As the neck pocket fit, break angle and action are the main points of interest I decided to do a test fit to get an idea of the action straight out of the box with no mods, sanding, neck tweaks etc. to see just where we stand. The neck has a slight touch of back bow, as expected without string tension, the nut is a touch too high and there's the slight doming issue on the base of the neck heel… so it wasn't going to be perfect.
My test fit tubing and washers allows me to have the bridge sit in place with minimal movement (at its lowest setting), without having to install/extract the post bushes (the washers account for the lip on the bushes).
I set the bridge intonation screws at around halfway (guess), clamped the neck in place and ran fishing line as e-strings.
I took some measurements and the scale length was pretty close:
Nut -> 12th fret: 313.5mm
12th fret -> e saddle: 314mm
12th fret -> E saddle: 318mm
A few tweaks on the intonation and/or saddle screws would have it perfect, so intonation looks like it won't be a problem.
The action is slightly high, as I expected, but it won't take much to deal with the issues listed above to get it where it needs to be. Ideally, it should just about be kissing that last fret. If needed, you could even recess the post holes for the lip on the bridge post bushes to gain another 1-1.5mm.
Action at nut:
Action at last fret:
One thing to note with the stock bridge is there is a little bit of vertical play between the bridge hooks and the top and bottom lugs of the bridge posts. This means that when the strings are wrapped around the bridge it may pitch forward a fraction, which will raise the action slightly. Locking studs could fix this, however…
I was going to also do a test with some locking studs, but it turns out the hooks on the stock bridge are a little narrower than usual measuring only 7.5-7.65mm instead of 8mm. This meant my locking studs wouldn't even fit in the bridge slots so I couldn't test them. I've got an aluminium Pigtail bridge tucked away for another project so I may end up trying/using that instead, not sure yet.
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