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Post by John on May 7, 2006 7:17:50 GMT -7
I've had other threads about the problems with my tele.
I have what seems to be a dead low (pitch) E string. It's noticable to me, perhaps not anyone in the audience. I don't think the stock bridge is of decent quality and have investigated a replacement.
Warmoth makes what appears to be a replacement, but it's 1/8 thick plate. The stock is a very thin plate. Also, the stock has the 1/4 inch raised edge around three sides. Very 'vintage', but none of my other guitars have it and it gets in the way of my playing. The (potential) new Warmoth does not have this....so I think that's something I'd like.
I really like this guitar, I've only had it about 6 months. I love the neck, I had new frets installed to match my other guitars. Bought a pickguard to replace the ugly one it came with. But this dead string is driving me crazy. It has individual string trees, and the one for the low E, because of how the tree screw matches the bridge, actually raises up off the bridge. (EDIT: forgot to add: When you CHANGE STRINGS, the tree rises up when there's not a string holding it down) None of the other trees do this. And I think that's part of the problem. I tried to see if I could slightly bend the bridge so the tree wouldn't point up in the air, but I can feel the metal starting to crack with only a slight move.
The only thing left I can think of is the bridge. The nut is fine. Pickup height is fine (even though I lowered it some) Also because of the heavier bridge, it should sustain more, something I've noticed it's somewhat lacking.
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Post by Teleman on May 7, 2006 7:34:23 GMT -7
I've had great luck with Callaham bridges. I've found that they increase sustain, and intonate better than the stock bridge. Check out thier website and take a look at what they have to offer.
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Post by billyguitar on May 7, 2006 7:55:48 GMT -7
Joe Barden has a great bridge. It has the raised edge but is cutaway.
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on May 7, 2006 10:14:09 GMT -7
In my experience, the traditional raised Tele bridge with 3-way saddle yields the traditional Tele tone, if that's what you're after. I've tried the 6-way, not for me. A luthier set up my two Teles with the "Danny Gatton intonation." The bridge should be light like Leo intended it because if it all comes together right, the bridge helps "activate" the body and give it spanky ringing overtones. I believe that a heavier bridge will dampen some of that magic Tele chime. You may also want to check to ensure that the saddle screws are actually making contact with the bridge plate--sometimes at first glance it appears that they both are, but one of the screws may be floating and contributing to the dead sound that you hear. Good luck....
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Post by BW on May 7, 2006 11:59:49 GMT -7
Check out www.glendaleguitars.com My buddy Dale Clark really has some cool tele stuff PLUS he's a tele picker from heaven. Great tele bridges and compensated saddles.
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on May 7, 2006 19:05:32 GMT -7
Buddy, great site, thanks. I'll be checking this stuff out.
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Post by John on May 8, 2006 4:44:37 GMT -7
robt...
Thanks for the info, but I'm not a vintage tele tone person. I'm willing to give up a touch of vintage sound for some sustain and to make the low E string ring like it should.
Also, we're talking about a solid body here. There can't be THAT much resonance in the body. Not like my 335 or something similar.
I've always checked the saddle screws to make sure they're both hitting the plate. It doesn't help.
I'll be ordering the heavy bridge and I'll give people an update.
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on May 8, 2006 6:12:55 GMT -7
Gtrman--I'm interested to hear how it works. I hafta admit that intonating a Tele with a three way bridge can be pretty frustrating. I intonate the B, G, and A strings and hope it all comes together. Some do it differently. It's a compromise even with angled three way saddles.
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Post by BW on May 8, 2006 6:56:13 GMT -7
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Post by John on May 8, 2006 9:30:09 GMT -7
Also, in a flash of common sense: The dead string is with both the bridge and neck pickup. That means it's not the bridge pickup. Perhaps that means I can return the Seymour Duncan pickup that just arrived. (SD makes a pickup that different magnets for the three upper/lower strings to keep the lower pitched strings from being muddy...we'll see)
New bridge is on the way.
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Post by Curt on May 8, 2006 12:15:53 GMT -7
Check out www.glendaleguitars.com My buddy Dale Clark really has some cool tele stuff PLUS he's a tele picker from heaven. Great tele bridges and compensated saddles. +1 on the Glendale stuff, Dale offers single and double cut away bridges, and as BW stated, Dale is a very cool and helpfull fella, builds a sweet Tele too. BW, I shoulda known you knew Dale...My fav of his stuff is his nylon string spanish stuff...nice
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Post by BW on May 8, 2006 15:53:25 GMT -7
Curt, Never heard him play gut string! he sure can spank a tele (or in days past, a strat) Dale used to sing this shuffle at our Monday open mic fiasco , "She was my steady date until she put on weight.."He sez he 'don't sing no more'! Jerry Amalfitano installed one of Dale's bridges and saddles with a set of Jerry's pickups over the weekend in my old 70's yeller tele, cut a new nut for it too. That guitar has NEVER sounded or played as good as it does now. I've had several bridges and quite a few pickups in it over the years, (I've owned it since about '78, gave 300 bucks for it) but it just never blew my dress up. Sounds much better to me now, and it plays more in tune than it ever has. Incredible stuff guys are coming up with these days.
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Post by Curt on May 8, 2006 17:06:33 GMT -7
Glad your one of "Jerry's kids" now too Buddy !! His stuff is great and he's aheckuva guy, his Tele neck pup is the best out there IMO.
If ya get a chance to catch Dale with Max Stalling wait for the Spanish tune, real nice stuff, some times they have a girl fiddle spanker and her and Dale cut heads on that tune..too cool.
Did Jerry lighten the Tele ?!?!?! Most of those have a firm relationship with gravity !
See ya, Curt
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Post by Hohn on May 9, 2006 4:30:30 GMT -7
Gtrman--I'm interested to hear how it works. I hafta admit that intonating a Tele with a three way bridge can be pretty frustrating. I intonate the B, G, and A strings and hope it all comes together. Some do it differently. It's a compromise even with angled three way saddles. My Tele is the best-intonating guitar I have, even with the "paired" saddles. The angle makes all the difference. Mine is made my mannmade usa-- some decent hardware. The appearance is very similar to the Glendale setup, where the adjustment screw is not parallel to the saddle. Judging by appearance alone, the Glendale setup looks to be the best available. www.mannmadeusa.com/tele.htm
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Post by John on May 9, 2006 6:29:25 GMT -7
Wow!
$175 for a bridge?
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Post by BW on May 9, 2006 8:01:00 GMT -7
Glad your one of "Jerry's kids" now too Buddy !! His stuff is great and he's aheckuva guy, his Tele neck pup is the best out there IMO. If ya get a chance to catch Dale with Max Stalling wait for the Spanish tune, real nice stuff, some times they have a girl fiddle spanker and her and Dale cut heads on that tune..too cool. Did Jerry lighten the Tele ?!?!?! Most of those have a firm relationship with gravity ! See ya, Curt Well Curt, I have sort of an ongoing relationship with gravity so its no biggie ;^) No, its a little heavy, but not as bad as some of 'em. Used it on a session last night w/ a songwriter bud of mine and it really sounded great recorded. AND quiet. It ain't gonna replace my Lentz guitars, just because of the 'CBS-ness' of it, but it really came to life w/ the new hardware and pickups, not to mention a first rate setup by Mr. Amalfitano, and as a bonus he and my son took a spin around the block in his Delorean. Class act.
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Post by BW on May 9, 2006 8:11:03 GMT -7
Must be the George Washington Bridge....or at the very least it'll set ya back 175 'Georges'....
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Post by Curt on May 9, 2006 8:43:15 GMT -7
Glad your one of "Jerry's kids" now too Buddy !! His stuff is great and he's aheckuva guy, his Tele neck pup is the best out there IMO. If ya get a chance to catch Dale with Max Stalling wait for the Spanish tune, real nice stuff, some times they have a girl fiddle spanker and her and Dale cut heads on that tune..too cool. Did Jerry lighten the Tele ?!?!?! Most of those have a firm relationship with gravity ! See ya, Curt Well Curt, I have sort of an ongoing relationship with gravity so its no biggie ;^) No, its a little heavy, but not as bad as some of 'em. Used it on a session last night w/ a songwriter bud of mine and it really sounded great recorded. AND quiet. It ain't gonna replace my Lentz guitars, just because of the 'CBS-ness' of it, but it really came to life w/ the new hardware and pickups, not to mention a first rate setup by Mr. Amalfitano, and as a bonus he and my son took a spin around the block in his Delorean. Class act. That's cool Bud, I have not met Jerry in person yet, just via emails, but he's a heckuva guy. Your song writing buddy, Would he be the one I met @ JJ's when you played with Dave and Ms. Curt and I came up for the weekend?
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Post by BW on May 9, 2006 9:01:50 GMT -7
Uhh...I've slept since then, Curt :^) Don't remember who was @ J&J's with us except for Zane, but I'll lay odds it wasn't this gentleman. It MIGHTA been my bud Kelly, who I haven't seen lately because he's decided to start racing cross country motorcycles again (for the first time since he was about 20)...in the 'over 50 expert' division. Better start takin' his ol' lady's calcium tabs, he'll be wishin' he had that extra bone density before long! Jerry A. and I were mutual acqaintances of our recently departed friend Les Walker, who some of y'all knew from Charley's Guitars in Dallas, and Les intro'd me to Jerry and his family a couple years back.
**update, Curt!** The guy you're referring to is the effervescent, golfing, singer-songwriting, 747 cargo plane flying (yikes!) Cap'n KURT, ironically enough...Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled thread (sorry!)
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Post by Curt on May 9, 2006 11:21:58 GMT -7
Uhh...I've slept since then, Curt :^) Don't remember who was @ J&J's with us except for Zane, but I'll lay odds it wasn't this gentleman. It MIGHTA been my bud Kelly, who I haven't seen lately because he's decided to start racing cross country motorcycles again (for the first time since he was about 20)...in the 'over 50 expert' division. Better start takin' his ol' lady's calcium tabs, he'll be wishin' he had that extra bone density before long! Jerry A. and I were mutual acqaintances of our recently departed friend Les Walker, who some of y'all knew from Charley's Guitars in Dallas, and Les intro'd me to Jerry and his family a couple years back. **update, Curt!** The guy you're referring to is the effervescent, golfing, singer-songwriting, 747 cargo plane flying (yikes!) Cap'n KURT, ironically enough...Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled thread (sorry!) That sounds about right, I just remember his other half was fairly attractive dark haired lady ...and that he met you when you were called in to do some slide work for him on a studio project......those stuck...not his name...I'm shallow
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Post by BW on May 9, 2006 14:21:30 GMT -7
Yep, that's his sweetie Nora. Great gal and a Kindergarten teacher. Don't know how she puts up w/ HIS mischief! Same can be said for my lovely spouse.
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Post by Curt on May 9, 2006 19:15:40 GMT -7
And mine ;^)
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Post by dei305 on May 9, 2006 19:57:15 GMT -7
gtrman, Just for grins you may also want to change out change the saddles to a set of compensated titanium saddles. They intonate perfectly, don't rust, and give you much greater harmonics. I have a set of these on my 52 RI, as well as my strats. You can check the allparts website for info. Also, I am a big Bill Lawrence fan www.billlawrence.com/ I recently replaced the L-290 bridge pup with Bills' new L-298TL. The neck is L-280TN. Bills pups sound incredible, no 60 cycle hum, and very reasonable in price. Plus they are incredible people. Let me know if you have any questions with my suggestions. Good luck. Rick
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Post by straightblues on May 10, 2006 14:18:18 GMT -7
I have the Glendale bridge and it is great. You know you can just grind off that raised section on your bridge and continue to use it. You can also just buy new saddles for your bridge. Glendale sells the expensive ones. I have also had great success with the $13 ones that Stew Mac sells.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on May 10, 2006 20:24:01 GMT -7
I love Callaham's tele bridge.
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Post by joekondziella on May 11, 2006 1:11:32 GMT -7
I just got a Callaham Tele bridge with the stainless saddles a couple of weeks ago. I'm diggin' it and the guitar intonates great. Gave it punch and fullness.
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