les paul bridge material

Re: les paul bridge material

Can't say I have used too many different materials at the bridge but I didn't like graphtech saddles when I tried them on my LP, made the sound get a bit "plinky", lost the fullness.

As for the tailpiece, I have changed to aluminum on a few guitars. It has made everyone of the guitars more alive/resonant. Not in an over the top WOW kind of way but it is noticeable.
 
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Re: les paul bridge material

Lewguitar said:
Regarding Les Paul style stop tailpieces and zinc (pot metal) vs. aluminum, my ears and other senses tell me that aluminum gives a guitar a slightly more spacious, acoustic-like quality.

It's also lighter in weight.

As for what sounds best, that's 100% personal taste.

The two do make a guitar sound different though.

I only have one guitar with a tuno-o-matic and stop tailpiece: my 2000 Gibson ES-335.

I like its sound as is and I did not change to aluminum. Why fix it if it's not broken?

However, I did not love my Les Paul (sold it eventually) and I did change to aluminum on it to see if I could get it to sound more resonant. And it did take on a slightly more "airy" or "acoustic" quality.

As for brass, I don't usually go in for it. I did try it in the 1970's when it was all the rage and put six brass saddles on my '63 Strat.

I didn't like the effect for the most part and felt that it dulled the tone.
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As you suggest, it is with clean to medium gain that the unplugged base tone shines through, it does sound pretty good with high-gain IMHO. This is my best playing guitar and I am not playing it, and I can not easily sell it at my location. So I think I will take a shot at changing parts. Thanks for the input.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

Wattage said:
Can't say I have used to many different materials at the bridge but I didn't like graphtech saddles when I tried them on my LP, made the sound get a bit "plinky", lost the fullness.

As for the tailpiece, I have changed to aluminum on a few guitars. It has made everyone of the guitars more alive/resonant. Not in an over the top WOW kind of way but it is noticeable.
Click to expand...
I didn't hear great things about graphtech saddles either. I was considering aluminum tailpiece just in case the sound dulled with brass saddles. Thanks for sharing.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

I can say this. Switching out to a faber bridge (nickel plated brass saddles) steel tp studs, and their bridge studs 3 years ago would have saved me a $hitpile of money on pickups and strings. Probably a grand. My 2014 Trad had one of those titanium saddle nashvile bridges and it made everything sound harsh and I had real problems with volume discrepancy between wounds and plains. My pickuos would be on a reverse slant in each positikn I could never get both pickups or the middle sounding worth a damn. It was either one or the other. Swapped it out for another of the same bridge (from my Classic) and no improvement, and just figured I had a mediocre guitar. Always unhappy and tinkering with it.

2 years later bought a tonelok kit as the last resort before selling it and now the problem is pretty much gone. I did not like the loss of lows with the alum tailpiece and went back to zinc for this guitar..but the harsh is gone, the fizz is gone, the sustain is better, the guitar is more responsive, sings better, and the weird volume discrepancy between wounds and plains is gone. Normal pickups heights and slant for both neck and bridge. I couldn't believe the difference. Took me a mag swap to fine tune pickups to my preference and happier than a pig in a pile now. Its not my old R8, but it sounds and plays great now.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

Very encouraging to hear this story thanks a lot... so Brass it will be I think, maybe steel studs as well... anybody will any disagreements or qualifications to make please let know. As a sidenote, I made some serious tonal progress with an A4 pickup that came out of another guitar, I won't name the pickup since this is the Seymour Duncan forum, I believe it must be in the same ballpark as the Saturday Night Special I was recommended here.
 
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Re: les paul bridge material

lkr said:
This may be the wrong place to ask but here goes. Why does everyone rave about aluminum bridges and tailpieces on les pauls. Even steel or titanium gets raves over brass. In the floyd or strat tremelo world, everyone swears by large brass tremelo blocks. I have large brass blocks on my Floyds and am one to swear by them. I can actually feel the vibrations. I have been researching bridges for my les paul with a nashville and have wondered this. There are a few brass bridges and tailpieces available but only by abm mueller or guitar fetish. I have yet to find a retailer for the abm muellers in the US. Just curious on the forums thoughts. Thanks.
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Tailpieces aint really supposed to vibrate.

Brass SADDLES and brass NUTS, otoh, are products some people seek out and use intentionally

With tremolos, the reason masses of brass are more popular is that the vibrating string is only connected to the guitar body through studs & knives. Fixed bridges have a more solid connection.


...or something like that.


Actually, a big part of it on tremolos is probably that added mass makes the trem more stable, since the blocks are attached to the pivoting, floating part of the bridge.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

stupendous silly said:
Very encouraging to hear this story thanks a lot... so Brass it will be I think, maybe steel studs as well... anybody will any disagreements or qualifications to make please let know. As a sidenote, I made some serious tonal progress with an A4 pickup that came out of another guitar, I won't name the pickup since this is the Seymour Duncan forum, I believe it must be in the same ballpark as the Saturday Night Special I was recommended here.
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No clue if you will find the same kind of improvement or not. I have not tried the faber bridges on any other guitars. Aluminum tailpieces I have messed with on several guitars, but not the faber bridge.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

Les Paul played some spectacular bridges, the bridge in How High the Moon is one of my favorites. I love to play it live
 
Re: les paul bridge material

You know thinking about it a little I am going to agree with JeffB about losing a little bottom end with the aluminum tailpiece, at least on some guitars. I never noticed but the one guitar was done fairly recently and I have noticed I changed my settings for the guitar a bit to add a little more bottom.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

JeffB said:
No clue if you will find the same kind of improvement or not. I have not tried the faber bridges on any other guitars. Aluminum tailpieces I have messed with on several guitars, but not the faber bridge.
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No worries, I know it is a trial and error thing for each guitar. I was trying to decide on the best bet regarding materials. Faber is not accessable to me anyway, I may try TonePros or maybe ABM.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

For me, brass on guitars rock. I have two homemade prototype guitars that are topped with brass and they sound exquisite.
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o564/JeffBlue1/IMG_0233_zpsa5d0ef58.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o564/JeffBlue1/IMG_0235_zpsfbebe27b.jpg
I have also added a brass roller bridge from Guitar Fetish and a brass tailpiece from Kahler and they were both an amazing upgrade on my highly modded 2012 Gibson Les Paul Supreme.
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o564/JeffBlue1/IMG_0355_zpsb886510d.jpg
http://i1148.photobucket.com/albums/o564/JeffBlue1/IMG_0354_zps6b6e0830.jpg
 
Re: les paul bridge material

I put a Starz brass bridge on my Les Paul once. It robbed all the snap of the strings. Probably good for a Tele or other very bright guitar. I took it off right away and put the zinc bridge back on.

For bass I like aluminum Hipshot bridges. They have a brighter more open tone. Same on a guitar.

The whole thing with bridges is which frequencies, and how much of those, they let get absorbed by the body. Contrary to what people say about transferring vibrations, it's removing energy from the strings. So it's removing part of the frequency spectrum. This is also why different woods sound different.

But all the parts of the guitar contribute to the tone. And then the pickups amplify that, while adding their own quality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: les paul bridge material

stupendous silly said:
No worries, I know it is a trial and error thing for each guitar. I was trying to decide on the best bet regarding materials. Faber is not accessable to me anyway, I may try TonePros or maybe ABM.
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Tonepros are just gotoh designs with the set screws..You can save alot by just grabbing gotoh hardware unless you want the set screw design.
 
Re: les paul bridge material

DavidRavenMoon said:
I put a Starz brass bridge on my Les Paul once. It robbed all the snap of the strings. Probably good for a Tele or other very bright guitar. I took it off right away and put the zinc bridge back on.

For bass I like aluminum Hipshot bridges. They have a brighter more open tone. Same on a guitar.

The whole thing with bridges is which frequencies, and how much of those, they let get absorbed by the body. Contrary to what people say about transferring vibrations, it's removing energy from the strings. So it's removing part of the frequency spectrum. This is also why different woods sound different.

But all the parts of the guitar contribute to the tone. And then the pickups amplify that, while adding their own quality.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Nice info thanks... I am not sure what alternatives I have other than Brass for replacing Titanium saddles - given I don't want Nylon, and assuming Steel will be cold and bright too. Find some bridge with zinc saddles?
 
Re: les paul bridge material

Don't know much about the material used in Gibson ABR-1 and Nashville bridges. I think the Nashville is a better design, at least technically. But I have an old school fondness for the ABR-1, especially the Gibson Historic No-Wire version. I have Les Pauls with both bridges...I don't think about it much when I'm trying to play an Fdim chord. ;)

One guitar had a Tone Pros ABR-1when I bought it. I'm not real impressed.

I really don't care for the '70s Schaller "harmonica" bridge. Lot of room for intonation, but they don't seem toneful to me. Likewise, the fine-tuning TP-6 tailpiece, if I had one, would be immediately replaced.

I do like the aluminum tailpiece. I have them on my Historics, and I've bought Gotoh LW aluminum tails for several of my Les Pauls. It gives a more natural, more open, airier, resonant tone. The zinc pieces are more compressed, focused, rounded, and may sustain a little better. For my style, I like the aluminum.

Bill
 
Re: les paul bridge material

I like the bridge on my 2015 Les Paul that's zymac with titanium saddles and nut, it really adds sustain and clarity
 
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