help, problem at the guitar shop

[frankiestarr]

I took a frankenstrat to have some work done on it at a new shop. When I did everything was playing fine, set-up just right. What I needed done was to have a little wood in the cavity routed out to fit a humbucker in the bridge.
Well the tech call me and says that to get the playability like I want it, he will either have to put a shim in the bridge or find longer screws for the saddles. And that the screw option is to much trouble.
The price keeps getting higher and higher for the job. Went from $100 to $130 now $160. This seems a little high to me, and I kind of feel like I'm getting a compromise of a fix. What do you guitar repair guys think??
Would a wood shim in the bridge make a difference in the sustain, or sound of the guitar?? Thanks.

 

[whomad1215]

so it was set up fine... he routed and now it's all off-kilter? that doesnt seem to make any sense

 

[willyboy]

sounds suspect to me, too. what does mounting a pickup have to do with bridge adjustment? i've done this to two strats as well without this issue ever arising.

 

[Bruce Bennett]

what exactly did you specifiy about "playability" that has made him start looking into your bridges setup?

and I need to know what kind of bridge is this? Strat tremolo bridges NEVER need shims of any kind.. necks sure.. but not tremolos. there is a lot of missing info here .. and perhaps some incorrect terminology as well

 

[straightblues]

Sounds to me like to me that you don't really know what he is doing. Have him explain it to you. Below is my best guess.

If the humbucker is sitting too high in the guitar, he would need to raise the strings up a little at the bridge. You can do it by adding a shim (a small piece of plastic, wood, metal or paper added into the neck cavity to increase the angle of the neck so the strings at the bridge are further away from the face of the guitar and they will clear the higher humbucker.) If you do this, you will need to raise the saddles to meet the new string height at the bridge. Sounds like to me, he maybe made the shim too thick and increased the angle too much so now the saddles are too high for their adjustment screws.

 

[frankiestarr]

It's a hardtail....But I just don't gt how it would be different now....It always played great. I'm not liking the position I'm in. Do you guys think a wood shim in a hardtail would hurt the tone or sustain??

 

[straightblues]

What is different is the height of the bridge humbucker. It is likely sitting higher in the guitar. A shim won't hurt anything.

 

[Tone_Terrific]

Maybe you got a hb with extra long legs and he can't get it low enough, even after extending the rout....maybe. Bad HB choice and too much fixing for that problem, imo.
Replace the hb.
Details are more than a bit sketchy, here.

 

[Mike Fleming]

Maybe you got a hb with extra long legs and he can't get it low enough, even after extending the rout....maybe. Bad HB choice and too much fixing for that problem, imo.
Replace the hb.
Details are more than a bit sketchy, here.

This is my best guess too from the description, and I agree with the suggestion.

 

[Bob V]

Remember that a Strat body isn't as thick as a Les Paul, so the random humbucker you chose might not sit low enough for the strings to clear it. That would definitely affect the saddle height. So it's costing money for you to use that particular humbucker and you might want to find one with shorter legs.

 

[NoahL]

If what you're telling us is all your tech is telling you, then his first problem is that he doesn't explain problems well enough to his customers, which means that even when he *is* right, he's causing them distress.