frequensator tailpiece on sheraton

[sheraton84]

hi, im going to fit a gold frequensator to my vs sheraton and was wondering if anyone has done this before and could give me any tips on installing and aligning perfectly, im not sure if i use the strap button hole if it'll be aligned correctly. can anyone give me any tips thanks

[matthewk]

Yes indeed. To get the tailpiece centred, tie a loop of string around the nut, pass the long end from the back over the notch in the tip of the headstock, and draw it straight down the body, sitting between the saddles of the D and G strings. If you hold it straight it will show you where the centre screw should be on the tail. The tail strap button on mine was about 3/4 inch off centre.

 

You will be left with two holes where the tailpiece was - you can either leave the threaded inserts there and put something in them, or put a small ball bearing or something down there and screw the tailpiece screw down on top of it. That will press the insert out of the body. Filling options will depend on your finish colour - I am going to cut some wooden plugs and stain them to match ... any day now, I swear ...

 

Your final issue is that there will probably be a ground wire there, in contact with the tail piece mounting post. If so, you will need to find a way to make it contact the bridge mounting post instead, otherwise your strings will not be grounded and the guitar will be noisy.

 

Here's the end result:

[carverman]

Yes indeed. To get the tailpiece centred' date=' tie a loop of string around the nut, pass the long end from the back over the notch in the tip of the headstock, and draw it straight down the body, sitting between the saddles of the D and G strings. If you hold it straight it will show you where the centre screw should be on the tail. The tail strap button on mine was about 3/4 inch off centre. [/quote']

 

Yes, that is one method. When changing a TP, I generally string up the high E and the low E between the nut

and tp string slots, slightly tension it enough to find the outside edge boundaries so that the fb spaces

between the two strings and the edges of the fb and the adjusting screws on the neck/bridge p_ups

are all about as accurately centered as you can get it.

 

I then mark the hole for the strap pin...(which can be off a bit) from the original hole due to the type of

tp or the way the original tp was installed), and drill a hole to install the strap pin first.

 

Once the strap pin is installed to hold the tp in place, you can install the rest of the strings,

tension it some more ...and if you are satisfied with the alignment of the fb and strings

AND the p_up pole pieces, you can install the remaining screws to fasten it.

 

Of course, don't forget the ground wire..it can remain in the original hole that

was made for it.

[matthewk]

Of course' date=' don't forget the ground wire..it can remain in the original hole that was made for it.[/quote']

Not quite sure what you mean here, but if you mean the ground wire can remain in the post hole, where it's no longer in contact with the stop tailpiece and hence no longer in contact with the strings, that's incorrect. The ground wire needs to be in contact with the strings somehow - in the original setup it contacted them through the tailpiece. With the frequensator tailpiece, I needed to drill a new hole from the mounting post hole of the bridge to the control cavity, and bring the ground wire through there. Otherwise the strings would not be grounded and the guitar would hum and buzz all the time.

[antwhi2001]

A cut-down frequensator on my Alleykat :

 

 

 

Electrics are all stock but I put Gibson Deluxe tuners on it. Gigging it tonight for first time, I'll see it how it handles high gain settings.

[sheraton84]

thanks, i think ill try the string method, as for filling my luthier is going to make up some dowel that fits in and stain it as closely as possible to match the sunburst, im not that bothered if i get grounding buzz, i will just crank the marshall up more lol

[peeper]

NONONO you really want to ground your guitar, and the worse you crank that Marshall, the worse the buzz will get!