Telecaster and the bridge

[kris]

I still experiment with my Tele.

Now...the bridge.

I found that the best for my Tele is the bridge with strings monted to the briidge/not thru the body/.
I/ve got better respone and faster atack than with setup thru the body.
I have two possibilities in the bridge but I think that for jazz is better strings monted to the bridge.
Have you any idea about monting strings in Tele bridge?and how it will change the sound?

Best
Kris

Attachment 9855Attachment 9856

[jazzrat]

I'm guessing the tone will be a little more open and I would expect that the action
would feel a little looser and more responsive.

[DRS]

Jim Campilongo is another guy who likes string through the bridge "top loader" Tele.

[kris]

Jim’s Signature ’59 Telecaster is a top-loader, meaning the strings don’t go through the body; the ball ends are right there on the bridge. This setup provides huge sustain.


I like it....:-)

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

My dislike for the Tele bridge/bridge plate is one reason I went for a G&L ASAT Special. The Saddle Lock bridge is awesome.

[kris]

very nice!

[SamBooka]

ELI5: How do top loaders have more sustain?

[kris]

ELI5: How do top loaders have more sustain?

I do not think so it has more sustain...
It has better respone...what I like.

[Vladan]

My squier tele is toploader. Originaly it was 6 saddles 3+3 symetrical bridge. Now I have 3 barell compensated brass one. I did not change it for sound issues, but for fitting GK3 midi PU. Namely, I cut out a stripe of metal, so GK3 would not sit on the plate, but on the wood. I did not want to cut the original. I did for the action, not for the sound. In my experience, once through FX box and amp, all the guitar construction issues, including the strings and PUs have minimal influence on sound. There are aftermarket 1/2 plates too, for accomodating humbuckers. Going through body may give some more sustain, but only if the wood is of adequate quality, and again, it will be minimal gain compared to what you get from compressor, distortion, delay, ..., in signal path.

[kris]

Toploader is much better for me.The guitar is softer in atack/i do not use a pick/ with much better respone.
My Tele has exelent wood-mahogeny hollow-body.
The bridge has two possibilities but for jazz I prefer toploader.

[kris]

This is nice article about toploader:
http://www.300guitars.com/2010/02/to...-tele-bridges/

[Vladan]

Toploader is much better for me.The guitar is softer in atack/i do not use a pick/ with much better respone.
My Tele has exelent wood-mahogeny hollow-body.
The bridge has two possibilities but for jazz I prefer toploader.

Yes, this 3 barell bridge has options for both toploading and through the body, but my guitar is not drilled through. Again, I doubt it would make much influence on the sound itself.

[kris]

sound is very similar...:-)

[jazzbow]

Hey Kris.

I'm on a Telecaster journey at the moment. I bought myself a Squier 60's vibe for modding for a future thread on this forum.

The Tele bridge had a few tweaks. First off I read that at high volume it can cause feedback (not that this would affect me). Bill Lawrence researched this and found that to stop this- one should cut the saddle part from the pickup mounting part. There are frequency reasons for this which escapes me now. What I did though was to use surgical tubing instead of springs on the pickup height adjusting screws, this stops any sympathetic resonance coming through the pickup.

I stayed with the string through body as I wanted more sustain from flatwounds!


A flatter connection between bridge plate and guitar body was also on the list. Here I marked the bottom with ink as a guide.


400 grit and flat perspex.


Here's the result!


I went for Wilkinson compensated brass saddles for more sustain. Since this picture was taken I have installed flatwound 11's and swapped out the middle saddle for a wound G saddle (unfortunately the Wilkinso set only caters for plain G so I had to buy 2 sets).

For 2014 I'm swapping the bridge pickup to match the tonality of the neck p/u and I'm going to experiment with wooden saddles!

[Vladan]

... First off I read that at high volume it can cause feedback (not that this would affect me). Bill Lawrence researched this and found that to stop this- one should cut the saddle part from the pickup mounting part....

Seams that's exactly what I did. Only I did not know what I was doing. I did it to enable lower positioning of GK3. Also, I'm not sure if it did any good re eliminating feedback, since I know I have to keep gate threshold fairly high in order to keep it quiet while not playing.

Here are the pictures:

[kris]

jazzbow has a strings thrubody and vladan has toploader.
jazzbow I am not sure if you cut metal from the plate you can loose sustain.
For better sustain I use KTS custom tytanium saddles.
maybe for woody sound is better wooden bridge or saddles.
Kris
Attachment 9869

[jazzbow]

jazzbow I am not sure if you cut metal from the plate you can loose sustain.
For better sustain I use KTS custom tytanium saddles.
maybe for woody sound is better wooden bridge or saddles.
Kris
Attachment 9869

Cutting the Tele bridge plate from the pickup retainer part is to stop any resonance from the string vibration coming through the saddle and reaching the bridge pickup. But this isn't an issue at club volume levels, the surgical tubing swap for the height adjustment springs helps reduce the springs transferring any unwanted frequencies.

Removing the small amount of chrome plating was to ensure a flatter connection and a better transfer of string vibration to the guitar itself, a moot point for a guitar made from a plank and designed for amplification without feedback! But it all adds to the melting pot!!

Changing the saddles is a great way of achieving sustain and string frequencies which is why I chose brass as it has a good all round tone.

I like that wooden bridge in your picture, it shares the same footprint as a metal bridge, smart!

I'm toying with the idea of a wooden saddle for the two plain strings in a set of flatwounds, this is to take the zing out of the string sound but relying on the bridge pickup blended with the neck pickup to add brightness.

I'll get that on me list for 2014!

Keep on tweaking!