Had it laying on my lap today, looked down and realized the bridge was cockeyed.







Now, I'm thinking I can yank the piece, glue it up and clamp it back in. Should be as strong if not stronger than it was. What I was wondering was....am I better off getting a 6 point trem from Guitar Fetish and installing that??? Spread the stress over a larger area? I can use filler to fill the old screw holes. Is there any difference in the routing between the 2 and 6 point???

_________________
Will

This is a great question for our body re-builder Ceri. If he see this he will help you out!! Good luck!

Ouch. I would take it to my tech. If you are the original owner and registered the product, the body should still be under warranty, and I would think, this would be covered. If you are more tech savy than I, and want to tackle this project yourself, you should take photos and start a thread. Lame advice, I know, but its all I got!

That does look like it could be repaired.

Anything can be repaired.

Edited- advice not needed as Ceri showed up!!

Ah-ha - my ears are burning!

Hi Staredge: that is a very nasty break, to be sure. I guess you could carve out a large area - the entire block between the trem cavity and the bridge pickup cavity - then fill it with a new chunk of wood and proceed from there. That would be the five star repair.

But surely we don't need to go that far?

Try just as you said carefully removing the piece, trying to do as little damage as possible getting it out. Then glue it back in, having done several dry runs to be sure about positioning.

If you can't get it out without damaging it then alternatively you could add about 5 - 10 percent water to Franklin Titebond Original Wood Glue (or similar) to make it a bit runnier and then work it down into the cracks with the end of a needle. Watering it down a touch will make it wick into those gaps easier.

Careful clamping is the key here. I find little wedges cut from wine bottle corks can often get where regular clamps won't go. For example, you could stuff a correctly shaped cork into the bridge pickup cavity to hold the broken piece in place from that side.

Far as your idea of filling and redrilling for a six-point - well, it's a matter of preference, but that plan certainly has merits. They always say a glued joint is stronger than the original wood, but in this high tension situation, I wonder...?

If you want to fill the two-point trem bushing holes there's at least two ways to go. One is to use a correctly sized dowel. You are unlikely to find exactly the right one at a shop so you will probably have to adjust it a bit. A way to do this is fix a short length of dowel in the chuck of an electric drill, switch it on and - presto - you have a simple lathe. Then you can just work at the spinning dowel with sandpaper and sculpt it to the exact right size.

You want it to go into that hole firmly - but not too tight. There must be space between the dowel and the wood for the glue, which takes up an appreciable gap.

Personally, if I were going this route I'd cut a piece of raw wood and make my own dowel from scratch using the drill-lathe method described above, because then I could do it so that the grain runs the same as on the guitar body. On a piece of commercial dowel the grain will of course run along its length, which will be at right-angles to that on the body. Not vital - but a Rolls-Royce detail...

The other way to proceed would be to use a filler. Regular wood filler is hopeless for this job. You need a super hard epoxy filler - and it so happens I have previously on this Forum cited the ideal one for this job. It is called Milliput; a modelling putty originally developed for sculptors but useful for a vast range of applications. Here it is:

http://www.frpgames.com/cart.php?m=prod ... 3&ref=goog

The "Standard" formula in the red carton is ideal for your needs. Somewhere on my "Touching up Nikininja's Body" thread you can see that putty in action - my life is too short to go through all the pages to find that for you though!!!

Anyhow. Unlike other putties that one really does set hard as concrete with minimal (>1%) shrinkage and you genuinely can redrill holes into it after. An interesting option.

Very long post. Any use?

Good luck - C

'Zactly!

Cheers - C

SEE! We are getting smarter from drinking the Ceri water...go fhop go!

_________________
Your Fender HSS Standard Stratocaster in Electron Blue was made at the Fender Ensenada Plant in Mexico in the Year: 2008.
Final Assembly Date: July 30th, 2008
Model Number: 013 4700 587
Serial # MZ8031252

I'm trying to retain knowledge from all of our forum experts!!
Maybe one day I can help someone!!

Thanks, Ceri.. a great deal of use, in fact. I have the same concerns Re: glued strength. It is in the WORST spot possible. That was my thought for the 6 point: it would spread the stress out over a larger area. (in fact, I've often thought that the 2 point would be susceptible to this...and I proved myself right!!!) I thought about cutting & pasting, so to speak, but figured that might be overkill. (I'm not above doing that, however. It's the craftsman fix, for certain)

_________________
Will

I think you've negated your warranty by installing replacement tremposts.

I've long been a believer in the vintage trem's merits over the 2point trems for entirely the reason you stated. You see untold Deluxes with low E saddles that cant be possitioned for correct intonation. I'm sure its down to the pressure applied on a 2 point trem's posts. You rarely see it happening on basswood bodied superstrats or lespauls. It makes me question is there some inherent weakness in alder that makes it unsuitable for this application?

_________________
No no and no

It's a 14 month old Basswood Squier Deluxe, bone stock. Not sure what warranty there is, if any. Figured to take it to my shop & have them take a look...maybe they'll hook me up since it's so new.

_________________
Will

Hope so mate. I'd really stress the point that your entitled to a replacement.

Well bang goes that theory of mine eh

Your getting some good hardware on that Squier. Dunc' designs, 2 point trem with block saddles and cavity paint.

_________________
No no and no

You can rest easy on that one. You, Ceri. NikiNinja and the lot of the "crew" have helped me in more ways than one......guitar and life in general....

_________________
Your Fender HSS Standard Stratocaster in Electron Blue was made at the Fender Ensenada Plant in Mexico in the Year: 2008.
Final Assembly Date: July 30th, 2008
Model Number: 013 4700 587
Serial # MZ8031252