and info when it doesn't interfere with progress on the guitar.
Top Views From Bass Bout angle.
And a side page:
Backside Views.
Top Treble Bout Angles and Neck Views.
BLANK.
Disassembled and Layout Preparation Views.
Pickups / Electronics Harness Views.
Pickup and Rocker Switch Internal Details.
Schematic and circuit logic.
And a side page:
More views of electronics, Neck, Headstock and Truss Rod access.
Truss rod access screw hole repair.
Preliminary Assembly 1.
Preliminary Assembly 2.
Neck Joint screw holes refurbish.
Neck pocket gauged and planed.
Taping, masking and touch-up painting inside of cutaway horns.
Noteworthy work in reassembly & set-up.
Guitar Finished
Work needed / suggested, work done, work I will do.
ll Homepage ll Inventory Index ll
