Help me replace my tele bridge!

Greetings Tele gurus! I've long been a reader here, but this is my first post. I have a mid 90's MIM toploader tele that has a killer neck, but the bridge is a piece of crap. I've been to the various tele hardware sites like Callaham, and Glendale, but no luck. Does anyone know where I can get a replacement bridge, or even have one made? Here is a crappy pic for y'all to enjoy.

Thanks,
Joe
http://i685.photobucket.com/albums/vv217/joehaller/telebridge.jpg

A bit pricey, but a fine bridge
http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=three+hole+tele+bridge&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=8771302682597085398&ei=yBUBTdu-BZTksQPTqIWwCw&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCwQ8wIwAg#

And this one.
http://www.glendaleguitars.com/americanstandard.htm

And this one.
http://www.glendaleguitars.com/americanstandard.htm

I'd love the Glendale, but it's not a topload. Will any of these bridges direct fit? Did Fender ever change the screw locations, or anything like that beyond number of screws used to mount?

Ewww. it is a top load. Sorry didn't see that. There was a thread on here a year or two ago that talked about 3-hole top loaders.

In my opinion, you'd get better tone if you switched to a higher quality bridge and drilled some string through holes.

There is a dual load Wilkenson / vintage style @ GFS that I used on my 90's MIM w/o issues.

Gary

I have a Wilkinson vintage style bridge, string-thru and top-load, with compensated saddles, that I plan to try to fit to to a MIM std tonight, along with some tonerider pickups (My first time doing any mods). Not an expensive bridge (here in the UK anyway), though I don't remember how much exactly.

There is a dual load Wilkenson / vintage style @ GFS that I used on my 90's MIM w/o issues.

Gary

Those are 4-hole.

There is a dual load Wilkenson / vintage style @ GFS that I used on my 90's MIM w/o issues.

Gary
I used one of these, and I did have to drill new mounting holes, but that's no biggie, since the bridge covers up the old ones anyhow.

1. Grab some hardwood matchsticks.
2. Squirt some glue in the hole.
3. Jam the matchstick in and out to coat it.
4. Leave it for an hour (or over night).
5. Cut the matchsticks with side cutters.
6. Sand the nubs flat.
7. install new bridge.

I used one of these, and I did have to drill new mounting holes, but that's no biggie, since the bridge covers up the old ones anyhow.

1. Grab some hardwood matchsticks.
2. Squirt some glue in the hole.
3. Jam the matchstick in and out to coat it.
4. Leave it for an hour (or over night).
5. Cut the matchsticks with side cutters.
6. Sand the nubs flat.
7. install new bridge.

Absolutely.

This is normally what one would do.

But I notice this particular Tele belonging to Joe has been modified it looks like to accept a single coil Strat bridge pickup. This is gonna look even worse IMO using the stock wilkinson in toploader form. But I'm not sure if the upper half of this style of plate, if cut off, smashed flat and cleaned up, will cover 100% of this unusual routing modification.

This is what the top half of a typical Tele plate looks like, cut off and smashed flat:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/49SEPT152007004.jpg

Maybe something wider could be fabricated that steers around the pickguard contours; I don't know.

Thats's what I did too.

Really no biggie and it worked fine in every other way.

Gary


I used one of these, and I did have to drill new mounting holes, but that's no biggie, since the bridge covers up the old ones anyhow.

1. Grab some hardwood matchsticks.
2. Squirt some glue in the hole.
3. Jam the matchstick in and out to coat it.
4. Leave it for an hour (or over night).
5. Cut the matchsticks with side cutters.
6. Sand the nubs flat.
7. install new bridge.