Hipshot on a Squier Standard

[kp8]

okay... my main gigging axe at the moment is a Squier standard. In fact, at the moment, all i have is my Squier tele and a Dano 12 string. Last year i got a hipshot and loved it. I had it on my MIA with the Callaham 3 saddle bridge. It was a super duper easy install. I drilled a hole for the B-string through the lip of the plate and slipped the teflon jibby in the hole, and then the string through the teflon and i was twanging. I didn't even bother with that insanely long 6 mile screw they give you to replace the stock strap screw. That sucka is way too long. I just used the regular strap screw. Later i added the 2 little extra screws.... I put a tennis ball on the end of that painful bar and I was b bending the night away. I love the hipshot.

So... now i see that most folks put the hipshot on the 3 saddle bridge or, if they have the 6 saddle, they use a 6 saddle bridge that has the offset saddle length adjust screw. Well, I don't have that. I have the one with the screw in the middle. (i dunno why, but i like those Al saddles the Squiers ship with, the only 6 saddle bridge i ever liked).

How hard is it gonna be to get this sucka on a Squier Standard?


Or are there alternate bridges that fit the Squier Standard that will allow me to easily and flawlessly use the hipshot?

I don't much care about aesthetics so i am willing to drill in either the hardware or even the body, but my problem is that I don't have any tools and i don't know anyone in Seoul that works on guitars that is any good. hmm... I see hipshot has a replacement bridge, but that plate is $120 and i don't even know if it fits the Skwire.

Anyone have any ideas? I really got used to the having the hipshot and really want to get it installed. I love gigging with the hipshot. I really miss having it.


cheers,
kp

ps. Here is a picture of the Hipshot on the MIA "snot" caster (also a Timara String Drop (which i also miss having). You have no idea how hard it was to drill through that Callaham plate! That sucka is thick!

[kp8]

This is how I alleviated some of the pain of that angry bar

[kp8]

a close up of the Hipshot on the Callaham Bridge. This worked out great. I got the hole just right and the break angle of the string was perfect (which of course you can't really see on the picture).

[jmiles]

Well, you might ask around and see if anyone has some of those offset saddles layin' around. If it's the right width, you could drill a hole for the adjust screw, and put the teflon tube into the old non-offset adjust screw hole, and run the string through there. Maybe?????

[yegbert]

I think a B-bender could be made to work on a Squier Standard plate by modifying the plate (at least for the 1st and 2nd string positions) like I did this one:

[Raybob]

Can you just swap bridges?

[kp8]

Originally Posted by Raybob

Can you just swap bridges?

Unfortunately, no. If it was that easy we wouldn't be talking about drilling modifying plates with JD Weld and all that. Like the MIA the standard old skool tele bridgeplate is not a direct retrofit. Unlike the MIA no one appears to make a plate that you can swap. All the holes are in different places.

[Guitartom_ca]

i think the easiest thing to do is move the screw from the center of the b-string saddle to the side of it. all you need is a drill and tab and die. or you could buy a single offset saddle of ebay.

[varakeef]

...if they have the 6 saddle, they use a 6 saddle bridge that has the offset saddle length adjust screw. Well, I don't have that. I have the one with the screw in the middle.

Have you tried if the screw really is a hinder? I think that if you shim your neck a bit you're able to rise the saddle that much that the string is able to go over it and over the bridge plate into Hipshot. Or make a notch there.

If not I think you can put a vintage type bridge in Squier too. Who cares about the new holes under the bridge anyway.

[kp8]

Originally Posted by Guitartom_ca

i think the easiest thing to do is move the screw from the center of the b-string saddle to the side of it. all you need is a drill and tab and die. or you could buy a single offset saddle of ebay.

wont the saddles all be shifted over then? How can you take a saddle which was centered with a center screw and then use the same bridge hole with an offset saddles and still have your strings aligned? I don't get that.

And... how can i just get one? wont that make 1/2 that saddle want to sit where the next saddle is? additionally, i now need three since this has G & B bending and a drop D.

[kp8]

Originally Posted by varakeef

Have you tried if the screw really is a hinder? I think that if you shim your neck a bit you're able to rise the saddle that much that the string is able to go over it and over the bridge plate into Hipshot. Or make a notch there.

I am not sure that would work. Additionally, i am not real fond of that solution. It seems unsteady and kludgy, and if i am gonna drill through the bridge plate anyway, seems like i might as well do it so that it works better.

Originally Posted by varakeef

If not I think you can put a vintage type bridge in Squier too. Who cares about the new holes under the bridge anyway.

I don't care about the holes, but you cant just slap a vintage bridge on there. It is essentially like installing a bridge from scratch on a new body. It isn't a retrofit. Look for Yegbert's posts on putting a vintage plate on a Squier. It is somewhat involved and not something i can do while on the road with no tools. If i knew someone with the tools and knowhow how would do it for me, i'd go for that. If someone in back home even was willing to do the conversion i'd mail the body back, but don't know any repair dudes who would do this mod, & it seems strickly a DIY affair. Boris and Yegbert have done it. I don't have the tools or the chops to do it right and uneven string spacing (or strings falling off the edge of the board) is NOT something i want. Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Spacing has to be right or it will make me bananas.

-k

[yegbert]

Originally Posted by kp8

wont the saddles all be shifted over then? How can you take a saddle which was centered with a center screw and then use the same bridge hole with an offset saddles and still have your strings aligned? I don't get that.

And... how can i just get one? wont that make 1/2 that saddle want to sit where the next saddle is? additionally, i now need three since this has G & B bending and a drop D.

If you try to use the old intonation screw hole made for the stock, center-screwed saddle to mount an offset saddle, you'll have the issues kp8 suggests above.

Trying to drill another hole to properly align an offset saddle is a non starter because of kp8's limited access to tools or someone who can do it for him. Besides, the old intonation screw holes are somewhat large and higher on the plate's lip than ideal for trying to have them coexist with an adjacent hole for an offset saddle.

[varakeef]

I don't care about the holes, but you cant just slap a vintage bridge on there. It is essentially like installing a bridge from scratch on a new body. It isn't a retrofit.

I agree it's not a retrofit, but it's not very complicated job.

I just installed a dual load three saddle vintage bridge plate on Squier. There's four holes to drill for the screws. I needed a hand drill, a screwdriver and 15 minutes.

Ok, you're on the road and don't heve the tools with you, but you need to drill the holes and use the screwdriver to install the Hipshot anyway.

[kp8]

Originally Posted by varakeef

I agree it's not a retrofit, but it's not very complicated job.

I just installed a dual load three saddle vintage bridge plate on Squier. There's four holes to drill for the screws. I needed a hand drill, a screwdriver and 15 minutes.

Ok, you're on the road and don't heve the tools with you, but you need to drill the holes and use the screwdriver to install the Hipshot anyway.

It's not a lot of steps.
It's not a lot of tools.

It IS!!! a complicated job, b/c if the holes are not exactly in the right place the whole thing is ruined and the strings are running off one end of the board. NOT a job you want to screw up.

I am glad you can do it. That's great, but there is no way i trust myself to do it, esp. without a shop and tools and experience. Too risky.

[varakeef]

Originally Posted by kp8

It IS!!! a complicated job, b/c if the holes are not exactly in the right place the whole thing is ruined and the strings are running off one end of the board.

I fully accept your hesitation, but there's some leeway in the process and in the highly unlikely situation where the bridge is severely misplaced the whole thing isn't ruined. Filling screw holes is not impossible.

In this board there's plenty of nice tricks how to get the bridge installed straight and in the middle. I think the neatest one is to use two strings (not guitar strings, cotton for example) and make them go from both E string tuners into bridge to align the bridge.



Then you can use a few pieces of masking tape to secure it into it's place, then drill.

I don't think you can install a Hipshot more easily with the Squier modern bridge. I just don't see how to do that, looking the bridge closely.

[yegbert]

Originally Posted by varakeef

I don't think you can install a Hipshot more easily with the Squier modern bridge. I just don't see how to do that, looking the bridge closely.

Can you see how to do it with this bridge?

[varakeef]

Yes, that looks like a possibility... I think it depends on neck aligment, maybe it would need a shim too. I think the strigs might go even above the bridge plate edge, like this:



This picture is before shimming so I wasn't able to use the string retainers on Hipshot.

On your mod the three saddles are the key to success, but there's drilling holes thru the bridge for the three saddles involved. Or for one if just remove the saddles for B and E strings.

[yegbert]

Originally Posted by varakeef

On your mod the three saddles are the key to success, but there's drilling holes thru the bridge for the three saddles involved. Or for one if just remove the saddles for B and E strings.

In this case, that drilling has been done already. I had modified that bridge as a prototype for a convertible 6-saddle/3-saddle bridge, and I've mailed that bridge to kp8 including the RS Guitarworks steel saddles pictured.

That bridge was from a current production Squier Standard, so it will be a direct fit for his Tele.

[varakeef]

Originally Posted by yegbert

I've mailed that bridge to kp8 including the RS Guitarworks steel saddles pictured.

Ok, it's sorted out then. Good work, good man!

[kp8]

Okay.. yegbert send me his modified bridge which got here faster than the actual b-bender did! woo~ But i was missing some hardware and didn't have a drill (i like to use the 2 extra screw holes for the hipshot) ... and I am still missing a hex bar, but i finally got round to the install.

I pulled the bridge and noticed that one of the screws was hardly grabbing so i got some titebond and cut it with some water and trickled that into the bridge holes, the neckbolt holes and the strapscrew holes and let that soak in a dry overnight.

Then i put the bridge on and then the hipshot and popped the neck back on and strung it up.

The bridgeplate with the 3 saddles sits a bit higher and i wanted the saddle to be up a bit off the plate so i had to shim the neck (which is why i took it off in the first place)... so that turned out to be something i had to do a few times to get right. I also had to tweak the trussrod. So i finally got the neck shimmed, the trussrod set and then was able to raise up the saddles some. Then i realized that i should raise up the p/ups and had to take off the guard and fool with that sponge thingy they use to prop up the neck p/up and tweaked the bridge as well. ...

Then I got the added screws in the hipshot and tuned it all up... *whew* finally! All was good but only after a shim and ton of tweaking.

I also replaced the jack cup with a flush 4 screw jackplate (couldn't find an electrosocket).

I am liking the results. I am not used to having so much in hardware in the way of my picking hand, but i hope i can get used to it. The G lever is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! I haven't found anything to stick in the B-bender slot. A chopstick is too thin. I need to find something that fits, but I really do think i prefer to use the lever. I almost wish i had the lever on the B and the hipbar on the G. The drop D scrapes in a way i find really unpleasant, but it does work well.

Now what this guitar really needs is a better nut, new pots (man i hate these tight pots!), and maybe some better p/ups down the road (though, am i crazy or are these stock p/ups really not too shabby? I have had them on here for a couple years and really, i have heard much worse! But the temptation is to get some keystones or twangkings in there some day).

Thanks to varakeef for the teflon (headed my way) and thanks to yegbert the mad genius of the squier tele. I'll snap some pictures and put them up this weekend if i can. Too much metal for the flash right now (it's night in Korea)

-kevin

ps. this sucka is heavy now! wow!

pps. I notice that the new Squire standards have a more rounded body shape now. I wonder if everything else is the same.