Gotoh 510 Bridge?

[Erik]

My next project is going to be an SG, so I was looking at bridges. I was looking at the Gotoh 510 but I'm now confused.
At Warmoth they show the Gotoh 510 as a one piece bridge. I looked at the pics of Greg Stewarts LG in the Misc forum and thats what he used and it is one piece. I then looked at Stewmac and they show it as a Gotoh 510 Tune-o-matic two piece bridge.
To further confuse things, at Warmoth the Gotoh Tune-o-matic looks like the Gotoah 510 tune-o-matic at Stewmac and it costs about $40.00 for gold. At Stewmac the set sells for $140.00. Am I missing something here. I gotta be.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_Tune-o-matic_bridges/Gotoh_510_Tune-o-matic_Bridge_and_Stop_Tailpiece.html

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/bridges.cfm?fuseaction=bridges_gotoh_510

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/bridges.cfm?fuseaction=bridges_tune_o_matic

So, I guess two things are confusing me.
1) The use of the #510
2) The $100.00 difference in price for what appears to be the exact same part.

Oh, and would the Tune-o-matic be closer to what was originally used on the SG?

 

[jackthehack]

Actually there is a whole series of bridges labeled "510 series" manufactured by Gotoh, here's a link to the English version of their site in Japan:

http://www.hosco.co.jp/HOSCO_ENGLISH/Pages/Gotoh.html

The difference in the cost of the two Tune-O-Matic/Stop tailpiece bridges would appear to be in the adjustment mechanisms which, at least to me, seem moot, while one might be higher end than the other, how many times are you going to readjust your bridge after final setup? The parts aren't exactly the same, the higher end adjustment mechanism on the link from StewMac wouldn't convince me to spend the extra cash.

As to which would be closer to the original SG bridge, that depends entirely upon which model of SG you're using as a reference. Leaving out the models with various vibrato tailpieces like Bigsbys or ones that had a vibrato adjunct to tailpiece (it had a name but it escapes me now) you're left with either the Tune-0-Matic with stop tailpiece or the one piece wraparound tailpiece with and without "steps".

The original one piece wraparounds from Gibson were usually installed stock on lower end SG Specials and Jrs. with P90 pickups and were junk, and Leo Quan made a good living selling replacement "BadAss" bridge replacement units for these, which also came on Melody Maker, lower end LPs and LPSs.

So to get back to your question, it depends on the pickup/vibe you're trying to pattern your SG after; if you're after SG Standard/Custom and using humbuckers, go the Tune-O-Matic route, for Special/Jr vibe, go the 510 on the Warmoth site.

 

[Erik]

That clears things up nicely Jack. Thanks!

 

[Xochitl]

Do you guys know if there's a difference soundwise between the 510 from Warmoth and TOM/Stop tail (say the Tonepros)? If so, how would you describe it?
It's at the same time a
- TOM/Stop tail vs wraparound
and a
- Tonepros TOM vs 510
question.

It looks like the 510 one piece bridge is more comfortable than the classic TOM, but is there a sonic drawback to it?
:icon_scratch:

 

[nathan a]

All I can say is that the string tension when using the 510 should be marginally less than the tuno+stop, because the string is stretched less total distance to reach the same pitch.