Just got my kit today. Thank you.
I've read the horror stories from fender3x and Roger79. The bridge bushing holes miss the body center block. The threaded studs suggested by Simon Barden, in this case, don't look doable. I've decided to cut to the chase and use the thru-the-body string mounting. How far back from the bridge should the string ferrules be located? They look like 5/8" on the bass built by Roger79. Too close and the sharp bends in the strings looks fragile. Too far away and I might run into string length trouble.
Not my first build. Bought a 335 from another dealer by mistake but I don't play guitar. Decided to build it build it anyway. Nice kit. It was a breeze and a guitar playing friend is agog over it.
I suppose one way to do it is the empirical way, and get hold of some of the long strings and see what you have to play with.
The string break angle can be quite severe and still be OK. If you think about rear mounted strings coming out of the bridge plate on say a P-bass bridge, they probably are bent through 50°-60° without coming to any harm. That's far more that the worst break angle over the saddles!
What you really want to avoid are the strings touching the rear of the bridge itself. So that determines the maximum break angle.
So you first need to decide whether to use the kit bridge or a bass T-O-M style or whatever, as the rear of the bridge will be slightly different in each case. Then you'll need to calculate the bridge height, and from that and the break angle, where the strings will hit the body. You'll need both the rear ferrules, and smaller ones for the top (or a drilled plate) to stop the strings wearing the wood away.
One other bridge mounting alternative not yet mentioned, is to drill through the body with an 8mm drill in the centre of the bridge post holes, and fit M8 bolts from the rear that screw into the post bushings from the rear of the bass and that will certainly hold them in place. You'll just have to cut the bolts to length so that they screw in enough to hold the bushings in place whilst still allowing the posts to screw in from the top (these could also be slightly reduced in length if necessary). The bolt heads could be slightly recessed if necessary (if pan head), or you could use countersunk heads so that they lie flat at body level.
Just another idea to ponder.
Please ask any questions you want, and feel free to put your plans forwards before implementing them in case we can see any pitfalls.
Ooooh. I will think about this one. The threads are only 1/2" long. I could turn my own bushings with full length threads. with the thru-bolts they wouldn't need to be knurled.
I feel you'd probably still want something to stop the insert turning when you a) insert the screws from the rear and b) insert the posts from the top.
You can get longer post inserts, though they are not always easy to find. I did buy some a couple of years ago, but I'm struggling now.
It;'s a shame that the posts use 12mm holes, as you can get expanding/locking base inserts for 10mm holes, for use with Floyd Rose trems and other 2-post trem systems. e.g. https://www.fredguitar.com/en/access...g-function.htm. If you can get hold of something like that, then you could always plug and re-drill.
I could put screw driver slots in the top. With the stock bushings I'm guessing I will have about 6mm thread engagement on both sides of the guitar. Seems like enough for 8mm screws but I would feel better with a full diameter of engagenent. I don't know the thread pitch.
I had thought of using a floating bridge but those I have seen are too tall or too short. And then I think of fender3x's ordeal with the tail piece.
Thanks for your ideas. Now I am off the to hardware store for some screws (I hope).
I may be over thinking this. What is wrong with drilling a few holes through the bridge plate and screw it down?
Anybody have a picture of how these tuning machines are mounted? I see there are left/right pieces but which goes on which side and the orientation of the mounting plates?
You could just epoxy the inserts in place. Probably preferable to screws. Just don't forget to fit the bridge grounding wire first!
The tuning peg is mounted so that it's on the side of the tuner away from the body. Slightly less important on a bass tuner than a guitar one (as the post is wider and has more support), but it's arranged that way so the string tension pulls the top of the post, and as a result, the bottom of the post with the gear on it is pushed against the tuning peg gearing which keeps things tight and minimises backlash in the gears.
A bit of a tight fit on that headstock as the tuner bases are wide, bigger than the originals I think.
It should look something like this '66 EB-2 headstock.
I'm leaning more and more back the thru-the-body ferrules. The screws from behind might not have enough of the center block to bear against without crushing the body. The entire interior on the control side is a mess of splinters. Looks like a perpetual buzz. Looks like a whole lot of problems would go away if that block was wider at that end.
Well, I finished the beast. No buzzing from the splinters but several frets need some work. I ended up epoxying the two rear bridge bushings (one of them had no support underneath the guitar top) and no string through ferrules. So far so good.
I'm puzzled how the bridge should look once it is where I want it. Should it be parallel the the fret board? Sloping up/sloping down? Does it matter as long as it sounds good?
I'd suggest parallel, mainly so that the edges of the post slots are square against the posts. But there probably isn't anything against the rear being lower than the front slightly, which will put a bit more downward force on the saddles in the slots. But not so much that the strings touch the front of the bridge.
Having the front a bit lower than the rear would reduce the downward pressure on the saddles. As the kit saddles don't have the best fit, anything that helps keep them from moving helps.
The original Gibson 3-point bridge was a replacement for the previous 2-point bridge which had a tendency to tip forwards. So definitely flat or just very slightly backwards.
The adding some extra springs idea mentioned on that web page might be of benefit and could put enough tension on the saddles to stop them falling out when you take a string off.
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