how much should i worry about this crack?

[blazingelectricdeath]

I finally decided to swap the jt580lp on my RR3 for an OFR. The OFR arrived today and i thought i would be able to do everything myself after reading about this operation many times on this board. Everything went smoothly until i tried to use a block of wood and a rubber mallet to get the OFR stud bushings in. I made a fairly large crack in my guitar! I made one significant crack on the treble side and a tiny one on the bass side. After this i pulled the bushings back out and spent a good amount of time making the holes slightly larger with sandpaper wrapped around a pencil. I used a clamp to get the bushings in this time (I would recommend this, it seems much gentler) and the crack on the bass side is imperceptible, but the crack on the treble side remains:

It looks a litte bit worse in the picture i think. it goes about halfway through the body and i can feel it when i run my finger over it, though there doesn't seem to be any space in it now.
I haven't got a chance to string it up with the OFR since i haven't got any strings around tonight, so I can't tell if this will affect tuning stability, but after wrapping plumbing tabe around the stud and screwing it in, it feels solid to me. Should i be very worried about this? Should i enlarge the bushing hole even more and see if the crack will close completely again as the smaller one on the bass side did? Has this happened to you? I'd be surprised if everybody got away fine with tapping the slightly larger OFR bushings in the way i did. This forum has been invaluable to me and I thank everybody for reading.

[rjohnstone]

OFR bushings are bigger than the stock ones.
You have to enlarge the holes first.
Looks like you missed that step. You can fill the crack with some Titebond II or super glue.
I would recommend removing them and making the holes the proper size.
This will prevent the cracks from getting bigger.

[RobRR]

Nothing major to worry about, its pretty common. If youve already got the bushings fully seated, its probably best to just leave them there now. Just take some wood glue (thin it with a few drops of water if you have to) and fill in the crack.

[Zerberus]

Well, had you taken 2 seconds looking at the studs next to each other you should have immediately noticed that what you planned wasn´t the best idea

But as far as the fix: remove the studs, set the crack with Titebond or superglue, then redrill the holes to the proper size and reinstall the bushings

[soc_monki]

yup...fix that crack or otherwise youll probably end up making it worse when you string the guitar up (the tension will pull on the posts, which will put pressure on the bushings and it may not happen overnight, but over time you WILL cause problems!)

[Cory]

I have a similair crack on my Model 3. I just filled it with original Krazy Glue (it was the thinnest I could find). It is holding fine.

[toejam]

Was there something wrong with the old studs and posts? Should have just left it alone and dropped the Floyd on the old posts.

[blazingelectricdeath]

Merry christmas!
Thanks for all the response, guys. Yeah, there was something wrong with the old posts, had grooves in them. I had screwed with this bridge for a long time trying to get it to work well. I've got it strung up and it's working perfectly now, the new black OFR looks great, too. The OFR bushings were only so slightly bigger i didn't think it would be a problem. Obviously, I was wrong, but it may have also had to do with roughly tapping them in instead of using a c-clamp or something. I did pull the bushings back out and sand the holes bigger after the first try, it didn't seems like enough difference to drill and I don't have a drill press. I don't think it would have cracked if I had sanded first. I also didn't realize that the bushings don't have to be in there ridiculously tight. I will fill this crack, though, for peace of mind. I have a feeling that the crack will close up though if i remove the bushing, so I should just fill it how it is? There's no space in the crack but the two sides of it are ever so slightly offset.

edit: side note. The two studs are spaced slightly close together so that they hit the floyd's knife edges slightly to the inside of the their centers. It's not like they are resting on the inside edges of the knife edge cut outs or anything, but it's slightly off. I'm guessing this isn't a problem, since so many people that have swapped bridges, but maybe my guitar is just cursed. It's working perfectly right now, but will it wear out faster if it's not dead-on? I'll just take this thing to a luthier if it's going to give me any more problems. it can be seen here:

[Zerberus]

Was there something wrong with the old studs and posts? Should have just left it alone and dropped the Floyd on the old posts.

While this will work, the JT-580 (and trs, sft-70, w-600, yaddayadda) series posts are smaller in diameter throughout, including (and most importantly) the area where the knife edges contact. This puts more pressure on teh knife edges and as a direct result causes them to wear faster.

Again, it will work, essentially without issues, and it will usually work for a pretty long time. But using the OFR posts instead will help it work fine even longer

[Shwayman11]

this is probably a dumb question but where are the knife edges?

[soc_monki]

the base of the trem where it rides on the posts

[StukaJU87]

this is probably a dumb question but where are the knife edges?

Those curved portions on the base plate that actually pivot on the posts.

[Cory]

I would fill it first. I used a siringe to inject the original krazy glue into the crack. But in my case there was a very slight opening for me to get the needle tip into.
Cory.

[blazingelectricdeath]

Thanks so far, everybody. I'm thinking that I'll just take it to the guitar guy in town. Maybe he wont do anything about it, but the guitar could now do with having a few other things worked on it, after my ...learning experiences. It still kicks ass now, I just want to keep it going for a long time.