How important is the quality of the hardware?

T

Thurisarz

New member
I wonder how important is the quality of the hardware to get a good sounding guitar and have the intonation perfect? Is the wood more important or is the hardware worth putting money in?

I have a china made budget bridge and tuners and i wonder is it going to let me have my guitar in tune longer and let me have it intonated good or is it the woods that makes the guitar keep in tune etc?
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

A guitar is only as strong as its weakest link. If you have tuners that slip, a bridge where the saddles move over time or a nylon nut that easily gets notched and hangs up the guitar isn't going to get or stay in tune easily.

Steel, brass and pot metal all sound different as well. A reasonably well made bridge made from junk metal will not sound as good as something milled out of steel.

Wood has little to do with a guitar staying in tune but greatly effects tone. Hardware has an impact on both.
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

The quality of the hard parts will have more of an effect on overall tone, and sustain as opposed to intonation and staying in tune. Assuming the geometry of how the neck fits into the body, and the mounting of the bridge in relation the tuning and intonation are more directly affected by other things. The intonation is mainly a result of string length between the nut and the break over the bridge saddle. This measurement has nothing to do with the materials in use but a fixed distance.
As for staying in tune, the bridge and even tuners have less to do with a guitar staying in tune than a properly cut nut. Especially with a tremolo equipped guitar strings binding at the nut is the number 1 cause of a guitar going out of tune.
In all cases a good guitar tech can make the necessary adjustments and make even a cheap guitar play well. That said, the quality of tone and sustain is another story, this is where I feel higher quality parts and wood make the biggest difference.
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

Thanks for the quick and good answers! I'm now off to look for a good tele bridge! Any bridge recommendations for a non chicken pickin' tele?
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

it's weird but i have some cheap arse guitars with cheap hardware and they sound amazing.. i always prefer high quality hardware but i have a few cheapies i will not mod as i don't want to change what i have..

my 1999 MIM Standard i've depated for years of changing the bridge or at least the thin cheap metal block that is in it.. i have some other bridges i could plug and redrill for... but i think i'll keep it as is even if the hardware is cheap... at least for now.. it works as is..

my 2006 MIM Standard Strat and my 1999 MIM Tele are staying bone stock for now... can't see myself modding them even with better PU's
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

Thurisarz said:
Is the neckplate going to affect the sound?
Click to expand...

I don't know... but now I'm gonna start making aftermarket neckplates.



NP-300

For the real vintage tone, don't be bothered with cheap steel neckplates. Try the new NP-300, made from cast iodoronite brass, designed to improve upper-end harmonics and give added warmth and punch to your tone.

$399,-

For another $99 you will recieve custom tuned screws, which is 250% more effective at transferring resonance.



(of course, I'd be selling standard ones, painted with gold spray paint)
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

Erlend_G said:
I don't know... but now I'm gonna start making aftermarket neckplates.



NP-300

For the real vintage tone, don't be bothered with cheap steel neckplates. Try the new NP-300, made from cast iodoronite brass, designed to improve upper-end harmonics and give added warmth and punch to your tone.

$399,-

For another $99 you will recieve custom tuned screws, which is 250% more effective at transferring resonance.




(of course, I'd be selling standard ones, painted with gold spray paint)
Click to expand...


Shoot man! That's a steal! I'll take 25!
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

I disagree, the neck plate is directly responsible for resonant coupling between the neck and body. A cheap neck plate will amplify odd order harmonics and make the guitar sound overly bright and brittle.

I only set glass ash trays on my amps when playing gigs. Setting a stamped metal ash tray on your amp is a tone sucking disaster!
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

Robert S. said:
I disagree, the neck plate is directly responsible for resonant coupling between the neck and body. A cheap neck plate will amplify odd order harmonics and make the guitar sound overly bright and brittle.

Not necessarily.
Strength and rigidity are the primary concerns for a neck plate where as most agree that light,soft Gibson aluminum stop tail pieces sound great.
However, a heavier metal plate ( such as a standard Fender ) will have a slower attack rate compared to a lighter ( cheaper ) plate and hence the guitar will not sound or be as responsive.

I only set glass ash trays on my amps when playing gigs. Setting a stamped metal ash tray on your amp is a tone sucking disaster!

Love it !
Click to expand...
.
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

Will S-T said:
Only if it's loose!
Click to expand...

yep. i check those periodically, they do loosen up over time.

even i notice the guitar is brighter and sustains better when the neck is screwed to the body

i also notice the bridge loosens up too
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

If the bridge is ok, then leave it be. Tuners should be the first thing to get changed when it comes to cheap hardware, IMO. I've got an import Fender Strat that had those cheap economy tuners on it and it would slip out of tune quite often. Great sounding guitar otherwise. So, I swapped the tuners for a set of Fender/Ping tuners from an MIM Fender that I bought of someone here and the tuning stability is 100% better than it was. It's hasn't slipped out of tune since. The bridge is pretty cheap too but it's ok for now. At some point I'll probably throw a Gotoh bridge on there.
 
Re: How important is the quality of the hardware?

I have a Squier '51 (Crafted in Indonesia) that is FANTASTIC, except for the bridge.

If it had a better bridge, I would play it over my MIA axes.

I'm not going to change the bridge since I think these will be worth a fortune one day and I want mine to be all original.

Hardware is superlatively important.
 
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