strat Bridge question

Hola kiddies...

I have a the standard trem on my strat but right now I have it "blocked" if you will with a piece of wood wedged between the body and the long extension piece that the springs grab onto...

My question is, because the body is already routed for the trem, is the block a good idea or can I put a fixed bridge in? I'm going to take it to a tech soon, so if the answer is to do that, then I'm already in process... if not, I'd like to learn to do it myself...

thanks!!

[font=trebuchet ms]You can gain a lot of sustain and tone by tossing that crap and filling the hole with a solid block to mount the bridge on. I used brass machined to fit snugly, but even a piece of closely fit hardwood would do the trick. My JapStrat '62 Re-issue really came alive after doing this.[/font]

cool. but when you say solid block, do you mean to fill in that whole cavity or just the part that sticks down thru the body that I have the piece of wood stuck in?

also.. it's midnight here.. I didn't think I'd get a reply at this time of night! :D
are you just always on?

[font=trebuchet ms]Bear in mund that my JapStrat was a '62 Re-issue, so the dimensions may not match your axe.

I machined a block of brass to fill the hole directly under the bridge, down as far as the spring cavity. This block fit snugly (press fit) so that I didn't have to try to glue it in. I drilled holes for the strings to pass through, and tapped holes in the upper face to allow the bridge to be bolted firmly to the block, in the same way as it used to mount on the piece the springs connected to.

The hole in the face of the guitar is not quite as big as the rest of the hole through the body, so there is a bit of a lip at the body surface. The new block should be made so that it can be pressed all the way in from the back, and end up making the face of the guitar flush and smooth, as if there never had been a hole there. The original bridge can be retained, and it should cover the new block.

You end up with a reversable mod, but I don't think you'll want to reverse it. It's just amazing how much tone gets sucked out of your guitar by those trems!

BTW: Look at the upper right of my post. I'm on Mountain Time.[/font]

thanks!!!
I'll give that a shot. Don't know if it will be a brass fitting but I'll find some way to fill that in. I was going to change out the saddles and such and then I thought of just putting on a plain bridge but I don't think it will work with the routing on the body.

As for making it reversable, I don't want that at all... you're completely right! I just loved the guitar and didn't think about the trem. Believe it or not, I didn't even really play it until I got it home. The guy at the store wanted to grab a new one from the back, but I insisted on that one. So, I decided to block it when I couldn't keep the darn thing in tune with the bridge floating and no locking nut or tuners.. i did add the Fender locking tuners (great for quick string changes) but I still wasn't able to get the guitar the way I wanted. I'm also not a guitar tech so i'm sure that added to my not being able to do things.

it's going into the shop this week so I'll see what the tech says about your suggestion and let you know if he has any other ideas on how to do that.

I never thought to look at your time zone. I also didn't think about the fact that if I'm on, maybe a few others are too? :D

thanks!

Id be interested to know how it works out. I have two strats Im thinking of having LATSed up !!

Originally Posted by: spanky10940thanks!!!
I'll give that a shot. Don't know if it will be a brass fitting but I'll find some way to fill that in...

[font=trebuchet ms]I used brass because I had access to both the material and the milling machine at the time. If I had to do it again today, I'd be more likely to make the plug from hardwood, simply because I don't have the use of a mill anymore. I think brass is better, but it is expensive, and the cost of having a piece custom machined to your spec is going to hurt![/font]

Ok - so it's in the shop now but the guitar tech there said that just putting the piece of wood between the spring block and the body would hold the trem (which I had already done) and to do the additional work would cost some serious buckaroos and wouldn't make much of a change in how the guitar sounded... I was also thinking of doing the block fill myself but I'm lucky I know which end of a screwdriver is the business end! :D

while we were discussing it about 5 other people asked the EXACT same question. Seems there are a lot of us that got strats with trems that should have been hardtails! so I'm going with it the way it is... but the truss and bridge needed some adjusting because of the way that the block holds the trem down. I'll have it back by thursday of this week and I'll let you all know how it sounds!