Re: Bridge Angle - Blocking off a Strat Tremolo Bridge
The bridge posts can be adjusted wherever you want them, in order to get your general string height where you want it, while allowing a good range of up or down adjustability with the individual saddles. The bridge doesn't need to be "on the deck" when you block it. But the bridge plate probably should be parallel to the deck, because ideally, you want your vibrato block parallel to the rear wall of the vibrato rout, so that your wood block is held in there with a good fit. Slack your strings a little bit, so the bridge leans backward. Then start trying pieces of wood at different thicknesses, and retuning your strings with each one. The block that causes your bridge plate to lie parallel to the top of the guitar is the right thickness of block. One good method is to start with a slightly undersized block, and then insert shim after shim until you get the right total block thickness.
You don't need a block in front; that does nothing, unless you are a problematic "vibrato leaner," chronically pressing down on the vibrato with your palm. String tension will hold the wooden block in place.
You don't need springs, but sometimes it can be hard to get solder to bond with a vibrato block. In that case, it's an easy fix to simply leave the claw and at least one spring in, and keep the stock ground wire connection to the claw.
I have had my first guitar blocked for its entire life in my possession (almost 30 years now). All I have ever had in there is a piece of redwood scrap from one of my uncle's construction jobs. It first had EMG SAs, so there was no ground wire required. Later, I put in CS '54, which require a string ground. I tried and tired, but I couldn't solder to the vibrato block, so I put the original claw and springs back in, in order to let me solder solidly to something. Now this is no longer an issue with the guitar, as it has a Kahler, the EMGs are back in it, and the spring cavity has been converted into a battery compartment (no more pulling the guard up to change the battery).
