Stratocaster Kit Bridge Substitute Question

greypilgrim76

greypilgrim76

Active member
Hi All,

While waiting for my next pedal parts shipment to arrive from Tayda, I've started working on a Stratocaster (sorry--ahem, "S-Style") guitar kit from StewMac that I've had sitting in my closet for a while. So far, I've made it as far as sealing the grain, so I'm really just in the beginning phase of things, but I'm planning to upgrade nearly all the hardware, and I recently ordered one of Fender's "Vintage-Style" tremolo bridges to replace the cheap one that came with the kit. It arrived yesterday, and when I checked the fit in the unpainted body, the new trem block is quite a bit beefier than the small, skinny one on the original kit bridge. Its increased thickness makes not quite align with the pre-drilled screw holes for the bridge. (Though the hole spacing seems correct.) It also has about 1/8" clearance from where the cavity plate will sit on the back of the body. Here are some pics for reference:
IMG_8710.jpeg

IMG_8707.jpeg
IMG_8711.jpeg IMG_8712.jpeg IMG_8708.jpeg IMG_8709.jpeg

So, I've got two questions here. First (and probably the easier one), is the 1/8" clearance between the block and the back plate enough room for bridge movement? Second, do you think that if I (carefully) use my Dremel with a small sanding barrel attachment to shave back the thin lip of wood that keeps the bridge from moving down enough to align with the screw holes, that'll solve the alignment issue and the bridge will work fine with the kit? It's a fairly thin section of wood, so I think it'll be easy enough to widen the hole, and I'm comfortable with this kind of woodwork. I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something obvious about Strat functionality that some of you with guitar building/modifying experience might notice. I figured I'd take a shot at asking you all before creating an account on some Strat forum just to ask about this.

Any advice appreciated! And thanks in advance!
 
Not a luthier, but that doesn’t look like enough clearance for the bridge to move. I would remove enough wood to align it with the holes and then test fit the bridge with it screwed in (only two screws, no need for all six to test without strings) and see how far it can hinge out. If it’s not enough, remove some more.

I don’t have a strat but maybe someone else here can give you a better idea of how much room you’d need.
 
Easy enough to test here: Just pop the outer screws in, and watch the tremolo block as you rock it back and forth.

But as far as trimming the hole goes, I'd clamp a straight edge to the body and use one of those dremel routing attachments. You can still use a sanding attachment if you want to make sure it goes slow and steady and don't risk any tear-out.

One of these things:


1781225710906.jpeg

Basically, use a straight-edge to act as a backstop so you don't accidently sand too far back. The attachment keeps the dremel firmly planted so the process is more controlled than free-handing it.



Though to be honest, the way I'd actually handle this is by using a sharp chisel and a mallet. Chop chop. Done.
 
If you have a router, open up the back of the hole by a quarter inch

If you don't have a router, go buy one. Clamp the guitar to the workbench and clamp a straight length of wood to the guitar to act as a fence for the router. Make sure the fence is parallel to the existing hole. Run the router along the fence to get it to cut a straight line. Eye it up and do it slowly and it'll come out good. Take 1/8" off first and test fit the bridge, and if you need more, take another 1/8"
 
falco_femoralis said:
If you have a router, open up the back of the hole by a quarter inch

If you don't have a router, go buy one. Clamp the guitar to the workbench and clamp a straight length of wood to the guitar to act as a fence for the router. Make sure the fence is parallel to the existing hole. Run the router along the fence to get it to cut a straight line. Eye it up and do it slowly and it'll come out good. Take 1/8" off first and test fit the bridge, and if you need more, take another 1/8"
Click to expand...
Not sure I'd recommend unless he's got some experience already.

Even palm routers have got a lotta juice. One bad move and you can gouge the fuck out of the wood in the blink of an eye.

For a n00b, sanding wheel and a dremel will do the trick with a minimum potential for fuckery.

Grab a good 15 amp router down the line when you really want to let chips fly. Buzzzzzzzzzzz.
 
Cordless trim router with 1/4" shank template bit to open up the rear cavity correctly..... use some good masking tape... tape the body where straight edge will line up.... glue straight edge to the tape with a few small lines of CA glue..... use the straight edge as a template with the bearing bit.... done..
But first I'd really investigate your string spacing for the bridge mounting... You likely have it incorrect. You likely have asian spaced holes and mexican/american standard string spacing replacement bridge... If that is wrong and yours screws go in wonky then your tremolo will bind on the screws and cause you all kinds of tuning issues.
 
Thanks for the advice so far, everyone! Based on the comments and what I actually need to accomplish, I think I'm going to use tape to mark the new straight edge for the bottom of the opening and then use my variable-speed Dremel with barrel sanding attachment to slowly work the edge back about 1/8". (Oddly, as you'll see in one pic below, the extension on the Fender bridge for the trem arm attachment is "shorter" than the one on the cheap kit bridge, so I can't shave too much off or there'll be a gap between the top of that spot and the edge of the opening.

swelchy said:
But first I'd really investigate your string spacing for the bridge mounting... You likely have it incorrect. You likely have asian spaced holes and mexican/american standard string spacing replacement bridge... If that is wrong and yours screws go in wonky then your tremolo will bind on the screws and cause you all kinds of tuning issues.
Click to expand...

As far as hole/string spacing, I actually went back and double-checked everything after reading your comment. The holes were pre-drilled by StewMac, so I know they're correct for the kit bridge. In comparing the two bridges (see photos below), the screw holes and the string spacing on the saddles appears to line up exactly, so unless I'm missing something (always a possibility!), I think this will be a drop-in replacement as long as I widen the hole. I don't think I'll be able to set it up as a floating trem, since the new bridge is against the wood on one side, but that's okay--I don't really want a floating trem. The angle is correct for a standard "decked" setup, though, as far as I can tell.

Here are the additional pics:
IMG_8713.jpeg
IMG_8714.jpeg IMG_8715.jpeg IMG_8716.jpeg IMG_8717.jpeg

Feel free to let me know if you see any additional concerns or just have more suggestions, and thanks again for the extra sets of eyes on this! :)
 
If it were me i'd likely just swap the saddles and run the stew mac bridge... especially if your just gonna run the springs down and deck the Tremolo
 
swelchy said:
If it were me i'd likely just swap the saddles and run the stew mac bridge... especially if your just gonna run the springs down and deck the Tremolo
Click to expand...
I hadn't thought of that. Now it comes down to whether I want to do things the easy way or do things the hard way to say I did it the hard way. :ROFLMAO:

As someone with basically no Strat experience, I'm not actually sure how much of an upgrade the full Fender bridge assembly would be over the kit one. Do you think I'd notice any audible or tactile difference if I used the whole Fender bridge with the larger trem block as opposed to just swapping the saddles?
 
greypilgrim76 said:
I hadn't thought of that. Now it comes down to whether I want to do things the easy way or do things the hard way to say I did it the hard way. :ROFLMAO:

As someone with basically no Strat experience, I'm not actually sure how much of an upgrade the full Fender bridge assembly would be over the kit one. Do you think I'd notice any audible or tactile difference if I used the whole Fender bridge with the larger trem block as opposed to just swapping the saddles?
Click to expand...
if your planning on keeping the bridge springs tight and not floating the trem off the deck you will not hear a difference in tone or sustain... if you have it setup with 3-5 springs and have the trem plate touching the deck you will still have plenty of sound transfer to the body... I am mainly a strat player.. I have a couple guitars with the crappy block and there is seriously not much difference in tone... It has everything to do with your neck and your pickups..
 
swelchy said:
if your planning on keeping the bridge springs tight and not floating the trem off the deck you will not hear a difference in tone or sustain... if you have it setup with 3-5 springs and have the trem plate touching the deck you will still have plenty of sound transfer to the body... I am mainly a strat player.. I have a couple guitars with the crappy block and there is seriously not much difference in tone... It has everything to do with your neck and your pickups..
Click to expand...
Good to know! I'm swapping out the kit pickups with Fender Vintage pickups. I'm also swapping out the electronics and tuners. I think the only hardware I'm keeping from the kit is the pickguard and the string trees. :)
 
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