Bridge to add a bit of twang to my Les Paul?

[Top-L]

Is it possible to achieve what a triple shot does, with a 3-way switch?

[Rex_Rocker]

Is it possible to achieve what a triple shot does, with a 3-way switch?

With Fishmans? Not exactly, but I do think you can wire them to a 5-way superswitch and a combination of push/pulls or minitoggles.

[Rex_Rocker]

Alright, thought I'd report back. I got the Graphtech Resomax bridge with the Resomax saddles. Not the tailpiece, though. I kept the stock API aluminum tailpiece with the TonePros locking brass studs.

So far, I really dig it! I do notice it made my guitar slightly louder, which is always better, LOL.

But what made me get this bridge is reading the copy, the Resomax alloy is supposed to be as light as aluminum, but as hard as steel, and I figured that's kinda best of both worlds from what I wanted. I also read the Resomax saddles have a spike at 2K, which is exactly what I wanted (more high-mid twang), and to seal the deal, they're made almost locally. It's just a couple of cities south from where I live.

I do notice the guitar being slightly louder, but I don't know if it's brighter. I did just change the strings as well as changing the bridge, so that might explain them being brighter. But I'm 100% sure the guitar is slightly louder acoustically. I mean, just based on that, I think the update was worth it. I like loud guitars because they squeeze the most out of low output pickups like Fluence Classics.

So it was a win for me!

[Mincer]

Is it slightly louder acoustically or through the amp?

[Rex_Rocker]

Is it slightly louder acoustically or through the amp?

Acoustically. I haven't spend much time through my HX Stomp after the upgrade. Pretty sure it's not going to be louder, because even on my clean tone, I run a compressor. Just different in other ways, I guess.

[Mincer]

Acoustically. I haven't spend much time through my HX Stomp after the upgrade. Pretty sure it's not going to be louder, because even on my clean tone, I run a compressor. Just different in other ways, I guess.

Oh cool. I wonder how noticeable it will be through the amp. When I switched out the saddles on my Music Man to String Savers, the tone was slightly darker through the amp, which I really liked.

[Top-L]

Anything that makes a guitar more resonant acoustically, makes it warmer plugged in. Imo.

[Rex_Rocker]

Well, through the HX, I did find it was slightly more focused. Slightly more high-mid bite and slightly less low-mid mud. It's not a day and night difference, but it was the 1% that I wanted it to be.

But it's also hard to tell because the last time I played the guitar (and recorded a clip), the strings were older than this. They weren't old old, but these are 100% fresh, so if they're brighter and just overall better-sounding, it makes sense. But I did notice it was louder. My wife even commented on why I was playing guitar so loud, and I told her it's the new bridge, the I was playing the same as always.

But even if I'm 100% sure the guitar is slightly louder, I can tell like with 85% certainty that it brightened up just a tad because I've only been playing this guitar for some time now and slightly neglecting the others, so I'm used to hearing what it sounds like with new or old strings.

[Rex_Rocker]

Anything that makes a guitar more resonant acoustically, makes it warmer plugged in. Imo.

Brass tends to make everything warmer (and louder), but not Steel or Aluminum, IME. The Resomax stuff is neither, but it's supposedly kinda like Aluminum openness meets Steel durability. When being side by side, the stock bridge and this new Resomax weren't miles apart in weight (or at least what it felt like), but when I tried the "ping" test, the Graptech bridge did make a different higher pinched ping than the stock API bridge (aluminum with steel posts and Zinc saddles, AFAIK), so even if it was subtle, there was bound to be a change. Somehow. Somewhat.

It's more noticeable acoustically than anything else. And I agree that more resonant and louder guitars aren't always best, especially considering you don't usually see Epi Casinos or many full or semihollow bodies used for Metal, but I did like the fact that this bridge very slightly supercharched an an already lively sounding guitar. And like I said in my first post, I wasn't expecting this bridge to suddenly transform my LP into a Tele, but it was a subtle step in the right direction, as fars I can tell.

Still not sure if I'm going to be keeping the Fishies in there. I mean, they're about as good as PAF-type gets for me, but I'm starting to miss the ferocity and agression of a high-output overwound over-the-top Ceramic sometimes. Luckily, I've still got the BW and 500T kicking around.

[Phantasmagoria]

[ATTACH=JSON]

But what made me get this bridge is reading the copy, the Resomax alloy is supposed to be as light as aluminum, but as hard as steel,

So it was a win for me!

Sounds to me "Resomax" is a $$$ way of saying "pot metal"

Not slagging it. I will take pot metal (Lo-pro/ZR etc) bridges all day long over original Floyd's with brass blocks....cuz TONE.

[Rex_Rocker]

Sounds to me "Resomax" is a $$$ way of saying "pot metal"

Not slagging it. I will take pot metal (Lo-pro/ZR etc) bridges all day long over original Floyd's with brass blocks....cuz TONE.

Pretty sure it isn't. Pot metal is Zamac, and it's heavier than Aluminum.

Like I said, I replaced the stock Aluminum bridge with this, and I didn't notice the weight was vastly different. If this bridge was Zamac/Zinc, it would be twice as heavy because the density of Zamac is around 6-7 g/cm3, vs Aluminum which is like 3 g/cm3.

My older Schaller bridge that I used for when I blacked the guitar out was Zinc and it certainly was way heavier.

[Top-L]

Sounds to me "Resomax" is a $$$ way of saying "pot metal"

Not slagging it. I will take pot metal (Lo-pro/ZR etc) bridges all day long over original Floyd's with brass blocks....cuz TONE.

You can buy Floyd Rose Special pot metal blocks. I have swapped to OFR brass and IME, the pot metal blocks have a bit more zing on top, but could be perceived as tinny by some.

[ErikH]

I think lighter strings and playing closer to the bridge will sound closer to a Tele than installing a new pickup.

This is pretty much what I was gonna say. This is what I see local players do all the time to get a good twang from their LP. The difference with bridge material will probably be so small you won't care. Split the bridge pickup, play closer to the bridge. Twang-a-lang...lol.

[Phantasmagoria]

You can buy Floyd Rose Special pot metal blocks. I have swapped to OFR brass and IME, the pot metal blocks have a bit more zing on top, but could be perceived as tinny by some.

Yeah...I've swapped out brass blocks for pot metal in two guitars...most recently my Schecter Sun Valley Super Shredder with the Sustainiac. To my ears pot metal has a more "natural" sound, while brass sounds artificially enhanced ..& not in a good way.

Unnatural sustain, unnatural overtones, unnatural warmth and it also compresses the tone too much in an unpleasant way that even "feels" wrong. My theory is brass is not a great substitute for the wood mass that's lost when installing a Floating trem. It's too dense, unlike pot metal & it sounds unnatural.

Plus you take something like a Lo-Pro..there's way better distribution of weight/mass with it to compensate for the lost wood. ..the whole bridge being heavy/die cast. With the Floyd/Brass block all the weight's concentrated only in the block.

Pot metal tone is closest to the tone you get with a fixed bridge (imo)