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Some "techo" stuff - Epi Bridge versus Tonepros Bridge


StewartB

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I bought my Qingdao Epiphone Dot (2009 year) about 8 months ago and could not resist upgrading it. By the way, it was pretty good straight from the music shop apart from an incorrect setup/action.

 

I also have an Epiphone Elitist 335 Dot which I am using as a benchmark with regard to the "unplugged" tone and for those who skip to the back of the book to find out who "dunnit", the Epiphone Elitist wins easily. That said, I have great respect for the Epiphone Chinese Dot. The Elitist costs maybe three times as much money depending on the deal you do.

 

The purpose of this post is to assist members to make upgrade decisions. I will compare replacing the nut and replacing the bridge on the "basic" Epi Dot and give my assessment.

 

About two months ago I upgraded the nut on my Qingdao Dot and replaced it with a TUSQ teflon. That made an immediate improvement and I was very happy with the better acoustic tone. The TUSQ nut made the high and mid frequencies more prominent and the guitar felt much better to play - string bending and note fretting was easier.

 

You do have to sand the base of the TUSQ nut down to get the correct string / fret gap spacing. Refer to Dan Erlewine's book.

 

As said earlier, the nut replacement is excellent, maybe it should be the first thing you do, because it does improve the playability and the acoustic tone dramatically.

 

I'd say a 30 percent improvement in tone and a 50 percent improvement in "playability" by changing the nut to a TUSQ (or a bone nut?)

 

The Tonepros Bridge (I bought the Tonepros Sytem 2 - T3BT-N), fitted perfectly. It has pre-slotted saddles and I thought maybe I would have to deepen the string groove, but it seems good without doing that. All good so far.

 

The standard ("locktone?") Epi bridge weighs 45 grams. I forgot to weigh the Tonepros before install, but the Tonepros is heavier by perhaps 40 grams. The extra "meat" helps. I set it all up and tightened the locking crews. Sounds great.

 

My assessment is that the Tonepros bridge improves the tone by about 10 percent and the "playability" by about 20 percent.

 

I have some photos below, but in summing up I would say that the nut replacement on an Epi Dot is a "must do", whereas the Tonepros bridge replacement is "nice to have".

 

The pictures below show the Tonepros bridge installed and the Epi Bridge featured as a comparison in size.

 

What is my final assessment? Well the Qingdao Dot now has my DNA and to be perfectly honest it is my "go to" guitar. The Epi Elitist comes out on special occasions. It feels neglected sometimes!

 

p1000208.jpg

 

 

p1000209t.jpg

 

 

p1000210ka.jpg

 

 

PS - I love my Qingdao Dot.

 

 

Stewart

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Very nice upgrade

but I have to ask

why are all of the saddles facing the same way on the new bridge?

 

I understand your question. Mostly the three bass end saddles face the reverse. Often the three wound strings need a bit more height, however the fret height and neck relief is such on this axe that I haven't needed to reverse the saddles.

 

It may be that for intonation or setup reasons I may reverse those three saddles in the future but if it works, why change it?

 

Stewart B

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Does turning them around affect the height? I thought they do 3 one way and 3 the other just because the bass ones tend to be further back than the trebble ones and that allows them to move further back if necessary while still looking from a distance like they're more or less the same. Personally, I had to turn mine all the same way in order to innotate. But the tonepro one is a lot bigger so there's possibly less need to bother with all this nonsense. As long as it innotates fine, it doesn't matter.

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Does turning them around affect the height? I thought they do 3 one way and 3 the other just because the bass ones tend to be further back than the trebble ones and that allows them to move further back if necessary while still looking from a distance like they're more or less the same. Personally' date=' I had to turn mine all the same way in order to innotate. But the tonepro one is a lot bigger so there's possibly less need to bother with all this nonsense. As long as it innotates fine, it doesn't matter.[/quote']

 

Yes, that's pretty much my experience with this bridge. Intonation is fine and it plays well.

 

Stewart B

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Thanks posting for this, Stewart.

 

I am very happy with the unplugged tone of my Epiphones but always find that their problem (in general), compared with Gibsons lies with their feel and playability over the neck.

 

I started a thread a few weeks back asking modders what upgrades would make my LP Studio deluxe more playable. Most people said a good set up and fret dress would make the difference. However, I already have the guitar at the lowish action I like and with a straight neck. There is no fret buzz and it intonates fine as is so I can't see the point getting the frets dressed until I think it needs it. I do raise the stop bar on my Epi LPs to relieve tension over the bridge saddles and I believe this has a very discernable effect on playabilty. However, I'm convinced that the reason Gibson necks feel and play better than Epi necks (in general) is because of the higher quality components at the two fulcrum points and not necessarily the slightly better pieces of wood used to make the neck. Your experiences wit your dot reaffirm my views.

 

Now another issue I have is that some strings on my Epis need more effort to depress them than others (usually the G and [biggrin] and I wonder whether the problem is due to an action mismatch caused by the fact that the bridge saddles are not individually adjustable. I've noticed that some manufacters sell T-O-M bridges which have individually adjustable saddles and wonder whether these would sort the problem out.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Alan

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Thanks posting for this' date=' Stewart.

 

Now another issue I have is that some strings on my Epis need more effort to depress them than others (usually the G and [biggrin and I wonder whether the problem is due to an action mismatch caused by the fact that the bridge saddles are not individually adjustable. I've noticed that some manufacters sell T-O-M bridges which have individually adjustable saddles and wonder whether these would sort the problem out.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Alan

 

 

Alan,

 

Part of a proper setup on a TOM bridge, is to set string height. This is done by filing

the saddles in the same fashion as you might file a nut.

If you have nut files they can be used for this too.

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Another great bridge to check out is the Pigtail. I've had several on guitats that have come (and sadly) gone. Very high quality. My last guitar to leave the fold was a MelodyMaker and it had two different Pigtails on it. Both were excellent. One was the vintage style wraparound and the other was the wraparound intonable model they mak now. Ther are a little pricey, but several local (and well known, but no name dropping) luthiers recommended them over the TonePros if tone, but not price are the determining factor. I'm talking to Pigtail right now about a bridge for my Casino. Check them out as an alternative. But I agree that the improvement in tone and playabilty in changing a bridge out (unless it's a real mess) doesn't have the bang for thr buck that changing a poor nut will have. A nut change is almost always the first improvement I do/have done.Great pictures and narrative, StewartB.

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Alan, as Gord says, check whether the saddles match the neck radius. If you don't have (expensive) nut files you can deepen the groove in the saddles with ordinary needle files from your DIY store. Check a few as they vary in quality, and pick one with the best i.e. smallest, thinnest, tip. Make sure the finish is smooth with 1000 grit wet & dry.

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