Height adjustable bridge for through-body guitar.

[ChipMonk]

Hi, I'm building my first guitar.  I started wood-working during the pandemic and also did a lot of upgrades on my electrics (complete replacements of hardware and re-wiring), so I figured there wasn't much more to do to build one from scratch (*cue laughter).

So, after several weeks of research, I'm ready to get started.  I ordered a load of wood and parts, but the bridge just arrived and I'm not impressed. 

It's a Gotoh GE103-B-T and the bridge wobbles really badly on the posts.  I know this won't happen when the strings are on, but it seems shitty and I am wondering if this is a good sign or not.  I can't understand why they'd do this.  One other thing, the mounting screws (the ones that also adjust the height) wobble slightly even when they are fully screwed into the studs.  That's definitely a bit odd.

So, I'm looking (again) for a decent bridge without a tail-stop.  I'm going to drill through the body to anchor the strings with ferrules, so I'm just looking to manage height and intonation at the bridge.  I don't want to go with the babicz or hipshot(?) as they seem hugely overpriced for the money.  I know what things are worth and £200 for a even well-machine metal is crazy.   I'm happy to spend £50-100 for something good.

What brands/models would you suggest I look at?

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Few details about my build:

Through-body neck in black-limba.  Ash wings.

Ebony fingerboard, bone nut.

BL 500xl Bridge, SD '59 neck. (yes, this is inspired by the Washburn N4, which I've always coveted but would never buy)

Will decide on the shape when wood arrives or when it's glued up, but probably something like a Yamaha Revstar with good fret access.  Not sure if it's going to be 22 or 24 frets, never owned a 24 so I'm tempted, but will I use them?

 

[ChipMonk]

Oh, one more reason I didn't like the Gotoh is the radius seems like a 9.5 or something.  It doesn't match my intention (12").

[Andyjr1515]

Hi and welcome

 

A lot of the T-O-M bridges do wobble around. 

There are some that have locking mechanisms, the most notable being the Tone-Pros range.  They are more expensive than the GoToh but are not outlandish.

[Bizman62]

Gotoh is known for their reasonably priced quality hardware so you might be better off asking them directly. Some play in the holes might be planned just to get the bridge on the posts as they sometimes can be a bit off or slanted. You really can't tell until you've seated the posts...

The Gotoh site says R300 in the drawing which I understand means millimetres. 300 mm is appr. 12" so either you've got a wrong product or your measuring is off.

[ChipMonk]

Cheers, and thanks for the response!

I looked at the TonePros and they look identical to the one I have, but I also found a different Gotoh one that had the locking stud grub-screw for pinning it down.  Seems daft to have to pay twice the price for that feature.  Feels like the price of these things is inflated somewhat, tbh.  I don't mind paying for quality, but it's hard to see where these prices are coming from.  I thought this would be good value, but I don't want to use it as-is.  I'll at more locking ones instead.  Cheers.

FWIW, the 'play' in the holes is more than a little, it's not even close to snug, maybe it's because they get fed up being blamed for poor measurements, so they build in this 'support reducing' tolerance.  

[ChipMonk]

Hmmm, the tonepros and the Gotoh's are exactly the same bridge.  No doubt.  Except the tonepros name apparently costs an extra £32!

https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/parts-c4/bridges-tremolos-c252/tune-o-matic-c682/tonepros-tune-o-matic-bridge-metric-thread-chrome-p8429

https://www.axesrus.co.uk/Gotoh-GE103-p/ge103-b-t.htm

[ChipMonk]

Ah, sorry, this was the one with the locking grub-screw.  So it's £32 for the hole and screw.  Man...

[Bizman62]

The metal used is softer than steel so drilling a couple of holes and tapping it shouldn't be too difficult.

That said, the only issue I've had with a loose bridge was with a cheap one with long holes and adjusting grub-screws at either end of the holes. The holes are long enough to fit almost two posts so plenty of adjusment range past the individual bridge pieces. I can't understand why... Anyhow, due to poor machining one of the screws fell off and got lost and because of that the intonation changed when the bridge moved.

If you put just one single round of copper tape on the pole, will the bridge still fit? If not, I'd call that tight enough.

One reason for loose fitting is that most bridges are cast instead of machined out of a single block. The chrome plating process can add to the inaccuracy.

[ChipMonk]

5 hours ago, Bizman62 said:

The metal used is softer than steel so drilling a couple of holes and tapping it shouldn't be too difficult.

That said, the only issue I've had with a loose bridge was with a cheap one with long holes and adjusting grub-screws at either end of the holes. The holes are long enough to fit almost two posts so plenty of adjusment range past the individual bridge pieces. I can't understand why... Anyhow, due to poor machining one of the screws fell off and got lost and because of that the intonation changed when the bridge moved.

If you put just one single round of copper tape on the pole, will the bridge still fit? If not, I'd call that tight enough.

One reason for loose fitting is that most bridges are cast instead of machined out of a single block. The chrome plating process can add to the inaccuracy.

Thanks, that makes sense.  I'll have a look at tapping, but I think I don't have anything that small.  No, I don't think a single copper tape's thickness would make it fit snugly, probably two would, or 3 at a push, but I wouldn't want to use that approach since I think it would affect the tone/sustain.  Tiny margins, I know, but hey.  

I've gotten pretty bored of hours and hours of comparing bridges, so I may just stick with this one regardless.  I'll try the tapping, though.