V-P said:
Ok, I'm also interested in this bridge so I did some research.
At this page, http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/FretboardExtensions.aspx, third picture down, you can see that the fretboard height over the body is .375".
Add to that the height of the frets and just for the sake of it, lets take the 6100 frets at .112" and you get .487" above the body.
At this page, http://www.hipshotproducts.com/files/all/6stg_fixed_dims.pdf, you can see that the maximum string height over the body is .510".
The question then is if that is enough?
It wasn't for me. It was close, but no cigar. The dimensions you point out are correct, and so only leave .023" for string clearance at the high/low E strings. That's pretty damn close, and the rest won't play at all due to the neck radius progressively eating away at that .023" as it rises from the flat of the body. I had to take .100" off the floor of the neck pocket of the Strat body I have the Hipshot 41105 bridge (.175" base) installed on. I could have also made or have made a shim to install under the bridge, but every interface adds cush to your string/body connection so I suspect you'd lose sustain/clarity. That's NFG and unacceptable. Or, at least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it <grin>
But, it is a nice bridge because it's so short, configurable, massive and made out of good materials (brass/SS), so it's worth it to wrestle the thing on on there if you have the wherewithal to do it.
Machining .100" off the neck floor isn't as difficult as it sounds. You need 4 things:
- A Fender neck pocket template such as this one...
- Some double-sided sticky tape like this...
- A router
- A 3/8" tall by 1/2" diameter flush trim/pattern follower bit like this...
Oh, and you have to be willing to risk wrecking your body if you let her get on top <grin>
The template is just acting as a platform for your router base so you maintain a fixed, level height above the neck pocket floor. StewMac's template isn't accurate enough to use as a template - it's slighly oversized, which is unacceptable. Attach that with the double-sided tape. Chuck that bit into your router, and measure your depth of cut
very carefully. The bit's top bearing will bear against the side walls of the neck pocket, so you don't need the template to maintain the pocket's width and length dimensions. The only cutting you're doing is down. Drive the router around until the floor of the pocket is clear, and Poof! You're done. Heave a sigh of relief, and have a cigarette. Drink some beer. Pretend you knew what you were doing the whole time. Slap the ol' lady's buns, and tell her what a guitar-building stud hoss you are <grin>