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The Mercedes Benz of Hardtail Bridges

vikingred

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If I were going to do a hardtail project (strat body), and I wanted to get the very best of the best, what is it?  Not necessarily the easiest, or the most economical obviously, but the most awesome.  If that makes sense.  The "spare no expense" type of hard bridge.  Sounds like an idiot question, I know.  Like what's better Mercedes or BMW, but I just want some opinions, and thoughts about why you would choose which. 

Just browsing the Warmoth site, the 2TEK and the Schaller 456 look pretty cool.  Thoughts, comments, experience, suggestions?

Thanks in advance.
 
In the world of guitar parts, there is no such thing. Different bridges appeal to different people, for different reasons.

That being said, hardtail bridges really don't matter all that much. They don't have the tuning problems that vibrato bridges have, so the main thing is choosing the material and mass that appeals to you.
 
As Line6man points out, there's no such thing as "best". But, there are some considerations to take into account, such as mass/material and maybe more importantly, mounting scheme. Oddly enough, price is not a good indicator. It can be telling in some cases, but it often depends more on the manufacturer/vendor than anything else.

From a price perspective, some parts are cast and some are machined. Cast parts are dirt cheap to manufacture, machined parts are not. They often look the same, unless you're a machinist/mechanical engineer/experienced and can see the difference, so it's easy to fool people into thinking they have something they don't and charging far too much money. Cast parts are generally made of either zinc or aluminum, and have a tone-sucking quality to them. They also tend to get yucky faster. But, it's subtle. It's not like if you install one that 6 months later you're going to wanna do something about it.

Machined parts are generally made of either brass or stainless steel, usually in conjunction with some case-hardened steel. They tend to be brighter and last longer. They're generally more expensive because there's a lot more machine time and/or labor in them, but not always. Again. Vendors.

Some bridges are mounted on posts, and some mount flush to the body. The ones on posts are going to be tone suckers, relatively speaking.

Some bridges have saddles with height adjustment, while others don't. The adjustable ones allow for finer setups.

Some bridges have saddles that terminate on an edge, so they're slightly more difficult to intonate exactly due to bumping over wraps on wound strings. They also tend to form string breakage points.

Some bridges are taller than others. And between sharp saddles and excess height, you can tear up your palm if you're an aggressive player.

For all those reasons, I tend to avoid Tune-O-Matic bridges or anything that resembles them if I can. There are some machined high-quality versions of them available from the likes of Callaham, TonePros, etc. but a less-than-ideal design is just that: less-than-ideal. Those guys do a great job of turd-polishing but they're just selling what people are asking for, not what's ideal. For some folks, appearance is the thing, not performance. That's why Kluson is still in business. Far and away the crummiest tuners on the planet, bar none, but they "look right".

Brittany Spears looks right, too. But, you won't catch me trading spit with her  :laughing7:

To me, an ideal hardtail bridge is machined from either brass or stainless (then plated or finished because brass matches nothing and will oxidize ugly), mounts flush to the body, and has saddles that are adjustable in two dimensions (intonation and height).

Who does that? Well, there's the Scartozi bridge, but they're unfinished, and Hipshot has a nice selection. These parts are awfully nice, for instance...

125_cover.jpg

They check all the boxes. But, there are others. Look around.
 
Pretty much what Cagey said. Best really depends on what you are after. For example, if you want maximum adjustability then something like the Schaller 475 is your best bet. If simplicity is your thing that that Hipshot is a fine piece of work. Or do what I am going to do in the very near future, get Doug to machine something for you.
 
Cagey, thanks as always for coming through with the detailed information.  That's a lot of good information and clears up a lot.  I think those Hipshots are nice.  If I was ordering a Warmoth body and wanted to use those, what bridge option would I specify?  Or would I need to drill the holes myself?  Will also check out the Scartozi's.  Thanks.
 
Those Hipshot bridges aren't a standard drill for Warmoth; it's an offline thing so there's an upcharge for it. But, they do accommodate that model. You can add a note to the order, but you're probably better off calling it in so everybody's working off the same page (which you can see here, toward the bottom). Ask for the Hipshot Flat Mount SB 5105-010 drill.

 
Hot damn Cagey, answered another question I had. I missed that page with the non-standard bridge routes. Sort of negates the need for the thread I started looking for thread conversion inserts. Thanks again.
 
BigSteve22 said:
Hot damn Cagey, answered another question I had. I missed that page with the non-standard bridge routes. Sort of negates the need for the thread I started looking for thread conversion inserts. Thanks again.

I missed that page too.  There's actually a lot on the Warmoth site, that unless you go really looking, you can easily miss. 
 
DangerousR6 said:
I think this is the Mercedes of Hardtail bridges.... :toothy11:
Cagey%20Tele%202_zpsd3gdapn6.jpg

Dude.  WTF did you get that?  Is that a Scartozi or whatever?  Damn!  Brass?
 
Doug made the bridge, and yes, it's a brass Scartozi with Graphtech saddles. He made the pickup mounting rings out of brass as well, to match the bridge as gold and brass don't match up as well as you might imagine. The body is a hollow carved-top Mahogany Tele, and the neck is Afra over Afra w/ gold 6100 frets topped with a set of Schaller mini-lockers. Pickups are a custom wound PAF-style humbucker at the bridge by Ken Calvet (TroubledTreble) at Roadhouse Pickups and I don't remember what the neck pickup is. Whole thing only weighs 6.15 lbs and has been sitting about 3 ft away from me since mid-2012 :laughing7:
 
I wouldn't recommend a Mercedes-Benz of bridges unless you want it to be overpriced, have electrical problems, and need to be in the shop bi-monthly.
 
vikingred said:
DangerousR6 said:
I think this is the Mercedes of Hardtail bridges.... :toothy11:
Cagey%20Tele%202_zpsd3gdapn6.jpg

Dude.  WTF did you get that?  Is that a Scartozi or whatever?  Damn!  Brass?

Doug is a machinist. You should look into the work he does for this forum. We're all very happy with his stuff.
 
AutoBat said:
I wouldn't recommend a Mercedes-Benz of bridges unless you want it to be overpriced, have electrical problems, and need to be in the shop bi-monthly.

Hahaha funny. BMW for that matter too  :laughing3:
 
line6man said:
Doug is a machinist. You should look into the work he does for this forum. We're all very happy with his stuff.

Cool, yeah I just ordered a neckplate from him for my current project. Didn't know he was a machinist. Wonder what he'd charge for a custom machined titanium Scartozi with titanium saddles?  :glasses9:
 
AutoBat said:
I wouldn't recommend a Mercedes-Benz of bridges unless you want it to be overpriced, have electrical problems, and need to be in the shop bi-monthly.

Not true.  At least not for me.  I drive a 2014 E350, and haven't had a single issue.
 
Cagey said:
Doug made the bridge, and yes, it's a brass Scartozi with Graphtech saddles. He made the pickup mounting rings out of brass as well, to match the bridge as gold and brass don't match up as well as you might imagine. The body is a hollow carved-top Mahogany Tele, and the neck is Afra over Afra w/ gold 6100 frets topped with a set of Schaller mini-lockers. Pickups are a custom wound PAF-style humbucker at the bridge by Ken Calvet (TroubledTreble) at Roadhouse Pickups and I don't remember what the neck pickup is. Whole thing only weighs 6.15 lbs and has been sitting about 3 ft away from me since mid-2012 :laughing7:

How does it play Cagey?  I'll be the tone is unbeatable.  Is that an EMG in the bridge?
 
It plays like a dream. There's a lot to be said for a lightweight guitar. You wouldn't think a couple pounds could make that much difference, but it sorta gives you a freedom you don't feel with heavier fiddles. Between the light weight and monster frets, you can really wrestle the thing around.

The bridge pickup is a custom-wound part from Roadhouse. Closest thing I could compare it to is a SD JB. The cover is something I added on a whim, which is why is sorta looks like an EMG.
 
vikingred said:
AutoBat said:
I wouldn't recommend a Mercedes-Benz of bridges unless you want it to be overpriced, have electrical problems, and need to be in the shop bi-monthly.

Not true.  At least not for me.  I drive a 2014 E350, and haven't had a single issue.

That's because it's still new.  Take a 10 year old Mercedes that cost $80k brand new....it can be bought used today for $13k.  Why?  Maintenance costs.  Trust this former Audi owner, sell when your warranty runs out and it's still worth something.

Now, back to guitars  :party07:
 
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