How To Convert a 6-Screw Tremolo Into a 2-Point Tremolo

[vid1900]

How many times have you seen your dream Strat body, but it's been bored for an old fashion 6-screw tremolo?

How many times have you played your local guitar wizard's Strat and noted how no matter if you lift or dive, the 2-point trem returns to far tune better, and far smoother than your 6-screw?

How many times have you simply wanted to risk your favorite Strat in a crazy-dangerous project?

 

[vid1900]

First, it's a good idea to fill the old screw holes with hardwood.

You really only have to fill the outside 2 screw holes so the drill bit does not wander (the other 4 are hidden under the trem), but you can do them all if you want.

Sometimes, the screw holes have a taper to them at the top, so you can fill any top-gap with Fiberglass Resin or CA Glue.

In another thread I posted how to fill the holes the correct way, so I won't repeat it here:

http://www.strat-talk.com/threads/how-to-properly-fill-screw-holes-in-wood.467212/

 

[vid1900]

Here you can see that the center of the new 2-point holes are just outside of the old holes.

That is why we plugged the old holes with hardwood, because otherwise, even a thick drill bit like a 3/8", would probably bend and follow the old hole, causing our tremolo to be offset.

Even if you use a commercial plastic "drilling" template, the drill bit will be diverted, and the template ruined - so remember to plug those holes!

 

[vid1900]

So, even with our hardwood plug, there is a slight chance that the drill bit will find 'the path of least resistance' and follow the old hole.

Our Bamboo plug is harder than the wood used on a guitar body, but if something bad can happen, it will happen to something expensive....

So we need a drill bit that can't bend and wander. We need a bit called a Center Hole Bit, Countersink Bit, or Chamfering Bit - everybody calls it something different.

The bit is made for cutting steel, so it might never wear out cutting wood in your shop.

The bit is thick and stubby, so there is no way that it can bend and be diverted by the old hole or plug. This was sold to us as a 1/2" Countersinking Bit:



You can gently warm the area to be drilled with a hair dryer to keep the poly from cracking. On a Lacquer guitar, you just barely soften the finish with a tiny amount of Acetone.

But the main way to never crack a finish is to always use a SHARP BIT.

Clamp the guitar down to the drill press table. You CAN'T hold it and drill it, don't even try.


Here you can see the "starter hole" being made by the bit:

 

[vid1900]

Now that we have our starter holes drilled, we can bring out the 3/8" drill bit and finish the job.

Note that the depth has been marked with a Sharpie on the bit. If you accidentally drill all the way through, you will end up in the spring cavity. No big deal, but it's a sign of sloppy workmanship.

 

[vid1900]

Since your 1/2" Countersink bit is larger than the 3/8" hole, you can chamfer the edge of the hole with it.

Easing the edge makes sure that you don't crack the finish when you pound in the Brass Inserts.

Chamfer the edge just by turning the bit by hand, no power needed. Again, a sharp bit will make the cleanest edge....

 

[vid1900]

Note that the Brass Inserts have a top and bottom end.

The bottom end is tapered to allow easy installation into the hole.






The fluted Brass Inserts from Fender are threaded with Fine thread.

1/4-28 is the size of the bolt you need for the next action. You can ask for this at any hardware store.

(1/4" is the diameter of the bolt. -28 is the TPI (Threads Per Inch).

Thread the bolt all the way into the insert. If you only engage a few threads, you might damage the soft brass threads inside. Make sure you spread the hammer impacts across all the threads.

Just GENTLY tap the bolt head to install the insert into the hole.

They go in easily, don't worry.

You can put a little white glue on the flutes. You don't need much, many techs even feel the glue is unnecessary.

Tap the inserts until they are just slightly below the surface of the body.

 

[vid1900]

And that's it.

Go ahead and put your guitar together, you don't even have to wait for the glue to dry.

 

[CephasG]

Awesome tips and pictures! Thanks for sharing.
Quick question. How exactly do you take measurements to determine where to drill?

 

[vid1900]

Quick question. How exactly do you take measurements to determine where to drill?

You get a paper template with the Tremolo kit, but if you ever lost it:

1. On a Strat with a 25.5" scale, the 2 mounting studs are centered at 25.25" from the nut.

(This is the same as a regular 6-screw, so your one dimension is inline with those 6 screw holes.)

2. The stud centers are 2-7/32" apart.

Here is that oft posted graphic of all the tremolos:

 

[Believer7713]

Great tutorial!!! I have done several but I always ended up installing Floyds instead of traditional two point trems. @CephasG, the best way to make sure that you have your bridge properly placed it to measure the distance from the contact point on the nut to the contact point on the bridge using the low e string. Then make sure the bridge is sitting square. I also like to measure from the twelfth fret as a secondary measurement.

 

[GrooVey]

I love these "how to s.". I'll have one of these conversions on my workbench soon

 

[vid1900]

Of course, if your current tremolo runs out of intonation adjustment room on the Low E String (you know where even when you remove the saddle spring, you still can't get the bridge to move back far enough from the nut), you can move the mounting studs back from the nut an extra 1/16".

 

[CephasG]

You get a paper template with the Tremolo kit, but if you ever lost it:

1. On a Strat with a 25.5" scale, the 2 mounting studs are centered at 25.25" from the nut.

(This is the same as a regular 6-screw, so your one dimension is inline with those 6 screw holes.)

2. The stud centers are 2-7/32" apart.

Here is that oft posted graphic of all the tremolos:

View attachment 277870

Thanks that's awesome information!

 

[CephasG]

Great tutorial!!! I have done several but I always ended up installing Floyds instead of traditional two point trems. @CephasG, the best way to make sure that you have your bridge properly placed it to measure the distance from the contact point on the nut to the contact point on the bridge using the low e string. Then make sure the bridge is sitting square. I also like to measure from the twelfth fret as a secondary measurement.

Thanks for the reply, very useful info!

 

[vid1900]

HOW CAN I TAKE THE BRASS BUSHINGS OUT?

So if you find a 60s Strat that someone has installed a 2-point tremolo into (yep, I've undone 2 of those), and you need to remove the bushing, you have 2 easy ways to do it.

1. No Glue - neither Fender nor Gibson puts glue on the inserts, so this is 90% of the cases.

Drop a 3/8" long metal cylinder, #12 bolt shaft, pickup pole piece, or whatever down inside the bushing.

Now just put your 1/4-28" bolt (for Fender) into the bushing and start slowly tightening it down. It will drive the bushing right out. Asian and Gibson guitars will require a different bolt size.

2. Glued in - Try heating with soldering gun first, and see if you can drive it out as above. You can heat the bolt with a propane torch (or gas stovetop). Don't get too crazy with the heat, it usually does not take much.

If it's totally stuck, use larger and larger drill bits until you have just a brass **foil** remainder. Pick edge with a scratch awl, and remove.

 

[Ruscio]

This thread is fantastic, thanks so much for another amazing tutorial @vid1900! I'm in the process of doing this and I made one easily preventable mistake because I followed your steps too literally w/out using my common sense. I thought others might benefit from hearing of my error. After I removed the 6-screw bridge, I *assumed* that my 2-point bridge posts would need to be spaced a bit further apart than the outermost holes. So I filled them. Big mistake! It turns out that my 2-point bridge--Gotoh 510--has precisely the same center-to-center spacing as the vintage 6-screw bridge, namely 2.2".

So all the time and effort of filling and redrilling (which didn't go well b/c I don't have a drill press...) was wasted. I could have just enlarged the outermost two holes, which even I could have done fairly well.

Lesson: Measure everything before doing anything!

Again, to be clear, this mistake was all mine, I'm really grateful for your thread b/c it gave me the courage to try this. And it's going to end well despite my early mistake and sloppy drilling b/c I've refilled and redrilled much more accurately this time. Just gotta do some painting to hide a little damage (which is mostly unseen anyway, hidden beneath pickguard and bridge plate) as well as recoat the neck heel which I contoured while I had some tools out.

 

[Yonatan]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge with everyone. Love the bit about the blue sharpie!

 

[MartinC]

Always pays to search for a thread. Just came across this and it is exactly what I need. Its old but it gold. Thanks OP

 

[rmackowsky]

Great thread - thank you. Did this exact thing today. Only thing that differed was the thread size of the bushing - 4-28 bolt didn't work, and I couldn't find one that did. So instead I just screwed the post all the way into the bushing, then put a block of wood over it and hammered the block of wood until the bushing was flush. Worked great, no damage.