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intonation on a 57 LP jr


tvyellow

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Is there any way to adjust the intonation on a 57 reissue with the wrap around bridge? Or should I just leave things the way they are until I get a new bridge? Any suggestions on that bridge? Another question, how does one go about lower the strings so that they are a little closer to the pick up? I know there are screws on the bridge, should I try that? Someone said they just used some washers to raise the pick up a little, did this work well? ALL sorts of newbie questions here! (By the way, I did the intonation on my Mexican made Buddy Holly style guitar and that worked well...I trust that this reference will get past the moderator!)

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Hi tvyellow...I have the same guitar. Some people don't like the wraparound but I happen to be a big fan of these bridges. I think these bridges sustain really well when set up properly. Take it to a tech and have it professionally setup if possible. There are lots of other members here that have that guitar and made the wraparound bridge work great! I think Biff being one of them.

 

The tech I used set mine up really well too. The pickup raising matter is a different story. There was a guy on another forum who used small washers to raise that pickup and he said it worked wonders for increasing output. Allparts also sells a part but I am not sure how well it fits underneath the dogear cover. My tech got the bridge as low and as close to the PUP as it can go. That's the way Epi built these.

 

As I said I am sure other forum members will chime in soon to help you some more on this.

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I've not looked everywhere.. but tonepros has a fully intonatable wrap around bridge.

 

Though they are for american/gibson guitars.. I can supply you with the correct studs which will allow you to put this bridge on to

perfect fit.

 

They list about 130.00 but I'll beat that considerably.

 

chrome black nickel and gold available.

 

you can use the two screws on the end of the bridge to lower action, but strings are not individually adjustable on your bridge.

 

They say these are fully adjustable for height.. but I don't see any individual string height screws in the tiny danged picture.

So I would guess it's just the two end screws that set height.

 

Basically, this is a wraparound bridge with the same individual saddles as a regular bridge. so you can move them back and forth for intonation.

 

the radius will be correct, so it should be intonatable for any guage string and still give you great action.

 

you can pm me for more info and pricing if you want.

 

I'll have to look up the 57 jr to see how the pickups work.. never had one in!

 

TWANG

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There are two allen-head socket cap screws on the wraparound that are used to adjust intonation. You've probably noticed the raised 'saddle' on the top which provides some rough 'string-to-string' compensation.

 

juniorneck4

 

The trick is to find the spot that will get all six strings as close as possible to perfect intonation by spreading the error so that no one string is way off. Better to have a couple of strings slightly plus and minus than one perfect and the next one far off, if you get my meaning. It's a little more complicated than a TOM bridge since every adjustment you make affects all six strings to varying extents.

 

If 'close enough' is good enough for you, then it's all good, but if you feel you need perfect intonation then some kind of aftermarket bridge such as a Badass or a Wilkinson or a Schaller (my favourite) would be the answer.

 

Note that 'close enough' seems to be good enough for most of the bigtime LP Junior players such as Leslie West and Billy Joe Armstrong.

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I have a Fender Baja Telecaster with the 3 barrel(saddles) on which i use the close enough method.

Works for me. As for the Junior, Badass used to make a wrapoverbridge with saddles.

PRS has a fine wrapoverbridge which they also use on there Korean SE models.

Don't know if you can buy that as a part though.

 

Peter

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I think it possible that the wider neck and string spacing of the PRS might mean a different measurement between center posts. Never had one in my hands' date=' though.

[/quote']

 

I once had a PRS Tremonti SE, nice guitar.

Never thought about the the string spacing.

But there are more nice bridges around and maybe another forum member knows some manufacturers.

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Yeah, I'm indeed happy with the 'close enough' approach. Next time, though, instead of spending a weekend intonating the Junior I think I'm going to take it to the tech.

 

junior1.jpg

 

If you decide to try a Badass style bridge on it instead, beware that you might have problems with uncomfortably high minimum string height. I tried a cheap copy and it's in the bottom drawer these days waiting for the project I've been thinking about, an electric 6-string kantele with an Epiphone P100 pickup and vintage tulip tuners ... ](*,)

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Biff in that pic your pole pieces seem like they are below the cover. Didn't you raise them since?

 

I since raised mine above for a "brighter" tone and it really helped. I think actually because we once chatted about it.

 

Yep, I was totally inspired by your great pics that led me to get the 57 RI when I did last year. The more I see those pics, the more I love my guitar and play it!.... and it's almost about that time again! ](*,)

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Thanks Suplex for the compliments ](*,) Yes, I've raised the pole pieces (a lot) since taking that picture, but I don't have a better photo at hand right now. The sound indeed is brighter and I like it (a lot!) but I'm thinking about raising the whole P90 a bit, just to try what happens.

 

Just spent a quick 30 minutes with my '57 , not enough. Gotta go back now for more 8-[

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I found this bridge to work really well and give the lowest action of the choices I looked at. http://store.guitarfetish.com/wiliadinwrbr.html I've since sold my 57 JR...but it helped solve the pickup height issue too. The only thing is the locking studs that come with it are trash...but it works well with the stock studs and my intonation was dead nuts on with a little tweaking.

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