Warrior strap button relocation

[JacksonWarrior]

I thought my MG series Warrior was pretty comfortable until I strapped on my recently acquired Westone Dimention IV, which is a completely awesome, completely blood red guitar from 1986 made in Matsumoku Japan. It has a strap button on its massive, pointy wing, and then one on the bolt-on neck plate and the guitar hangs in exactly the perfect playing position for me. Has anyone here with a Warrior relocated the neckside stap button down to the neckplate and how did it work out for you. I seem to recall some dude selling a Warrior on Ebay and that was one of his mods and he said it was alot more comfortable. Im very seriously considering doing this myself, and I dont want the mistake of drilling a hole in my neckplate for no good reason so any comments on this mod are very welcome. and a headbanging emoticon just for the hell of it

[RacerX]

Sounds like Newc.

[buzzsaww]

is there a reason you can't use one of the existing neck holes instead of drilling the plate? you would need to find a slightly longer bolt of course.

[blazingelectricdeath]

I did that with my rr3. For a long time i just had a small screw holding it in the spot, with some toothpicks. That worked fine, but I didn't think it was right so i thought i'd hand drill out the schaller button so the screw could go through it and i filed down the head of the screw so it would go down inside. Then i realized i had filed down one of the longer screws that go towards the body end of the neck joint, and i need another long screw to go in its place. So, I'm not saying it won't work, I'm just saying that I'm and idiot.

[toejam]

Just remove the Warrior's strap button from the underside of the horn and put it on the back of the horn.

[Special-K]

I did that with my rr3. For a long time i just had a small screw holding it in the spot, with some toothpicks. That worked fine, but I didn't think it was right so i thought i'd hand drill out the schaller button so the screw could go through it and i filed down the head of the screw so it would go down inside. Then i realized i had filed down one of the longer screws that go towards the body end of the neck joint, and i need another long screw to go in its place. So, I'm not saying it won't work, I'm just saying that I'm and idiot.

[JacksonWarrior]

Just remove the Warrior's strap button from the underside of the horn and put it on the back of the horn.

Thanks for the replies so far. ^Have you done this? That would make the strap twist in such a way that it would be as comfortable as my Westone, but my other gripe is that the Warrior seems neck heavy compaired to the Westone and Im thinking that having the stap button down at the neck would would pull it up to a much better playing position. I kinda like how the current strap buttons on my Jackson cause the guitar to sorta twist up toward me instead of laying flat against by body, makes for easier viewability of the fretboard, but I do notice that Im creating tension im my right arm by pressing down on the wing to keep the neck up. Not a good thing. I play with my guitar strapped pretty high and with the neck very angled, so this is probably just me. Dont get me wrong, I love the hell out of my Warrior, and it is a comfortably guitar, but in comparison...

[wilkinsi]

i don't get any neck dive, but i do get shoulder ache from playing my WRMG. you could just try increasing the length of the strap (consequently lowering of the guitar on you). you'd end up lowering your arms and get less ache (just don't have the guitar at ankle height )

[guitarsjb]

I moved the strap button on my RX10D and RR3 to the middle top part of the neckplate. I tried using one of the existing screws, it still didn't hang right. So i drilled a new hole, and it's perfect.


But I've never played a warrior, so I have no idea how it would work there..

[JacksonWarrior]

wilkinsi: Well, I wouldnt say it has neck dive, only that when stapped on and left untouched the neck hangs a little lower than I'd like for my playing style. Clearly Im just being picky as hell here, I've just gotten to a point where Im fine tuning everthing about this guitar,setup, action, pup hight and everything just right cuz I freakin love it and play the hell out of it. In fact Ive just sat down from an hour of playing along with Helloween's first EP....WARRIOR!! I love that shit.

guitarsjb: Thanks for the pic, exactly what Im talking about. I had the same thought about the neck screws(arent they bolts actually?) not working for this. Now did you remove the neck plate when you drilled it or did you just leave it on and drill the plate and neck as it is? Did you use a bigger guage drill bit for the steel plate, then a smaller bit for the wood, or just the same drill bit all the way through? That neck plates pretty damned slick and the last thing I want is a giant scratch from the bit slipping around as I try to get it started. I would use a hammer and punch to create a starter indent for the drill bit, but Im thinking the shock from the force required to do so wouldnt be so good for the guitar. Any advice on that? Thanks dudette.

[Newc]

Here's a tip: Guitarsjb is Jeri - one of our "dudettes"

As for your current issue, you might be able to use a spring claw bolt if you happen to have an old junker Strat (I know, that's redundant) lying around, but in all honesty, if you're not using a DiMarzio Cliplock strap, you don't need a longer bolt.

Get a couple of good thick washers (you may have one or two as spacers under the pots of your Warrior!), run the neck bolt through the washer, through the strap, then into the neckplate and you should be good.

I'd recommend the front bottom bolt (in Jeri's pic, it'd be the top left bolt).

This may pull it up too sharply, though.

I leave mine under the top horn, however. It pulls the neck upwards enough for me.

My Custom Shop War Angel (Warrior with Death Angel tips) came with the strap pin mounted on the top front neck bolt, and that's ok, but I'd prefer it under the horn.

Also be aware you can mount the rear strap pin in the top rear hole of the trem cavity cover (requires drilling) to adjust the hang of the guitar, but this will cause it to hang in such a manner that the bridge will be farther back than normal. While this works great for a Kelly, it might not be so fun for a Warrior.

[JacksonWarrior]

^Thanks for the heads up, I edited my previous post so as not to offend. I have to stop assuming that only men play pointy guitars!

Are you suggesting more or less permenantly bolting my strap to the neck plate? I have strap locks and I'm not willing to sacrifice that convenience, plus I keep my guitar in its case when its not in use and this wouldnt work so well with the strap on it. These Illinois winters get damned dry and the heat blasting all the time doesnt help so I keep her locked up, that includes humid summer weather when the AC isnt on. Im overly protective huh? Thanks for the advice though. Tell you what...Im gonna go ahead and drill and put one in the center and report back. Hope this works out...Im pretty handy with this kinda shit so Im not too worried, plus Ill never get rid of this guitar, so keeping it original isnt a concern. later.

[JacksonWarrior]

Well I did it....and Im quite glad I did. Exactly what I wanted. First off, this did bring the neck up like I expected, perfect, but the stap is now much more comfortable too. There isnt as much pull at the left shoulder like there was before, and now the guitar lays flat against my body instead of being angled up towards me. This is more comfortable but will take me a bit of getting used to because I cant see the fretboard as easily, worth the sacrifice. I recommend this modification.

If you want to do this:
You will notice that your Warrior(probably other Jacksons too) when laid on a flat surface is held up from laying flat by its headstock. This also happens when you lay the guitar on its face. I bring this up because youre going to be putting a fair amount of pressure at the heel of the neck and you will cause the neck to flex which is just uneccesary strain for the neck. Place a folded towel or something under the fretboard in that area to avoid this. Next I used a 7/64ths metal/wood drill bit and drilled a pilot hole through the plate and a little less than an inch into the wood of the neck(the length of the strap button screw). Be carefull doing this if you have long drill bits cuz you'll have to apply alot of pressure to get through that thick steel plate, but that's way more than sufficient to go into the wood. Dont want people putting drill bits through their fretboards! Next I used a 9/64ths and agian drilled through the neck plate, but not into the wood. You want to leave some "meat" in there so the screw can cut good solid threads. Then I just screwed the strap button on, by hand, and this took a decent amount of force cuz the screw had to cut just a bit through the metal, which I wanted. This screw is NOT coming out. I wouldnt recommend using a drill to put the screw in unless you are very carefull and Id go ahead and leave just a bit of room so you can give it a final torque by hand. Dont want to strip the threads! I can post some pics including ones of it strapped on and left untouched if you want to see what I mean. Later.

[guitarsjb]

Glad it worked out for you!!

[Postal]

Also be aware you can mount the rear strap pin in the top rear hole of the trem cavity cover (requires drilling) to adjust the hang of the guitar, but this will cause it to hang in such a manner that the bridge will be farther back than normal. While this works great for a Kelly, it might not be so fun for a Warrior.

Can you show me a pic of this on a kelly? Wanna make sure I got it right.....


Thanks!