Fitting a 4-hole bridge to a Telecaster

robinbowes · February 2016

I recently picked up a Vibramate tailpiece and bridge along with a Bigsby to fit to my Telecaster.

I didn't think at the time, but my original bridge is a 3-hole, and the Vibramate bridge is 4-hole.

Is there anything in particular I need to consider before drilling four new holes? Is it just a matter of lining up the bridge, marking hole locations, and drilling them?

R.

GuitarMonkey · February 2016

Check that with the new bridge, when the pickup is in its hole, that the saddles have enough adjustment to be able to intonate correctly.

paulnb57 · February 2016

Just Googled images of the 4 hole bridge and my gut feeling is that you are on the right track..however I would apply masking tape to the body, around the edges of the current bridge, to outline it's position, so that you get the new one correctly positioned, Id mark the centreline of the left and right saddle on the tape too, just to be sure the new one will intonate, check and double check it is correct side to side and fore and aft.....youreally dont want either of the e strings to fall off the side of the neck or to run out of screw or room to intonate, probably complete overkill as the thing is designed for a Tele, but you never know....