Guitar bridges....what's in the spares box?

[jdgm]

I posted in another thread about replacing the bridge on one of my f-hole archtops (which has a trapeze tailpiece of course).  I installed a standard Gibson tuneamatic, which is what the original bridge was.  At the moment it is correctly intonated but the bridge base is not parallel with the strings or pickup, so I may adjust that.  The guitar sounds great; I raised the action a bit.   Here it is in situ -

And here is the bridge I removed; a beautifully-made Schecter chrome-plated heavy duty brass bridge I bought new in the 1970s - note the 2- hex screw intonation adjustment (a pain but very accurate) for each saddle,  the offset postholes...and the appalling slot cutting which I did way back then.   It would still be possible to correct that, as you can see.  At least I hope it is.  Despite my youthful vandalism, this bridge is a fine piece of design and engineering.

Below, in front; Wilkinson design bridge I picked up in the late 80s and used on the guitar pictured above for years.  I love the simplicity, though it has its drawbacks.  Note the grub screws - 2 each side - to lock on to the posts.  I'd like to find a gold-plated one of these.  Behind is a Gotoh  with larger radius post holes.  You can see I've tried card 'collars' in these post holes to stop it rocking on the posts, but that didn't work or look ok so I need to think again.  A tiny piece of cotton wool stuffed down the post hole with a toothpick will probably do it, and also be less visible.  Good construction and quality IMO.

And (below) 2 generic Made In Japan gold-plated Nashville (?) style bridges.  The roller bridge in front has a slightly higher profile than desirable....on the bridge behind it, check out the Fender-style height adjustment for each saddle.  As I understand it, 'Nashville' style refers to the fixings as much as the bridge; the posts have  integrated thumbwheels and screw into bushings, rather than straight into the wood of the bridge base or guitar top....so not just an ABR-1 without a retaining wire.  Forum members please correct me if I'm wrong!

I tried each of these on the guitar below but prefer the tone of the wooden bridge it came with, when using tapewound strings.  The guitar prefers it too.

And here once again is the excellently-designed Tonepros roller bridge, stock on my 2013 ES-175.  Grub screws to lock on to posts.

 

Finally......I quite fancy one of these, like the look of the design -

https://www.guitarfetish.com/XGP-SOLID-BRASS-locking-Tuneomatic-bridge-locking-Saddles-_p_23129.html

OK I'm a nerd.   But bridges are crucially important.   Don't burn 'em.

Got anything interesting?

Best wishes to all!

Edited January 30, 2022 by jdgm

[merciful-evans]

I like the appearance of the wooden bridge too. I have one on my Hofner. 

Its good you are experimenting like this. Its something I've wondered about for ages.

I've always wanted to try out nylon saddles too. 

 

This is a spare bridge I tried to adapt to the Fender TC90 I had briefly. I was trying to reduce the string spacing to overcome the rolled edges. It still wasn't enough & I had to sell the guitar on.

 

Here is the monstrous Kahler bridge in the Fingerbone Strat. It has a grubscrew to disable the trem. I like the roller saddles.

 

This is my favourite bridge for regular guitars. Its a Schaller. Note the threaded splines for the rollers. It allows string space adjustment.