The Vangaurd has a double locking Floyd Rose tremolo system.  I have the bridge set up fully floating so you can both lower and raise the pitch.  The neck has a locking nut and the strings are anchored straight to the saddles.  It makes a very stable system that can stay in tune even with silly dove bombs.

There are downsides to a fully floating system though

• One string can pull the others out of tune (double stop bends are sad)
• Tuning is difficult because the strings are balanced against spring force
• Changing tuning is tedious and multi-step process

There are various ways to fix the issues above, but most of them take all the fun out of having a Floyd Rose.  I decided to install a Tremol-No system.  Using a couple thumb screws, you can change the guitar to fully floating, dive only (only lower the pitch), or fixed bridge.  It’s easy enough to do it between songs while standing up.  There is no drilling or soldering required, and no permanent modifications

It takes about an hour to install and only requires basic tools.

It works really good! Changing it to “dive only” let’s me change to Drop D or E flat real quick which is the biggest selling point for me.

The geetar is assembled and making noise. It is now that it becomes a guitar again for the first time in forever. Next is time to do the setup.

First up is putting strings on and putting springs in the tremolo. I like Ernie Ball Super Slinkies for the extreme bendiness they impart.

Next is the “fun” part of setting up a Floyd Rose. You have to balance the pull of the strings against the pull of the springs on the back. You keep going back and forth between tightening the strings and adjusting the claw that holds the springs to bring both up to full tension at the same time. At the end of the day, you need to have the strings tuned to pitch at the same time keep the bridge in a level position. It kinda sucks, but a properly set up Floyd is heckin fun!.

The new frets on the neck are taller than the old ones. This means the action at the first fret is too low (the strings buzz when played open). There should be a gap between the first fret and the string. This website says the gap should be 0.024″ on E and 0.010″ on the e.

I loosened the nut and inserted some feeler gauges underneath until I had the correct gap. Then I cut chunks of the feeler gauge off and pushed them in.

Then I checked everything else. I’ll check it in a few days, but the truss rod didn’t need any adjustment 😲. I checked the intonation and incredibly it was perfect on 4 strings and close enough on the other 2. I’ll leave it alone and let it settle into being a guitar for a few days before finishing the set up. I also fine tuned the action, and set the pickup heights.

I also polished up the frets using micro mesh pads. These things are great and put a mirror finish on frets and maximize total bendiness. I tape the fretboard off to protect it from polishing crud and go through all the pads (I have a set of 9). The last few pads really make a difference.

There are a few jobs left to do, but they are back burner for now.

• Wait for the moose to deliver the decal
• Install the decal and clear/polish the headstock face
• Make truss rod cover
• Make new control cavity cover
• Make cover for the tremolo cavity

I did the wiring on the guitar. I never get it right the first time. In this case it’s kinda good.

The original pickup selector switch was a mini toggle switch and I bought a new one to replace it. The wiring for them is really weird and the switch is small. I decided to replace the switch with a toggle like is used on a Les Paul. That means I need a bigger hole!

I used a wiring diagram from the excellent Seymour Duncan website. They provide wiring diagrams in the style of the old paperclip in word.

The new toggle works but it’s silver, too silver. I wanted a black one to match the rest of the hardware. Amazon to the rescue.

A couple days later I get the black switch and finish the wiring. It’s kind of a mess and I’m not proud of it, but it seems to work. The kill switch even lights up!

The to do list is getting smaller!

• Logo and clear the headstock after the Royal Canadian Mounties deliver it
• Reduce thickness of pickup rings (they are too thick)
• Strap buttons
• String and a setup
• Truss rod cover
• Control cavity cover
• Tremolo cavity cover

Ok, that’s a big list still

Time to finish the neck (sorta). The sorta comes in because I’m still waiting for the new headstock decal.

I sanded the neck nice and smooth and removed a few scars. Then time to seal it up with some clear. I dig a satin finish the best so that’s what I’m gonna do. A few coats of Krylon satin finish clear should do the trick.

Next is to assemble the hardware. I installed the locking nut for the tremolo system, the tuning machines, and the holder for the hex keys that work the tremolo and locking nut.

I tested the polishing on the back of the guitar. It took a few tries and going back to do some more wet sanding, but I got it to a place I’m happy with.

My brother let me borrow his dual action polisher and some products to use made by Meguiars.

I was and still am nervous. I’m not going for perfect, but I want it too look good from a few feet away and not have any huge oopsies. I think I accomplished that.

You can even see the sky in it!

The next step is to wet sand the front and polish the sides and front.

I started to wet sand the guitar body today. I’m super nervous about it so I started on the back. I put more clear purple on the front and top side than I did on the back.

I’m using 800, 1500, and 2000 grit wet/dry paper. I’m using some water with a bit of soap to wet the paper and flood the surface. I’m wrapping the paper around a pink eraser.

This area shows what a couple passes with 800 looks like. The dull surface is the high spot, and the shiny is the low spots.

A few more passes and the low spots mostly disappear

1500 and 2000 in opposite directions take care of the scratches from the rough papers.

2000 paper

Next I’ll use some rubbing compound to remove scratches from 2000 and then some polish to make it shine!

I opted to use my phone a friend lifeline for the frets in the Vangaurd neck. Kevin at Coyle’s Richboro Music does some cool stuff. One of those is tossing my neck into his refretinator machine.

He shared an update on Instagram, check it out here: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cha8qlSuYGe/

The frets are stainless steel and jumbo-ish size. I have stainless frets in another guitar and I’m never going back. Bending is sooo smooth and they stay clean longer. I hear they last a bujillion years too.

I’m super happy with the work he did, and highly recommend them to anyone looks for fret job. I think he has a mail order service on his reverb page where you can mail a neck and he will do the work and send it back.

There are a few more small jobs to do on the neck and then it’s ready to go.

• Apply a new logo to the headstock
• Clear coat the headstock face, wet sand, and polish.
• Make a new truss rod cover (this is gonna be cool)
• Put satin finish on the back of the neck
• Install tuning machines.

The temperature outside this morning was cooler and low humidity. Time for clear coat!

I’m using Spraymax 2K Gloss Clear in a can. This stuff is nasty so I’m spraying it outside. I set up a tent and blocked off the sides to keep the breeze down. My little Black and Decker workbench hold my guitar holder thing nicely.

I sprayed the whole can on the guitar. 5 or 6 coats and it looks suuuuuper awesome!

Here is a quick video of it in the sun. 🍆💦

Time to repaint the headstock on the Vanguard. Kramer headstocks have a small border of black painted on the sides to give the appearance of a headstock plate. I taped that line off using blue tape. I also covered the other areas that might get over sprayed.

Here is a photo of the little detail HVLP spray gun I have been using. It’s from Harbor Freight and it works real good!

Then I sprayed the headstock with a nice basecoat of Createx Autoborne Sealer Black

Next is a coat of Createx Wicked Gloss Black to finish it off.

After the paint dried a bit, time to peel the blue tape off!

The next step is to add a bit of clear and then a new Kramer logo and more clear.

I sprayed the color coat on the Vangaurd. The color is Createx Candy2O Grabber Orange. It’s the same water based stuff as others. It dries real quick so I was able to put on about 6 coats. This time it’s a proper orange and nobody will mistake for brown or copper.

The color is a dye that is mixed with a clear paint. It’s like a 6:1 ratio of clear to color.

Then I used a small HVLP spray gun to spray it as even as I could. It came out pretty good!

Overall I am happy with it! There are some small imperfections… A hair on the front near the neck pickup, a couple blotches in the silver that show up.

Here is a quick video of what it looks like outside in the sun.