GFS Tele style bridge for their Extrem Vibrato System

[jcwillow777]

So I just got a new Xavier PRO830 guitar. I bought it with the intention of putting a vibrato on it. I bought their bridge that was made for use with their Extrem vibrato. O have a couple pf issues.

1. The bridge height is crazy high. they say their bridge is only 1/8" higher than the normal tele style bridge and that I will need to shim the neck. As you can see in the pic the string are about a 1/4" high, that's a little much to shim! I have watched YouTube videos of guys that have modified their bridges by grinding slots in them so the strings don't touch the back of the bridge, I may just do that, but I was really hoping that this was gonna be a plug and play.





2. When installing the Extrem Vibrato one of the screw heads broke off. I know I need to extract the screw, so I tried to take one of the other screws out and the head on that screw broke off too!! Has anybody here had a similar issue and what did you use to alleviate it?

3. One of the tuners was installed crooked, I fixed it, but I really was disappointed about the quality control on that. I have purchased quite a few guitars in my days, never have I had a guitar delivered with a crookedly installed tuner.



So this is the guitar I got today. Once these issues are taken care of I am sure I will love this guitar. I haven't even plugged it in yet!

[jcwillow777]

Okay, I fixed the guitar. I watched a few YouTube videos to help be get the broken screws out of the guitar. I'll go thru the process I did.

I also fixed the crooked tuner. I filled the hole with a toothpick and re drilled.

I took the GFS Roller bridge off. Th action was crazy high, about 1/4" at the 22nd fret. I put the original back on, but I scalloped it so the strings didn't hit the back of the ashtray. I used a triangle file I got from Harbor Freight to start, then finished it off with a larger file. I screwed the bridge to a 2x4 so I could get a better hold on it. I taped off the ashtray so I wouldn't accidentally scrap it with the file.



Next to get the screws out, I bought a set of diamond hole drill bits. I drilled some screws into a 2x4 to practice on. Then I drilled a 5/16" hole in a scrap piece of wood to use as a template. I mounted it to the guitar and started drilling. Once the holes were started, I took the board off and continued. I checked frequently to see if the screw was getting loose. Once the screw was loose, I took a needle nose pliers and started to unscrew it. When it was out far enough. I finished with some locking pliers.









Once the holes were drilled, I filled the holes with some hard wood doweling. I started with 5/16" doweling, but the hole was a tad big for the, so I sanded down a 3/8" dowel and glued them into the holes. Then I let them set up for a couple of hours.



After the glue was set up, I mounted the Extrem to the body, One of the screws didn't break off. so I used a #8 one inch wood screw to mount it. I checked the alignment and tightened the screw so the Extrem wouldn't move. Then I drilled the holes. I used a centering bit, so the holed were dead center. But this only started the holes. Then I finished drilling the holes with a 7/64" bit that I taped off to make sure I didn't drill too deep.



Holes drilled, I finished screwing it off.





Now that the guitar is finished I spent a couple of hours playing it. I am very impressed. The neck is a little chunkier than I like, but the sustain is forever!

[tonebender]

Happy new Tele Day!

[tlarson58]

Love this guitar. I'm glad that you got it working.

[Tiga]

Great that you got this fixed. How do you like the GFS vibrato?