Question about rhoads string thru guitars

[dethritual]

Okay, so I work at a guitar repair place. And I'm refabricating my '93 explorer to be a string thru with a badass bridge...my question is this, the black plates that the strings come through the top of the body on a a rr1T--can those be purchased anywhere? Also, any general info about the placement of these plates would be greatly appreciated.

[Argos]

http://www.fretsonthenet.com/USAJackson.htm

[straycat]

You work in a repair place make some.A bad ass bridge is wrap around tail piece and wont work as a string thru the body.The string ferruls used on a string thru would work as long as you keep the tune-o-matic bridge.You will have to fill the tail piece stud holes and do a refin, lots of work IMO why butcher an explorer you will sink its resale value.

[dethritual]

this guitar will not be done for the resale value or anything else, more or less just as an example of all the crazy custom stuff Im going to be doing for the shop, and something that will stick out like a sore thumb on stage. I already have to refinish the guitar anyway because when I bought the guitar it was in really rough shape, but sounded totally awesome, and my theory with some good nitrocellose it will probably sound even better. I mean yeah I know its a lot of work, but its a good learning experience, and basically, weve got a great shop here and all these jobs Im going to do Ive done before, so its just putting it all together and doing it on one guitar that really needed all the work.

If I was to make the bridge plate, I'd need exact dimensions or a plate so I could make a template with our machines. However, I have neither so Im obviously not going to spend hours of my time and money on my materials trying to make a rhoads bridge plate appear out of thin air. You dont have bite my head off dude, Im just trying to learn.

Continuing on in the vein of learning--Why wont a wrap around bridge work for a string through the body. This badass I have looks basically exactly like a tuneomatic, its not like a prs wraparound or anything, but it does have slots for the strings. I mean the thing is I wanted the badass is because...on the tuning I use...it gets really hard to get the low E string to feel like a string and not spaghetti, so I go for like a .070. The .070 is a hard string to intonate so I figure since the badass has more travel it will be somewhat easier to intonate.

Beyond that, can you explain to me any other reasons why a badass wont work with a string thru? Does it have something to do with the breaking angle of the string over the saddle of the bridge?

[Sanctuary]

I can't see why a badass wouldn't work, either. But remember these are Jackson purists you're dealing with. :ROTF:

[straycat]

OK if it is a tune-o-matic type bridge(of Leo Quann) you want the string to travel far enough beyond the bridge so the breaking angle of the string does not touch the bridge after the string saddle.You can pretty much use any plate style you wish.I did a Charvel star body this way it was a trem guitar originally I filled the route with the same wood as the body put a flame maple top and back(veneer) drilled the holes for the strings measured the scale length installed the tune-o-matic.I did not use a plate I used brass tubing thru the body and brass ferruls the tubing kept the strings from making contact on the wood and marring the finish.A wrap around tail piece strings thru the tail piece itself.I guess you could string it thru the body and thru the tail piece but that would look funny.

[dethritual]

Okay this makes a lot of sense. The way I'm seeing it is like this:

1.) If the string hits the bridge before the saddle...then yeah you wouldnt have any of the added benefit of the string thru mechanism as far as tone and tension from the breaking angle of the string away from the bridge.

2.) And probably in addition to looking all weird and strange if I went with the strings thru the body, then thru the bridge...there would be an increased chance of string breakage, due to all the harsh angles that the strings would climb to get over the saddle.

So yeah man I definitely see your point, In all likelihood, I wont got go with a badass...but does any company make a normal, tuneomatic bridge with increased string travel for intonation? Because the only badass bridges I can find are wraparounds.

[Jackson-Charvel]

Not sure about the travel of the intonation screws on a Schaller roller bridge or one of the many roller bridges you see on Ebay, but they sound pretty darned good. I just ordered some WIlkinsons, and tried the generic ones too.

[peedenmark7]

another thing to consider is, how wide the bridge is in relation to how far back you put your string through plate...
chances are the badass is too wide and the strings will hit the back side of the bridge as they transition down to the plate , hence a binding point/tuning nightmare...

I'll run with the pack on this one... youre wasting your time...and opening a can of worms.