moonweasel, I have a short base pedal and a wide one. The one with the shorter base fits my 69 ludwigs best. PM me and maybe we can find a solution in trading the bases. Squeaks almost always come from the foot plate hinge and you could keep your foot plate. I have just rehabbed the base: remove springs, pins, bearings, and cleaned and re-lubed/re-packed all. This one has puller port in the end caps for easy re-lube access. Original caps though.Willing to try to figure a way to help you although I have never done a trade on VDF and I am not sure of the "trust" process. I have references on deals on the VDF. Again PM with interest.
Bumz,
Can't thank you enough. I am with you about "trust" etc. It is tough without feedback. I have decided to keep my eye out for another affordable one with the proper Chicago Logo and "tabs". I'll try my current one and that one back to back, and keep the one that works best.
Also, I can't bring myself to modify this one or split it up to trade parts, I am weird like that. :) It has made it 50 years plus; seems right to keep it together.
Thanks