Telebridge mod day.

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Well I often play loud....
And all of the Telecasters I have had, always howled when played loudly!
Yes I planed the bridges, I had wax in there between the plate on the body...etc. etc.
And sometime ago I remembered that my California Beach Tele actually sports a GE body.

Hmm stenciled a line on the bridge and found a small metal saw and went to work.
Soldered an extra groundwire on the pot, put the wire into the pickup cavity and made a nice small fan shaped exposed wire end, put under the bridge and tightend it up.
Predrilled three holes for the pickup, and installed it again.

No more howl when I play at my normal loudness, only if I add excessive dirt, and then it is still ok...I like some life there anyways.
But it also removed some of the sound that I don't really like much with a traditional Tele bridge.
The Wilde pickup I have there, does not need the magnetic plate provided by the normal bridge, and I was not about to install some heavy brass horror on it either.

Now it looks like this.
View attachment 70629

 

[jeremy]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

looks great!

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Sweet! Glad you were able to find a solution!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Some better closeups.
Maybe I should drill a small hole for that groundwire some day.
View attachment 70630View attachment 70631View attachment 70632

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Didn't the GE Smith model have something similar?

Glad it's working out & looks cool,too!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

I certainly wouldn't worry about drilling a hole, that looks perfectly fine. Good job.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Yep the GE Smith does have half a bridge as well.
Just a wee one into the bridge screw...so it is out of sight.... Or make a flat copper one like the ones for a Jazz bass.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

It is cool, but you can also get ashrays with a much thicker, more evenly machined and much more feedback resistant baseplate if you want to maintain the twang at louder volumes. The joe Barden is a good example.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

the calaham tele bridge is a great unit and has two extra screws at the front to keep it firmly mounted. also pretty expensive

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Yeah but as said in the first post, I don't really like those thick dense things much....makes everything way to polite.
This way I still have the sound of the bridge, but without the annoying properties it has, as said the Wilde pickups I use don't have the need for a standard magnetic bridge, now it sounds better and way less harsh, and no howls.

No Callaham thing is ever going to sit on any of my guitars

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Cool mod, looks good and if it gives you what you want then it's a win/ win.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

It sure does

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

its definitely cool and unique.
Reminds me a little of Guthrie Trapp's guitar crossed with this one:

http://cassistausa.tripod.com/guitars.html

Floyd Cassista also made Guthrie's axe.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Ah those look different
Yeah plus after playing on it for awhile, I found it more comfy to play...

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Yeah, there's a few builders like Suhr and Grosh who agree with you. GE Smith is a tele lifer who did it too. For comfort and tone, it does make perfect sense. We like to think Leo did everything right the first time, but there are a few tweaks that perfected his ideas.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Should have done this along time ago...

 

[Rand-O-Monium]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Better late than never,man!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Telebridge mod day.

Hehe yeah!