Rough pawn shop find :: 2002 American Fender Stratocaster [7.9 lbs]

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Here's the rough pawn shop Strat ready to head back out.  The major issues was that the posts holding the bridge were blown out and wrecking the action.  Once the bridge area was repaired (along with the neck pocket), I went through with the setup.  The bridge was fairly rusty, to the point I needed to use vise grips to remove the saddle height adjustment screws before replacing them with new ones.  A new output jack finished it off (check the video from the daily vlog below).

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Two whole steps down :: 1994 Jackson SL1 Soloist [8.9 lbs]

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A super low-tuned Jackson SL1 Soloist in for some hopeful improved tuning stability.  The low tuning is C standard (CFA#D#GC) and strung with GHS Boomers 12-52.

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Another shop custom fabricated saddle stops in order to hold the 3rd and 6th saddles that needed to be pushed back to compensate for the low tuning.  This iteration of the Floyd Rose bridge was not designed to have those saddles so far back, hence the custom stops.

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I was really impressed with machining of these stops, they blend in with the bridge perfectly.  The only things I did was some minor tweaks to the saddle intonation positions and re-tightened all of the hardware.  And there is a ton of hardware on these Floyd Rose / locking nut setups.  Tightening the hardware seemed to improve the tuning stability for me, but ultimately the player was still having issues (most likely to an aggressive attack and the low tension of the strings) .  He later brought the guitar back and we set it up for Eb.

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1994 Fender SRV Stratocaster [8.1 lbs] :: setup

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An early 90's SRV signature Stratocaster in for a setup.  A few of the nut slots were too low and needed to be filled and recut.  Ideally I do not like to fill nut slots as the fill can cause minor tuning issues.  Filling can save the customer some cash though in a pinch and the nut can always be replaced if so desired down the road.

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I found a few high fret ends that were causing bends up on the neck to choke out.  A couple taps with the hammer helped re-seat these frets.

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Cracked up body :: 2002 Fender Strat

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Here is that banged up pawn shop American Strat with the leaning bridge post issue.  I ended up clamping the broken pieces around the stud insert back together.  With the insert removed, I flooded the area with thin superglue.  The breaks even extended into the spring claw cavity in the rear of the guitar.  Other weird breaks were found around the neck pocket.  The thin web between the end of the pocket and the neck pickup cavity was broken along with cracks in the neck mounting holes.  Yikes!

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New bridge to correct string spacing :: Ibanez SDGR 885 5 string bass [7.6 lbs]

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It seems like more and more basses have been coming by the shop lately.  Here is an interesting one.  This 5 string bass has a narrow neck, almost like Ibanez used a 4 string neck on a 5 string setup.  The outer strings were very close to the edge of the fingerboard and causing issues for the player.  He even made his own notches in the original saddles in an attempt to correct the issue. 

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I searched around for for options, initially seeing if I could use different saddles with the original bridge but ultimately came across this Schaller 5 string bridge.  This bridge offered adjustable spacing fell in a more useable outer string spacing range for this narrow neck.  The only issue was that the new bridge needed to be pushed back further on the body to intonate properly.  You can see the original bridge footprint peeking out in front of the new Schaller bridge (see photo above).  The player was made aware of this and gave me the green light to proceed as he valued playability over minor cosmetics.

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I took these photos before the customer stopped by to check out the new bridge so the original mounting holes were left untouched.  After going through options with the player, we ended up plugging the two holes with ebony plugs on the spot.  I wanted him to see the options in person before proceeding.  The new bridge was just what this bass needed!

Check out the video below for the layout and mounting of the new bridge.