I am looking to upgrade my Jimmie Vaughn Strat bridge. It still has the stock vintage style saddles etc. Does anyone have any suggestions on quality replacements? Since I have installed Ed Roman's Direct Coupling Neck Kit, The guitar rings better. Higher quality bridge saddles may improve the sound more. Thank You.

Assuming you want to stay vintage style, Callaham stuff is very good.

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AmDlx HSS
62 Hot Rod
Luke w/Piezo
Carvin Belair

What makes you think you have an inferior bridge on your Jimmie Vauhgn? You do realize that it comes stock with a very high quality bridge? It's the same US bridge, saddles, and trem block that is used on the American Vintage reissues. That's the big selling point of the JV.

But it sounds like you got money to burn and tone to chase, judging by the Ed Roman mod you did (sorry I couldn't resist, Ed Roman is an easy target to poke fun of ) http://www.edroman.com/techarticles/directcoup.htm so check out
Callaham. http://www.callahamguitars.com/bridges.htm They have good products. Will it really be better than what you already have? That's up to you.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

All you really need is a steel trem block (if the guitar is not already so equipped). Check yours with a magnet to confirm.

HTH

Arjay

The Roman $25 kit gives the guitar a more solid neck to body connection. The result is a better ring of string. This is an edited answer that was a little negative. I have been wanting to take out the negative portion of my previous answer to someone.

I have been back and forth with B. Callaham and have found a suitable upgrade for my Jimmie V. Strat's bridge assembly. It's morphing into another guitar, one upgrade at a time. When I am done, I can put all the Jimmie V. parts, back together again & have 2 Strats.

So why not just buy a cheap mim standard and go from there?Would have saved some serious money.

I didn't buy a cheap Mexican Standard and go from there because I didn't want to be playing a cheap Mexican Standard. I'll tinker with my better sounding and playing J.V. Also, when I reassemble my parts I will have a Jimmie Vaughn Strat instead of a cheap Mexican Standard. Are we clear? Money ($500) isn't everything when you pick up your guitar and play it until you are completely spent. Thank You for your Response and Good Luck!

Sure , I can understand ,but you dont have to be a smarta$$ about it.I was just asking a logical question.

Sir, if you read my answer, logically, it was by no stretch of the imagination "smart" is any way. I meant every sentence. I believe that it makes sense. I simply didn't want to be playing a Standard Strat, but a J. V. instead. I apologize if I offended you. Good Luck.

I'm sorry this is simply not true. The fact is that the standard b

olt design gives far greater wood to metal contact. The stability of the thinner thread against hard wood is far superior to the grabber thread of the inserts. It's just another reasonable assumption that has been marketed as infallable truth by (even though I like Ed) a conman.
Even the name of the system is misleading. It's not at all
direct coupling. It's indirect as your securing one part to another by way of a third part.

If you like it, all well and good. I really dont see any superiority in it over a standard bolt on neck.

As for callaham, you wont notice any difference between that and a AVRI bridge. Same materials, the only difference is callahams better trem arm fitting system.

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Thanks for your input. That's how I learn. Really nice Band Cards, by the way!

Well thankyou for the compliment.

With modding you have to be carefull. The amount of stuff I've tried that served no purpose at all, that was just sold to me. The least invasive and probably the most useless being the FatFinger. FatFinger Link Endorsed by Vai, Satriani, Gilbert, all those old shredders who do know a thing or two about tone/sustain. Not cheap at £30 for a clamp, and thats about all its good for. It made a difference when I clamped a callaham tremblock to my guitars headstock. By itself it did nothing.

One thing about the inserts is that if you repeatedly take the neck off the guitar, your not running as much risk of stripping the wood around the screw. The majority of wood to wood contact comes from the floor of the neckpocket and its walls though. It's the greater surface area afterall. I understand the principle behind it, that it allows for more pressure bolting the neck to the body. Whether that is actually true though is a different matter. As is whether it would make any appreciable difference. It took Hendrix a good couple or three hits on average to get the neck to break off a regular strat.

The other thing with modding is that it is highly speculative. Atleast as speculative as tone differences. If it works for you, then no one can tell you otherwise.

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No no and no