Homemade Hardware

[TheRumRunner]

Originally Posted by Ed P

Nice work folks. The amount of talent in our members is amazing!

This X 10

DW

[dr_zaius]

Originally Posted by CraigB

Did you make the saddles? If so, how did you get them to look so nice?

[CraigB]

Originally Posted by dr_zaius

Did you make the saddles? If so, how did you get them to look so nice?

Thanks they are 3/8 weldable steel rod, drilled tapped, and polished by chucking in the drill press and holding fine grit wet'n'dry to it. Then nickel plated. I'm happy with how they look now, but I wonder how they'll weather over time

[dr_zaius]

Originally Posted by CraigB

Thanks they are 3/8 weldable steel rod, drilled tapped, and polished by chucking in the drill press and holding fine grit wet'n'dry to it. Then nickel plated. I'm happy with how they look now, but I wonder how they'll weather over time

I was specifically wondering how you drilled the holes in the saddle. Ive done it before, but i had to file flat spots in the rod before i drilled, and i was using a drill press and vice to hold the piece steady, no matter what i did, the bit wanted to wander. do you have a special jig for that kind of stuff?

[CraigB]

Originally Posted by dr_zaius

I was specifically wondering how you drilled the holes in the saddle. Ive done it before, but i had to file flat spots in the rod before i drilled, and i was using a drill press and vice to hold the piece steady, no matter what i did, the bit wanted to wander. do you have a special jig for that kind of stuff?

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home...le-cousin.html

Doc, if you go down to post number 5, you can see the jig or fixture I used to guide the drill bit. Primitive, yes... just a 1/4 thick piece of aluminum and a drillpress vise. Maybe my neanderthal approach will help you come up with your own drillbit guide but anyway, this is how I did it, and it worked pretty good.

For the threaded brass material, I tapped a hole and screwed the saddle material in to hold in place, but if you want to do plain rod saddles, continue reading down at the bottom of #5.

It seems to me if you didn't have a piece of aluminum lying around like that, you might be able to get away with using a piece of hard maple.

[Barncaster]

Originally Posted by dr_zaius

Couldn't hurt.

Oh believe me, that thing could hurt!

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by hefferzon

I've never tried nickel plating. Is it easy to get good results with the kits availabel for home use? Is the kit reusable, and in that case for how long can you keep it and it's still working?

The Caswell Electroless Nickel kits are pretty easy to get good results from , the kit itself is reusable with replenishment chemicals available to buy when needed , you need to follow the procedures to the T with these kits but the results are very professional .

Before plating



After plating

[Thumposaurus]

I make hardware out of engraved trays I find in thrift stores.


Silver plated

Copper

Stainless

[CraigB]

Originally Posted by Thumposaurus

I make hardware out of engraved trays I find in thrift stores.


Silver plated

Copper

Stainless

Beautiful! What a great idea

[dr_zaius]

Originally Posted by Thumposaurus

I make hardware out of engraved trays I find in thrift stores.

Pretty snazzy. I think I will have to try that. The wife and I go antiquing regularly. I usually look for solid wood furniture I can butcher into a guitar. Never thought of looking for hardware material though...

[Thumposaurus]

Thanks,
I see these trays all the time at thrift stores I thought that there must be a use for them some how.
I like to try and follow the engravings and work them into the design as much as I can.
The copper one I thought was just copper plated but it turned out to be solid copper all the way through. The stainless one was the worst to cut out.
I've settled on using a spiral cut blade in a scroll saw to cut mostly up to the lines and then carefully filing and sanding to get the final shape.

[RogerC]

I made the control plate, neck plate, and input jack plate out of a .50 cal ammo box for my first build

[Joe Sailor]

RogerC you never do anything the conventional way, I bet that makes you great at your job.

[RogerC]

hehe thanks. I love creating things

[61fury]

Originally Posted by dr_zaius

I use 5/16 allen head set screws for string ferrules. They are a pain to drill through, even with a drill press, but when finished they thread into the body and look pretty professional.

What drill bit? Did you break a lot of them? Does stainless drill any easier? ( I've seen stainless ones out there.
I'm doing a "leftovers" project as I've got a nice pile of spare parts, theme is cost cutting so even if ferrules cost 3-4 dollars that small stuff adds up fast. I really like this set screw idea.

[61fury]

Set screw prices don't seem to be any cheaper than cheap ferrules unfortunately.