Bridges

[Tackline]

Hi guys,

Hoping peeps here can enlighten me on the subject matter above.

Basically, the questions i have are:
1. "When choosing a replacement bridge, what should you look out for?"
2. "How do you go about selecting a bridge?"

I've read abit about Floyd Rose's and all that, but i'm still a little confused as to which bridges do what and give what.

I'm using a Smash S2 Lite all stock.
Does the kind of music you play influence the type of bridge one uses? I think so right?

*Side-note: I'm thinking of changing my pickup config from HSS to HSH. If i buy the replacement pickups and pickguard, will a luthier be able to do the mods needed to get them to fit? Any recommendation as to who will be able to do that?

 

[Phil]

"When choosing a replacement bridge, what should you look out for? How do you go about selecting a bridge?"

Maybe you can start with understanding the different bridges available. Your Smash has the 2 point synchronized tremolo. Do you understand what that can do? Why're you itching to replace your bridge?

This is a pretty good thread about bridges: Here

Other available bridge options would be a Floyd Rose. What is allows you to do is to basically wank it both ways. Increase the pitch and also decrease the pitch. The regular Fender style trems are just one-way. There are many variants of this one-way trem, such as the Wilkinson, etc. But in essence it's just either one way or two way.

Read this: Floyd Rose

Unless you know specifically that you have a need for a Floyd Rose, I don't think you should go for one. What genre do you play mainly? Do you do drastic dive-bombs and love to wank and go crazy on the bar? If the answer is yes, then a FR is the answer.

I don't use the trem much, only the occasional yank. I'd stick with the standard 2point, for its simplicity and stability.

Does the kind of music you play influence the type of bridge one uses? I think so right?
To a certain degree, yes. Metal players often have Floyd-rose equipped guitars. But there are exceptions as well, where metal players use regular 2points, and blues/rock players having a FR-equipped guitar. No hard and fast rule.

I'm thinking of changing my pickup config from HSS to HSH. If i buy the replacement pickups and pickguard, will a luthier be able to do the mods needed to get them to fit? Any recommendation as to who will be able to do that?

Hmm, this raised my eyebrows.
You'd need more than just a new pickguard and pickups. You'd also need to re-route the pickups cavity to fit the bigger humbucker. Which, imho, doesn't make sense. The overall cost of this mod would probably match the $270 you paid for the Smash S2 Lite.

Can I ask, why do you need to change the neck singlecoil to a humbucker? What is lacking for your tone now?

 

[Tackline]

Actually i'm not committing to changing bridges really. I'm just asking about it as a possibility. Yep i read that thread earlier on already.

Yep and i realize the FR isn't what i would need cuz i'm not exactly a whammy person. lol.

As for the pickups, i'm trying to get a darker tone, and yeah, i realize the mods would match up to the cost on the guit itself, excluding the cost of the replacement pickups as well.

What i'm curious about is, as you mentioned, are the many-variants of one-way trems like wilkinson etc. What do these variants entail? Like, what are the differences etc?

 

[Breen]

Why don't you try to get a darker tone from your available equipment first? Anything from lowering the mids on your amp to dropping the tone control on your guitar to zero if you have to. If you want a darker sound on your neck pickup, thats the way to go if you don't wish to spend x2 of you guitar's cost. It just does not have any value cost to it if you do want to drop a humbucker into your guitar.

Alternatively you could get Dark Boost pedals, although I'm not clear if it would work out for you as I'm not too sure about the sound it produces. Electro-Harmonix makes them and you could find it in Blackwood possibly. Basically it increases the bass in your sound.

The variants for bridges usually are for tone purposes. Country Telecaster players usually like to put brass 3-piece saddles on their bridge for twang and tone. Then there are compensated 3-piece saddles for Teles, which basically mean you can intonate better on a guitar designed back in 1949. Then there are steel saddles, aluminum saddles, modern 6 piece saddles if you don't mind that sort of thing. There are also graphite saddles which help protect your strings. If your really radish choppin' country, you could put B string or Gs string benders, which means reworking the bridge as well as drilling out some wood from your guitar.
Basically just for the Telecaster you already have many options from many companies and many school of thoughts.

Its like a car. You want turbo or supercharged or NOS or a straight powerpack Naturally Aspirated? Then there are the companies that offer those options with their individual plus points. Some fits certain vehicles, some don't. Some enhance the vehicles, some blow them up. All of them need to match the driver's wants and needs.

So in a nutshell, variants are all about you as the guitar player's wants and needs. You want to save on strings cause it keeps breaking, try a graphite or carbon one. Want more brightness can try a aluminum or brass. One to wank and yank back once in awhile maybe find one with some recess or even route some wood off the guitar under the bridge. Left hand bridge on a right hand guitar? Why not? It's been done to great success =]

 

[subversion]

talking about bridges & SMASH S2 Lite, this is what i did to mine:

 

[Tackline]

@Breen - Thanks for the input man...yeah i'm thinking twice about spending dough on new pups..

@Subversion - Are those graphite saddles? Also, are you still on the stock tuners for your S2? Cuz i find the stock tuners some times either under responsive or over responsive, quite hard to fine tune. Has that been your experience? thinking of getting replacements for them =/

 

[Phil]

Yeap, get a good set of Gotoh or Grover tuners. Better if they're locking ones. Gotoh locking ones go for around $100 - $120 new, IRRC.

And yes, those are Graphtech string savers. They go for around $65 IRRC.

 

[mus]

Sorry for sidetracking, may I know what is IRRC?

 

[Tackline]

heh sorry another question regarding nuts...what makes a nut good or bad? like, whats the ideal 'nut', if there's such a thing?

regarding gotoh locking tuners, what does it mean when it states '3+3' or '6L' or '6R'?
Anyone have any feedback regarding planetwave tuners?

 

[Phil]

Planet waves tuner head? I don't think they have such a product yet.

Planet Waves chromatic tuner? I've seen some good reviews on it.

6L = 6 in a line, left
6R = 6 in a line, right.

The 6R one is for left-handed guitars.

3+3 = 3 a side.

A think any well-cut nut is a good nut already. But using better materials will yield better tone and stability. Bone, ivory, brass nuts have very distinct tones. Graphtech nuts have a great tone as well, helps with reducing the friction as well as it's made of graphite.

 

[dudelove]

subversion, i like em stickers on ur pickguard! buttercup! :mrgreen:

 

[Breen]

Nut is also all about tone n comfort and your treatment of a guitar as a player. I believe there are threads on the topic do have a search.

Different materials give you different tone enhancements as perceived by a player. Most stock plastic based ones are sufficient but do wear down. Of course they were placed in old 50s Gibson so fundamentally there are nothing wrong with it. Personally my nut on my Epiphone Les Paul got worn down so bad my bass strings were on the 1st fret.

There are roller nuts to help with tuning issues on Fender style tremolo bars, and Floyd Rose guitars all come with screw base locking nuts. Graphite are also used to as with the bridge to save on string slippage and breakage. And they last much longer then my Epiphone's.

Bone is usually said to give great tone in a traditional construction. So you might consider that as a good nut. Just pass along some more cash.

Can't help you with the Gotoh questions, but do go to their website or just Google some information I'm sure there are many resources on it online.

 

[Phil]

Sorry for sidetracking, may I know what is IRRC?

IRRC: If I remember correctly.

YMMV: Your mileage may vary.
YRMV: Your results may vary.
IMHO: In my humble opinion.
FTW: For the win.

These are the few more common ones that I've at the top of my head.

 

[mus]

Oh! Thanks phil. I'm sure to remember now.

Now, back to the topic.

 

[Tackline]

@phil - no planetwave tuners? i distinctly remember ppl talking about them, youtube etc...hmmm:???: oh and thanks for clearing that tuner question.

@thanks breen.

 

[Phil]

My bad, there actually is such a thing.

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Planet+Waves/Auto-Trim+Locking+Tuners/10/1

Learnt something new today. But the Gotoh, Grovers, Spetzels, Klusons, are still the industry leaders.

 

[Breen]

Apologies to Wolfman didn't see he had answered the nutty issue.

I always thought FTW meant something else that follows a Turbonegro song. Heh.