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Hard-Tail Bridge Saddles have VERY LOOSE adjustment screws -- how to tighten?

Posted by Mark Jeghers on July 27, 2015 at 12:16am in Building Secrets, Tips, Advice, Discussion

I have two of these 3-string bridges now, and on both, the saddle height screws are WAY too loose.  Even with the strings under tension, they will vibrate loose on their own and FALL OUT (one screw will hold the saddle in place while the other comes out.  They fit VERY loosely in their screw holes.

I experimented with Loc-Tite thread tightener and it was no help at all: it is very messy and hard to apply with precision, and because the screws are to loose in their screw holes, it cannot grip anything anyway

I also tried plumbers tape around the screws to make them tighter, but it is very hard to apply neatly and just bunches up above the screw hole, and also looks messy.

How else can I make these tighter?  I don't know any place to buy better quality components for 3 or 4 strings, and even if I did, I need to remedy the two I already have installed.

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Replies

  • Cause the Blue rat August 4, 2015 at 5:25pm

    Nice work! OK, any better? 

    • Mark Jeghers > Cause the Blue rat August 4, 2015 at 5:51pm

      The clear nail polished seemed to help, so all is well.

      • the anonymous pick > Mark Jeghers August 4, 2015 at 7:15pm

        @ mark  ;-)

      • Tom T > Mark Jeghers August 4, 2015 at 6:44pm

        Good solution. Glad you worked it out.

  • Cause the Blue rat July 28, 2015 at 6:18pm

    Awesome! Looking forward to seeing this one complete. 

  • Cause the Blue rat July 27, 2015 at 9:05pm

    I'd have to agree with Clark. It looks like you've had to loosen then to compensate for the neck hight. There may not be a simple fix for this on this guitar. Perhaps try a simple bridge for this build. For your next build try measuring the bridge hight. Then add that to the hight of your neck  from the box top. Or you could even drop the bridge into the box. 

    • Mark Jeghers > Cause the Blue rat July 28, 2015 at 2:26pm

      I might drop the bridge into the box.  But other than that, the current build needs to stay as it is.  Lessons learned can then be applied to future builds.

  • Tom T July 27, 2015 at 6:45am

    You should be able to treat these screws like those you see in electronic components and similar items. That is, after you have the screws adjusted like you want, use a small paint brush to apply a dab of thicker oil-based paint to the screws where they come into contact with the body. Once dry, this should lock the screws in place just as it does on other components subject to vibration. Worth a try.

    • Mark Jeghers > Tom T July 27, 2015 at 6:13pm

      But we would still want to be able to adjust the screws, just not have them so crazy loose like they are now.

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