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Post by guitarman1 on Feb 23, 2006 12:11:15 GMT -7
I just picked up a Warmoth Tele body on Ebay & need to start educating myself on Teles. I've been reading about magnetic versus non-magnetic plates, ferrous versus stainless plates, brass versus steel saddles, compensated versus non-compensated saddles & 3 versus 6 saddles. Also flanged & cut away flange plates. What's considered the best sounding Telecaster bridge? Help!
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Post by Curt on Feb 23, 2006 12:22:13 GMT -7
some say ya gotta have the 3 saddle, guess my ears aren't that sharp but 6 or 3 is all the same to me, one of my better sounding Teles was a parts o caster with a '70's vintage 6 saddle and Rio Muy Grande pups in a HEAVY ash no name body. If you go 3 saddle ya can't go wrong with a Callaham intonated kit, hell you can get the complete hdwr kit w/all you'll need, RC just went this route with excellent results...and those Amalfitano pups !
Dale Clark @ Glendale can hook ya up also.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 23, 2006 12:31:24 GMT -7
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Post by JoeYello on Feb 23, 2006 13:33:32 GMT -7
+++++++1 on the Callaham
I replaced the bridge on a Fender 63 NOS tele. I also got the compensated saddles which gives you better intonation. Very nice product. I had some issues with microphonics that were immediately remedied with the Callaham.
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Post by rcrecelius on Feb 23, 2006 14:05:47 GMT -7
It all depends on what YOU want your guitar to sound like. There are so many variables its hard to suggest just one. Like Curt said, I love my partscaster built with a Callaham tele kit because I wanted to build a very versatile guitar but...just for sake of argument...if I were looking for maximum brightness/twang(think Don Rich telecaster tones) I'd probably go with a non-magnetic bridge from Glendale w/steel saddles...YMMV of course I'd type more but I gotta get some work done...I'll try to visit this thread later...
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Post by guitarman1 on Feb 24, 2006 8:50:39 GMT -7
I was thinking of using compensated saddles....1 steel for the E & A strings & brass for the rest. So are non-magnetic plates brighter than magnetic plates?
The Glendale stuff looks pretty cool, but I think it will cost about $150.00 for bridge and saddles. Are they that much better than Callaham at $80.00?
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Post by rcrecelius on Feb 24, 2006 9:02:53 GMT -7
The Glendale stuff looks pretty cool, but I think it will cost about $150.00 for bridge and saddles. Are they that much better than Callaham at $80.00? Not better, just different...like I said, thats what I would do if I wanted a very bright/twangy sound. I just threw it out there as an example. Magnetic vs non-magnetic...it is my understanding that the non-magnetic bridge plate is more associated with the bright sounding teles of the 60's where the magnetic plates are warmer like early 50's teles. The calaham plate is thicker which leads to more sustain, less harshness. I am completely satisfied with my Calaham bridge plate and brass saddles...its a good balanced sound. I have some other Glendale saddles Ive thought about trying but I hate to mess with the setup on this guitar so Im saving them for another tele I need to work on (if I ever get time to do it).
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Post by billyguitar on Feb 24, 2006 15:40:11 GMT -7
Some Teles, with a stock vintage style bridge, will howl when you turn them up loud. If you get that press on it and see if it subsides. If it does put some kind of tape on the bottom. That'll keep it from resonating and howling. It can sound like the pickup howling but sometimes it's just the bridge "fluttering".
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2006 6:22:24 GMT -7
you'll be able to hear the difference in the better bridges acoustically.... Callaham 3 saddle. Callaham has a lot of good tweaks without going to far..brass barrels, pre-cut off height screws, compensated, thicher plate, cutout for your little finger and two pulldown screws for the plate/howling thing that billyguitar described.
I like thes bridges a real lot.
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Post by guitarman1 on Mar 3, 2006 7:13:57 GMT -7
Thanks for all of the Tele bridge tips guys. The guy I just bought the Warmoth body from is sending me a traditional Allparts bridge with 3 Callaham stainless comp. saddles for free. I'm going to try that out first. If the stainless saddles are to bright, I think I'll change out the first two to brass.
Has anybody tried that? Phil Jacoby, my luthier up in Baltimore has stainless, brass, brass on his Tele. He claims he gets the warmth of brass on the higher strings and gets punch & twang with stainless on the A & E.
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Post by rcrecelius on Mar 3, 2006 7:18:15 GMT -7
If the stainless saddles are to bright, I think I'll change out the first two to brass. Has anybody tried that? Phil Jacoby, my luthier up in Baltimore has stainless, brass, brass on his Tele. He claims he gets the warmth of brass on the higher strings and gets punch & twang with stainless on the A & E. Lots of people have done that and claim it works well if you need a little more "bite" out of those low strings.
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Post by bluzsteel on Mar 3, 2006 8:27:10 GMT -7
I have this with the brass compensated for my tele
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Post by zdogma on Mar 3, 2006 8:38:02 GMT -7
I use all three brass, Callaham, and I really like the change from steel. I find the low strings have lots of punch and clarity. I've only had mine for a month, though.
I had two small issues with the Callaham.
One- the mounting screws that came with it did't have quite emough bite for the bigger fender holes, and two: the low E never quite lined up with the bridge polepiece, no matter how I adjusted it, it would slide a little bit south (which affected the sound and intonation a bit), so I filed a small slot for the low E, and polished it with 000 steel wool, which works fine.
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Post by guitarman1 on Mar 6, 2006 13:06:44 GMT -7
I use all three brass, Callaham, and I really like the change from steel. I find the low strings have lots of punch and clarity. I've only had mine for a month, though. I had two small issues with the Callaham. One- the mounting screws that came with it did't have quite emough bite for the bigger fender holes, and two: the low E never quite lined up with the bridge polepiece, no matter how I adjusted it, it would slide a little bit south (which affected the sound and intonation a bit), so I filed a small slot for the low E, and polished it with 000 steel wool, which works fine. What did you find differently with the tone between the Callaham brass & steel?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2006 13:27:33 GMT -7
The steel saddles tend to be brighter and punchier than the brass saddles. I bought both when I bought my callaham bridge assembly and I prefered the sweeter sound of the brass saddles to the steel saddles. The steel saddles were cool too, espeically if you find you need to cut through the mix. For funky rhythm stuff it might just be the ticket. I usually play my tele in more alt country/rock settings and prefered the brass saddles for the sound I was going for. Hope this helps.
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Post by guitarman1 on Mar 6, 2006 13:54:52 GMT -7
The steel saddles tend to be brighter and punchier than the brass saddles. I bought both when I bought my callaham bridge assembly and I prefered the sweeter sound of the brass saddles to the steel saddles. The steel saddles were cool too, espeically if you find you need to cut through the mix. For funky rhythm stuff it might just be the ticket. I usually play my tele in more alt country/rock settings and prefered the brass saddles for the sound I was going for. Hope this helps. Yes it does help. Thank you for the info!
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Post by zdogma on Mar 7, 2006 6:27:23 GMT -7
Agree with aruntang.
Brass gives you a bit more mellow tele, less brittle highs, still good twang. You can call them to make sure you get the correct model for your tele body.
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