Re: just bought a bridge from stratosphere
It's probably one of the cheap PingWorks Nashville tunematics that Gibson has used for some years instead of the better made Schaller Nashville they used to use. Guys who like Nashville bridges say the PW one has hollows in it where the Schaller doesn't, making it less dense and affecting the tone. If you want a Nashville bridge, spring for the Schaller one, it's supposed to be better quality (made in Germany, not Asia). Schaller invented the Nashville bridge. I prefer the vintage ABR bridge myself.
Al
P.S. the mounting things you spoke of are called bushings, the inserts that go into the body for the bridge studs to screw into.