Mexican Standard Strat Bridge Assembly

(6 pivot, 2 1/16" mounting & 2 1/16" string)

(6 pivot, 52mm mounting & 52mm string)

- Made in Mexico Standard Series Strat

- Road Worn Player HSS

- Squier Classic Vibe

FROM CALLAHAM SITE: This is a complete assembly that is a direct replacement on Mexican Standard Guitars. It has 2 1/16" string spacing and 2 1/16" mounting spacing, and will work with any guitar with 2 1/16" mounting spacing. It does not need to be a Fender guitar. If you have 2 1/16" mounting and a 1 3/4" body with vintage style routing, it will fit.

Our Vintage S Model Strat bridge is considered the finest in the industry. It is the small details that make the difference. We use stainless steel screws for the intonation, saddle height, and top plate mounting screws. The 6 heat treated hardened pivot screws are essential. The top plate is cold-rolled carbon steel that is nickel plated. And in 2006 we incorporated our enhanced vintage tremolo block and our Virtual Pop-in stainless steel arm design.

We are the only vintage bridge to have these components.

Every bridge is hand checked for arm fit & smoothness. Featuring our signature cold rolled steel block and our proprietary zero-clearance arm fitment.

All of our tremolo blocks are machined from cold rolled non-leaded U.S. steel and are threaded for 10-32 english threaded arms.

When the vibrato bridge was first designed in 1954, it had a machined steel inertia block to give the instrument the required sustain and harmonic content. Over the years, manufacturers have continuously made this part more inferior in order to cut costs. We manufacture an exact replacement block for stripped original bridges, and it can be retrofitted onto any reissue instrument giving a dramatic increase in both sustain and frequency response.

The original design of the synchronized tremolo although revolutionary at the time has several flaws. These flaws have never been addressed by Fender and they even carry these flaws into the American Standard Tremolos and their Mexican models. The problem is the .205 DIA x 3/16 long counterbore in the top of the block.

This counterbore is also in American Standard blocks. The counterbore creates a tremendous stress riser on the first thread of the trem arm, the weakest section of the arm, because the arm is completely unsupported at the top of the block. The forces developed when using the trem are applied directly to the threaded section of the arm. It doesn't matter if the arm is made from high strength materials, it will eventually fail right at the first thread. The counterbore also reduces the leverage over trem springs. Fender arms also have significant play in the threads making the bridge very slow to respond and making subtle vibrato effects difficult. The Fender solution is a heavy spring in the bottom of the block. This spring causes the threads to gall and suddenly the arm is locked in the block and the only way to remove it is to break it off.

To correct these flaws all of our blocks are produced with a zero-clearance fit Delrin bushing that supports the arm all the way to the top of the block.

This significant improvement makes the arm nearly unbreakable. We say nearly, because the only true way to break an arm off in our blocks would be intentional misuse or abuse. For those of you that play 13's with 5 springs screwed all the way down; play with confidence that our block won't let you down.

The other advantage to this change is the arm will have zero play and will have more leverage over the springs. This will make the tremolo extremely touch sensitive, controllable, and smoother.

We have been producing the best sounding bridge available for years. This change makes our bridge even farther ahead of any vintage bridge and rivals the sensitivity of modern two pivot bridges.

Steel is the only material that should be used for the block - but not just any steel - the steel used can not contain any lead. Lead dampens the frequency response and reduces both sustain and clarity.

If you have an import guitar, your block is more than likely zinc (pot metal). Zinc kills both sustain and clarity and your sound. If you have a U.S. made guitar, you may have a steel block but it is either a hot rolled leaded steel, or in the case of the American Standard bridges, a soft cast steel block.

Callaham Guitars is only company machining all of our blocks from a cold rolled non-leaded U.S.A. steel.

The top plate on the Callaham bridge has an important detail that both original and current production Fender bridges have missed. The bevel on the bottom side of the plate - which allows the bridge to pivot - must not extend past the diameter of the pivot screw. We take care in machining this angle, which allows the bridge to pivot along a single axis.

The Fender bridge is not only crudely angled but extends well past the diameter of the pivot screws. This causes the bridge to try and pivot along 2 axes. The bridge slides down the screws instead of pivoting and then must slide back up on return. This creates unnecessary friction and inconsistent return to pitch.

Our saddles are designed off of original Pre-CBS saddles, but with several improvements. Comparing a Callaham, a Pre-CBS, and a current production Fender saddle, we have slightly lengthened the string slot compared to the Pre-CBS saddle so that the string will not bind and bend against the sharp edge before it goes over the saddle. This greatly reduces string breakage and improves intonation. The current production saddle's string slot is moved too far to the rear. This causes string breakage and loss of downward pressure on the saddle - hurting both sustain and tone.

The threads of both the Callaham and Pre-CBS saddles run the entire length of the front edge. The current production saddle only has a few threads and has a much shorter front edge. It is extremely important that the height screws are held securely with as much thread contact as possible to maintain sustain and saddle stability.

There is the belief that the Pre-CBS saddles were "hardened". Every Pre-CBS saddle we have tested, only measures an average of 50 Rockwell B and were not hardened. We choose to use a steel with a hardness of 95-98 Rockwell B for our saddles. The steel work hardens in the making of the saddle and is well over 115 Rockwell B where the string crosses.

- Callaham's long arm, equal to current Fender guitars.

- Callaham Precision Machined Top Plate

- Callaham Vintage Stamped Steel "CG" Saddles for 2 1/16" spaced bridges, with stainless steel screws & springs

- 3 Stainless steel top plate screws

- Callaham 6 hardened pivot mounting screws

- 5 Tremolo Springs

- Claw & Stainless Steel Screws

- Allen Wrench