Trem Distance To Nut Question

[Cherryburst]

On this page at StewMacs:

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/I-1110.html

the distance for a line that goes thru the screw holes for a trad Fender (or Wilky) trem to the nut is supposed to be 25.25"

(for a 25.5" Fender scale)

Could it be assumed that for a 25" scale (PRS) that distance from post line to nut would be 24.75" ?

(using the same trem that is)

And for a 24.75" scale (Gibson) that distance would become 24.5" ?

(in each case 1/4" less than the overall scale?)

Is it a straight reduction, or does it change with the scale?

(even though the movable saddles give lotsa play room)

[Racer X]

It would have to change with the type of bridge you are using, as well. Not all bridges are gonna have the distances from the mounting points to the saddle breaking points, the same.

[lowrider]

I'm a complete noob so keep that in mind, and this isnt a direct answer to your question. One guitar building book I have says to adjust the saddles out as far as they can go towards the neck, and mount the bridge with the saddles at the scale length measurement. I installed a new bridge on a freinds bass and it worked perfectly. I'd be curious if anyone has an opinion on that method.

[ihocky2]

I'm a complete noob so keep that in mind, and this isnt a direct answer to your question. One guitar building book I have says to adjust the saddles out as far as they can go towards the neck, and mount the bridge with the saddles at the scale length measurement. I installed a new bridge on a freinds bass and it worked perfectly. I'd be curious if anyone has an opinion on that method.

That is pretty much the best method. A lot of times it is recomended though to only adjust 2/3-3/4 of the way out. Sometimes the high E string actually needs to move forward for proper intonation, so this still gives you some room to move. Where as all the way forward doesn't give you any.

[GregP]

The saddle never needs to move forward for correct intonation, assuming the bridge has been installed accurately. Some people like to save themselves a couple of millimetres wiggle room to accomodate human error, but strictly speaking a saddle never needs to move forward to compensate.