Gotoh 201B-4 B Bass Bridge

I changed the standard bridge on my Squier 40th anniversary P-bass. The screws were too thin for the screwholes in the bass body, so I had to use the original screws. The screwholes on the Gotoh bridge was to narrow for the screws so I had to drill wider holes to make the whole length of the screws fit flush to the baseplate. Not a big job to solve this issue, and acoustically I can already hear a improved sustain. Seems like a worthy upgrade

Bought as a replacement for a Sire D5 gen. 2.

This is a fine piece of engineering and the quality of the item, by itself, is excellent. The problem is it doesn't fit very well.. The two outermost screw holes do not line up with the holes in the body. The holes are ~0.5-1mm too close to the center of the bridge. This could ofc. be some unique issue with my bass or Sire's original, but I tried lining up a squire CV 60's, 70's, and a fender hi-mass bridge, and they all line up perfectly with the holes.

Let's talk about the screws Gotoh ship. I've bought multiple tuners, bridges and other parts from them now and the screws are garbage across the board. Undersized, cheap, soft metal.. Why??

Due to the undersized screws the bridge ships with the (in engineering and machinist terms) completely unacceptable misalignment of the holes doesn't really matter if you use the original screws. But since they can be pushed in by hand the first cm(!) I am not trusting those for the amount of tension this will be under. The Sire screws fit in the three inner holes so that will add some much needed anchoring, while the Gotoh screws have to be used on the outer holes. They do eventually catch some wood and are "hand tight". I didn't use a tremendous amount of force, but they're secure.

All that being said I have confidence it is secured now and it does improve the sound. I do understand why people rate it highly, and if Gotoh would stop resting on their laurels and settle for "Meh, good enough..!", and instead re-tool and make it to correct specification, this would be truly great. I struggle with how many stars to give it.. it's securely on the bass and improved the sound and sustain. That's amazing! But if nobody points out the obvious flaws, Gotoh will see no need to make it correctly. 1 star for quality it is..