favorite non-trem bridge and why?

[rlscherer]

Hey,

I am getting ready to build a custom and I hope to get sme ideas about bridges.

I plan on building a two-humbucker T-style guitar, and am looking at bridge options. All non-trem options are on the table, except the Gotoh tele-style humbucker-holding giant slab of chrome.

I'm mainly thinking Callaham vintage s-style, or a Fender hardtail, or a Hipshot hardtail. The possibility of a recessed TOM is still floating around out there as well. Am I missing any good options?

What do you all use & like and why?

muchas gracias,
RLS

 

[DangerousR6]

This is my fav non-trem, I love my Floyds, but this one is just super fun to play...

 

[AutoBat]

the jupiter thunderbird is a great looking axe.

 

[DangerousR6]

the jupiter thunderbird is a great looking axe.

Yip, but mine isn't a Gretsch, it's a custom...

 

[Jusatele]

My favorite non trem bridge is just the AM Std, it is simple and intonates well, is not to large and I love it
Now my favorite one to look at is a tuneomatic with a trapeze tail piece.

By the way R6 that is a great looking gretch clone

 

[DangerousR6]

My favorite non trem bridge is just the AM Std, it is simple and intonates well, is not to large and I love it
Now my favorite one to look at is a tuneomatic with a trapeze tail piece.

By the way R6 that is a great looking gretch clone

I like the TOM's with trapeze tailpieces to, some just look soo cool, I like the look of the Gretsch tailpiece.. Thanks for the complements, I actually did the scale cad layout of the body just from pix off the net. That thing is virtually impossible to find any info on. Only hard numbers I could find were the scale....I guess it's all TOP SECRET... :dontknow:

 

[SustainerPlayer]

That'll be a recessed TOM on a rear routed strat body:

I just found this is "the perfect" setup and feel for my.

:headbang1:

 

[Steve_Karl]

Anything with individual saddle height adjustments and 2 screws per saddle.
Anything less is short changing my options for precise setup.

2 screws per saddle allow the option to slant the saddle which changes the angle of attack of the pick relative to the other strings.
It also changes the feel of a pull off so one can adjust the action in many subtle ways with 2 screws per saddle.
It doesn't take a lot of slant for me to feel the difference. 100th of a turn, or even just the slightest pressure on the allen wrench is enough
to give that string the attitude adjustment I'm looking for.

 

[AutoBat]

I like 2 point trems with the bar removed, but that probably doesn't actually count as a non-trem bridge eh?


R6, trust me, I know your axe is custom because I drooled at every stage of the build.

 

[stubhead]

Yup, I agree with the Hipshot/Fender Standard type bridge, individually adjustable string heights is a must for me. Of course with a Warmoth compound radius to a tunematic, you have to deal with regrinding the bridge saddles to about a 19" radius by the time the strings get there, and you have to shim a Floyd with the little individual shims for the outside strings for the same reason.
http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=1983.0
I have a few quirks, like I always keep one guitar with a wound third and heavy-ish strings. Nothing SRVish*, but an 11 to 54 spread sounds fine. So I have to reset the saddles, I'm pretty picky about action. This moves around my guitars, if you have a moment try it and you'll be amazed at how a snaky ol' Telecaster can bloom into a proper jazz-"box." Ted Greene often played his beat-to-jeebers Telecaster with heavy strings downtuned a step. The original nu-metal kid....

*(pronounced sree-vish; try to hiss it through your teeth rather than enunciate it.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DJdJi9wjKo&feature=related

Everybody and their dog owns a copy of Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" and 97.5% of us have never gotten past page 26.

 

[rlscherer]

Hey TOM users:
What do you like about it? I've been using a fender 6-saddle style for years, but love the look of a recessed TOM.
Thanks!

 

[m4rk0]

Hey TOM users:
What do you like about it? I've been using a fender 6-saddle style for years, but love the look of a recessed TOM.
Thanks!

I don't like tom/stop at all, but love my recessed tom... it is easy to intonate and great for muting/resting your palm on..
same goes for the Gotoh 510..
I don't have any complaints about a fender 6 saddle either though.

 

[Disco Scottie]

I'm going to be the odd man out and proclaim my love for the non-adjustable PRS stoptail. I love the simplicity and comfort. Never had an issue with intonation or tuning, and it feels great to rest your palm on. I'm assuming the Gotoh 510 would be pretty similar in feel.

 

[Cagey]

I'm going to be the odd man out and proclaim my love for the non-adjustable PRS stoptail. I love the simplicity and comfort. Never had an issue with intonation or tuning, and it feels great to rest your palm on. I'm assuming the Gotoh 510 would be pretty similar in feel.

There's a lot to be said for simplicity and comfort. And really, adjustable saddles exist primarily to give you options about string sizing. If you stick to a set of 10s and have the saddles slotted properly to conform to your fretboard radius, a fixed bridge is going to allow for intonation that's pretty damn close. Close enough for ork 'n' orr, anyway.

And yes, the Gotoh 510 is a fine piece of engineering. I'm surprised it's not much more widely used than it is. It's simple, comfortable, adjustable, reliable, convenient, and doesn't fall off when you unstring completely. Plus, it's not terribly expensive. Highly recommended.

 

[pabloman]

I gotta say I really hate the way the Hipshot looks. The saddles have the same type of curve as the side of the bridge and for whatever reason it just bugs me. I've seen the one on the forum with replacement saddles and it looks soooooo much better. For a tele I'm really diggin the cut bridge. The G.E. Smith was the second tele I ever fell in love with.

 

[tfarny]

I just think the Gotoh 510 is ugly. Functionally it's hard to beat a basic strat string through hardtail bridge.

 

[stubhead]

Stew-Mac lists a Gotoh 510 bridge with separate tailpiece and bridge unit, as well as some "510" tuners (which are those neat melty-looking ones), so I guess the numerical designation describes a whole product line.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_Tune-o-matic_bridges/Gotoh_510_Bridge_and_Tailpiece.html

However, what Warmoth calls the 510 is a single unit with no tailpiece. The only way I would use something like that is if I was sure to have placed the bridge so that I didn't have to use the little allen screws to adjust intonation. Yes I KNOW Paul Reed Smith uses a very similar setup on some $7,000 guitars, but I just can't see that focusing all the string vibrations on the tips of two tiny little screws would be a good way to transmit vibrations. Add to that that the tips of the allen screws are usually pointed or beveled a bit - you've got all your tone going through 1/100th of a square inch of metal? eeek. One must hope that the allen screws simply aren't ever needed; one might then ask, why, then, are they there; but one mustn't be a pain in the ass.... :laughing3: yeah right. Sure. Another vote for the dirt-simple, string-through Strat hardtail-derived units...

Ooooh! Jeff Beck, rehearsing for the Japan tour, 1999:
http://tela.sugarmegs.org/_asxtela/JeffBeck2000JapanTourRehersal.asx
Jennifer Batten has said that the greatest part of being Beck's "rhythm" guitarist was the crazy shit he yanked out at rehearsals.... I would have to say his playing was at it's peak right here.

 

[pabloman]

The tailpiece rest on the studs too. The tip of the set screw isn't the only contact point. :dontknow:

 

[bagman67]

My favorite non-trem bridge (hopefully):

 

[Cagey]

Here's mine. The Ambassador Bridge got us from Detroit to Windsor many, many times as kids. Used to live not too far from there. Wouldn't visit it on a bad bet today.