The installation of adapter and stacker plates is easy if you know the rules...
- They will only work for flat top guitars.
- They are fully adjustable to make positioning easier. User friendly.
- Some additional wood may be need to be removed to create a 2-5/8"" x 2-1/4" x 1" deep cavity.
The 5001 and 5003 are stacker plates that raise your bridge in 1/16" increments. The 5004 and the 5005 adapter plates are used to adapt a Kahler flat mount system to a fulcrum route such as where a Floyd Rose or Kahler Spyder was installed. The 5007 is for Fender System 1 to Kahler refits.
If you're guitar body has a route in it for a Kahler flat mount CAM system then it becomes very easy to install one of these adapter plates. You already know exactly where the tremolo goes so you simply slide the plate underneath and screw them down together. If your guitar does not have a Kahler flat mount CAM system hole already routed then you must first follow the installation guidelines for installing a flat mounting Kahler, and then come back to this part... Let us install...
You already know where the tremolo is going to be mounted because you have routed a hole already as per the installation guidelines. You will notice on some plates have two elongated slots for the rear mounting screws, these slots are elongated so you have forward and backwards adjustment when you mount the bridge to the plate. In fact, you have three ways in which to adjust the tremolo into the proper position.
First you have the adapter or coverage plate (stacker plates are not applicable since they go completely underneath). Basically the plate is oriented over the Kahler route and lined up "plate square" over "routed square". Do not secure the plate yet, just lay it on top of the route as described... "plate square" over "routed square".
So now your in the ballpark. The plate surrounds the routed hole. Your side to side (east/west) alignment is already dictated by the sides of the route so now what's important is getting the north/south (forward/rear) placement set.
IMPORTANT: At this time you need to have those forks pulled out as explained in the installation guidelines or else the north/south positioning will be all screwed up. Once you place the pre-set up tremolo on top of the plate, simply line up the rear tremolo holes over the respective elongated slots or holes in the plate. This is your Second "dialing in" placement and your getting more precise as you go further along. You can visually see by sliding over the slots, what exactly you have to play with as far as the forward and back movement. As in the installation guidelines you need to line up those pre-set up the forks and rollers over the intonation line. Once that is done you can secure the bridge to the plate by sandwiching the plate between the tremolo and the body top and then using the rear mounting screws only, attach the tremolo onto the plate, which is on the body.
Now you have a Third adjustment... and that is the extended forks you pre-set up earlier. If you did not complete the pre-set up, then you would have no room at this point to intonate your saddles, and they would be simply useless and your guitar will sound like crap.
Even though the front screws aren't in yet I suggest at this point, you string up your guitar and set the intonation, set the action and adjust the truss rod... etc., (Just don't do any pull-ups or dive bombs till the front screws are in). Make darn sure all is set exactly how you want it set up before you pre-drill the front screw holes thru the brass plate, because they are the only holes that cannot be covered if you discover that you made a mistake and need to move further back with the tremolo.
To recap:
You have the plate for general ballpark placement, then you have the elongated slots to get better dialed in, finally you have the forks to get perfectly dialed in. There is no need to be a rocket scientist anymore. Remember that with the elongated slots, you can always unscrew and relocate the north/south placement if you need to (as long as the 2 front holes have not been drilled yet), and further more you can even go back and readjust the plate itself. In all cases any mistakes get covered up from the bottom up, by design (except for the 2 front screw holes). In other words the whole design is somewhat forgiving if you make a mistake.
