Strat bridge replacement “Bought”

[fitz]

Yes, plus the Callaham stuff is made in the USA and not really distributed here, which could easily mean I would pay 2x or 3x the retail price because of import. The EU has a lovely system of randomly guessing the value of items. A second hand Fender jackplug from the 80's was valued at USD $1000, which cost me ~EUR 300.

Anyway, I've accepted the stock Strat trem, there's worse. After much ado I found a solution, though.

S11 - G-GOTOH

Brass

g-gotoh.com

These saddles should fit, given the 10.5mm spacing. My main complaint with the 'bent' saddles is that they dig into my hand. As Thomann offered an RMA for the tremolo itself without me even asking, I've opted to return it and buy the saddles from them. I wouldn't have requested it myself, but if they insist I'm not going to refuse.

Now, why Fender don't sell an upgrade/replacement is beyond me. I can't really envision customers thinking "oh, bummer, I want nicer saddles so I'll just spend a few K on a MIA Strat then".

Not sure if you pulled the trigger yet, but Graphtech makes Tusq strat trem saddles in various spacings.
I put a set offset 52mm spaced on my stock trem (US Ultra Strat).
With the stock Tusq nut, it stays in tune surprisingly well.

 

[PelliX]

Not sure if you pulled the trigger yet, but Graphtech makes Tusq strat trem saddles in various spacings.

I did indeed, but appreciate the suggestion nonetheless. The problem with a lot of this stuff is that it's made in the US and you have to hope there's a distributor and retailer here because ordering direct is now akin to shooting yourself in the foot with a gun of unknown caliber. I checked a couple and while they carry some Graphtech products, they didn't have those saddles.

I must say, while I didn't like the idea of non-metal saddles... they sure do actually look sweet on that Strat of yours...