Newbe Question On Bridge Placement?

[luther]

I was looking at stew macs fret position calculator and it says that to get the scale measurement from the end of the nut(end of the fingerboard at headstock)to the forward most mounting screw or piviot post on the bridge.I have checked my strat and a trem equip PRS and the mesurement to the froward most mounting screw seems to be a 1/4 inch less than the scale length.On these two guitars it seems that the scale length falls where the strings cruve into the tremolo.Maybe im over thinking it somehow. can some tell me where to rout for a strat stye trem.Should the front face of the rout be at the end of the scale?or should it be where the froward most mounting screw goes.

[Acousticraft]

The scale length is determined by measuring from the nut edge to centre of 12th fret and doubling it.

On a Strat usually the trem front edge sits fairly close to the end of the pick guard. What you can do is measure from the edge of the nut to your saddles. High E needs scale plus about 3mm compensation and Low E about 5mm compensation.

Make sure your saddles are about in the middle of their forward/backwards adjustment range so you have adjustment either way.

Edited January 28, 2008 by Acousticraft

[MescaBug]

First, make sure you know the exact scale of your guitars. It's easy to be fooled by calculating the scale length. I'll explain:

Acousticraft: Not sure where you got that information, but it is not entirely true.

1: Never calculate the bridge placement with the saddle position, but always from a fixed position (pivot or mounting posts). The laws of physics tell us that a pivot point should not be inline with the moving object to be effective. That's why the saddles are installed further from the posts.

2: Bridge placement and scale length is 2 different things. For example, distance from nut to pivot posts for a 25.5" scale Floyd Rose tremolo equipped guitar is 25" not 25.5". Don't mind the saddles. They have enough travel to compensate. Read #1 again

3: For a Strat style trem, distance is equal for all saddles. I don't know why you would compensate 3mm and 5mm for E strings... Just make sure the pivot posts are at the spot recommended by the manufacturer or dealer, not at the exact scale length. Stewmac bridge position calculator is accurate.

4: With fixed bridges like Tune-O-Matic, always make sure the saddles are at the forward-most position. Not in the middle. When you set the intonation, all the saddles will be set back to make the length of the strings a little longer than the scale. You have to compensate for the increase in pitch when pressing down on frets when playing. The mounting posts on fixed bridges are inline with the saddles, so you don't have to compensate the bridge placement. You'll notice that recommended position for fixed bridges is right on scale length.

In most case, the bridge pivots or mounting posts will never be at the exact scale length, but a little less. Some manufacturers have tight tolerances, but I've seen some cheap guitars with a 0.5" difference from the 'recommended' bridge position. This is the rule I used for all my guitars and intonation is dead on. I've got a few high-end Jackson's, and it is dead on also.

Edited January 28, 2008 by MescaBug