The joy of aftermarket parts

[Hackmaster]

I just got the roller bridge that I had on order.
Installed it on my guitar and proceeded to find out that I couldn't get the action low enough now, to suit me.

Seems that the roller bridges are a bit taller than the Nashville bridges due to the rollers sticking up a bit more than the standard saddles.
Now what.
The thumbwheels were bottomed out all the way down, and action was still a smidgen too high.

The Nashville studs have an elevated flat on them, probably to act as a bearing surface when adjusting the thumbwheels.

You can see how they leave a gap between the bottom of the bridge and the top of the thumbwheels.
in this pic. If that gap wasn't there, the action would be lower.

So I relieved the bottom of the bridge on each side by drilling a shallow hole a couple thousandths of an inch bigger than the raised area on the thunbwheel and squared up the sides with a Dremel barrel burr, forming a socket for the raised area on the thumbwheel to fit into.
Flat bridge base before.

Recessed bridge base after.

And you can see now that the gap is gone now. The top of the thumbwheel now bears on the bottom of the bridge allowing the additional adjustment that I needed. Nice & neat.

Hope this can give someone an idea for similar problems.

 

[BGood]

You honor your nickname with this post. Well thought out and well executed. If you need lower action, the bushing could be countersunk. Did that on my P90 61RI Epi SG.

 

[RVA]

That is good thinking, both of you. I think I can use this idea on my new white semi hollow. The thumb wheels are bottomed. The action is fine, but I hate being out of room!

 

[Hackmaster]

You honor your nickname with this post. Well thought out and well executed. If you need lower action, the bushing could be countersunk. Did that on my P90 61RI Epi SG.

Thanks B
That's a good trick.
On the Gibbys both bridge & tailpiece bushings are already flush.
I've had to countersink the tailpiece bushings like that on two Epiphones that I Bigsbyized to get the Vibramate mounts to sit flat.

Also did that exact same bridge bushing trick to Raiyn's Epiphone SG when he switched to a roller too.

 

[JohnnyGoo]

great stuff

 

[eSGEe]

Thanks B
That's a good trick.
On the Gibbys both bridge & tailpiece bushings are already flush.
I've had to countersink the tailpiece bushings like that on two Epiphones that I Bigsbyized to get the Vibramate mounts to sit flat.

Also did that exact same bridge bushing trick to Raiyn's Epiphone SG when he switched to a roller too.

And he LOVES the finished product.