ST-1 bridge upgrade

[WeirdBits]

O great and benevolent forum, I petition thee to bestow your wisdom upon me and reveal the answer to the eternal question:

Can an ST-1 kit, particularly the fretboard width, handle a bridge with a 2 1/8" (54mm) string spacing instead of the supplied 2 1/16" (52.5mm) bridge?

I'm building a couple of ST-1 kits, one of which is for my brother, and I'm planning to upgrade the bridges, ideally with Wilkinsons. One will be a vintage style 6 screw with staggered steel block, but the other is likely to see a bit of whammy use so I'm thinking a more modern 2 pivot strat style tremolo (stable tuning, locking saddles, low maintenance, easy to use - as opposed to a FR). The trouble is, most of the bridges that I'd like to use are 2 1/8" (54mm) spacing, and the last thing that I want is for E strings to be rolling off the side of the fretboard.

The difference between the stock bridge spacing and the ones I want to use is only 1.5mm, which means 0.75mm wider for each E string at the bridge and probably < 0.4mm each at the 12th fret. But, a small change can have a big effect, and I don't want to be drilling bridge mount holes only to find the string spacing is too wide. I did a quick test today with a 2 1/8" Wilky 5 + 1 I already have (the block *just* fits under the spring cover), and it seemed ok (pics below)… but it's hard to really know if it will work until you're playing it, and it's not something I want to get wrong.

So, does anyone have any experience or thoughts on using a 2 1/8" spaced bridge on the ST-1?

[wokkaboy]

Scott, I have never tried the wider bridge but looking at the photos I think if you carefully set up the neck and bridge alignment it could work.
Worth trying and if it didn't work check out if the supplied bridge drill holes match up so if you had to revert back to that it is an option
But the gold wilko bridges would look choice, and if you prove it can be done I'd be keen to try a similar upgrade

Good luck!

[rhay]

I've got a guitar with even less edge than that, and it is fine. As Wokka says, with a careful setup I reckon you should be ok.

[Gavin1393]

Hey Scott,

It should work. Worst case scenario is that you may have to shift the two "E" strings ever so slightly in from the edge of the fret board at the nut. The nut is plastic anyway and a bone nut will produce a better tone anyway...if you have the Stewmac string spacing ruler this will make the job really easy!

Just check that the bevel at the edge of the frets is not too "flat" . I have had strat necks come with very flat angled bevelling that even with the supplied nut and bridge the "E" strings slipped off the fretboard. If this is the case you may need to refret like I did. Gives far better tolerance!

[dingobass]

Mate, you would have to bend 'em like Beckham to have the strings come off the edge of the board!

[WeirdBits]

Thanks guys, I'll probably give it a go on one of the ST's and see what happens. I may even do a string up before starting the finishing just to see how it feels (but that won't be for a while).

The nut on the neck above is actually cut pretty narrow already, you can sort of see the angle of the strings creeping out towards the edge at the end of the fretboard in the pics, so the way it is above is probably as narrow as you could comfortably go at the nut. I've already got a 52.5mm spaced Strat copy, with a fairly wide cut nut, and it is somewhat prone to have the high E roll off occasionally which annoys me (I'll get around to cutting a new nut and tweaking its bridge eventually). Which, I guess, is why I'm a little paranoid about it.

It's just a shame it is so hard to get good 2 1/16" spaced trems.