Need a short block tremolo recommendation

[CurlOfTheBurl]

I’ve built a Jazzmaster body from scratch. Unfortunately, I made it near real Jazzmaster spec, which is thinner than a Strat without considering the trem. The guitar is about 42mm thick which is too thin for standard Strat tremolo blocks.

I had intended to install a Gotoh 510ts-fe1 in Cosmo Black which I thought would look cool with the black limba body, but the 37mm block is on back order with Philadelphia Luthier saying 4-5 month lead time.

Any alternatives you’d recommend?

 

[paulyc]

Bring the 43 mm block to a machine shop and have it milled down on the spring side, then redrill the holes. 37 mm is only 5 mm shorter, easy job.

 

[CurlOfTheBurl]

Bring the 43 mm block to a machine shop and have it milled down on the spring side, then redrill the holes. 37 mm is only 5 mm shorter, easy job.

Thanks for this pointer! I've never gone this route before so have a few questions (all are likely pretty stupid

* When they mill it down, is it more grinding or do they cut it then grind to smoothness?
* For re-drilling the string holes, will machine shops be able to not introduce any snag or sharp points? Just thinking about tuning stability and/or if a sharp is in contact with the string and causes it to break.
* How much would be a reasonable cost for all of this stuff to be done?

Sorry I'm a noob on this front. I appreciate your help!

 

[paulyc]

No problem, it should be pretty cheap, less than an hour to do it. Redrilling the spring holes in the block had nothing to do with string breakage as the strings don’t come in contact with the hole, but takes a minute to countersink the holes with a deburring tool. Milling would use an end mill cutter, so as long as they use correct speeds and feeds no grinding would be necessary for smoothness.