Telecaster Bridge Saddle Position Question

[magillver]

Good morning! I never really worked with Teles, and I'm playing with my first Tele build. I bought a random bridge, assuming that they were fairly standard, and I've come to realize that they are not. Once I got the neck mounted and measured out the position of the bridge, I realized that the saddles on the bridge I bought are too far back. Looking at images of Tele bridges, some have saddles that are almost right up against the bridge pickup, and some are about an inch further back. It looks like I need the type that are up against the bridge, and I'm wondering what the 'correct' nomenclature for that style would be? Is it something like vintage vs modern? Sub question: being that there seem to be 2 basic standards, what physically accounts for the difference? Does one have a deeper (longer?) heel pocket?

 

[Señor Verde]

I'm not a Tele pro, but built a Warmoth Tele and have gone through several bridges. They all seemed to intonate about the same distance from the pickup or back of the bridge.

Can you post a pic of the bridge, intonated? Is it a 21 or 22 fret neck? If it's a 22 fret, does the last fret extend out farther than the end of the neck heel? If it does, but the body's neck pocket was routed for a 22 fret neck that the fretboard doesn't extend past the neck heel, I'm guessing the saddles would be farther back when properly intonated.

Some will disagree, but I've tried Rutters, Callaham, Gotoh and probably a couple other bridges. The one that sounds the Teleiest to me is the regular old style Fender bridge. They cost much less than the higher priced bridges some people rave about.

 

[jeremy]

i have no idea. ive only had fender teles or guitars that i made from boards that i used a fender tele type template. i have had to get longer or shorter screws depending on the bridge and saddles i chose. never had an issue unless i was mixing and matching parts. care to show pics of what you mean?

 

[magillver]

I bought a pre-routed tele body on line, so the bridge position is kind of predicated by the route for the bridge pickup, but the position of the saddles is of course based on the scale. I understand that I can use longer screws, it just intrigues me that there seem to be 2 distinct measurements:




On the bridge on the left, the saddles are about an inch back from the edge of the pickup hole, but on the right they go almost all the way up to the hole

 

[Chistopher]

I came across this recently as well. There are two different tele bridge mounting designs

 

[magillver]

In answer to the earlier question, it's a 22-fret neck, and the fingerboard does hang over the end a bit...

 

[magillver]

For reference, here's a pic of the bridge that I have, with the line on the blue tape marking roughly where the saddles need to be, almost ½" off:

 

[MikeS]

Got a pic of the body? Since it's pre-routed, the mounting screw and string-thru locations will tell all. The location & quantity of the mounting screws and string-thru holes, as shown in the image Chistopher posted, can differ.

I wouldn't put any stock on the location of the saddles relative to the pickup in the manufacturer's photographs, as these are not intonated bridges. In post #4 the left image is a 3-screw bridge with modern string-thru saddles. The right image is a 4-screw vintage top loader. The bridge you have is a 4-screw bridge with modern string-thru saddles.

 

[Chistopher]

It's wild to me how this would cause a major change in tone, but no one ever discussed it