Saga Les Paul Kit

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I've been a lurker here, and finally decided to sign up and post a bit.

I'm working on a SAGA LP style LC-10

I've stripped the epoxy? coating and am applying a natural finish for the front.

I took the advice offered here and assembled it before starting the finish work. Everything checked out good much to my surprise and joy.

I was able to get it to play straight out of the box, with only a minor truss rod adjustment to reduce the bow in the neck.

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If anyone else is interested I've been documenting my build at
www.sourcecable.net/~cjknowles/my-saga-saga/

[GuitarAttack Forum]

That is a good looking guitar, and should be part of the Saga Sagas.

That sealer is tough, isn't it?

Good luck,
John

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You got that right!

I have about another week or two before it's completed.
My final coat of clearcoat went to serious orange peel so I had to sand back and re-apply yesterday. It's much smoother now.

Still have some minor issues with the MOP inlay, my routs weren't perfect so I have 2 small gaps that I'm gradually filling with clear.

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I've made some progress on the headstock now.



Headstock,with final finish coats, still needs polish, but low spots around the MOP are now filled.

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It's finished!





More photo's available at www.sourcecable.net/~cjknowles/my-saga-saga/

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This may be obvious to the experienced builders out there, but it has me baffled.

I've installed the tunematic bridge and tailpiece on my LP copy, and when I set the tailpiece
down real low, my tuning goes out. Intonation is consistent at the 12th fret, the strings are
close but not touching at the first fret with the string depressed at the third fret. Problem is
that the third fret note is about 30 cents high. When I raise the tailpiece to about 1/4" off the
body then retune, the tuning is spot on with no intonation issues at all over the complete
length of the fretboard.

Looking at it mechanically I can't understand any reason for tailpiece placement to affect tuning at all.

The string length between the nut and bridge is unchanged.

Note: bridge height remains unchanged as well.

[GuitarAttack Forum]

It's hard to diagnose over the internet, but I believe the strings are too high at the nut. The nut can really screw up things!

Just my opinion,
John

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Thanks for the reply.
Actually the high "E" is .008 off the fret, any lower and I'll be hitting frets.

That was my first thought as well, since the nut needed mucho work.

If I was to rephrase the question, I'd ask, where exactly is the tailpiece supposed to be located? All the way down at the body, or relatively in line with the bridge?

With the tailpiece screwed all the way down, I end up breaking strings
while tuning.

I suppose I answered my own question.
Tailpiece is adjustable, so put it where it works best.

Other than esthetically iritating to see it high, the guitar plays really well.

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Just thought I'd share, Ive done a lot of digging over the last two days.

What I've learned:

Tailpiece/stop block position affects break angle of the strings over the bridge. A steeper break angle gives the strings more "feel", shallower angle makes them feel "lighter". Too much angle and you'll break strings.

My problem, it turns out, was the neck angle. I couldn't get my action down to 1/16" at the 12th fret without buzzing. I put a half of a business card at the edge of the body in the neck pocket and that addressed my intonation and tuning issues as well as the high bridge and tailpiece locations.

Now that those problems have been addressed, I've discovered that my acoustic players hands can pull it out of tune just by bottoming the string to the fretboard. I'll now need to dress the frets to address that, or compensate my playing style to grab a bit more gently.

After that I really need to shield it a bit better and replace the wiring which is just a bit too messy for my tastes.

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Latest update,

My Saga LesPaul is going to be performing at it's first gig this weekend.

I finally got around to rewiring and used shielded cables from Radioshack. $11 for 50'. There is now no electrical noise when my fingers aren't touching the strings.

I'm actually very very pleased with the sound and feel of this guitar!

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Finally got around to making some sound clips for those interested.

Neck Pickup Clean
Bridge Pickup Clean
Both Pickups Clean

The following clips are through my DigiTech RP250 processor.
Dirty
Mucho Reverb
Floyd with Reverb
Jazzy Chorus

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After playing with a good friends Ibanez Musician with Super 88 pickups I realized that my Saga Les Paul was lacking a bit. The volume was there but the string attack seemed a bit muted. Also the bridge pickup was considerably quieter than the neck. I checked the impedence and found them both to be 8k, normally the bridge should be a bit hotter.

At any rate I ordered a matched set of Vintage 59's from guitar fetish and a wiring upgrade kit consisting of 500k volume and 250k tone pots and .022 uf caps. Wired it all up last night and was blown away by the crisp tones and wonderful crunch.

I'll capture some sounds this weekend hopefully and post them here.