The Modern Tune-o-matic bottom is arched, where the post meet the bridge is countersunk. I used a hand held belt sander, 80 grit, mounted the sander in a vise upside down and set the trigger lock (hands free). I wrapped the bridge in 4 layers of masking tape, to act as a heat shield. But after 2-3 minutes of grinding, it's becomes unbearable hot and I have to stop, let it cool off then proceed.
The belt sander has a flat metal plate where the paper runs over, so I use that flat spot... this way I know I'm not taking to much of one side. I use my bare hands so I can apply equal pressure, every few seconds I spin the bridge around to ensure I'm grinding it down equally on all sides.
I shave it down until I can barely see the saddle route. You can barely see a square in this photo to the right of the post hole, it's faint.
I got caught sleeping on this one. You can see the saddle route better on this side.
Bridge is shaved, but now the post stick out the top of the bridge. I would shave the post, but the notches are not deep enough. So I use a Dremel with a cut off wheel to deepen the slots, it takes 3 seconds. Now I wrap the post up in tape, and shave it down to size on the belt sander. Removing the chrome plating uncovers a softer metal, with a copper tone to it. Be careful when adjusting the action, use a large enough screwdriver so you don't mar the slots.
Before shaving, my bridge was set flush against the plate. Now the treble side has to come up a hair and the bass side actually has to be off the plate. Now I just need to make a radius gauge and match the bridge/fretboard radius... but not today. Total time was around 2 - 3 hours. I suppose if I filled a cup up with naphtha (lighter fluid) and threw the hot bridge into it to cool off, I could of done this in 30 minutes or less.
