Will this bridge cut the mustard for a future build?

Hello all. I've got an Esquire/Telecaster build in the works. I managed to get a bridge for £5 gbp, and perhaps it shows. I was surprised by how thin it was and how small the saddles were.

In picture one you can see how it has lifted at the corner closest to the righthand side of the pickup hole.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/Meddled/DSCF3587.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/Meddled/DSCF3588.jpg


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y220/Meddled/DSCF3586.jpg


I am sorely tempted to buy a Wilkinson bridge, but without an assembled tele/esquire infront of me I cannot say if that would be an improvement.

Will it work? Yeah, probably. Is it great? No, not really.

The fact that it doesn't sit flat is a concern. At higher volumes that plate will get to vibrating against the body and cause feedback.

A standard ashtray style bridge isn't expensive, and I'd go with one of those.

You get what you pay for! I was reading about microphony last night on this forum, and I was worried that this guy might feedback if it was aluminium. However I'm not sure what this thing is made out of, but being warped I imagine it would squeek.

The problem can be cured by one judicious tap with a ball pein hammer, ( administered by an experienced hand, of course ).

One more countersunk hole wouldn't go amiss, either.

Go take a look at Axes-R-Us (http://www.axesrus.com/axeteleh.htm#VintageTele)(in the UK) and get a Fender or Wilkinson...complete with much higher quality saddles from about £15.

The one you have also appears to be a "toploader". If your body is drilled for a "string through" perhaps you don't want that bridge?

It is a string-through body I'm sitting on. Axesrus will be providing me with a lot of parts in the next few months!