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Author Topic: Strat Bridge  (Read 7723 times)

MrBump

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Strat Bridge
« on: June 20, 2009, 07:45:02 AM »
So, I've managed to acquire a Strat body.

It's beaten up but looks OK, so I've going to base a project around it.

It's currently drilled and routed for a vintage 6 hole strat trem.  I'm now wondering if I should stick with the vintage style trem, or fill the holes and drill it for a more modern two pin trem.

Anyone got any opinions?

Mark.
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AndyR

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #1 on: June 20, 2009, 09:57:19 AM »
I prefer vintage style looks-wise, but that's just me :)
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Prawnik

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #2 on: June 20, 2009, 11:23:33 AM »
Ever only use a vintage six-hole trem or a vintage-style hardtail on a Strat.

This will help you score with chicks. Eschew anything else.

gwEm

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2009, 11:44:27 AM »
depends how much you want to go to town on it i guess. bkp vintage trem is great - but you may find the fixings are in a different place/routing needs to be done anyway. not all vintage 6 point trems are the same dimensions.
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you wouldn't use the meat knife on crusty bread but, equally, the serrated knife and straight edge knife aren't going to go through raw meat as quickly

MrBump

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2009, 01:17:16 PM »
To be fair, I'm not that interested in scoring with the chicks, although any guitar hardware that adds to my general, ambient sex appeal can't be bad thing.

I'm not sure that the guitar is worth a massive investment...  the BKP trem looks lovely, but I'm not sure I could justify it.
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Philly Q

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #5 on: June 21, 2009, 12:19:17 AM »
Ever only use a vintage six-hole trem or a vintage-style hardtail on a Strat.

This will help you score with chicks. Eschew anything else.

Hmmm.  It has never worked for me.  :|

But I don't gig.....  Maybe I should just wander around coffee shops, art galleries and seedy-but-fashionable-in-a-bohemian-sort-of-way parts of London with a Strat in my hand.



Anyway, FWIW I think the six-screw trem looks, feels and sounds better.  And it's easy to screw it down flat and turn into a pseudo-hardtail if you don't like it.

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gwEm

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #6 on: June 21, 2009, 01:26:14 AM »
But I don't gig.....  Maybe I should just wander around coffee shops, art galleries and seedy-but-fashionable-in-a-bohemian-sort-of-way parts of London with a Strat in my hand.

I was once in mid-town New York on my way back to my hotel, mildly gothed up and with a V case... got wolf-whistled by a medium-hot girl and ending up having an entertaining afternoon with her (no sex, so obviously my luck wasn't that in)
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you wouldn't use the meat knife on crusty bread but, equally, the serrated knife and straight edge knife aren't going to go through raw meat as quickly

MrBump

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #7 on: June 21, 2009, 08:56:18 AM »
OK, the project is a dead duck.

Got out the B&D workmate in the garage yesterday, and had a go sanding down the body in question; then I realised that there was a large part of the body near the input jack that seemed to be rotten; the guitar was in a shed at my mums place, probably standing in a puddle!

The more I I sanded away, the more rot I uncovered.  I even tried cutting it back severely with a jigsaw - got rid of most of the rot, but the body has ended up looking like something BC Rich might make, which definitely isn't what I was aiming for...

Bugger.

But I've got the bug, and I'm hankering after a strat.  Maybe I'll check out Ebay for some bodies...

Mark.
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Prawnik

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2009, 09:32:55 AM »
But I don't gig.....  Maybe I should just wander around coffee shops, art galleries and seedy-but-fashionable-in-a-bohemian-sort-of-way parts of London with a Strat in my hand.

I was once in mid-town New York on my way back to my hotel, mildly gothed up and with a V case... got wolf-whistled by a medium-hot girl and ending up having an entertaining afternoon with her (no sex, so obviously my luck wasn't that in)

Usually it works something like this for me...

Chick sees me with nonchalantly displayed Stratocaster case: "Ooooh! Whaddayagotinthecase?"
Me (smooth operator): "Hey, how's it going?"
Chick (getting impatient): "There, is, like, a guitar in there...right?"
Me (trying to decide if she is hot enough for this to be worth the trouble): "Oh, yeah, an old Fender...."
Chiquita (eyes light up): "Wow, really, can I see it?"
Me (I have a free afternoon, so why not?): "Well, let's move away from the coffee machine...this guitar is just a magnet for jealous haters..."

Case is opened, just enough to show her a taste of what I have to offer...

Female (sensing danger, and liking it): "I like that bridge...hard. tail."
Me: "Want a coffee?"

Twinfan

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2009, 11:39:04 AM »
But I've got the bug, and I'm hankering after a strat.  Maybe I'll check out Ebay for some bodies...

Mark,

I'm the process of returning a Squier Strat to stock and will have the guitar plus some extra parts available:

H-S-S scratchplate
Pickups
Knobs/covers
Wilkinson trem
etc

Drop me a PM if you want first dibs on anything.....

Matt77

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2009, 05:55:36 PM »
The hipshot trem is really worth looking in to when you get round to considering bridges again.
Martin Booth's guitars use them amongst others.
Really smooth operation and stayed in tune depite some heavy abuse on the ones I tried

Copperhead

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2009, 06:31:50 PM »
I don't like using any Fender trem, for that reason I prefer the six screw. I press the bridge down just flat to the body with the two outside screws, then bring the four center ones down just 'til they touch. Poor man's hardtail.
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AndyR

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2009, 08:33:41 AM »
Poor man's hardtail.

:lol: Nah... don't do it down... it's the other way round: a hardtail is a poor man's flattened strat bridge... :lol:

I'm probably wrong, but all that extra wood, and no springs or tremblock, a hardtail just don't quite sound/feel right to me...

(not that I can actually hear a difference :lol:)
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Philly Q

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2009, 11:01:47 AM »
Poor man's hardtail.

:lol: Nah... don't do it down... it's the other way round: a hardtail is a poor man's flattened strat bridge... :lol:

Hmm, we'll have to agree to disagree!  :wink:
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indysmith

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Re: Strat Bridge
« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2009, 01:11:19 PM »
I'm probably wrong, but all that extra wood, and no springs or tremblock, a hardtail just don't quite sound/feel right to me...

+1 Hardtail strats just don't sound like strats!
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