ashleypower Posted March 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Ok, I'm a tard! I found this bridge: http://www.guitarfetish.com/Modern-Style-Tele-Upgrade-bridge-Stainless-Steel-Saddles-chrome_p_501.html It will fit my guitar perfectly! How does this look? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted March 26, 2011 Report Share Posted March 26, 2011 That one have two advantages - Steel base plate means improved magnetically projection (almost acting like a magnetic lens). It will, together with a traditional Tele bridge pickup make a whole lot of difference in sound. It's not necessary better, just different, but if you are after a "vintage" or traditional Tele tone a steel plate bridge is essential. - It's a string trough that will improve sustain and acoustical tone of the guitar, making it much more vibrant an alive. And on top of that you don't need to drill new holes to mount it. Just screw it down and drill the through holes. The disadvantage is that is has six individual saddled, but if you go from say 50% of the guitars capacity to 90% with a lot less work, it's a great upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleypower Posted April 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Ok, another question... I came across an American Tele neck, maple with rosewood fretboard. $80. Do you think that this would be better than the stock all maple Affinity neck? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted April 5, 2011 Report Share Posted April 5, 2011 Impossible to say. The wood and general build of the affinity is quite good, so I'm not sure that it would be a genuine upgrade. Its more the case of "is this a good affinity neck" and "is this particular american tele neck a good one". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleypower Posted May 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 Ok, here's an update. My stuff arrived today. I took it all apart and tried to put the new bridge on. IT DOESN'T FIT! I measured it all up before I ordered it, but no go. The two screws on the top of the bridge line up with the existing holes, but the three on the bottom do not. They're off by about 1/2". What now! You can see a little bit of the top of the existing holes through the holes in the bridge. I'm assuming that I'll have to fill these holes somehow. Ideas? Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalandser Posted May 5, 2011 Report Share Posted May 5, 2011 (edited) My .02 regarding the nut: A $10 graphtech preslotted nut with the correct width and string spacing is going to do a lot more for tuning stability than a new set of tuning keys no matter how expensive those gears are. Taking the old nut off and installing the new one is a piece of cake. Just make sure you have the correct size before purchasing and installing it. Graph Tech's website makes that pretty easy to do. If you don't have the nut files, just make sure none of the open strings are buzzing before you glue in the nut so that you know it's not too low and bring it to a shop tech to cut the slots to depth. The shop down the street charged me $20 so for $30 total I went from retuning after every song to every half hour or more. I also had graphtech saddles on that guitar and while it mellowed out the sound of the guitar in a good way, that thing sustained for days. I know you're going for a vintage sound and often that means twang or nice and bright with a telecaster. Graph Tech makes new saddles that are supposed to keep that quality. I never tried them so I'm not sure about it. That guitar also had pickups from http://www.wildepickups.com/ and they sounded awesome. I gave that guitar to my brother otherwise I'd still be playing it. Also, everyone feels differently about messing with the finish of their guitar so you may not want to do this, however I really like to sand down the back of the guitar neck on factory finished guitars. I'll either use some 320 grit or finer or some steel wool to make the glossy finish more satin and reduce the surface tension between the finish and my hand. I don't go through the original finish, it usually makes for a nice finish once it's sanded a little. With a few mods that you've talked about and a little work on the neck that I just mentioned, a $200 guitar can feel like a whole new instrument. Edited May 5, 2011 by dalandser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashleypower Posted June 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Hey guys. Just a minor update. I've filled the old holes, and the new ones are drilled. The drill press I was using doesn't give me enough clearance to drill the holes for the strings, that'll come soon enough. The only question I have is...should the ferrules be flush, or does that matter? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwedishLuthier Posted June 5, 2011 Report Share Posted June 5, 2011 Vintage style ferrules are usually flush, modern ferrules can be flush mounted, but that is a bit more job and a bit harder (but much nicer IMHO) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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