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What Hardtail Bridge


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The only one I can find is the schaller roller bridge.  But stew mac si -always- out of stock.  So what others are there avaliable to me?  And it would be nice if they looked good.  I kinda dont like the look of the schaller roller bridge but I guess it will have to do.

Why, you're afraid of screwing up the ferrule line again? Or you really want a top mount?

You can also go with an archtop type bridge and tailpiece.

Something like this

or THIS ONE

I have one, it's made by Sung Il/Il Sung. Good quality. Except ---I paid $10 for it...you have to look at the guy's auctions too. The BIN prices are for when you really really can't wait.

You could also get a top mounted telecaster bridge and cut away the pickup area if you don't need that.

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doug, that thing costs $115! I could just get a tremolo for that.

drak and whers the beef?, I already know about those and IMO they look horriable.

idch, I dont want a TOM as I dont want to have a neck angle. Plus I like the adustability of a strat style bridge. And yes I'm afraid of screwing up the ferruls :D Mabye I just need to go for it and just figure out a way to do it right.

I decided I will just go with this one and just do bigDguitars tutorial on how to get perfect ferruel holes.

Edited by Godin SD
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And yes I'm afraid of screwing up the ferruls :D  Mabye I just need to go for it and just figure out a way to do it right.

Godin..

Put the guitar on a perfectly level surface, drill your string channels from the back using a template. Get a little level and if you have a perfectly vertical area on your drill, tape the level to your drill :D seriously. But if you go from the back, you can screw the holes up a tad under the bridge, no one will see them. I think someone mentioned before, but you could only drill half the depth from the front and back ane let them meet. If your holes are off even slightly, it won't affect how they look on the top and bottom. Worst case is you might have an uneven channel in side and have to be careful how you put the string through.

And honestly, you can get a pretty cheap drill press from grizzly or harbor freight or something. <100 bucks. Would be worth it as it appears you're not going to stop at one or two guitars.. (who does) A drill press will save you a ton of time in screwups, but also it's just faster for drilling all your assembly holes.. and also for cavity routing, you can do 99% of your work with a forstner bit and save your router bits. Might have to step up to the next size drill press.. The 1/2 hp motor isn't bad but the table is only 7" diameter which means you can only get 3.5 inches into the guitar. They have a radial arm drill press for 169. A drill press is invaluable though. Don't forget also the robo sander. It's a little drum sander you can chuck in your drill press. For shaping a figured wood top, the robo sander is awesome (25 bucks). No tearout whatsoever. It has a guide bushing so you can do body shaping with it. ok. my sales pitch is done B)

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i used schaller rollers for a long time but they're almost impossible to get nowdays. they come from germany and shipments are almost non-existant. so i changed to abm rollers and i really like them..very well made with the same features as the schaller. that may be the allparts number listed below..that's where i get mine and i highly recommend them.

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  Mabye I just need to go for it and just figure out a way to do it right.

Sure you can do it. Look at the great job you did on everything else. You just need the right tool. I don't have a drill press, but I do have a drill stand --picked it up used, with a drill for 20 euros...that'll make all the difference.

Oh yeah, about that Stewmac bridge. I bought something similar to that from guitarfetish at ebay --only cost me $10 ...I can't believe the Stewmac bridge is any different or really is worth more than 3X the price. I only buy at Stewmac when I need a bunch of things, that way I end up saving the difference on shipping.

Edited by idch
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I also like some of the wraparound style stopbar bridge/tailpiece units. Allparts has a ton. The standars LP jr type, they have one that looks a lot like the PRS unit. There is a wilkinson one that is somewhat adjustable, and looks like a really low profile. Probably wouldn't even have to do a neck angle. Pick up one of those and a set of locking tone pros studs off of ebay, you'd have a killer setup goin on.

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I auccually have a real good drill press. But the problem I ran into last time was not using a template and teh drill bit ( a super cheap drill bit) wanderd in the wood and just made things worse. BigDguitars has a tutorial I found that looks like it sould work. I guess I'll give it a try. I mean the worst that could happen is I ruin my body(s) again. Big deal, It's just wood.

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the hipshot hardtail bridge is a dual loader (meaning it can be loaded from rear & through tre body) .... so even if you screw up the holes again it can still be top loaded.....additionally the bridge looks like a stock strat ht, but like it would get better sustain (more mass and bridge saddles surrounded by the bridge plate similar to the G&L HT bridge - I can't remember what they call it right now - oh yeah, saddle lock!)

Thanks to everyone for all the drill press talk...convinced me I need to get one :D

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sorry...that's my mistake ..... I was bidding on an item on ebay that was listed as hipshot hardtail "style" bridge ....initially I thought it meant that it was a "hardtail style" bridge from hipshot ... it turns out it's just a knock off. After looking a bit closer at the pictures I don't think that it's a "dual load" bridge anyways. I just think whoever put the auction up may have been kinda clueless. I guess I'll just have to see what I get when it gets here. Only paid 19.50 us for it (postage included) and it says it's supposed to be brass....the guy had a good ebay rating. Oh well, live, bid, and learn I guess. Hopefully it's a good enough bridge to be usefull

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I would have SWORN Hipshot made a nice both-way loader bridge that was decent. I went to their page and I don't see it. I know what you mean; a nicely-built hard back-loader but be damned if I can recall where they be! Senior moment. :D

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