Re: Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
Personally for me yes, I hate the feel of the tension they put on the strings.
Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
- Thread starter Infinite Dreams
- Start date
Re: Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
Don't believe me, pluck any strings length either on the head stock past the nut, or behind the saddle, now while plucking that length go ahead and bend that string anywhere on the fret board.
What happens? The pitch of that string length you are plucking raises up with the bending of the string. A nut or saddle may break/"terminate" a strings lenght, but only 100% if its a locking point.
Even the very act of fretting causes a micro bend that will "access" that length of string behind that non locked string's terminating point.
Even in Gibson literature it says the stop tail height adjustment is there for changing the tension/"feel" of the strings.
Now I know a string has a set tension for it's gauge and design when tuned to pitch.
BUT, again, all bets are off when that string has non locked terminating points and the string is then bent.
Why else would many different guitars have a different feel (other than the obvious like a different scale length, string gauge/brand/or action height)?
It's what goes on past those string terminating points, trapeze versus stop tail, same guitar, exact same strings, action setups, yet very different feel when bending the strings.
So back to the original issue at hand, when the strings hang up tight on the bridge after the saddle break termination point it affects how the original design is supposed to function.
That part of the bridge body was never designed to be part of the break point or introduce a variable after the break point.
Good affect or bad, it was not supposed to be that way in the design and it will have an affect equal in the amount to the degree of the force the string is imposing by hanging onto the bridge body after the saddle.
Unless there is a positive lock at the strings break/"termination point"( like a locking nut setup for example), any string length past that NON LOCKED break/termination point (saddles/nut slot) can affect the strings.
Don't believe me, pluck any strings length either on the head stock past the nut, or behind the saddle, now while plucking that length go ahead and bend that string anywhere on the fret board.
What happens? The pitch of that string length you are plucking raises up with the bending of the string. A nut or saddle may break/"terminate" a strings lenght, but only 100% if its a locking point.
Even the very act of fretting causes a micro bend that will "access" that length of string behind that non locked string's terminating point.
Even in Gibson literature it says the stop tail height adjustment is there for changing the tension/"feel" of the strings.
Now I know a string has a set tension for it's gauge and design when tuned to pitch.
BUT, again, all bets are off when that string has non locked terminating points and the string is then bent.
Why else would many different guitars have a different feel (other than the obvious like a different scale length, string gauge/brand/or action height)?
It's what goes on past those string terminating points, trapeze versus stop tail, same guitar, exact same strings, action setups, yet very different feel when bending the strings.
So back to the original issue at hand, when the strings hang up tight on the bridge after the saddle break termination point it affects how the original design is supposed to function.
That part of the bridge body was never designed to be part of the break point or introduce a variable after the break point.
Good affect or bad, it was not supposed to be that way in the design and it will have an affect equal in the amount to the degree of the force the string is imposing by hanging onto the bridge body after the saddle.
Last edited:
Re: Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
What you are describing is called compliance. I wrote a long article on the subject on this and several forums a few years back.
But that doesn't address the questions I had asked. Why are people making claims that just because a string touches the back of a TOM bridge that sustain, tone, etc. are adversely affected? Why are they calling it a design flaw?
What you are describing is called compliance. I wrote a long article on the subject on this and several forums a few years back.
But that doesn't address the questions I had asked. Why are people making claims that just because a string touches the back of a TOM bridge that sustain, tone, etc. are adversely affected? Why are they calling it a design flaw?
Silence Kid
New member
Re: Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
In my opinion it's not so much to do with the "touching," with respect to tone... But I've always thought guitars sound/feel better with less break angle over the bridge and thus prefer a raised tailpiece, so that may be part of it if others feel the same way.
Certain as well though that touching can affect tuning, particularly for a guitar equipped with Bigsby/trem, or under heavy bending.
In my opinion it's not so much to do with the "touching," with respect to tone... But I've always thought guitars sound/feel better with less break angle over the bridge and thus prefer a raised tailpiece, so that may be part of it if others feel the same way.
Certain as well though that touching can affect tuning, particularly for a guitar equipped with Bigsby/trem, or under heavy bending.
Re: Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
So back to the original issue at hand, when the strings hang up tight on the bridge after the saddle break termination point it affects how the original design is supposed to function.
That part of the bridge body was never designed to be part of the break point or introduce a variable after the break point.
Good affect or bad, it was not supposed to be that way in the design and it will have an affect equal in the amount to the degree of the force the string is imposing by hanging onto the bridge body after the saddle.
I edited this into my reply up top:
So back to the original issue at hand, when the strings hang up tight on the bridge after the saddle break termination point it affects how the original design is supposed to function.
That part of the bridge body was never designed to be part of the break point or introduce a variable after the break point.
Good affect or bad, it was not supposed to be that way in the design and it will have an affect equal in the amount to the degree of the force the string is imposing by hanging onto the bridge body after the saddle.
Re: Strings Hitting Tonepros Bridge
That's a reasonable explanation. Thanks. But I do have a couple things to add:
1. When I've seen this on string-through-body setups, the strings are still relatively straight, so it's not causing an extreme break angle. And is pretty much a non-issue.
2. As far as the "design flaw" matter, technically it's not in most cases. Not directly anyway. The thing causing the issue in most cases is the neck angle. If the neck angle is too shallow, then the bridge has to be raised higher than should be necessary to reach a given action height. Which then creates more of a chance of the strings touching the back of the bridge. People are trying to fix this by adding ferrules, filing the back of the bridge, etc. when they should try adding a shim to the neck pocket (if it's a bolt-on neck). With that said, if a guitar is set-neck or neck-through, AND string-through, AND is setup properly, AND the action isn't ridiculously high, THEN I could see a claim of there being a possible design flaw on the guitar. But even then the design flaw is most likely with the guitar's neck angle, not the bridge setup.
That's a reasonable explanation. Thanks. But I do have a couple things to add:
1. When I've seen this on string-through-body setups, the strings are still relatively straight, so it's not causing an extreme break angle. And is pretty much a non-issue.
2. As far as the "design flaw" matter, technically it's not in most cases. Not directly anyway. The thing causing the issue in most cases is the neck angle. If the neck angle is too shallow, then the bridge has to be raised higher than should be necessary to reach a given action height. Which then creates more of a chance of the strings touching the back of the bridge. People are trying to fix this by adding ferrules, filing the back of the bridge, etc. when they should try adding a shim to the neck pocket (if it's a bolt-on neck). With that said, if a guitar is set-neck or neck-through, AND string-through, AND is setup properly, AND the action isn't ridiculously high, THEN I could see a claim of there being a possible design flaw on the guitar. But even then the design flaw is most likely with the guitar's neck angle, not the bridge setup.
