Kramer 610 Restoration | Part Three

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

As mentioned previously, the owner of this Kramer 610 intended to replace the stock Floyd Rose II trem with a Wilkinson VS100N. Lo and behold, he turned up one day with his dream trem -- minus the pivot posts, bushings, trem claw screws and hex keys that should have been part of the package. Suspecting that he'd gotten a raw deal, I urged him to contact the seller and demand that the missing items be sent to him ASAP. However, being the mild-mannered Clark Kent type, he never got around to doing that. Instead, he asked that I do my best with what I already had; meaning the Floyd Rose II pivot posts and bushings had to be reused.

And so the old bushings were removed and the holes filled with wooden dowels. As a locking nut was not part of the deal, I laid out plans for a non-floating trem setup, i.e. it would lie flat against the body when not in use.

The existing trem cavity was filled with a carefully-positioned block of nyatoh. It was a case of measuring 10 times and cutting once, so to speak. The nyatoh block was glued in with Titebond III and clamped for a day. After sanding the block flush with the top of the body, it was time to drill the holes for the bushings and cut a slot for the trem block. I'm sorry that I forgot to take pics of the slot cutting process. 

In any case, you might like to know that Cremel (China-made Dremel clone) mini circular saw and resin cutting wheel attachments were used to do the job. Having taken care of the drilling and cutting, the VS100N was installed for a test run. I'm glad to say that despite my reservations about reusing the old bushings and pivot posts; the new trem worked as it should. In Part Four, you'll see pics of the completely restored Kramer 610; ready to be delivered to its owner.