My guitar DIY modification project part 2: replacing the bridge
Here’s a healthy tip for anyone who is thinking about replacing a guitar’s vibrato bridge: before you start, for your own sake check the dimensions of the trem block, string spacing and positions of bolt/screw holes. Not all companies’ parts are made to the same specs which I’m sure is obvious but even bridges made by the same company can vary. That’s right: my “All Fender’s parts are standard size and shape, from guitar necks to cutlery in the factory canteen” assumption was a bit optimistic. It’s a simple enough design but they can’t resist making variations on the theme…
The positions of the six screws that hold the bridge plate in place on my Squier Strat are actually a tiny bit closer together than the replacement, which I’m guessing is made to fit the bona fide Fender instruments. This made fitting the bridge plate a nerve-wracking experience, which I hope won’t affect the sound or tuning stability; fortunately everything else went (more or less) JUST AS PLANNED but it’s something I’m quite annoyed at myself about.
Bridge over troubled screw holes
I think each screw hole is literally a millimetre closer together than normal, so I fitted the middle two first (to keep the whole thing correctly aligned), then fitted the rest pair-by-pair working outwards. Needless to say, the screws naturally wanted to fall into the existing holes, so the outside screws in particular ended up going in at an angle, which made the plate hover a millimetre or two; this I DO NOT WANT. It’s supposed to sit flush, rather than float: the whole thing could slip up and down, sending the strings out of tune and possibly damaging the screws (although the latter seems unlikely). My solution was to wind the screws further in than I planned, leaving little room between the bridge plate and the screw heads, especially the outer ones. It might make the trem action a bit stiffer, but hopefully will stop it lifting itself up off the guitar body surface with use.
Pros and cons of the Wilkinson tremolo
In my first post I mentioned Trevor Wilkinson’s replacement bridges, which are good value for money and have a pop-in trem arm. Another thing to remember before installing one of these is there’s a socket on the face of the trem block that tightens or loosens the end of the arm in its socket, and includes a (very small gauge) matching Allen key. Unfortunately this socket is inaccessible once the bridge is installed so if you need to adjust it later on (I can see the arm working loose over time), you have to push the arm downwards (as you would if you were doing a divebomb note), hold the arm and block at that angle and tweak the key with your free hand. It’s a bit of a hassle but I’m already preferring it over a screw-in arm.
The bridge itself is pretty good though, especially for the price. The block is thicker than the factory-fit one (which looks flimsy and pathetic in comparison), which should help improve sustain, and I paid a bit more for the model with a steel (rather than zinc alloy) block. Even so, it came to less than £30 which isn’t bad considering the Gotoh versions are nearly three times the price! The saddles are vintage-style bent steel, which means there are no grooves for the strings to sit in but I might replace them with graphite ones at a later date anyway.
It’s going to take a while to get the electrical components I need, and will probably have to wait for next pay day so for the next three or four weeks I’ll leave things as they are to let the various components settle down. It’s had its strings off for a while (I was waiting for the replacement bridge to be ordered since Wilkinson don’t sell directly to customers; you have to get an instrument shop to order for you) so the neck and new trem springs will need some time to get used to the new setup. I’ve also gone from 0.09 to 0.10 gauge strings; both are standard rock guitar sets, but until recently all my guitars were fitted with 0.09s. 0.10s need a bit more effort to play but to my ear sound slightly better.
At the moment the scratchplate, pickups and other bits of wiring are removed but even when un-amplified the guitar has a great bright sparkly tone with the new strings fitted. Assuming those damn bridge screws don’t cause me any problems, it’s Loveless-esque chord dives from here on in!
Running total:
Replacement bridge and new set of strings: £33.94 (€42.05)
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