I know this guitar wont be to everyones taste, but I love it! This is a Keiper (http://keiper-instruments.com/homepage/keiper-instruments/frameset_egitarren/framset_egitarren.htm) badged intrument, probably of Chinese origin, but well made. I love the natural wood grain & satin finish. I love the original body shape & perfect balance with the extended top horn. I love the 2 octave neck & the access to the upper frets!

I want to make this guitar my main instrument, & as such, it has to be a Variax Hybrid.

First problem, tho.....where to put the electronics???

Having seen a recent reference to the Stestbar now adapted to take Piezo saddles, I thought replacing the existing Wilkinson Trem would free up the rear cavity housing the springs.

Here I have stripped the body. I will be using a 300 for this conversion. I actually prefer using the 300 especially following on from the hollowbody I just did using a 500, which was a maze of wires!

You need to be inventive & an opportunist to get the control board of the 300 to fit in with the existing control arrangements! 

(Sorry 'bout the big toe......cant be bothered to photoshop it out!)

Here I have routed out the trem cavity & control cavity & basically joined them together.

I had to deepen the floor about 1/4" to allow for the thickness of the motherboard

This is the opportunist part. I have marked the holes where the 300 control board will fit. I have tried to use the central tone control as a pivot to get as much distance between the Vax volume control & the original pickup selector control hole. I will use this hole to house the toggle switch for Vax/pups.

Jumped a bit ahead here. Its really hard to remember to take photos of every stage when you just want to get on with the build!

Basically, most of the holes have been drilled & the selector lever fitted. I always use part of the 300 housing to support the control knobs. This is important as the model selector control is 'free floating' & will put a strain on the vol/tone control connections to the circuit board if not encorporated.

I have drilled a hole thru the metal housing to accomodate the toggle switch.

This is great! Looks like everything will fit just right!

The original vol/tone controls for the pups have been replaced with a stacked item to save space.

At this stage, I forgot I also needed a hole for the pup selector switch.....doh!

This is the part I hate most. Routing out for the Vax socket. I am so scared to slip & wreck the guitar..........

Jumped ahead again.

I rebated the edge of the control cavity for the backplate & sprayed with conductive paint.

Still havent tweaked I need another toggle switch..............

Here we have fitted all the electrics, including pups & the elusive selector switch I finally remembered!

Dont think there's anything clever about wiring pickups.....its all on the net!

The motherboard is held in place with nylon standoffs.

The vax piezo board is ready to receive the wires from the Stetsbar piezos.

All in all, I'm very pleased with things so far! All my controls have a place & its not too cluttered.

I had to modify the model selector hole so the whole knob is free to push into the body. It actually helps stabilise the loose feel this control has on the 300.

Just waiting for the Stetsbar which should arrive next week!

Here is the completed project. I had to countersink the whole bridgeplate to get the correct string height. Stetsbar do make a unit you can sink into the body as used in the Chris George guitar. However, I had the holes to cover left over fom the old tremolo unit, so went with this configuration.

This build was an experiment for me to see if it was possible to build a hybrid guitar conversion without having to hack away the wood behind the bridge by utilising the existing trem cavity to house the motherboard. Using the Stetsbar means the tremolo function can be maintained.

This trem unit is unlike any other. The whole of the top plate rests on a pair of needle bearings which allows it move backwards & forwards. The string retainer & bridge are mounted on the plate which act as a single unit. It has a range of approx 2 semitones in each direction. It is smooth, extremely light & stable. It makes no noise associated with conventional fulcrum bridges thru the piezos.