So I bought this really cool Hagstom 3 from the local vintage guitar show a while back. Being focused on the sound and playability and having never really looked at this model before, I failed to notice that the bridge wasn’t original. Not a big deal really, as I don’t buy old guitars for their collect-ability, I buy them to play.
So it wasn’t an issue, till I noticed that it was constantly going out of tune very quickly. At first I thought it must be an issue with the floating trem, but as I was poking around adjusting things, I found that I could easily move the bridge. Turns out that the bridge studs had just these little tiny ‘nubs’ for holding the bridge in place, and the replacement tune-o-matic bridge, a former owner had put on, had stud holes much too large.
So I searched Ebay awhile for an original bridge but wasn’t having any luck. I even noticed the original bridge missing on a number of other Hags for sale. Maybe they were often replaced for some reason? Not knowing how long it would take to find a replacement I decided to do a temporary fix to make the guitar playable, but without modifying anything that would keep me from installing an original bridge once I found one.
The lucky part about this, is that the stud spacing matches a tune-o-matic. Most old foreign guitars do not. The only thing that didn’t match was the stud hole size. My first thought was to get a piece of brass rod that would fit tightly in the bridge, that I could then drill a smaller hole to match the stud. I didn’t have any suitable stock on hand, but while rumaging around my shop I found some JB Weld. It’s an epoxy that is used in place of welding and is supposed to be as hard as steel.. I though it might be strong enough to do the job since there really wouldn’t be a lot of lateral pressure put on it.
But thinking it through, I realized you’d see the epoxy fill on the top side of the bridge stud hole, and it wouldn’t be too pretty. Even if I sanded it flush, it wouldn’t be a good look. So I thought of sticking a screw on the top, but everything I tried seemed a bit too “hardware store” looking. My wife is an avid scrapbooker and has tons of little doodad type things that they like to stick all over their page designs, so I asked her if she had anything that might work. She quickly brought out a box filled with an assortment of brads -perfect! The chrome brads matched so well they really looked like an original part of the bridge.
I filled the stud holes with the epoxy, stuck the brads on the top side. Once it was dry, I just sanded the epoxy flush and drilled the new smaller holes. The modified bridge fit nice and snug. And after a few weeks of use seems to be holding together just fine. If this ends up being more of a permanent solution, I may relic the bridge a bit so it blends with the rest of the guitar better. I highly recommend checking out a Hag 3 or 2 if you get a chance. They are famous for their superfast necks. The action on mine is unbelievably low and is effortless to play.
I just bought a Hagstrom ii yesterday and am experiencing the same problem.. I was going to buy a generic tune-o-matic bridge but I wasnt sure if the holes were the same size.
I read somewhere that the Hagstrom bridges were supposed to “rock” back and forth with the tremolo, to help keep the unit IN tune. Thus maybe the “nubs” are original? Obviously, not working well in a mixed-hardware environment.
That’s more info then I was able to dig up on the bridge. But I sort of wonder if the previous owner replaced the bridge because it was problematic in some way. The tremelo works pretty well the way I have it now.
How is the bridge holding up? Any issues? I just got a III with lost original bridge as well and think I will try your solution!
No problems at all. Though actually, I just sold that guitar. I liked it, especially the neck, but I didn’t love the tone. Ended up buying one of the newer Hagstrom Vikings. Probably my favorite neck of any guitar I’ve played.