HARD TAIL GUITAR: Tune-o-matic or regular strat bridge....

[thephatboi]

I am building a non-tremelo custom strat and wondered if any of you guys have an opinion on the diffenence in sound with a stock Gotoh hard tail strat bridge (strings thru body) vs. a gibson type tune-o-matic type bridge. I already have a strat I built with the Gotoh hard tail bridge (strings thru body)  and am thinking of making another with different pickups for a diff. sound and pondering the bridge thing. And I see Warmoth now offers a tune-o-matic set up with strings through body which looks interesting.  I have a mahogany Warmoth neck (24 3/4 scale) and will probably go for a Korina body for a pretty chunky sound. Any opinions welcome. BTW I have no interest necessarily in making a strat "sound like a strat", Will probably not be using single coil Pups anyway, or if I do they will be p-90 style, not strat style. Thanks in advance.

 

[DocNrock]

Not to sound ig'nant, but what about a Schaller 475.  Strings lock into the base of the bridge and not through the body.

 

[nathan a]

Personally I think the tuno + stoptail look weird on a strat. I'm considering a recessed tunomatic + string thru strat though.

 

[thephatboi]

Yeah I agree a stop tail piece can look weird on a strat and I am thinking about the same recessed version you spoke of, I am wondering mostly about possible differnence in sound, wonder how much the stop tail piece has to do with a Gibson sound for instance. I am building this strat with a conversion scale neck and humbuckers so kinda going for a more gibson sound/feel. I like the strat body and have a "normal" strat so thought I would build one a bit different.

 

[m4rk0]

Another vote against TOM+stop.. there are one or two in the gallery, and they just look weird..

 

[DocNrock]

I'm building a hardtail strat and chose the Schaller 475.  Similar to the strat hardtail, but the strings don't go through the neck.

http://www.warmoth.com/hardware/bridges/bridges.cfm?fuseaction=bridges_schaller_475

 

[tfarny]

I think any non-trem tailpiece is going to sound pretty similar. I don't think very much of your "gibson sound" comes from the TOM versus a different non-trem tailpiece. Go string-through or narrow spaced hardtail, depending mostly on the looks, I guess. Long as you get the scale, the right HBs, and the woods correct you should be in good shape I guess.

 

[-CB-]

Recessed TOM with string thru

 

[onedrop]

+1 Recessed TOM with string-thru

I'm also doing a custom 2 humbucker strat, and decided the recessed TOM is too cool to pass up.

My main guitars for years were a hardtail strat and a 335, so pretty familiar with both; a TOM always seems to feel more solid somehow, even though the strat bridge is screwed right to the body. I think it has to do with those funny strat saddles, I don't really like those. This is totally subjective though and I don't know if it has any perceivable say on your tone.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Strat = Strat hardtail...
Perhaps you could do like Eric Clapton, I read that he get the "vintage tremolo" installed direct to the wood, just like a hardtail... I like this idea: classic visual and 6 small + 3 big screws direct to the wood... should be nice!

 

[scootertrampjr]

I'm doing a recessed TOM build on a hard ash Musiclander body and from what Ive read It seems to have advantages over non string through bridges at least in the sustain department. It my be a negligible difference to most people as other factors such as the wood and your neck effect it as well.  For me the main advantages was the lower profile which brings the strings closer to the pickups (can be a good or bad thing... higher output and  greater magnetic pull on the strings)  and it also looks cool.   

 

[dbw]

I have both strat hardtail and string-through TOM bridges.  I like the string-through better.  If you're going to have a pickguard you gotta get the strat hardtail, otherwise it looks weird.  But if it's a rear rout the string-through is very nice.

 

[Kostas]

... If you're going to have a pickguard you gotta get the strat hardtail, otherwise it looks weird.  But if it's a rear rout the string-through is very nice.

Agree, only with a pickguard looks weird. If no pickguard I wouldn't hesitate to use a TOM/stop tailpiece or a recessed TOM.

 

[stubhead]

TOM bridges are all built to a 12" radius, and Warmoth compound necks end up needing about a 18" radius by the time you get to the bridge. It's no big deal to file the bridge inserts on a TOM if you know what you're doing, but it does need to be done to make the guitar play it's best. Godin got into a heap o' trouble by shipping out thousands of guitars with TOMs and a 16" radius neck, it really hurt their reputation till they found a properly-matched bridge. You end up with overly high action on the middle strings, while the E's are buzzing out - people who can't figure out what's going on can get realy infuriated by things like that! :laughing7: I prefer the single adjustments, just because I fiddle around with different string gauges frequently and I'm really, really picky about action height.