OT: Telecaster Bridges

[phillip]

Does anyone know if the "vintage" style 3-saddle Telecaster bridges are a direct replacement for the new MIM Telecaster Standard bridges?  The new MIM bridges are 6-saddle, string through body, 4 mounting screws and the holes for the strings are behind the 4 mounting holes.

I'm especially interested in the Wilkinson 3-saddle adjustable bridge from StewMac, but I don't know if it will fit my MIM without modification (which I don't want to do).

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_non-trem_bridges/1/Wilkinson_Adjustable_Compensated_Vintage_Tele_Bridge/Pictures.html

TIA!
Phillip

[BD13UK]

Hi,
I'm not 100% sure whether these will retofit exactly, perhaps it may be advisable to ask Stewmac directly for assistance with this, only thing about the three saddles is that and I had this discussion with Jerry Donahue when He was over here working with a harmonica player mate of mine the intonation might not be as accurate as it is with the six saddles as it's even more of a compromise although a lot of people think the overall string sustain is better with the three saddles, I can't say I've noticed a great deal of difference in tone myself but it's such a subjective topic with differing views all round.

[javacody]

phillip, if the MIM standard Tele's are anything like the strats, then the bridge will be narrower than vintage.

[Gstring]

Hi-I just completed coverting my MIM Telecaster to all gold hardware-I purchased a bridge for mine from Stew-Mac-Fit perfectly and the quality was show like

[bwanasonic]

only thing about the three saddles is that and I had this discussion with Jerry Donahue when He was over here working with a harmonica player mate of mine the intonation might not be as accurate

Here is some interesting info from Jerry Donahue on keeping a 3 - Saddle bridge in tune:


This month, we asked "Bendmaster of the Telecaster" Jerry Donahue to share some of his secrets for setting up a Telecaster® bridge and keeping it properly intonated. Jerry demonstrates this technique in his clinics. "Attention all current and would-be Tele® slingers! You needn't resort to six individual bridge saddles to improve your intonation. The original Broadcaster design called for three brass saddles: and that's still the best design today (see Fig. 1). The larger saddles mean more mass, providing greater output, sustain and tone. Also, with two strings per saddle, you have twice the string pressure against the body. [Editor's note: The Fender® Custom Shop Jerry Donahue model and "JD" Tele® use three brass bridge saddles]. Now, on to intonation. Until fairly recently, I felt that a guitar couldn't really play in tune unless each string's 12th fret harmonic and 12th fret note had the exact same reading on the electric tuner. And of course, they never do. I finally settled on a technique that not only deals with this problem, but to my delight, solves a few other inherent problems also.
Here it is: Adjust the middle saddle's intonation screw so that the "D" string's 12th fret note is marginally flat of the 12th fret harmonic. Then, check out the "G" string. The note should be only slightly sharp of the harmonic. Are you with me? Now, tune the guitar with the open "G" string reading around A439 and the others at A440. Final adjustments can be made by ear when you compare first position E major and E minor chords. The E major's G# note (third string, 1st fret) should no longer seem sharp in the chord; and the open "G" string should still be perceptively in tune within the E minor chord. Here's another for-instance. . . An "A" chord barred at the fifth fret sounds fine. But when the nearest "E" chord is played (see Fig. 2) it typically sounds "off." The major third is the culprit ("D" string, 6th fret): it typically sounds sharp. But since with my adjustment the 12th fret note is slightly flat, the problem no longer exists. There's a small margin of error here which works to the guitarist's advantage.
A piano tuner may use a strobe tuner as a reference. But if he tuned the entire keyboard to be "perfect," it would sound weird. The bottom keys are tuned sharp and the high ones are tuned flat. This way the human brain perceives the whole piano to be in tune. It's the same concept adopted to the Telecaster®.
I really like this method. When I adopted it, my Tele's® were more in tune than my Strats® (across all the chord shapes) so I made the same adjustments to the Strats®. Remember, life is about compromise. Check it out." - Jerry Donahue




Kerry M

[BD13UK]

bwanasonic !!!!!! Thanks for that article and explanation, I couldn't recall precisely what was said in the conversation with JD, needless to say beers were involved and He's almost as partial to the Scottish beer as I am.

[Mark Hammer]

I still don't know why no one has tinkered with side-mounted Allen screws for holding the saddles in place.  G & L came up with a great idea for bridges a while back that involved side screws that could be tightened up to keep all saddles nice and snug.  Obviously that reduces mechanical vibrations a bit at the bridge, but more importantly, it helps the multi-component bridge to behave as if it was one big hunk of cast metal.  Normally, whatever bridge vibrations there are that might eat up string energy are reduced by having the saddles mechanically coupled to the much greater mass of the bridge plate and body.  The weakness is that they are coupled only through the "passive" effect of the downward pressure of the strings on the saddles and their respective height adjustment screws.  Being able to "actively" reduce saddle vibration by tightening screws should result in more effectively mechanical coupling of the saddles to the bridge and bridge to the body.

My hunch (though it obviously remains an empirical question to be determined via experiments) is that 3-vs-6-saddle differences ought to disappear with the use of such sideways tightening.  If the saddles' propensity to vibrate is reduced by the greater mass of having 3 big ones instead of 6 little ones, then deliberately coupling all 6 to the same bridge plate, and much much greater mass of the body, by sideways squeezing ought to trump whatever it is that makes 3 and 6 saddle assemblies different on their own.

The bridge assembly of the typical Tele is prime material for someone doing this, since the assembly is easily drilled and threaded on the sides.  Naturally, the location of such screws would be crucial to maintaining intonation and sustain.  I suppose the thing to do is: a) use fat, stubby Allen screws, and b) make sure the screw lands as close to the centre of the side face of the outside saddles.  Alternatively, assuming there is enough space, machine yourself a little flat brass insert for each side and use a pair of set screws to wedge it up against the saddles, a bit like the way people use spare pieces of wood to hold something in their vices to avoid cosmetic damage.