Pesh Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 Hi all; apologies if this has been posted before; I wasn't able to find anything specific, but if there's another post please redirect me! I want to get a locking bridge for my 2014 Studio, to match that of my 2013 TP2. I believe that the TP2 has a TonePros T3BP (if someone could confirm without me taking the strings off the thing - aces!) and a T1ZS tailpiece; both are locking. The 2014 Studio seems to have Gibson's standard. I was looking at TonePros' site and noticed some of their models have "G-Formula" nylon saddles; what are the benefits of nylon over nickel? I'd like some advice on this before I buy either; want to go for the best fit, and if nylon turns out better for me I'll be getting two sets! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrmac7600 Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 The T3bp is the correct bridge, the Nylon saddles are meant to replicate a vintage bridge, they will have tonality differences, and will give some of the same benefits of saddles like graphtech as the string will travel smoother in them, but they are much softer and can wear down and break much easier. I would stick with the steel saddles or upgrade them to graphtech stringsaver saddles. Also you don't have o purchase the entire locking tailpiece assembly, you can simply purchase the tonepros locking studs, they will clamp onto your existing tailpiece offering you more surface area connection them the locking tailpiece set, with only contacts through a small locking allen screw. look them up on tonepro's website under studs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norton Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 I have a 2011 Gibson LP Studio and I ordered the TonePro combination locking Tail Piece and Bridge on Monday and they are scheduled to arrive her tomorrow, Saturday. I ordered mine in chrome and I looking forward to this nice little upgrade as the idea of both pieces being locked in place and no subject to falling off when changing strings is appealing to em. They appear very well made and I have nothing but really good reviews of people who bought and installed their TonePros. By the way I also ordered in a 5/16 Tress rod wrench which allowed to me very quickly reset the neck's Relief bringing the strings in the middle neck nicely closer to the frets. Go for it, I think we both will like it a lot! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pesh Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 The T3bp is the correct bridge, the Nylon saddles are meant to replicate a vintage bridge, they will have tonality differences, and will give some of the same benefits of saddles like graphtech as the string will travel smoother in them, but they are much softer and can wear down and break much easier. I would stick with the steel saddles or upgrade them to graphtech stringsaver saddles. Also you don't have o purchase the entire locking tailpiece assembly, you can simply purchase the tonepros locking studs, they will clamp onto your existing tailpiece offering you more surface area connection them the locking tailpiece set, with only contacts through a small locking allen screw. look them up on tonepro's website under studs. I think I might well go for the locking studs; I'm looking now at putting a Schaller Piezo Bridge on the guitar for a bit more tonal variety, and saves lugging about an acoustic as well. I've had a look at the Graph Tech saddles you've mentioned and found the model that fits the T3B- bridges, so I'm going to have a look for a UK seller that has them. I have a 2011 Gibson LP Studio and I ordered the TonePro combination locking Tail Piece and Bridge on Monday and they are scheduled to arrive her tomorrow, Saturday. I ordered mine in chrome and I looking forward to this nice little upgrade as the idea of both pieces being locked in place and no subject to falling off when changing strings is appealing to em. They appear very well made and I have nothing but really good reviews of people who bought and installed their TonePros. By the way I also ordered in a 5/16 Tress rod wrench which allowed to me very quickly reset the neck's Relief bringing the strings in the middle neck nicely closer to the frets. Go for it, I think we both will like it a lot! John I'll keep you updated with what I end up getting and how it all goes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrmac7600 Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 I think I might well go for the locking studs; I'm looking now at putting a Schaller Piezo Bridge on the guitar for a bit more tonal variety, and saves lugging about an acoustic as well. I've had a look at the Graph Tech saddles you've mentioned and found the model that fits the T3B- bridges, so I'm going to have a look for a UK seller that has them. I'll keep you updated with what I end up getting and how it all goes! The locking studs really are great, and cheap if you get them off ebay. I got my last pair for 25.00. and they screw right into the stock bushings, no modification needed. and I swear by the graphtech stuff, its all great stuff, from their nuts to the saddles, their stuff is very solid! also can be found cheaper on ebay as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pesh Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Yeah I wasn't able to find many UK sellers. eBay Uk has the American sellers who were selling cheaper than GraphTech themselves, so might well go and have them imported, and spend a nice afternoon doing some tinkering on the bridge Must remember to measure the saddle positions before removing! Setups are such a ballache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Yeah I wasn't able to find many UK sellers. eBay Uk has the American sellers who were selling cheaper than GraphTech themselves, so might well go and have them imported, and spend a nice afternoon doing some tinkering on the bridge Must remember to measure the saddle positions before removing! Setups are such a ballache. Measure? Just use a tuner to help set the saddle position i.e., intonation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pesh Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 Oh yeah I know to do that. Just getting the approximate positions before I do it will save time adjusting the bridge when it's under the strings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjsinla Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Oh yeah I know to do that. Just getting the approximate positions before I do it will save time adjusting the bridge when it's under the strings Just eye-ball it. :blink: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norton Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 HI guys, Ok so yesterday my order from Tonepros arrived and I installed their Locking Tailpiece and Locking Bridge, having selected the Chrome finish option, beautiful. Prior to that I checked the neck relief and used the 5/16 truss rod wrench to bring the strings to within almost a sheet of paper to the seventh fret with the first and 15 frets fretted. Then I did the usual keyboard cleaning, lemon oiling, followed by cleaning and polishing the frets. The tail piece and bridge installation went together very easily with the only time consuming but fun job being setting the intonation with a small phillips screwdriver. As mentioned above, I did mimic the individual positions of my stock LP intonation saddles prior to restringing so it was pretty close. Everything is now locked in place and can't fall off or change position for all future string changes, all in all a very worthwhile upgrade. Watch a Ttube video of a TonePro installation was helpful too but not necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrmac7600 Posted August 28, 2014 Share Posted August 28, 2014 Noticing any change in resonance? I did... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norton Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 I have not had opportunity to play much since the installation, but what I did notice so far is that the strings coming up from the tail piece do not touch the back of the bridge anymore and that is with the tail piece screwed up off the deck only a turn or so, versus the stock set up the tail piece had to be quite a bit higher so strings not touch, I don't know the geometry differences or the reason why, just that it is so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundMaster Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Original post deleted by author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrmac7600 Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 pwrmac7600, I too swear by Graph Tech nuts and saddles. You have me intrigued with the TonePros locking assemblies. I've poked around the web, but I'm not clear on one point. Some people say it is difficult to flip the saddles around. Does the bridge you purchased allow for easy removal and/or reversal of the saddles? Thanks much. Well If you look at the photos of the tonepros bridge you will notice that the one side has little hex nuts, they place a small amount of loctite on the end of the screw so the nut does not come loose. I had mine done by someone and he said he called tonepros because he could not break the nuts loose, and they told him how to do it. But he didn't share the secret with me, although I also didn't ask. I just know he had to break the hold of the loctite in order to remove the nut, in order to change the saddles. I am sure if you search around the way to do it is posted on a forum somewhere, or you could email tonepros they respond pretty quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundMaster Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Original post deleted by author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwrmac7600 Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Thank you. I like the idea of everything nice and tight and clamped down. Your upgrade must sound great, as vibrations can not 'escape' any longer. I think, for now anyway, I'll stick with my current configuration of GT SS saddles on the stock bridge. Knowing me, I'll screw something up if I know the loctite secret! Thanks again for your input. Going off topic...Are you performing on your Avatar pic? Those ceiling tiles jarred my aging memory. They seem very familiar. Would the bar happen to be 'Rock the House' in Wallington(?)? I played there several times from 1993-1994. Yes I am, and to be honest with you I don't remember the name of the place. It was back in chicago probably around 93 or 94, where I am originally from. it was a tiny little **** hole, and truthfully, it was one of the worst places we ever played. We got stuck opening for some crappy KISS tribute band, and the drummer insisted that we call him Peter whenever we tried to be friendly and talk to him. ugh, if it wasn't for the free booze we got as a perk for playing there I don't know how I would have made it through that night. and just because the KISS tribute band were such assholes to us, we changed our set at the last min, and played every kiss song we knew!!!! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoundMaster Posted August 31, 2014 Share Posted August 31, 2014 Original post deleted by author. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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