Bridge Advice

[Doc]

I've gotten a double cutaway body about 90% done. I vacuum laminated a piece of really figured cherry that I found in the regular wood bin of a cabinet suppliers to a piece of 6/4 walnut. Came out preety neat.

I'm going to show my relative ignorance on some of theis stuff.

What kind of bridges are suiatable for through body stringing? I made a walnut telecaster knockoff and trough strung it. The sustain is wonderful. I'd like to keep the same physics working for me, but the strat hardtail bridge I used from Guitar Fetish, the GFS guys, is sorta boring. What other configurations work. Can you just use the holes in the body to bend the strings? It would seem like that would cause long term problems as the stings cut through the wood.

As a plug, so far I've been really happy with the stuff from Guitar Fetish. The prices are low enough that building a couple more is sort of a no-brainer. I've got more figured wood than I know what to do with from the years I ran the shop full time. $100.00 buys a whole lot of stuff from them. They also ship pretty fast and their e-mails are literate if there's any questions.

[Primal]

TOM bridges seem to be the favorite for string-through-body designs. If you can find em, get some of the monorail bridges for guitars. I think they look sweet.

[brian d]

What kind of bridges are suiatable for through body stringing? I made a walnut telecaster knockoff and trough strung it. The sustain is wonderful. I'd like to keep the same physics working for me, but the strat hardtail bridge I used from Guitar Fetish, the GFS guys, is sorta boring. What other configurations work. Can you just use the holes in the body to bend the strings? It would seem like that would cause long term problems as the stings cut through the wood.

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Like Primal said, you can use a TOM. Just remember that if you do any strings through body, you need ferrules at the back of the body, and if you use a bridge not specifically designed for strings through body (like a TOM) you'll need ferrules for the front of the body to stop the strings cutting into the wood. I know that guitarfetish has the back ferrules. StewMac has the front ones (and the back ones).

Have fun with it,

Brian.

[j. pierce]

Some of the Godin LG guitars have a through-body/tune-o-matic set up, with what appears to be through-body holes drilled at an angle - I assume they would still use ferrules in the back, but from the front, with the through body holes drilled in at an angle, they have a cool "slotted" look. I'd assume that by going through at an angle, you eliminate the need for string ferrules at the top since the string doesn't angle against the wood there.

Again, I haven't seen these in person outside of hanging on the guitar shop wall, (It was too high to reach) so they may not be exactly how I describe them.

Edited July 10, 2005 by j. pierce

[brian d]

I've seen pictures of these. They have the TOM recessed too.

If the slots don't go all the way to the back ferrules (and that can be quite a way), then wouldn't the string cut into the wood somewhere?

Brian.