Last year I managed to grab a Sterling Ray34ca that had been hanging in a local music shop for well over a decade. It's the one with the pencil neck, 2-band preamp and retro styling.
It's an incredible player, but I would like to reduce the string spacing to 18mm. I don't have particularly large hands, and the more demanding 16ths-type stuff on high tempos is causing my plucking hand to cramp up. For that reason, I have Hipshot bridges on all my basses. I even have a spare one in my parts drawer, but it doesn't sit well on top of the threaded inserts, unfortunately.
I've looked around for aftermarket stuff, and I'm guessing there's nothing available. I don't want to remove the inserts, and I would prefer not do any irreversible mods (other than maybe some drilling). I've looked into having saddles custom-made with 18mm spacing, but I have no idea where to begin, really.
Do any of you lovely Basschatters know how I might reduce the string spacing on a bridge of this type?
Cheers, Dan