Eldon - Archtop bridge swap

So while I deal with D's teething problems, here's a quick one. Of course, now that you can *actually* find parts readily thanks to this new-fangled interweb thingy, I tend to order up any miscellaneous parts I need to complete jobs around the Arsenal. And this one has been bugging me for over a year. Meet Eldon:

One I had on the list for a long time: a Peerless Wizard. Picked up this poor abused boy econo a year back. The dude who bought it changed a bunch of parts, including putting on an L-5 tailpiece and a tune-o-matic. I was strung with 9s, no shit. Fortunately, it had the original parts so I put him back together, strung with light flats. Killer, fast playing axe with great tone.

I named him after the great Eldon Shmblin, another forgotten guitar hero. Alberta, where I'm from, is country territory: it gets in your blood (hopefully the better parts of it :) and I've been fascinated with country swing since my 20s, although I'm far too lazy to devote any time to learning how to play it... Fun fact: in the linked video, that strat Eldon's picking? That's the original prototype, given to him by Leo after Jimmy Bryant had told Fender to fuck off for wasting his time in designing and developing the strat, and not naming it the Jimmy Bryant model. Looks like a Dano...

Anyways, as much as I dig this axe, one thing has always bugged me:

For the action to be right, the bridge has to be raised up, with maybe a 7mm gap between it and the base. In my experience, that's *way* to much. Frankly, if it was another axe that I didn't want and I saw this, I'd pass. There are really 2 factors that usually cause this to happen: one, the neck angle is out, or else the bridge is simply too short. Older guitars tend to be the former, newer ones like this the latter. Compounding this, the bridge was high enough that, once Eldon was tuned to pitch, it leaned forward. Which ain't gonna help the bridge in the long run.

So, new bridge:

Bit of a dice roll, but saves me making my own. Look at the height difference:

Bottomed out, the new one is the same height as the old one raised up. Really, the biggest difference is the base: the new one is the more modern "footed" design. I find these to be brighter in tone. But frankly the old one was a little iffy in it's fit, and the new one fits the arch better, so I'll go with it.

So, we rough mark the old bridge's position with tape:

just to make placing the new one a little easier. Because there's no saddles, intonation isn't guaranteed. But the way I play, tuning's never guaranteed either...

I need to slot the new one for the strings, so I pair them up and tape them, balancing to the top of each. Look at the thickness difference:

Totally lucked out with this bridge! Out comes the little files to transfer the string notches:

The width is the same, so I can just transfer them straight across. Next, I ramp the strings on both sides, just to ensure no binding of the strings:

For the B and E strings, I ramp with an Olfa with a slightly duller blade, rolling it side to side so it's not too thin of a ramp:

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All done! Rosewood, so it doesn't take too long. I swapped the thumbwheels, as this new one is chrome and Eldon's parts are gold. And back on it goes. I don't even raise it and the action's close:

And to check the intonation, I turn to the killer Rowin Tuner:

And Eldon's done! Neck relief was fine, action's great. He's a little brighter now, but has a bit more sustain. And no bridge lean. Very happy. Just one little thing to do:

I label when and what I strung my guitars with n the back of their pegheads. I just got sick of trying to remember all that info, this is fast. But I kinda tacked this one on really fast, and now it bothers me. 5 second job.

Now, I suppose I should learn a bunch of country swing chords...