COnverting traditional tele bridge plate to tele hum bridge plate

[Jackson-Charvel]

Wondering how much is needed to route for a humbucker in a tele that already has the fairly large sized (not sure what you call the shape) standard route for the slanted single.

Also wondering if this slight mod would keep it intact to go back to the standard setup and the plate would still cover the route.

[StukaJU87]

Well, here's the bridge style you are talking about, right?



Looks like the ears for the pickup mounts will be routed fairly close to the edge of the bridge. Be careful and don't over do it. If you ever wanted to put it back the original should cover any routing you do.

[Jackson-Charvel]

Yeah I am wondering if the humbucker bridge is wider than the standard single coil bridge plate. If so then there would be no way to go back to the old bridge.

[StukaJU87]

The screws look like they are at the corners. My GUESS is that they would line right up. These bridges are like 20-25 bucks on ebay. Grab one, mock it up, and see how it lines up.

[hippietim]

i'm not sure the original cover will cover it up - i'd measure first!

[Jackson-Charvel]

I don't think it will work the Humbucker plate is quite a bit wider. I forget which site it was, but it shown them side by side probably a good 1/4" or larger. Since the screw hole for the height adjustment screw is close to the edge the wood underneath would also need to be routed for the ears and if one was to go back to the standard bridge plate there would be a noticeable gap around the edges. It was worth considering...

[VitaminG]

from Warmoth's site:
standard Tele bridge
humbucker bridge

the pdfs show the dimensions in millimetres

[Jackson-Charvel]

10MM wider for the humbucker plate and the mounting screws are approx 2MM from the edge on both sides so the minimum width you could get by routing would be 85MM which is still wider than the original of 79MM. Won't work at least with those Gotoh bridge designs.