BRIDGE Over Troubled Guitar Builder

[KeysNGuitar]

Howdy Friends,

Yet another newbie question, or maybe a few questions that require some actual knowledge that some of you can help me with.  I am building a PRS Custom 22 - Like guitar.  I don't want a tremolo on it so I am trying to decide on which bridge to go with.  I thought about a bridge and thru body string ferrules, a wraparound bridge, namely the Golden Age Low-profile Wraparound Bridge with Standard Studs from StewMac because I like the action low, or a regular Bridge with Stop Tail.  The wraparound I like because it is one piece so only takes up so much room and you see more of the body not to mention, this one seems good and wouldn't break the bank.  So, what is everyone's experience with each and all of the bridge types.  Also, I notice that the saddle has a 12" radius but my fretboard will have a 10".  Does it really matter that much?  What about string spacing?  Does it matter per the neck specs or are they so small that most work in all instances?  Anything else I should know about or think about?

[curtisa]

Aesthetically it's down to your personal choice. If it were me I might find a regular Tone-o-matic style bridge and tailpiece might look a little odd on a PRS body shape, as would string-thru ferrules. Standard hardtail might look OK, as it doesn't look that much different to a PRS fitted with a trem without the arm installed. Wraparound is certainly a neat look, so I can see why you'd consider it as an option.

Practically there are things to consider:

1. 12" radius at the bridge vs 10" radius on the board means your outer strings will have slightly higher action than the inner strings, but not by an awful lot (we're talking fractions of a mm difference). It may be enough to make setting your ideal action across all six strings a bit of a compromise. If you have another guitar with a fully adjustable bridge you could experiment with it to see how mismatching the radii of the bridge and fret board feels in practice - it may feel completely normal in your hands.
2. If you're using a precut fretboard you'd need to ensure that the string spacing at the bridge allows enough overhang on the outer strings as they travel up the neck. If the string spacing is too wide for your fretboard the outer strings will have a tendancy to taper towards the edges of the board at the higher frets. In extreme cases the strings can disappear over the edges of the neck. Note that this is something to consider with any type of bridge, not just the one you've selected.
3. The wraparound bridges (and pretty much any of the bridges that rely on two mounting posts) are quite tall units, so you'd need to design some way of building your guitar such that the action isn't astronomically high. Three possible ways of mitigating this is the make the neck pocket shallow enough that the neck sits higher above the face of the body, recessing the bridge such that the underside sits below the face of the body, or tapering the neck pocket on the guitar such that the neck sits at a negative angle with respect to the body. There are tradeoffs to all three methods - angling the neck backwards certainly looks the neatest but is also the most involved to execute and get right. Making the neck pocket deliberately shallow is the easiest to perform but does make the guitar look a bit clunky and clumsy. Recessing the bridge looks modern and is relatively easy to do with a decent routing template, but may not look quite right with certain styles of body or bridge type.
4. Drilling the two post holes on wraparound or Tune-o-matic bridges can be a bit tricky to get right, and generally you'll only get one shot at it. Once the two holes are in, that's pretty much it - you've locked in your left-right alignment for the strings relative to the neck, the scale length and the maximum amount of intonation adjustment range for each string. If you get it wrong you can plug the holes and redrill them, but if you're going for a clear finish of any sort it will be a challenge to hide the evidence.
5. Hardtail style bridges are easy to install and are largely low enough that planning special methods of guitar construction can be avoided (see point 3). If you get the mounting screw hole locations wrong there is scope to hide the error under the baseplate. The Hipshot hardtail for example has a nice chunky look that sort of mirrors PRS's trem bridge. If you want thru-body string threading lining up the ferrule holes from top to bottom can be a bit fiddly without them ending up in a wonky pattern, but there are some clever ways of getting around this when drilling the holes.

[Bizman62]

8 hours ago, curtisa said:

Drilling the two post holes on wraparound or Tune-o-matic bridges can be a bit tricky to get right, and generally you'll only get one shot at it. Once the two holes are in, that's pretty much it - you've locked in your left-right alignment for the strings relative to the neck, the scale length and the maximum amount of intonation adjustment range for each string. If you get it wrong you can plug the holes and redrill them, but if you're going for a clear finish of any sort it will be a challenge to hide the evidence.

I had to do the plugging and redrilling twice for my first Tune-O-Matic no matter how carefully I measured the locations. These are the two things I learned from that episode:

1. A good quality brad point drill bit is essential! The ones I used were common property and cheap quality from the start.
2. The collar of the bushing can hide the plug if it's less than 1 mm off.

[KeysNGuitar]

16 hours ago, curtisa said:

1. 12" radius at the bridge vs 10" radius on the board means your outer strings will have slightly higher action than the inner strings, but not by an awful lot (we're talking fractions of a mm difference).
2. The wraparound bridges (and pretty much any of the bridges that rely on two mounting posts) are quite tall units, so you'd need to design some way of building your guitar such that the action isn't astronomically high. 

On number one, I was thinking the other way around.  Wouldn't the two middle strings be slightly higher since the bridge would be holding them up higher or am I thinking incorrectly?  Is the 12" arc shallower than a 10" arc?  Maybe I am backwards.

On two, the wraparound bridge that I mentioned in the original post is described as it is made shallower than normal wraparounds for those who like the low action.  Do you think maybe it would still be too high?

I do appreciate the very detailed response.  That was very helpful for sure!!  Thank you!

[Bizman62]

18 minutes ago, KeysNGuitar said:

Is the 12" arc shallower than a 10" arc?

Yes. Draw a circle with a 10" radius and another with a 12" radius to see that the latter is flatter.

[KeysNGuitar]

5 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

Yes. Draw a circle with a 10" radius and another with a 12" radius to see that the latter is flatter.

Well maybe I should have stuck to making pens and charcuterie boards and such.  Ok, well, the plan calls for a 10" neck radius but I like a flatter neck so I am wondering about just making the fretboard a 12" radius and then the bridge and neck will match.  Like I said before, I am using a PRS Custom 22 plan but I am not wanting to stay totally true to it (obviously since I am changing the bridge).  I want to make it my own since I am planning to keep this one, I hope (if it comes out well), for my only electric.  Thanks again for the good info you guys always provide.  It really is appreciated.

[Bizman62]

46 minutes ago, KeysNGuitar said:

Ok, well, the plan calls for a 10" neck radius but I like a flatter neck so I am wondering about just making the fretboard a 12" radius and then the bridge and neck will match.

That's the joy of building, you can customize everything according to your likings instead of having to take what the factory runners think will sell best.

[curtisa]

17 hours ago, KeysNGuitar said:

On two, the wraparound bridge that I mentioned in the original post is described as it is made shallower than normal wraparounds for those who like the low action.  Do you think maybe it would still be too high?

Stewmac (unhelpfully) don't seem to provide dimensional drawings for the wraparound bridge, but it is described as being suitable for "...guitars with shallow neck angles..." (emphasis mine). They do not say it will work for guitars with no neck angle.

Here's a semi-useful thread that may help. There's a photo a little down the page where someone has slapped a pair of calipers across the central body of the bridge and measures 0.529". You'd need to add a little more to his measurement for the crown of the saddle that projects above the top surface (maybe another 0.05"?), so overall you're looking at a bridge that's about 0.58" high. I'd still class that as a tall-ish bridge likely to need one of the construction alterations I suggested earlier.