Fender Squier Bullet Strat - Peg

This is your big debut
It's like a dream come true
So, won't you smile for the cam'ra?
I know they're gonna love it, Peg

The guitar in the following picture isn't likely to be featured in a photo with it's name in lights anytime soon, but my son sure enjoys it.  When my son started playing guitar in his middle school jazz band this past fall, we decided it made sense to have a guitar he could leave at school for practices and performances in addition to the Epi LP Junior he plays at home.  Wanting a contoured body and something with a tremolo bar, we started looking online and locally for a used Stratocaster.  We found a few Squier Strats at our local Guitar Center in our price range that were in playable condition.  After trying a few of them, and missing our chance to pick up a sweet Sunburst model, we settled on a gently used Chinese-crafted 2010 White SSS Bullet Strat.

After playing her for a few months, my son mentioned that a couple of the tuning pegs didn't work well.  So, when he brought his Strat home for a new set of strings over winter break, we figured we'd also look into upgrading the tuners with a higher quality set.  Very soon, winter break was over, and that Strat was back at school before we put any more thought into replacing her tuners.

Although I knew little of the finer points of Fender tuning pegs, I knew a few different styles have been used over the years.  Not knowing the history of this Strat, I also wasn't sure if she had all of her original parts.  In efforts to avoid having to overbore peg holes and redrill screw holes, I asked my son to describe what the machines looked like from the rear.  When that proved fruitless, I asked him to identify the the machines by the orientation and number of screws holding down each machine.  The best that I could tell was that a 70s style set should work fine.  The genuine Fender slotted peg set I found on eBay arrived in the mail, just in time for a long stretch of teacher work days and a weekend.  With a few turns of a screwdriver, we figured we'd end up with something that looks like this.

Right away, we noticed a major difference in the screw orientation these two sets of tuners.

After a little more internet research, I confirmed that this difference in attachment screws was typical with Fender tuning peg upgrades.  Since it would result in a higher quality tuner, we decided this still was the way to go.  With any luck, we figured we'd end up with only two extra holes - one at the high E string tuner and one at the low E string tuner.  Instead, it was necessary to redrill holes for more than half of the screws.  Swapping out these tuners also entailed overboring the peg holes from the rear about 3/16" in depth, just to the edges of the grommets, to accommodate the bushing shoulders of the new machine shafts.  The tuner in the next two pictures during fitup is shown with the genuine F-logo stamped cover removed.

After removing the grommets, enlarging one of the holes and replacing a grommet, I was pleased to find that the original grommets would work with the new pegs.  That's a very good thing, since the 70s style grommets have a larger outer diameter and a very different outer profile.  Fun fact, a No. 2 pencil is a great tool for pushing out grommets.

I modified the remaining peg holes the same as the first one.  After making the necessary screw hole modifications, I attached the pegs and reattached the stock string trees with the Bullet's screws.  All but one original screw hole, the one near the high E tuner, is not concealed by the new machine covers.  I plugged it while it was on the work bench, minimizing the imperfection resulting from this upgrade.  Looking at the front of the headstock, the way you can tell the pegs have been upgraded is by the concave surfaces of the peg buttons and the slots in the peg shafts.

Those buttons and slotted shafts sure do make restringing and tuning This Old Guitar quicker and easier!

Holiday H1214 Archtop – Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

You know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you

The time had come, I needed to make room for another guitar.  Since my kids are still too young to move out of the house, and I was not about to add on a room, it was time to say goodbye to one of These Old Guitars.  After thinking it through for a few weeks, I decided I would list my Holiday Archtop for sale.

This was the first project guitar I had worked on in recent years, between October of 2008 through when I made some home digital recordings with her in September of 2010.

Before listing her on eBay, there were a few things that I had not yet gotten back to fixing and upgrading, as well as some other things that needed some attention.  It  was also time for a good cleaning and polishing.  I suppose someone would be willing to buy her as-is.  Instead of offering her  in her present condition, I wanted to offer her as a finished project, and something more representative of my current guitar repair and renovation capabilities.

Over the years, I had swapped out her tuners twice.  First, I had replaced the original 3+3 on a strip open-backed tuners with the individual Grover button tuners I had borrowed from another guitar.  When it came time to give those Grovers back, I had put a set of imitation Grover Imperial tuners on the Holiday.  Although they looked good, the rectilinear styling did not go well at all with her curvy tailpiece, and her relatively small headstock made tuning her with these relatively wide peg buttons a challenge.

I set out to simply replace the Imperial tuners with another set of button tuners.  But, with all of the tuners removed, I realized I was about to add a third set of screw holes into the rear of her worn headstock.

So, I filled in the extra screw holes by gluing in some oak.  I left just enough excess wood to be able to trim the repairs flat with a sharp blade and some light sanding.

Her end block area was in similar condition.  I had replaced her very utilitarian stock tailpiece and friction-type celluloid end pin with very decorative pieces of gold plated hardware.  This was the right time to fill in the extra holes in this area as well.

With a little sanding, a 5/16-inch oak dowel filled the original tapered end pin hole.

While waiting for all the glue to dry, I moved over to upgrading the output jack.  The tasks here were to swap out the chrome hardware for a gold jack, and add a matching Les Paul style mounting plate.

To attach the grounding shield to the plate, I removed the gold plating in a small area and roughened up the exposed metal with some #60 grit sandpaper.

Next came tinning the stripped wires and soldering the three connections to the assembly.

After checking the fit and electrical continuity with a patch cord, and enlarging the hole in her side, I predrilled the screw holes.  Getting back to the neck and end block area, I trimmed and sanded down the repairs...

...and installed all of the gold hardware...

I also had to reattach the nut before putting on some strings, so I took this opportunity to remove some excess glue still on the neck from last time.

When the glue had dried, I put on a coat of polish and lined up the floating bridge.  Some tape came in handy for holding the bridge in place while putting on a fresh set of strings.

Not too shabby looking for a playable 50 year old jazz box.  I brought her back into the house to let her acclimate for a few days, before setting her bridge height and intonation one more time.