Well, DHL surprised me yesterday. Even though the website still indicated it was waiting for the next delivery cycle, my black bridge/ferrules showed up yesterday afternoon. I'm still waiting on one part; the aforementioned (a lot) string bar for the headstock. That should be here today.
First off, my very first Lakland; 2015 55-02 Deluxe purchased back in early 2018.
Started by pulling off the old bridge. Well, technically, I started by watching a couple videos on how to safely remove string ferrules. THEN I took the strings off and removed the bridge. Two things struck me immediately:
1. Blech!
-and- 2. You can tell the difference in quality with the Skylines judging by the string-thru holes. Looks like they missed on the first try...
I used a long handle size 3 allen wrench to catch the lip of the ferrules through these holes and gently tapped them out. Then I used the wooden handle from a small foam brush (foam removed) to tap the black ones back in. The rounded end of the small handle fit perfectly inside the ferrule distributing the force evenly.
That was way easier than I thought it would be. Thankfully. I then put the bridge on. I attempted to set the saddles for height and intonation off my old bridge before putting it on to save a little time down the road. It looks pretty good if I do say so myself.
Then, to bring this back on topic, I removed the old chrome and installed black Dunlop strap locks.
Next up I removed and installed a set of black Hipshot 1/2" clover tuners.
Having done this a number of times, this was simply drop-in and tighten complex. (Note the slight indentations in the fretboard behind the nut for the B and E strings. I may need to file those down to make some grooves.)
And like I said, I'm waiting on a 48mm half-round string bar that should be here today. If for some reason it doesn't align, I'll simply paint the old one black. I also still need to get a new black output jack but I'm saving that for another time.
Pre-setting the bridge to mirror the old one really helped with setup after the fact. I did a quick clean and oil of the fretboard, installed a set of medium Lakland steelies, and made some minor intonation tweaks and height adjustments and she's set to go.
I almost went a different direction this morning and made the change to my 55-01. Knowing now how relatively easy it is to swap everything, I still may...
