Strat hard tail install

[jayroc1]

I've got a Strat body that's been routed for a trem but hasn't had a bridge installed and I'm wanting to install a hardtail. Since there's no pre drilled holes but a trem route the hardtail bridge isn't wide enough to cover the open hole. Can I just fill the sides in with wood filler before painting? The mounting screws will sit just behind the trem route

Cheers

 

[reddy2300]

image removed

You need something like this. Sand it to fit and then wood glue it in. After that, the filler can be used to fill the smaller voids.

 

[Lucius Paisley]

I put a hardtail on an Ibanez GIO, just put it right over the route. It was fine.

 

[pedro58]

Why not use a standard trem bridge and block it?

 

[tfarny]

The wood block shown above is the best way to accomplish what you are after, it will give the hardtail bridge screws something to bite into and really secure it. It would be hard to get it looking right with wood filler, at least in my experience using wood fillers.
You can use a blocked standard trem of course. They sound different to a real hardtail, and they are heavier and can be more expensive, though.

 

[Zepfan]

All you have to do is deck the trem. Block it if feel it's necessary.

If you use a hardtail bridge, then you'll have to remove the trem, trem claw, establish a new ground, sand the wood for paint ect..ect.ect

 

[Peegoo]

Another option is to install a Tele bridge, or something like this:

 

[schmee]

I've got a Strat body that's been routed for a trem but hasn't had a bridge installed and I'm wanting to install a hardtail. Since there's no pre drilled holes but a trem route the hardtail bridge isn't wide enough to cover the open hole. Can I just fill the sides in with wood filler before painting? The mounting screws will sit just behind the trem route

Cheers

A good MIM trem bridge assy is only $25 new. I would just install that and block the trem.

 

[Jay Jernigan]

Reddy2300 has the answer that you are looking for. I would carefully consider whether or not I would ever want to convert it to a vibrato system before using glue. Three or four properly angled screws should secure the block.

 

[jayroc1]

image removed

You need something like this. Sand it to fit and then wood glue it in. After that, the filler can be used to fill the smaller voids.

Looks like its sold out on the website. I'll commission someone here if that can make me one

Cheers

 

[reddy2300]

Looks like its sold out on the website. I'll commission someone here if that can make me one

Cheers

You could probably just source a nice small piece of hardwood and cut/sand it to size by hand.

it’d be a bit of work but I’ll bet you could get a nicer fit doing it that way.

 

[aging_rocker]

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[That Cal Webway]

Hipshot made that wood trem/bridge block.

Send them an email to see if they still make it.

 

[EsquireOK]

Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be; there is no good reason. Just put a regular vibrato on, set it up to act as a hardtail, and go to bed happy. If you can actually hear a difference in a blind experiment, then you should get a job in audio forensics, or become a Sonar Tech on submarines, not waste your magical God-given ability by being an electric guitar player.

Another option is to just sell that body and buy a hardtail one. You can often get them off the shelf from Guitar Mill for under $200. I got my ash hardtail Strat body there for something like $140, already made. The time and energy you spend jury rigging some [again, unnecessary] solution for the body you have is worth $200, IMO. Plus, if you sold the body you already have, you might be spending under $100 for that new body in the end.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

This is one of those cases where "You can't get there from here". Even if you can get a plug that fits well, it is never going to look good. If you are completely set on a hardtail, you'd be better off getting a new body; especially considering your current one is unfinished.

 

[Scotty2Hottie]

Another vote for deck/block the vibrato. If you fill in the vibrato route you will have to drill holes for ferrules to pass strings thru. Also if the body has been finished and you wist to use wood block to fill in the routed section you will have to strip the finish inside the cavity for wood glue to work,I would think

 

[gregulator450]

I think I saw a thread on here a year or two ago in which someone made a block to fit a trem rout, and then drilled string through holes and installed ferrules in it. I am having a hard time finding the thread. The process looked pretty straightforward...

 

[Zepfan]

It's hard for me to imagine a Strat without a tremolo. I know Fender and Squier make Hardtail Strats as well as other companies.

The whole process of converting one to the other is just work that's un-necessary. A decked trem without the arm doesn't go anywhere and is easily changed back. I guess some people can't get past the trem bridge with an arm hole in it/OCD.

 

[popthree]

I have decked a couple of strat trems by adding springs and dialing up the tension. That works fine but I always thought I could hear the springs rattling. Maybe I should have used a wooden block and pulled the springs?

 

[That Cal Webway]

I deck and block.

I do radical single and multi-string bends galore