Tele bridge vs. Fender American Standard Tele Bridge?

[dlrocm]

Are there any huge differences between the two bridges?  I know that Warmoth doesn't sell the American Std. tele bridges, but other than that, can anyone tell me if there are any advantages of one over the other like playability, if one stays in tune better than the other, easier to adjust?

Also, for my tele build, I'm planning on adding a tremolo arm ( maybe bigsby or stetsbar).  Do one of these bridges work better with a trem arm?

Thanks in advance!

 

[alterbridgefan]

Go stainless saddles. If I wasn't such a stupid and stubborn purist, all my guitars would have them. As it stands, the only one I own with stainless saddles is my mid 90's American Standard tele, and when you are playing it compared with a more recent one(Barrel saddles), you can tell that the bridge is what gives it the characteristic tele twang and bite.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

The difference is simply where the screws go that hold the bridge on. That's it, really in terms of drilling.

The biggest difference is that there are far, far more bridges available for the "Tele bridge" drilling than there are for the American Standard.

It's possible to get a rolled steel bridge with compensated brass saddles for the AmStd tele bridge drilling, for instance at Callaham.

Personally I'd always go for the old-fashioned fitting, purely because of the huge number of options you have. There are only a few bridges that will fit the AmStd routing.

 

[bagman67]

The string holes are not quite the same distance from the pickup cutout when you compare the two models - so you can't just drill new screw holes if you want to swap the AmStd part for the vintage part. You would need new string-through holes as well.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

There are two versions of the American Standard bridges.  The screw holes and the sting through holes are identical, but the intonation screws are off set in one version.  I used the offset one when I built my Bender.

Patrick

 

[fretless]

yeah screw holes , also string spacing right ? That will directly affect how it feels to you . I like vintage spec myself . With brass saddles .

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Here is the superimposed images of the Fender and the Vintage Bridges

Patrick