1/15/2005

It was time to route the body for the Wilkinson tremolo. I started by marking the center line 25 1/4" from the nut (as per the Stewart-MacDonald instructions) and marking the two trem post holes on the body. Then, the MDF template copies I made were lined up and clamped to the body. A 1/2" index hole is drilled through the body so that the back-template can be lined up to it later. There's nothing like good, sharp Forstner bits and I love my Freuds! The top cavity was then routed to 1 1/8" deep with a 1/2" pattern bit.

1/15/2005

Then, the body was flipped and the back-template was lined up with the 1/2" index hole. The whole template shape was routed to 5/8". This completes the spring cavity. Then, the template is removed the the block cavity is finished by routing it to 1 1/2" deep.

1/15/2005

That's it for the trem-cavity. Here's a shot of a test fit.

2/27/2005

I finally got my brad-point bit set in the mail and now have the proper size to drill the trem post holes. My drill press isn't large enough to accomodate the guitar body so I used my free-hand drill press. You attach your hand-drill to the press and then place the press on the work surface, set your depth and drill. For further stability, I screwed my press to a piece of plywood. This gave me more surface to clamp and be sure it wouldn't move. I chucked up an 11/32" bit and drill on the marks I penciled in using the template. I haven't tapped in the studs yet but the holes are finally there.

2/27/2005

With the trem studs done, I flipped the body over and measured the rear trem cavity. I've decided to make a trem cover from Mahogany to match the body back. Here's the piece cut to size. I still need to round the corners, bevel the edges, drill the screw and string-access holes and possibly thin it further.

3/6/2005

With a long 1/8" bit, I drilled the holes in the trem cavity that would hold the trem claw. I clamped the body to the work surface so it wouldn't move while I drilled.

4/03/2005

The trem studs were tapped in using the small drill-press/attachment I used to drill the holes with. I clamped it over the hole and chucked a 3" flat head screw in it, place the head of the screw over the stud, with a block of wood between the stud and the screw to protect the stud, and tapped the stud in. The drill press insured that the stud would go straight down and not on an angle. I actually put the second one in backwards! I had to screw the stud into it and pull it out. I thought I had a disaster on my hands but it did come out and I was able to put it in correctly with no damage to the surface. Here are the installed studs.

4/7/2005

Now it was time to test fit the trem. I screwed in the claw and the trem posts. Then I attached two of the 4 springs to the claw and trem. In the pics, I'm applying pressure to the trem arm to simulate the tension that would be placed on the bridge by the strings. The fit was good but I found the depth of the rear cavity to be a bit too shallow despite following the instructions and the indicated measurements. When pushing the arm as far forward as it goes, the springs would touch the bottom of the rear cavity towards the end of the travel. Dropping the "floor" of the rear cavity by 1/8" should fix it.