My 750XL jt590 base plate is stripping...

[EntrailsOfU]

I bought a 750xl fairly recently. After receiving it and fixing the terribly set intonation I find that the A string saddle screw will hold for about a week before I find my guitar randomly out of tune and then the saddle pops forward. I tried to be careful with over tightening being that the base plate is not steel but on a 30 year old guitar, who knows what has happened. So really I'm trying to weigh my options:

1. Buy a used base plate from someone like uplanderguitars on ebay
2. Buy a whole new Schaller
3. Retap the existing base plate

I was also curious, could I mount an Original Floyd Rose instead? I put a 1984 model on my model 6 and it's great but I know those drop right in to JT6 posts with minor shimming of the saddles. Would I have any intonation problems? Do they make a sustain block long enough for these massive guitars?

I paid what I think was quite a bit for the guitar so it's a little disappointing but I don't really mind because it is otherwise extremely clean and is probably the nicest guitar I've ever owned. I suppose retaining the value of the instrument is probably the most important part, while playability is also a factor. But a mod like an OG Floyd can easily be reverted. I would definitely keep the original trem aside for it if I ever sold it. This would most likely be the last piece I would sell... these are amazing guitars. Everything that everyone raves about is absolutely true.

Any advice or experience from someone else who has done any of the above repairs/mods would be greatly appreciated!

[etepbbb]

I've had the same issue, I just bought a new Schaller.

[ed]

I have swapped a few 590 base plates for the same reason. The new base plates have hardened inserts where the saddle screws screw in.

OFR should fit straigth in if it doesnt have the route for the trem which 750xls didnt have. Some of them apparently had the half route but i havent seen any of those i believe.

You have to use the 42mm sustain block with 750xl.

The threads stripping on old 590 baseplates is a very common issue and i am more surprised if they are NOT stripped on guitars that have them. The new baseplate is about 90 dollars/euros.

[Number Of The Priest]

What a damn pity Schaller doesn't make a JT590/"Schaller Tremolo" baseplate that is completely hardened steel like the OFR/Lockmeister.

As ed said above, since the 750 is non-recessed, I'd choose an OFR, or even a Gotoh GE1996T, with 42mm sustain block length.

Congrats on the 750. Its desirability probably outweighs the price you paid for it, especially since you said yours is in excellent condition.

[EntrailsOfU]

What a damn pity Schaller doesn't make a JT590/"Schaller Tremolo" baseplate that is completely hardened steel like the OFR/Lockmeister.

As ed said above, since the 750 is non-recessed, I'd choose an OFR, or even a Gotoh GE1996T, with 42mm sustain block length.

Congrats on the 750. Its desirability probably outweighs the price you paid for it, especially since you said yours is in excellent condition.

I think the worst part of owning it makes me want to own all of them...

Sounds like I'm going to take the plunge and get another OFR.

[EntrailsOfU]

So it was just the A string saddle that was slipping. Last night I was sitting on my computer (the 750 hangs out near here) and I hear a pop and strings kind of ringing out. The high e saddle has now slipped. When I got the guitar all the saddles were at the furthest point of adjustment toward the bridge pickup and I think I know why now...

The odd thing is my USA Jackson soloist custom has the same bridge but that one is solid as hell. The 750's looks WAY cleaner with less use but I'm guessing the saddles were just over tightened too many times.

[toejam]

Either retap and helicoil the baseplate or just get a new Schaller baseplate. Those old Schaller plates were known to strip out after awhile if you tightened the screws too much.

[EntrailsOfU]

Update:

https://imgur.com/Yz0vlCx

OG floyd, while needing a ton of shims to be even close to properly radius'd for these flat boards, is absolutely dollar for dollar the best upgrade you can get. JT590 doesn't have anything on an OG.

[toejam]

Looking good! J/C usually puts copper tape under the saddles at the factory to shim up their Floyds. Though, I've used Allparts metal saddle shims before without a problem.

[MetalMedal II]

Looks like you solved the issue with a new Floyd. If you still want to use the 590 in the future, you can try getting new base plate screws from Stew Mac, which are longer than what came stock on the 590. The stock ones have a dome-shaped head and are much shorter than the ones that come on an OFR, which I've found to be ironic since the 590 has a thicker baseplate (albeit softer metal) than the OFR. I've found the longer screws liken an OFR (which have a more square head) utilize the entire baseplate of the 590 and can hold tension better than the short ones. These are needed especially if you shim the saddles as this effectively shortens the screw length even more. When shimming my last 590,
I've found this out the hard way that the short screw length makes it real easy to strip the baseplate if only half of the thread of the baseplate is used.

[EntrailsOfU]

Looking good! J/C usually puts copper tape under the saddles at the factory to shim up their Floyds. Though, I've used Allparts metal saddle shims before without a problem.

Definitely. These were the Allparts shims, they work well. One pack was enough for two guitars (model 6 and 750) to get the heights corrected.

Longer screws would also make a lot more sense for these (590) base plates. More thread contact means less likely to strip the top half of the base plate! Good idea!