Shortstop II replacement bridge

7469 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by Polaris20, Jul 27, 2005

Polaris20

Discussion Starter · Jul 26, 2005 (Edited)

I am looking to replace the shortstop II bridge on my SC420 with something that has a bit more intonation travel, that will screw into where the SSII goes.

Does anyone know of anything that would work? I love the SC, but I really hate the SSII.

edit

For instance, how about the Gotoh 510?

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stratoskier

· #2 · Jul 26, 2005

A couple of us here have done retrofits of the SSII on our JS700 guitars. I believe that the only bridge that will directly fit is the Ibanez Gibraltar III used on the SZ series. BUT, those are a string-through-body-design, so you have to drill holes through the body and install string ferrules on both sides of the body. I did quite a bit of checking before I did the conversion, and as best I could tell, no other bridges (Tonepros, Gotoh, etc.) would fit the SSII stud spacing. There are undoubtedly other bridges out there that I didn't check into, but my guess is that (unlike Ibanez) most aftermarket bridges will conform to the industry standard stud spacing. (Those dimensions can be found at the Stewart-Macdonald or TonePros sites).
Bert

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Polaris20

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 26, 2005

stratoskier said:
A couple of us here have done retrofits of the SSII on our JS700 guitars. I believe that the only bridge that will directly fit is the Ibanez Gibraltar III used on the SZ series. BUT, those are a string-through-body-design, so you have to drill holes through the body and install string ferrules on both sides of the body. I did quite a bit of checking before I did the conversion, and as best I could tell, no other bridges (Tonepros, Gotoh, etc.) would fit the SSII stud spacing. There are undoubtedly other bridges out there that I didn't check into, but my guess is that (unlike Ibanez) most aftermarket bridges will conform to the industry standard stud spacing. (Those dimensions can be found at the Stewart-Macdonald or TonePros sites).
Bert

So that's what I have to look for, the SSII dimension between posts, and then whatever bridge I find? That's pretty much it? (not as if that's not enough

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stratoskier

· #4 · Jul 27, 2005

Well, not entirely. In addition to the post spacing (generally specified center-to-center, which is different than the spacing BETWEEN the posts), there's the issue of whether the posts themselves are compatible. If they're not, then you have to pull the old posts and install the new ones. That might require some filling and/or drilling to get it just right.

Again, I don't think you're going to find any other bridges (besides the Gibraltar III) that'll work without some modification to the guitar. If you're OK with filling in the old post holes and starting over drilling new ones, then anything is possible. But bridge placement is precision work since if the scale isn't absolutely perfect, your intonation will be forever screwed.

Good luck!
Bert

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Polaris20

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 27, 2005

stratoskier said:
Well, not entirely. In addition to the post spacing (generally specified center-to-center, which is different than the spacing BETWEEN the posts), there's the issue of whether the posts themselves are compatible. If they're not, then you have to pull the old posts and install the new ones. That might require some filling and/or drilling to get it just right.

Again, I don't think you're going to find any other bridges (besides the Gibraltar III) that'll work without some modification to the guitar. If you're OK with filling in the old post holes and starting over drilling new ones, then anything is possible. But bridge placement is precision work since if the scale isn't absolutely perfect, your intonation will be forever screwed.

Good luck!
Bert

AgH! Forget it. Too many variables! And the last thing I want to do is screw up my intonation. Thank you very much for the advice though; you saved me money and probably a lot of frustration!

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