A number of years ago when I was young and foolish I decided to sand off the nitro under the bridge plate of a wonderfully sounding 62 style custom Strat. The logic behind it was to "let the wood breathe". Sigh...
Anyway, because I lacked the proper tools for the job and the expertise, the surface on which the plate rested ended up slightly uneven and no amount of eyeballing could remedy it. I resigned myself to accept my defeat and I reassembled the bridge, only to notice a slight loss of tone. Ouch! Was I hearing things? Uhmm...
Eventually, I got used to the guitar's 'new tone'. Also, I became more of a Gibson player for a few years so I lost my point of reference in terms of Fender knowledge. Fast forward to now. The guitar is still great and it is one of my favourites but I know that the surface under the bridge plate is slightly bumpy and most likely not making full contact with the wood. Questions....
Do you think I was imagining things when I noticed a loss in tone?
Is metal-to-wood 'coupling' in your experience that important?
Would you have it seen and repaired by a luthier?
How complicated is the process?
