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Sheraton II Bridge upgrades


JRizZ

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Hey everyone, this is my first post, so please be nice to me!

 

I have had my Sheraton II for 12 years now, and in recent times it has been a little overlooked due to guitars that I have got more recently. Anyway, in the last few weeks I have decided to give it a bit of an overhaul - I have got some Gibson Classic '57 pups, new CTS pots, Orange Drop capacitors, Tusq nut and new Gibson wiring. I am now trying to find a better bridge for it, but I'm not precisely sure what will fit it properly. There is no end of bridges available for SGs, Les Pauls etc, but I have no idea if these will do the job for the good old Sheraton.

 

Anyone have any ideas?

 

Many thanks!

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No aftermarket bridge will fit on a sherry,even a metric one, the bridge of the Sheraton is a little bit larger than the all the others.

That's what the Epi support service told me.

I 've just changed my Sherry gold bridge for a chrome one ( in order to have all the guitar in chrome hardware), and it's an Epiphone bridge that Epi has kindly sent to me free of charge (they first made a mistake and sent a gold finish bridge so I have two of them now).

The bridge itself is the new model that stays in place even without the strings, and that's cool. Good upgrade.

As far as they sent me only the bridge and the stop bar, I had to unplated the golden plated studs and bushings. I did it with an ordinary oven cleaner spray and it worked perfectly !! The finish now a bright nickel one, no need to have them chrome plated anymore !

 

she1.jpg

Before and after...

 

she2.jpg

Those four bushings were golden plated...

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That is interesting to hear thanks. Although it doesn't sound good that there are no replacement bridges for the Sheraton! Maybe I'll just have to make do with replacing the saddles or something like that then. Either way I'm sure that once all the new parts are in it is going to sound good!

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Either way I'm sure that once all the new parts are in it is going to sound good!

 

Surely, I going to make a total upgrade to ! so we can stay in tune in case of problem.

That's how I want my sherry to look like :

 

she3.jpg

 

 

Seth Lover pickup, new pickguard, Q-parts knobs and straplocks, chrome grover tuning keys 18.1 ratio

New CTS pots ( the originals seem to be something between short and long shaft, I hope short shaft will fit) with Hovland Musicap capacitor. New jack input and 3 ways switch.

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Wow, that Sheraton looks nice!

If mine was black I think I'd switch to chrome hardware, but - over the last 12 years I have become attached to the look of my Sheraton with the Tobacco Burst & Gold hardware combination, and I want to keep it looking the same way, just with way nicer electronics! I have gone for two Classic '57 rather than one Classic '57 and a Classic '57 Plus because I am not really going to need a very hot bridge pickup on this guitar. I already have an Epiphone Flying V that I have put a Gibson 500T / 496R pickup combo in for hot tones. I just want the Sheraton to have a nice smooth, vintage sound to it. I hope that's what I get!!

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I put a complete Tone pros system II on mine. It dropped right in.

It made a big difference.

 

Could you tell us please the exact type of tonepros bridge you puted on ??

I measured mine carrefully, and it was 1mm or more larger then everything I saw on line.

1mm can make the difference between fiting or not...

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This is your local distributor for tonepro"s:

http://www.wilderdavoli.it/pubblico/home.asp?c=2

 

From the Tone pros web-site:

 

System II Bridge & Tailpiece

Our System II components come as a package set, ready to install on

your guitar. The package includes:

1. OEM Patent Issued System II Bridge with matching threaded adjustment posts.

 

 

2. OEM Patent Issued System II Tailpiece with matching threaded adjustment studs.

 

 

3. Allen style adjustment tool for use with both bridge and tailpiece.

Available in nickel, chrome, black, or gold, and in standard and import models. (Import has metric thread and larger adjustment post hole on the bridge)

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Matched Bridge & Tailpiece Sets

"LP" Series matching Bridge & Tail Sets to fit most guitars:

"LP" S02=TP6 Bridge and T1ZS Matching Tailpiece (US thrd),

Starting at $116.50

 

"LP" M02=T3BT Bridge and T1Z Matching Tailpiece (Metric thrd),

Starting at $116.50

 

"LP" M04=T3BP Bridge and T1ZS Matching Tailpiece (US thrd),

Starting at $116.50

 

I will look for the receipt for the one I bought and check for the model#.

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As far as they sent me only the bridge and the stop bar' date=' I had to unplated the golden plated studs and bushings. I did it with an ordinary oven cleaner spray and it worked perfectly !! The finish now a bright nickel one, no need to have them chrome plated anymore ![/quote']

 

That's an excellent piece of work and something I am considering for my '97 Sheraton - I love the guitar but the gold looks a little tacky for my taste. The oven cleaner looks to have done a superb job - what was the procedure, spray it on then wait and rub it off? Which cleaner was it?

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I live in italy, so I can't give you the exact type of product I used.

The composition is not written on the spray.

But it's an ordinary oven cleaner spray. The one that makes white foam.

You put your pieces in a glass and spray the product until the glass is full of foam.

It's not the foam which is the more efficient, but the liquid the foam create in the bottom of the glass. The more liquid you have the better it is.

You don't have anything to do but wait, as the gold seems to melt and desapear, getting clearer and clearer.

Wait one hour and a half and repeat the process until it's totaly clean ( 3 times).

I tried several techniques and this one is surely the simpler and the cheapest.

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I used to have several Sheratons, before I thinned them out to just my blonde beauty. I think at some point, the bridge size changed. Mine is a '90s Samick that has that older bridge size that really doesn't fit the standard tonepros size replacement. If I recall correctly, the ones made in the last few years have a more standard size bridge.

 

In addition, the stop piece can still be changed. The key is to leave the old studs in the guitar and just plop the replacement on top of those. I put the Gibson TP-6 tailpiece with the fine tuners on it onto my SHeraton, and it fit just fine.

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I used to have several Sheratons' date=' before I thinned them out to just my blonde beauty. I think at some point, the bridge size changed. Mine is a '90s Samick that has that older bridge size that really doesn't fit the standard tonepros size replacement. If I recall correctly, the ones made in the last few years have a more standard size bridge.

 

In addition, the stop piece can still be changed. The key is to leave the old studs in the guitar and just plop the replacement on top of those. I put the Gibson TP-6 tailpiece with the fine tuners on it onto my SHeraton, and it fit just fine.[/quote']

 

So, in the end you were able to find a replacement bridge for it then? Mine is a '96 Samick so I'm guessing it may have the same bridge as yours.

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So' date=' in the end you were able to find a replacement bridge for it then? Mine is a '96 Samick so I'm guessing it may have the same bridge as yours. [/quote']

I'm very keen to know this also. I've put new gold hardware on my old Sheraton except for the bridge... I'd really like to put on a new gold ABR style.

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I just put a new bridge on mine.. copy of the samick bridge... which is all that will fit, I understand.

they don't make these anymore. I got mine from wdmusic.com, I'm a dealer in their products, too.

If you have a samick sheraton, it's either convert it to take a different bridge, or try to get the one I have..

they wont be making more.. the mold is broken.

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  • 1 month later...

don't know if this might help but I just bought an early korean Epiphone Sheraton that has an aftermarket bridge, changed by the previous owner....the bridge is a GOTOH japan 103b model...and it looks like it fitted right in because thee guitar (wood) doesn't look like modified at all.

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I have a late model (2007) Unsung Sheraton. I got a roller bridge from GFS and it dropped on perfectly so it is probably just Samicks from a certain period. But you would be well advised to carefully measure. Stewart McDonald has detailed measurements of standard aftermarket parts that you can compare with yours.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well...... The last of my parts will be here Tuesday and in the mean time I thought I'd go ahead and install

the new neck pickup. I started to loosen the strings a little to give myself some clearance and the D string

popped at the saddle once again. It's done it before. That was all I needed to start a search for a new bridge.

I can't just file the saddle. It's got to be the whole stinking bridge and tail piece. And I don't even really need

a new tail piece. I think I've got some kind of illness or something. Anyway, my guitar is the exact same as in

jerrymac's post a few up from here. Same color, hardware, and all. Check out my avatar. The first few of the

serial are S932 out of an eight digit serial. So I would guess it's a Samick from 93. These are the pieces I'm

going to try. Click on the descriptions.........................................

 

TonePros/Graph Tech Metric Tune-O-Matic (large posts) - GOLD

 

Tonepros Metric Tailpiece - Gold

 

My measurements are very close to these metric replacements. Has anyone done any measuring or tried any others since the last post?

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Well...... The last of my parts will be here Tuesday and in the mean time I thought I'd go ahead and install

the new neck pickup. I started to loosen the strings a little to give myself some clearance and the D string

popped at the saddle once again. It's done it before. That was all I needed to start a search for a new bridge.

I can't just file the saddle. It's got to be the whole stinking bridge and tail piece. And I don't even really need

a new tail piece. I think I've got some kind of illness or something. Anyway' date=' my guitar is the exact same as in

jerrymac's post a few up from here. Same color, hardware, and all. Check out my avatar. The first few of the

serial are S932 out of an eight digit serial. So I would guess it's a Samick from 93. These are the pieces I'm

going to try. Click on the descriptions.........................................

 

TonePros/Graph Tech Metric Tune-O-Matic (large posts) - GOLD

 

Tonepros Metric Tailpiece - Gold

 

My measurements are very close to these metric replacements. Has anyone done any measuring or tried any others since the last post?

 

the tunomatic will not fit

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