Vintage Strat Trem

shredaholic

shredaholic

New member
I've bought a mighty mite ash strat body that's been routed for pickup cavities and the trem cavities, but the screw holes have not been routed. I need to rout the 6 trem screw holes on the vintage strat trem to secure it to the top of the body, but I am in need of some sort of routing diagram. I've searched the net but all I've come up with is the advice "go find a vintage spec fender strat and measure it", but I don't know anyone with one and I can't imagine the guitar shops letting me take one apart.

So can anybody help me out with instructions for routing the holes for this bridge?
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

Call up Stew Mac, they may have some instructions or a book. Basically, I would put masking tape on the bridge area. Then string the guitar up. Line up the high and low E strings on the neck, then mark the 6 holes with pencil. Then start drilling.
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

ive looked on stew mac, they have instructions and routing templates for every trem except the vintage strat one :(
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

basically I just need the measurements from the oblong shaped hole for the bridge block to the positions for the 6 screws. i can get the spacing between the 6 screws from the holes in the plate, but i need to know where the outer 2 holes go most importantly.
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

hmm I've looked round the site and can't seem to find the plans, the search function didn't find any relevant posts either.

am I right in thinking all I need to do is get the screws in about an 3-5mm area from the hole and the bridge will be able to intonate easily with adjustment then? once I put the bridge in the hole, it doesn't move left and right very much - would I need to be that accurate with the drilling then? I just don't want to mess this body up as I've spent so much time on it and I can't afford another one, so it needs to be drilled right first time.
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

If you haven't done so already, get the neck on the body. Then string up the high and low strings for reference points on the fretboard and align the bridge that way. You want to drill the holes far away enough from the trem route so the wood doesn't crack, obviously.

If you have a pickguard, put it on there too, preferably loaded up with the pickups and controls, so you have that lined up properly. What this will avoid is drilling the holes for the bridge only to find out that once it's mounted to the body it's hitting the pickguard. Get the pickguard alignment right, then you'll be able to get the bridge alignment right.

If it's rear-routed, use the pickguard anyway for lining things up. Just line it up along the edges and with the pickup holes the best you can with the bridge sitting in the body with the high and low E strings on it.

The reason I say use a pickguard to help out is because of that little wrap-around route in the pickguard at the bridge end. A buddy of mine and myself have done this before without diagrams. We didn't measure, we used our eyes.

Here's the finished product. It was built 12 years ago. The pickguard is new.
http://home.earthlink.net/~ehansen3/diy/frankenstrat.jpg
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

well the neck is due to arrive on monday from warmoth, but I don't have a pickguard for it. I'm planning on buying one routed to MIA fender strat spec, like my fender strat. The body has no holes routed for the pickguard, but I'm more worried about getting the bridge right.

I found this on the net:

bridge rout.JPG


it's the routing diagram for a 'fishman powerbridge', but in the instructions supplied it says apparently this bridge drops right into a vintage strat bridge rout as a direct replacement

so could I just use this?


another question, does it matter where the 2 screws go to mount the trem springs to the body?
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

I don't see why that diagram wouldn't work. Wish I had that when I put mine together. that should help a lot as long as you have the center line of the guitar dead-on.
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

how would one find the center line though? does it really have to be dead on to the mm? when I put the bridge in the hole (hole shown by blue circle in pic), from left to right I'd say it moves about 3mm. logic would dictate that I should just get it in the middle of these two movements, when I do that it seems to be in the same imaginary vertical line that would cut through the middle of the gap between the pickup holes (red circles in pic).

pic.JPG
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

shredaholic said:
how would one find the center line though? does it really have to be dead on to the mm? when I put the bridge in the hole (hole shown by blue circle in pic), from left to right I'd say it moves about 3mm. logic would dictate that I should just get it in the middle of these two movements, when I do that it seems to be in the same imaginary vertical line that would cut through the middle of the gap between the pickup holes (red circles in pic).

pic.JPG
Click to expand...

Wait until you get your neck and do the string-up method I described a few posts ago. That will help a lot. You can also print out the diagram you posted, cut out the trem cavity with an exacto knife so you can see how it lines up and then line up the holes that way. It's the perfect template if those markings match the holes on your trem.
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

cool, I'll try that, as it sounds easier than the string up method. ill wait till i get the pickguard to do this too, as I'm sure it'll be of help when aligning it too if need be.
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

shredaholic said:
cool, I'll try that, as it sounds easier than the string up method. ill wait till i get the pickguard to do this too, as I'm sure it'll be of help when aligning it too if need be.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that'll help a lot. Still do the string-up once you have the holes lined up just to be sure that the two E strings are the right distance from the edge of the fretboard. It would suck to have everything on and then find out one of them is too close to the edge. I don't think either one will be using that template as a guide like I mentioned but it helps to be 100% certain. Go by the old rule, "measure twice, cut once". :)
 
Re: Vintage Strat Trem

cheers, thanks for all the help :)

ill put a thread about this guitar when it's done, i don't think it wouldve been possible without this forum's help
 
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