Harley Benton JA-60 Mods #2

(Photo 1)
The first thing I had to do was to remove the strings.

(Photos 2 and 3)
This was followed by the bridge, tailpiece and studs. These were really easy to remove because they were only finger-tight - I didn't even have to use the screwdriver!

(Photo 4)
Then I put the new studs in, that came with the Vanson bridge. Again, these were only finger-tight. They even supply both metric and US-size studs with the bridge!

(Photo 5)
Comparison! The saddles appeared to have the same spacing, so I left them and hoped for the best with the intonation.

(Photos 6 and 7)
Time for the new bar and fitting the tremolo! This was again finger-tight, so it was still easy enough.

(Photos 8 to 10)
To remove the pickguard, I had to (carefully!) lever off the volume and control knobs and unscrew the bolts around the shafts/etc. The pickguard easily lifted off after unscrewing the screws around the outside.

(Photo 11)
I prepared the pickguard by washing it with soapy water to get all of the grease off, and then I covered the pickguard with some sticky-back vinyl (the type you get from craft and DIY shops). Putting it on was easy, and it stuck very well. The difficult bit came with trimming around the edges, because it had a bevelled edge. So I used a craft knife, but I didn't have a new blade, which was a mistake. Even so, it looks very good from a distance and it's passable close up. I'm not sure yet whether to leave it as it is, recover it, or just get a new pickguard!

I then had to put the old strings back on (after everything else), because I can't go to the guitar shop to get some new ones yet. And it took ages!

(Photos 12 and 13)
The finished result!

I'm very pleased with it, because it was the first time I've done anything like this before (although it was very easy on the whole). The tremolo plays really well. It fits the hand easily and it seems to retain the tuning, even with the old strings on! Surprisingly, the internation still seems spot on - so overall, I'm really pleased with the Vanson roller bridge.

So the final stage would be to fit the Catswhisker mini humbucker pickup in the bridge, but I'll need the guitar shop to reopen for that!