nutrapuppy Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 I have a Beale Street Blue ES-335 from around 2001. I got it on Ebay and have had a pretty good time with it. The problem I am having is that I notice when I change strings that if the bridge saddle screw heads face the tailpiece, the strings rub against the screws before they reach the saddles. That seems like a daft bit of design, though I am no luthier. Am I supposed to have the screws facing the neck? I read a bit about this in another area of the forum but never came to a definitive conclusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpdeluxe Posted March 14, 2009 Share Posted March 14, 2009 They are installed both ways. I always thought the screw heads were toward the neck, but then I got my LP and it has the screws heads on the butt side...and so does my 335, but my SG has the screws the other way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutrapuppy Posted March 14, 2009 Author Share Posted March 14, 2009 Thanks. My LP has the screws facing away from the neck too. But that is a slightly different design of bridge and tailpiece. OK I will flip it around and face them toward the neck and see how that flies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Rayba Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Before you switch your bridge and screws facing towards the neck, verify that the slot, for example for the 1st string, is cut big enough to handle the 6th string. If you reverse the bridge the strings will be in different slots. You may run into the problem of the strings popping off of the bridge saddle slots if they are cut to small to handle the 6th and 5th strings! Just a thought! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I have a Beale Street Blue ES-335 from around 2001. I got it on Ebay and have had a pretty good time with it. The problem I am having is that I notice when I change strings that if the bridge saddle screw heads face the tailpiece' date=' the strings rub against the screws before they reach the saddles. That seems like a daft bit of design, though I am no luthier. Am I supposed to have the screws facing the neck? I read a bit about this in another area of the forum but never came to a definitive conclusion.[/quote'] Raise the tailpiece? Murph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutrapuppy Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 In fact I did raise the tailpiece a bit and the finish cracked a bit around the mounting bolts. I decided to lay off and carefully put it back where it was. And, after further review, I did what Ken said, which was to simply look at the slots in the saddles. It became obvious very quickly that the design was meant to have the screws facing the neck. Problem Solved. Now to figure out why it frets so well and the decay rings out so nicely on the whole neck...except for strings 5 and 6 which buzz all nasty above the 12th fret. Thanks for all the help guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Whatever.... Post 3. Loser............. Let me figure out your problem............... Murph..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bender 4 Life Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Going by notch size is correct, also, one side of each saddle MAY be beveled as a guide........the beveled side goes toward the stopbar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobv Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Don't just flip the bridge around willy-nilly. The bridge was originally installed with the saddle notched to space the strings out properly - larger notches for the bass strings and smaller ones for the trebles, also the spacing varies so the wound strings are not crowded. If you have threaded inserts in the top of the guitar, integral thumbwheels with heavy studs underneath, and saddles that are retained by c-clips accessed from underneath the bridge, then it's a "Nashville" bridge, which had the screws facing the tailpiece when it was originally installed. If the bridge has a retaining wire, small threaded posts that go directly into the wood of the guitar top without any inserts, and thumbwheels that are separate and thread onto the studs, and saddles that will flop out if you remove the wire, then you have an older style ABR-1 bridge. That one would have had the saddle screws facing the neck. (Does it help to think that the ABR-1 was used in the original Kalamazoo Michigan factory up North - where the screws face up North, and the Nashville bridge screws face South?) My understanding is that ES335's have always had the original ABR-1 bridge, but I'm not certain about that. SO if you have the strings touching the screws, either the bridge got flipped around sometime in it's lifetime, or the tailpiece is too low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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