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540R Radius maple board project

7K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  mag8 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi,

Here's another project I recently finished. This is a 540R body mated with a rare maple fretboard Ultra neck. Apparently, although the 540R never appeared with a maple board in the U.S. catalogs, there were a few sold here. This neck was one of my very first auction buys back in 2002. At the time, I just wanted a maple board neck and didn't realize what an oddball it was. I ditched the lock nut and replaced it with a fabricated piece of maple notched to accept a regular nut. This neck was on another project for awhile, but it's much happier back liiving on a 540R. Perfect fit: no shims necessary and it plays great.

Other custom features on this project are the "Jewel Green" paint (sort of reminiscent of the JS90 finish), chrome hardware, LoPro Edge trem, locking tuners and HSH pickup config. The pups are a Fred, Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 2.2 single, and an IBZ F1 in the neck. Still deciding if the F1 will stay.

I'm pretty happy with this. I'm a big fan of all things Radii, and this one is so unusual that it fills a special niche.





Cheers,
Bert
 
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#3 ·
The headstock was originally black. I debated painting it to match the body, and still might do that eventually. Also, in the image, the headstock looks like it's darker than the neck, but that's just something with the lighting from being tilted back. They're really about the same color.

I've been wanting to try the Edge + locking tuner combo for a long time, and this guitar is my test case. Turns out it stays in tune very well. As I do with all my trems, I lube the nut, knife edges, and other friction points.
 
#7 ·
I didn't expect to see this thread pop back up!

Anyway, I still have (and love) this guitar. I did make a couple of changes after those photos were taken, as per Moebius' suggestions. I put a chrome locking nut on and painted the headstock to match the body. If I get time I'll take some updated photos.

Cheers!
 
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