New hardware being ordered for my two Fender guitars.

[DrNomis_44]

Hey everyone,

I'm currently in the process of ordering some new hardware for my two Fender guitars, so that I can do some upgrading/modding work on them, here's a list of the hardware I'm ordering online:


* Two Fender LSR roller-bearing nuts.

* Two sets of chrome 6-in-line staggered-height Hipshot Griplock locking tuning-machines.

* One chrome Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge.


I ordered the two Fender LSR nuts from Warmoth Guitars last fortnight, and the two sets of Hipshot Griplock tuners this morning.


I'm going to be upgrading/modding my Fender USA standard Strat to Jeff Beck Strat specs, it already has a set of Fender N4 noiseless pickups on it, all it needs now are the Fender LSR nut and locking tuners, the bridge is a SuperVee Bladerunner and is still good.

My Mexican Telecaster will be getting a Fender LSR nut, set of Hipshot Griplock tuners, and a Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge installed on it, I'm replacing the stock bridge because the bridge plate has some corrosion on it, and the string-saddles are a bit pitted, so I thought that I would just replace the stock bridge with something better.

Both Fender guitars have standard Fender tuners on them, which don't seem to be holding tune very well, will post some pics once I've got all the new hardware.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

Both the new Fender LSR nuts and locking-tuners are now on there way in the post, I'll be ordering the new Babicz Telecaster bridge next fortnight.

[DrNomis_44]

Last night, the un-thinkable happened, while testing-out a mod I did to the Super Vee Bladerunner bridge to eliminate a squeaking-noise, I pushed the trem-arm down to the body and heard a loud bang, I looked down at the bridge of the guitar and saw that the trem-arm had broken-off with the threaded part of it still in the threaded socket on the bridge, I said a few swear-words which I won't repeat in this thread....I'll leave it up to your imagination as to which swear-words I said, and then I closed the lid on the guitar's case and decided to leave it till the morning after I'd gotten a good sleep.

Anyway, I had a look at the guitar this afternoon and managed to extract the broken-off piece from the threaded socket, I'll post a pic so you can see where the break occurred.


Here we go:




So, I thought to myself, "How am I going to fix this", then while browsing on The Stratosphere website, I realized that the official Fender Strat Ultra bridges would be a virtual drop-in fit for the Fender USA Standard Stratocaster, what's more, the trem arm on the Strat Ultra bridge simply pushes-in rather than screws-in, and, the bridge on the Jeff Beck signature strat looks practically identical to the Strat Ultra bridge, so, I'm going to go ahead and order one of these official Fender Strat Ultra hardware packs as soon as I can:

https://stratosphereparts.com/fender...dpIyxY_cSN_ysw

[Trevor Davies]

So you have to order more Fender parts! Is this the "official" cover story. It seems very well planned.

[DrNomis_44]

So you have to order more Fender parts! Is this the "official" cover story. It seems very well planned.

Yeah....I know....lol.


Unofficially....it's officially, official, but we already knew that...um...er....officially......

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Just ordered a new Chrome Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge as a replacement for the bridge that came stock on my Fender Mexican Telecaster, looking forward to installing it and seeing how well it works, I've read plenty of good reviews about it.

[vh2580]

Yeah their good stuff Doc. Easy to setup and I would definitely use again on builds

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


According to Australia Post tracking, the new Chrome Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge is at the Darwin Post facility and should be due for delivery tomorrow, still waiting on the other bits of hardware I ordered to arrive in the post.

[DrNomis_44]

Update:


Just received the new chrome Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge in the post this afternoon, and I finished installing it on my Fender Mexican Telecaster before doing a rough setup, I was pleasantly surprised at just how easy it was to install and set up, it was literally a drop-in fit for my Mexican Telecaster, I had practically no issues whatsoever installing it, definitely worth the money, after doing a quick play-test I noticed that the strings do sound a bit more even in tone, there seems to be a bit more sustain, I like the attack I get when picking notes especially on the G, B, and high E-String, I also noticed that the bridge felt nicer when palm-muting the strings, no roughness or sharp-edges, the saddles on the old bridge had some slight pitting, the new bridge felt noticeably lighter than the old one, but I didn't hear any negative effects on tone, I'd definitely recommend buying these Babicz FCH Telecaster bridges if you're after something decent to replace an old worn-out Telecaster bridge, definitely happy with it so it's a keeper, plus it does look cool.


I'll post a pic of the new chrome Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge installed on my Mexican Telecaster tomorrow morning, I've given the setup of the guitar a bit of a tweak and it seems to be playing pretty well now, no fret-buzz anywhere on the neck, the action at the 17th fret is set to typical Fender specs...4/64 Inch, or 2/32 Inch at the 17th fret for all the strings, I think the Mexican Telecaster will turn out great once the new Fender LSR Roller Bearing nut, and staggered-height Hipshot Griplock locking-tuners are installed.

I'll need to order two more 6-packs of new GHS Big Boomers 42-09 gauge strings from Stewmac soon, I'm totally out of new strings.


Here's a pic I took of the new Babicz FCH Telecaster bridge after I installed it on my Mexican Telecaster:

[DrNomis_44]

Update:

I ordered the new bridge for my Fender USA Stratocaster today from an online website called The Stratosphere, the new bridge I ordered was an official Fender Jeff Beck Stratocaster bridge which uses two pivot posts, as far as I can see, it should be a drop-in fit for my Fender USA Stratocaster, it comes with all the necessary hardware, plus springs and whammy bar, can't wait to play it after all the mods are done.

Note: I'm still waiting on all the other bits of hardware to arrive in the post.