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ES175 saddle not attached to the body


Elmer

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I am realy worried now. I was convinced the saddle / bridge was glued on the body. But when I took of all my strings to replace them and clean the guitar, the bridge of my ES175 appears to be lose. You dont see that it ever was glued or attached in any way to the body. Is this always like this? How on earth can I get it back on the correct spot? You see where it once was because the nitro is a little damaged. This cannot be correct, if I put it to far or not far enough my intonation is screwed, It cannot be that I have to measure it everytime...Please advice? Bring it back to the store and make a big complaint?

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(please dont tell me I have a fake Gibson, just to be complete I post a pic of my serial number)

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Archtop bridges are typically not attached to the top. As you have found out, it's a good idea to mark the location with some masking tape.

 

It's really easy to get it back in the right spot. If you can see the impression in the top, start with that. Restring and tighten just the two E strings up to pitch. Check the intonation. If it's flat, slide the bridge closer to the neck, if it's sharp, closer to the tailpiece. You probably don't have to loosen the E strings to do this, but be careful.

 

Since your guitar has a TOM bridge, you might want to center the E-string saddles first. Once the intonation is good on the E-strings, tighten all the strings to pitch and adjust all the saddles as necessary. If some strings don't have enough range, you might have to slightly re-position the bridge base to get them all in.

 

If there is no mark on the top, measure the scale length from the inside of the nut and use that as a starting point.

 

This is really simpler to do than explain and it's no big deal. After replacing all the strings, you'd want to adjust the intonation in any case, but it's easier to do if you don't take all the strings off at once.

 

Danny W.

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THANX A BILLION.

That makes sence. Especially, putting those little saddles back in the middle, so I can make the tonation 100% correct again. All where ok, except the G...now I can make that 100% in tonation as well!

 

I know sometimes I really sound newbie, noobsie or how you call that, but that is why I came to this forum in the first place. I knew I wantde an ES175 for a long time...but little did I know about it...so, thanx to this forum I can give it a better treatment.

 

Thanx Danny!

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I realy panicked [blush], I was convinced it was solid glued or tapped in the body, and ther I was with a wooden bridge and a metal saddle in hand...oink [scared]

 

Guitar cleaned, new strings, bridge on place, 6 strings 100% correct intonation...Elmer is a happy camper.

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Guitar cleaned, new strings, bridge on place, 6 strings 100% correct intonation...Elmer is a happy camper.

 

GOOD JOB... Chalk this one up to a harmless, cost-free educational experience. You now have more knowledge and experience with floating archtop bridges than 99.9% of guitar players (and techs).

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Elmer - Consider this a major plus! Intonation-wise, a floating archtop bridge is the best thing on the planet. You can move it to your heart's content. Use the old footprint as a starting point, and then fine tune. It's also super cool that you can easily change the string's alignment with the fretboard. Want a little more room on the treble side? No problem!

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THANX A BILLION.

That makes sence. Especially, putting those little saddles back in the middle, so I can make the tonation 100% correct again. All where ok, except the G...now I can make that 100% in tonation as well!

 

I know sometimes I really sound newbie, noobsie or how you call that, but that is why I came to this forum in the first place. I knew I wantde an ES175 for a long time...but little did I know about it...so, thanx to this forum I can give it a better treatment.

 

Thanx Danny!

 

 

Glad I could help!

 

Danny W.

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Yeah, I know about cleaning a guitar and learned my lesson with a 325c64 Miami Ric. I wanted to clean it all up and took off all the strings and then had to get the loose parts from the Vibrato mechanism back together. [blush] I'm pretty good at doing things and prolly had only about 3 hrs. of messing around trying to get things to open back up again. Only change one string at a time for that git now PERIOD. I see where/how it works now but it would still be too much work.

 

Aster

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Elmer, it it totally ruined.

You had better send it to me.

I will pay the shipping. :D

El G

[-X

If can pick one of yours:

Wes Montgomery L-5 CES

L-4 CES Mahogany

Howard Roberts Custom

Herb Ellis ES-165

1965 ES-175

L-6S Custom

Manne Taos Special

 

 

@Stein:

 

 

 

LEARNING about a Gibson archtop by actually HAVING a Gibson archtop is really a cool thing to be able to do. It's the best way ain't it? ==> Yes, and now I can say things like: "the bridge on an Archtop is not glued, it is good that isn't because, bla bla tonation etc"...Half a year ago I did not know the word archtop or what the saddle or bridge was, an archtop was a guitar with F-holes and hollw and not flat thing \:D/

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Once it's intonated properly...use double face tape under the rosewood bridge. [thumbup]

nah, then I have something between the bridge and the body...my sensitive ears going to notice that :) (I did my reading now). Once the tonation is correct, I change my strings 1 by 1 and if I give the guitar a good cleaning, I redo the tonation setup. was easy enough (30 minutes). I learned so much that I even start arguing here, lolz.

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Once it's intonated properly...use double face tape under the rosewood bridge. [thumbup]

 

 

There is no need to do this, and he's not gonna like what the glue on that tape is going to do to the finish. Best plan you can go with here, is if you MUST remove all the strings for a cleaning, leave just the two E strings on, do your cleaning, then restring the 4 strings you have removed first, then the last two strings you will replace are the two E strings. This will keep the bridge in place.

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nah, then I have something between the bridge and the body...my sensitive ears going to notice that :) (I did my reading now). Once the tonation is correct, I change my strings 1 by 1 and if I give the guitar a good cleaning, I redo the tonation setup. was easy enough (30 minutes). I learned so much that I even start arguing here, lolz.

 

You are learning fast!

 

Unless you have a Bigsby on the guitar, tape or pinning is totally unnecessary. The bridge will not be going anywhere in normal use, and tape can damage the finish if left in place for a long time. It might also affect the sound, so there are several good reasons not to do it.

 

Danny W.

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I have heard of some putting an ever so slight couple drops of glue under to keep it in place...the idea being to prevent damage by the bridge slipping, or that finish marring to that one particular place.

 

Personally, I wouldn't, even though I tend to be heavy-handed. But for the most part, I think for a lot of the types of music played on an arch-top as opposed to a solid-body or flat-top, one would be less likely to be heavy-handed with it.

 

But then again, something like a Gretsch is usually associated with being more "wild" that say, a Gibson. Maybe a ES-175 vs an L-5 as well. I have wondered at times if the anchor the bridges on Gretch's. (It would be cool to own one and know for sure that way).

 

I would add, as "wild" as I get at times with my Gibby, I haven't ever noticed an issue with the bridge slipping.

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I have heard of some putting an ever so slight couple drops of glue under to keep it in place...the idea being to prevent damage by the bridge slipping, or that finish marring to that one particular place.

 

Never do this... Leave it be.. the tension from the strings should keep it in place, unless you just go bat sh*t crazy on the thing...

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DO NOT PIN, GLUE, TAPE, OR OTHERWISE PERMANENTLY FASTEN THE BRIDGE BASE TO AN ARCHTOP GUITAR IN ANY WAY!!!!! And stop spouting such BS.

 

so what about, Oh I dunno, maybe a dry wall screw or two??? [razz]

 

Oyvhey!

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Absolutely correct. Leave it free floating. It will not move under tension.

 

It did not move 1 bit...hear for your self...I gave her a good spanking and after that she still sounds in tune...(you probably can hear it is not the styl I am used to play...but boy this was fun...the setting on fire with Zippo fuel I skipped)

 

My link

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DO NOT PIN, GLUE, TAPE, OR OTHERWISE PERMANENTLY FASTEN THE BRIDGE BASE TO AN ARCHTOP GUITAR IN ANY WAY!!!!! And stop spouting such BS.

 

An archtop bridge can and will move. I'm not a heavy picker whatsoever but when I had an ES-175T the base would sometimes move slightly downwards.

 

A friend of mine is a heavy picker and moved the bridge base on my Byrdland the first time he used it on stage.

 

Some thin double-sided tape isn't going to affect anything and it securely affixes the base to the top --- just ensure that the base is in the correct spot (check and set the intonation beforehand and mark the position of the base with some non-sticky green painter's tape).

 

If using thin double-sided tape works for holding the bridge base down on Nugent's Byrdlands without affecting tone...it's good enough for me.

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An archtop bridge can and will move. I'm not a heavy picker whatsoever but when I had an ES-175T the base would sometimes move slightly downwards.

 

Many people try to play jazz guitars with Rock & Roll strings. These guitar were not designed to be strung with 9's, or 10's (or even 8's or 11's, haven't I read somewhere that Nuge uses 7's).

 

If strung properly with 12's, 13's or 14's, there is no way in hell you're going to move the bridge while playing!

 

If you NEED to play a guitar with LIGHT gauge strings, DO NOT chose and archtop with a floating bridge!

 

And if you don't think double-side tape affects the vibration transfer between the strings and the SOUNDBOARD, just look under the hood of your car for the "motor mounts"!

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Many people try to play jazz guitars with Rock & Roll strings. These guitar were not designed to be strung with 9's, or 10's (or even 8's or 11's, haven't I read somewhere that Nuge uses 7's).

 

If strung properly with 12's, 13's or 14's, there is no way in hell you're going to move the bridge while playing!

 

If you NEED to play a guitar with LIGHT gauge strings, DO NOT chose and archtop with a floating bridge!

 

And if you don't think double-side tape affects the vibration transfer between the strings and the SOUNDBOARD, just look under the hood of your car for the "motor mounts"!

 

He's using 10-48.

 

I hear zero difference with the bridge securely fixed.

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