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Acoustic looking Strat bridge...AKA "Scartozi Bridge"

scartozi said:
Where duh hoes at Doug.....drill them holes and I'll accept it as an Xmas gift :icon_biggrin: that definitely needs anodized black. Excellent job.....I still think at some point you need to get your hands dirty :laughing7: :laughing7:
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It'll get some ho's, just had to find the exact hole pattern for a vintage. And I know how to polish without getting dirty fingers... :icon_biggrin:
 
scartozi said:
Got me some strings this evening and got everything set up. I'll admit that I was a little nervous as I pulled the first string through the bridge to the nut and sighted down the neck....but everything lines up perfect :cool01: I was also worried that the bridge would get in the way of the volume knob but it doesn't....whewww. Here is a pic of it all strung up on my guinea pig guitar....the bridge is quite comfy resting your palm on it. I have a feeling I'll be making one for my MIA strat.  :guitaristgif:
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Wow pretty neat dude, I love it!!!
 
This is some seriously interesting work. Of course, if you streamline it your cost-per-unit can go down, but if you want to pay yourself $25 an hour, the first one had $100 on the bottom. There are a lot of people out there doing interesting work - I'm building a bridge up from pieces and I just bought a "Boogie Rail", which is a solution to the six-screw whammy problem with the Jag body I picked up trolling the 'bay.
http://shop.boogierail.com/
It was $44-something w/shipping, which seems perfectly fair to me. They're not doing anything beyond what you are (well, anodizing), but - obviously they've gone through the process of obtaining a business license, opening an Ebay store, getting all legal-like. I would be pretty hesitant to get on the web and Ebay with a site if you weren't all squared up that way - the IRS just might come and take all your tools as "EVIDENCE!"

Now, I was just about to ship the baseplate off to another guy, Adam Reiver, the FloydUpgrade dude; I haven't replied yet, so I'm not on the spike, so to speak. His smallest brass block is $33 before shipping. I suspect he really wants to take a good look at the Boogie Rail, and I suspect I'll get a discount, because I also sent him a suggestion for a product that is WAY overdue - some frigging tunematic bridges designed for real guitars.
http://www.floydupgrades.com/catalog/index.php

Here's the body of what I sent him:

This second part is a just thought. There is an online builder's site at unofficialwarmoth.com. It's quite an intelligent place, as those things go, because everybody there is actively assembling parts into guitars. I've probably put together a dozen or fifteen over the years, though I tend to use their wood as a starting point. And there are builders there who've done a lot more. Warmoth is well known for their compound-radius necks, which are a 10 degree radius at the nut and 16 degrees at the 22nd fret. The mathematical extension out to the bridge means it needs to have about 19 degrees of radius - and EVERY SINGLE AVAILABLE tunematic-type bridge has a radius of 12 degrees only! Now, I know how to file the bridge inserts to get the best out of a tunematic, I've been doing my own fretwork and setups for a few decades. But one constantly-recurring question there is "Why?" Why aren't there aftermarket tunematic bridges already set to 18 or 19 degrees? Besides just Warmoth, there are all kinds of Jackson, Ibanez, Schecter/ESP guitars on the lower end of the scale that could benefit from a solid, plated-brass tunematic instead of the cheapest potmetal available in China.

In just the past few days there have been three questions about this on the unofficial warmoth forum, and I personally feel Warmoth is a bit "inattentive" in selling necks and parts together without telling people about the mismatch with these particular bridges, that can only be corrected by grinding metal. But it seems to me that "the market" could clearly benefit from somebody who would put out a flatter tunematic, maybe even two at 15 and 19 degrees (or so). Even Gibson and Fender are jumping on the "compound radius" bus, and even the least expensive Schecters have a potmetal 16-degree tunematic. Somewhere in China, somebody's pumping out the parts for these, but you well know about the aftermarket - it's like selling lipstick to girls, there's always a better one right around the corner!

In looking at a tunematic shell, they do look to be a complicated little part, but if you've got a CNC banging out brass blocks, it's gotta be doable. One thing's for sure - SOMEBODY is going to get in on this, and become the TonePros or DiMarzio of that particular little corner.
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There is a living to be made out there, that's for sure. My other "home base" online is at the Steel Guitar Forum. When the economy tanked, a guy who lost his job in a professional machine shop but had an adequate garage setup just tossed out the information on that site that he was able to make... pretty much whatever. Pedal steel guitar parts, guns, engine parts, if you can draw it (CORRECTLY!), he'd make it. He got buried, in a week he had to stop taking orders till he'd spent a month digging out. Pedal steels are naturally pretty complex machines, but on the other hand there are several hundred TIMES more electric guitarists. Of course, this was all bootleg work. In between the time Premier Guitar magazine started publishing and the 2008 crash, they must have preview 100 +$2500 boutique guitars and half as many + $2500 boutique amps - I suspect these guys are still in business, but on the sly, so to speak.
Now, I haven't YET replied or sent the baseplate to the FloydUpgrade, I opened this thread instead... I just need a brass block.... & I can draw.... :cool01:
 
photobucket-3871-1325885302140.jpg
:headbang1:
 
Cagey said:
That is sharp. How does it attach?
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Adams design is to adapt to a normal 3 bolt hole trem block, with the 6 hole body mount but it can be just screwed directly to the body, if it were needed for a non-trem.. I just haven't drilled the 6 mounting holes yet..
 
Then what holds the trem block in? I thought this was a hardtail bridge.
 
The bridge bolts to the trem block like a normal trem bridge with the 3 holes. The springs would still hold tension on the trem block, I've not seen how Adam did his, but I'm assuming he left the springs on. And it mounts to the body with the 6 front holes obviously..
index.php
 
DangerousR6 said:
The bridge bolts to the trem block like a normal trem bridge with the 3 holes. The springs would still hold tension on the trem block, I've not seen how Adam did his, but I'm assuming he left the springs on. And it mounts to the body with the 6 front holes obviously..
index.php
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I see now.

Ok. Well, send me that one and I'll buy some saddles for it and a body to put it on, and we'll test 'er out.
 
I knew it! You guys got pallet loads of those things, and you won't share!

Where's my gun...? Dammit... it was just here...
 
Wow....guess I should pull myself out of the garage every once in a while and get on the computer :icon_biggrin:

Ok....where to start.....

StubHead: I came up with this bridge because I wanted something different and didn't really like what was already out there. My original design was to be used for a hardtail single humbucker rear rout strat because I wasn't sure how the pickguard and volume knob would work out. Turns out it works great and doesn't interfere with adjusting the volume. The original design was also not as thick since I didn't have the 6 hole mounting screws to deal with. I love the fact that people like the design and the best complement I could ask for is someone wanting to put one on their guitar. So far Doug and I have only prototyped two bridges for a vintage 6 hole trem and one for a 6 hole 2 1/16" string spacing that is on my MIM "Firewood" strat (the one in the earlier pics)

One of these bridges will be getting anodized black and it'll have gold graph tech saddles, black intonation springs and countersunk gold screws (probably an allen socket head screw) this will be going on my "Driftwood" strat.

Cagey: Installation is just like the original bridge. 3 screws to the trem block, 6 mounting screws. The springs and everything is just like the standard bridge. NOTE: at this time these are designed for those who block their trem...although it wouldn't be to difficult to make it a functional trem bridge.

Cost: I'm working on it.....if it helps it'll be quite a bit under $100. BUT, if someone wants one anodized so far the cheapest I can get a bridge anodized for is $60!!! ....but it's local. So if anyone knows a cheap company to get something anodized please let me know. Those interested send me a PM and we'll see what we can work out.

 
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