Advice on a hardtail bridge for project

[GuerillaPete]

Ugh im confuzed

Confused by what?

[tomanyjacksons]

My humble apologies oh great one. Fixxed bridge of course.

[ginsambo]

First off, if it were me, I'd fit the neck and body and see what the neck pocket is angle routed for to determine your clearance at the bridge, as ideally you don't want to be shimming it excessively. If you are used to recessed floyds and the neck angle allows, then get a Gotoh hardtail bridge I would reckon as they are the same height in the body as a recessed floyd and would suit the guitar best IMO.

If the neck is angled to allow for a taller bridge, maybe get a Ibanez Gibralter standard bridge, slightly taller maybe than the Gotoh.

If it allows for something very tall, as maybe the pocket was angled for a flush mount Floyd, then go for above or a TOM or Gibralter III Bridge design with tailpiece, but IMO these bridges just don't suit soloist / strat type bodies.

I'd make a template out of perspex, which include neck pocket and post holes, using another similar guitar and measure nut to bridge several times compared to a guitar that adjusts well for intonation to triple check and mock up using the E strings for edge of fretboard alignment to double check centering.

If it were me I'd route / drill for a flush mounted floyd, or fit a Gotoh, depending on neck angle. But remember the 1/16th intonation difference between OFR and Schaller etc..and use a bench drill or cheap DIY attachment on your drill so you get it vertical on your post holes. On one guitar that was pre drilled I routed the end of the neck off to allow intonation - it was routed for an OFR, I fitted a schaller and it wouldn't have intonated otherwise as it was beyond the limit for adjustment.

I reckon routing with a home made perspex bearing router guide/jig traced from another guitar and double checking intonation measurements is just as easy, after you've routed out the slack from within it than fittting a Gotoh bridge, as long as you routed out most of the slack to depth up to say 2-3mm from the guide for the bearing cutter. Plenty of expert advice on here and vids on the net etc.

The only thing I wouldn't peronally attempt is routing the neck pocket as you have to make up a jig for the neck pocket angle as well, but that is straightforward I guess, although a little too four dimensional for me at this stage. With depth stops on the router, top bearing cutter bits and well made jigs you can't really go wrong, following experienced advice and tips and after getting used to using a router smoothly and how it tears out on some scrap.

Personally. I'm more scared about using Sully's Z poxy wood sealing method, just because I've never attempted it before, am hopeless at sanitary bathroom sealing as the cat always goes off before I'm finished and don't know how it sands if I get a big dryed lump of it on there.

I want to make a natural one piece body Hot rod Fender Lonestar Charvel neck Strat with an OFR, but after reading what I've just said, I guess I will have to figure for the neck pocket angle too.:think:

[prolead]

Thanks for the detailed responses.I am ordering the neck,will take about 6 weeks or so from Musikraft.I have dealt with Paul from bigheadguitars and he does the floyd routing.I will send him the guitar and get his advice.I think the Floyd route is the way to go.
The seller said the neck pocket is not angled.I usually prefer a recessed floyd.I will leave this to a pro,although I have a router I want this to be spot on.I could also see ifwarmoth will route itm
Thanks again for the advice.

[prolead]

Thanks for the detailed responses.I am ordering the neck,will take about 6 weeks or so from Musikraft.I have dealt with Paul from bigheadguitars and he does the floyd routing.I will send him the guitar and get his advice.I think the Floyd route is the way to go.
The seller said the neck pocket is not angled.I usually prefer a recessed floyd.I will leave this to a pro,although I have a router I want this to be spot on.I could also see ifwarmoth will route itm
Thanks again for the advice.

[ginsambo]

If the neck pocket is not angled (Which is probably Warmoth standard, as its Fender standard) as you say then, yeah recessed floyd or Gotoh would be the way to go. Glad I read your post because actually,you've made me realise that any old Fender body will need to have the neck pocket angle modded for a flush OFR when I think about it.

You could route the recessed floyd yourself yer know! Can't really go wrong if you go easy, have a steady free hand routing in stages of shallow depths up to near the template and set the depth stop properly. My router is huge, really heavy and the springs are like bedsprings on it, but still managed to free hand rout the edge off a neck under the fretboard to 0.2mm tolerances.

Of course all the time and the secret is making up a series of Router jigs that are accurate. Let us know how much they charge you for the recessed rout. And remember OFR post holes are 1/16 or 1/8" further away from the nut than Schaller and Jackson Licensed postholes also I think. I think it is 1/8" difference now thinking about it as that is how much I took off the end of the neck, that is quite a lot, so decide on your trem first. Basically, buy the trem first and tell them exactly the model of trem you are using as Schaller and OFR would have different templates I would imagine.