Fender Strat question #2

[metalchurch]

Has anyone used the Trem to Hardtail 'conversion' bridge?
I believe it is called the "Drop-top Convertible" bridge by some companies.
And I think that I saw it in Musician's Friend at some point.

Not sure if I should just take the easy way out and go with a White Fender Strat body, and use one of those bridges, or just go with a hardtail body.

How does that Drop-top bridge work?
Does it screw to the trem block of the original Strat bridge? I'd imagine that's how it would work. The strings would go thru the trem block, and up through the hardtail saddles, like a regular Strat's trem.

Or does it just screw to the top of the body, like a normal hardtail would?

And another question:
If I did use the Drop-top conversion bridge, and saying that the string did go through the trem block, would it have about the same sustain as a normal Strat?
Or somewhere between a Trem and Hardtail?

Thanks again,
Joe

[metalchurch]

If not does anyone have an idea about the loss of sustain, if any?

I'm putting together my parts list, but before I order anything, I need to decide whether or not just to go with an original Fender Strat body, routed for a trem of course, and just go with the 'Convertible' bridge.

Finding a lefty hard tail is very hard, and it would be tits, if I could find one.

I also thought of just using a Kahler 7300 Flat mount, non-trem w/ fine tuners.

Damn Fenders anyway! hahaha!

[stratobastard27]

In my experience, all 5 springs effectively "hardtails" a bridge. A wood shim won't hurt either.

[metalchurch]

Yeah you're right about that for sure, especially using a block of wood as you mentioned. The more solid and stable it becomes, the better.

I'm tryin to make it as cosmetically close as possible to his guitar, not a cheap generic knock off.
Not being a smart ass or anything, I do appreciate your opinion and thoughts.
Just that I'm not a Fender guy, and trying to figure someof this shit out has me perplexed as far as what to do about certain things.
I just wish that I could find a tutorial or perhaps a diagram ahowing how that trem to hardtail bridge is installed,and that would answer alot of the unknowns.
Thanks

[VENTGtr]

Not real familiar with the "Drop top", but, if you haven't seen this:

http://www.customshopparts.com/bridges/ ... ridge.html

I'd imagine it would add some sustain just because it's tight against
the body with no motion. I'd also go with the block of wood in the
cavity to remove that space.

I assume by "his" you're goin' for a Jake E. Lee thing? Not an Ozzy
fan, per se, but always liked Lee's playing, especially the Badlands
albums...and it was a cool strat. Especially like the titled S.C.s. in
the neck and mid.

From your other post:

"However, if I could find a Strat head with those profiles I would most definitely
use it. Must be a compound radius and jumbo frets. "

You can always sand the neck down to get it where you like. I do this to
mine mainly because I don't like a "finished" feel, but if you take your time
and pay attention (Which you obviously do) you can end up with something
that's more comfortable than you can imagine.

When I replaced my original strat neck with the Warmoth it felt like a big, fat
unusabley (Word?) wide chunk of firewood. After I got it to where it felt "right"
I set about doing the same to my others. I sold a tele on EBay and the guy
who bought sent me a message saying how nice the neck profile was.

[MeYatch]

joe,
here's a left handed strat with a stop tailpiece, if you don't mind plugging the holes you probably wouldn't get even a decent body cheaper than this.

http://www.rondomusic.com/sst57stop3tsleft.html

I obviously can't guarentee a great fit, but I think a fender neck would bolt to it, with minimal adjustment, might have to drill new holes.

plus you'd be refinishing a sunburst body, like the original.

I suspect that it would be extremely close to the shape and size of a normal strat body, if not exact. Certainly close enough to fool most people.

[metalchurch]

Not real familiar with the "Drop top", but, if you haven't seen this:

http://www.customshopparts.com/bridges/ ... ridge.html

I'd imagine it would add some sustain just because it's tight against
the body with no motion. I'd also go with the block of wood in the
cavity to remove that space.

I assume by "his" you're goin' for a Jake E. Lee thing? Not an Ozzy
fan, per se, but always liked Lee's playing, especially the Badlands
albums...and it was a cool strat. Especially like the titled S.C.s. in
the neck and mid.

From your other post:

"However, if I could find a Strat head with those profiles I would most definitely
use it. Must be a compound radius and jumbo frets. "

You can always sand the neck down to get it where you like. I do this to
mine mainly because I don't like a "finished" feel, but if you take your time
and pay attention (Which you obviously do) you can end up with something
that's more comfortable than you can imagine.

When I replaced my original strat neck with the Warmoth it felt like a big, fat
unusabley (Word?) wide chunk of firewood. After I got it to where it felt "right"
I set about doing the same to my others. I sold a tele on EBay and the guy
who bought sent me a message saying how nice the neck profile was.

Yeah, Jake E. Lee that's the dude.

Yes but it's mainly the radius of the neck, which is the curvature of the fret board. I like flat boards.
I've seen them with Jumbo frets already, but they had radius' or radii of only 12 degrees I believe.

Now the back of the neck I almost always sand down and then dress it with 2500 grit sand paper for a smooth worn in feel.

I've also thought about using a pointy headstock Jackson/Charvel neck, and cutting off the headstock, and glueing on the Strat head.
Sounds ghetto, but def. possible.

Not an Ozzy fan per say! GTFO!! hahaha!

[metalchurch]

Mitch, thanks for the link, but I just bought this body last night:

http://cgi.ebay.com/EDEN-S-Model-SSS-Gu ... dZViewItem

I'm in love I think.

[MeYatch]

Joe, if you get set up for putting a new headstock on a guitar, you're putting one on my fleishman.