This customer picked up a set of Hipshot guitar parts to finish off his custom Warmoth guitar build; a set of Grip-Lock Open machine heads and a Fixed Bridge. The tuners were easily fitted to the flamed maple neck however the Fixed Bridge was a little trickier to install.

Josh’s first preference for the build was actually the Hipshot Hardtail Bridge but this part didn’t match the screw mounting pattern routed in the body. Warmoth offer a load of routing options for their bodies including a few choices for builders fitting hardtail guitar bridges. This particular body came with the American Standard, 0.827” screw spacing, rather than the .89” spacing which would have suited the Hipshot Hardtail.

The only other option from Hipshot was the Fixed Bridge, which has neither the narrow or wide screw spacing. Rather than settling for a bridge with correct measurements not from Hipshot, Josh decided to run with the Fixed Bridge and somehow make it work. As he explains in his vlog, the pre-drilled mounting holes were plugged to allow new holes to be drilled. It was a tad more work than he anticipated but, looking at the finished guitar, it was clearly well worth it!

You can check out his full vlog here: