TheFatManCometh

Instead of using an EMG 81 in the bridge position, you may want to consider using an 85. I have a MIM strat that has a Lukather set of EMGs in it and they sound amazing, the cleans are great, and the distortion just screams when you decide to crank the gain, definitely fits the muscle car theme, IMO. Plus, it keeps the H/S/S configuration that you want.

According to GW and Fender's website, EVH uses a piece of doubled-over masking tape, so you might try looking at the neares "buy just about anything here" store in your area.

Instead of adding new springs, you may want to try arranging then in an "arrow formation", with the outer two springs moved in a space toward the center of the spring claw, but leaving them in their current spots on the trem block, this will increase tension on the trem block with maybe a minimal change to the position of the spring claw and no purchases neccessary.

Let's see...I got...

waist area: approx 7 1/32"

corner to corner:27 5/8"

two lower tips:about 16 1/2"

Hope that helps!

I'd say it's pretty good quality, I've had a ZR equipped Ibanez for about a year now, and until I pulled up on the bar REALLY hard (I don't mean I was just waving the guitar around by it, I pulled it like mad, WAY beyond the point where the trem bottomed out) and broke the nut the bar feeds into, it performed very well. My only complaint (and this is most likely a result of my not adjusting it properly) is that to the immediate up and down of the neutral position is that there's a small tonally dead spot where the guts of the trem need to catch the motion, but as I said, that's probably my own fault. Overall, don't pull on it REALLY hard, but even with thrash and crazy metal-style abuse, mine satyed in tune very well, asfter I broke my strings in (over about an hour, I do it slow).

Seeing as I have made all of...one post on this forum, this may seem to be a weird thing to post on but I usually use Snarling Dog Brain picks in 1.14 mm.

I recently did that to my ZR bridge, it's not as bad as it seems, the parts to fix it direct from Ibanez are about $10, but since it's insured, the rental place can worry about that. You definitely DO NOT need to replace the bridge, and anyone that tells you so doesn't need to be working on that guitar...well, that's my$.02. Good luck, man!