Rossco Wright Posted September 21, 2023 Report Share Posted September 21, 2023 If any one has been thru this please let me know. All the early to modern Martin guitars were 2 and 3/16. All the Fender telecasters and stratocasters were 2 and 3/16. That is probably because those Martin-players were comfortable with that spacing at a time when the Gibsons had a skinny nut and a skinny string spacing. Classical players were completely turned off when they wanted to switch to electric because their spacing is a whopping 2 and 1/4. I often make high-end electric guitars for these people. Go see RosscoWright.com Fender, themselves, offers Fender bridges with 2 and 3/16 spacing. I cannot use these bridges. Schaller makes a tune o matic for which they brag "roller saddles." These saddles roll so one can adjust the spacing, Therefore you have to freeze them in place somehow because they do indeed roll as you tune, and that spoils the spacing again. They are not appropriate as rollers for vibrato bridges as other roller bridges are designed. Since tune o matic bridge makers are apparently unwilling to offer the wider spacing, I have come up with two ideas for them. It would be easy for tune o matic bridge makers to offer blank saddles so we could notch our own spacing. I find none. Bridge makers do not need to make a wider bridge. They only need to make saddle pieces that have a wider spacing. But HERE'S THE THING...they don't need to make 6 special saddles. THEY ONLY NEED TO MAKE THREE. The high e and the low E saddle would be the same casting which when reversed would complete the 2 and 3/16 spacing. It is common that they are often reversed already. The B saddle could reverse and become the A saddle, and the G saddle would reverse and become the D saddle. An extra could come with the set to accommodate one's preference of a wound G or a plain G. I have approached and requested this from Tone-Pros, Graphteck and Schaller. They seem not interested. Am I the only one who is looking for such a thing? Rossco Wright RosscoWright.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted September 21, 2023 Report Share Posted September 21, 2023 1 hour ago, Rossco Wright said: Fender, themselves, offers Fender bridges with 2 and 3/16 spacing. I cannot use these bridges. You mean those for Jazzmasters and Mustangs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted September 21, 2023 Report Share Posted September 21, 2023 4 hours ago, Rossco Wright said: Schaller makes a tune o matic for which they brag "roller saddles." These saddles roll so one can adjust the spacing, Therefore you have to freeze them in place somehow because they do indeed roll as you tune, and that spoils the spacing again. They are not appropriate as rollers for vibrato bridges as other roller bridges are designed. Maybe your personal experience differs, but I can't find a lot of evidence of people complaining that the roller saddles move unexpectedly on the Schaller STM bridge when tuning or using a vibrato? I guess the other drawback with the adjustable string spacing STM bridge is that as you widen the spacing you're also increasing the string radius. 4 hours ago, Rossco Wright said: It would be easy for tune o matic bridge makers to offer blank saddles so we could notch our own spacing. I find none. Shop Solo Pro Nashville Style Tune-o-matic Bridge With Un-notched Saddles Online (solomusicgear.com) Guitar Bridge (Unnotched) - Grover Trophy (grotro.com) 4 hours ago, Rossco Wright said: The high e and the low E saddle would be the same casting which when reversed would complete the 2 and 3/16 spacing. It is common that they are often reversed already. Except that if you do need to eke a little more intonation adjustment range out of the saddles you can no longer do so by flipping the saddle around because you'd change the string spacing. Plus as a builder you only get two fixed string spacings to choose from. 4 hours ago, Rossco Wright said: I have approached and requested this from Tone-Pros, Graphteck and Schaller. They seem not interested. Maybe the demand for it isn't there? Guitarists are a fickle bunch and will generally balk at messing with their favourite recipes for traditional designs. A lot of people may consider a Tune-o-matic bridge with an esoteric, non-standard string spacing as kinda heretical As you say, the easiest option is to use a Tune-o-matic bridge with un-notched saddles (or make your own?) and notch them with the spacing you want - see links above, but I'm sure there are other options out there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curtisa Posted September 22, 2023 Report Share Posted September 22, 2023 6 hours ago, curtisa said: Except that if you do need to eke a little more intonation adjustment range out of the saddles you can no longer do so by flipping the saddle around because you'd change the string spacing. Plus as a builder you only get two fixed string spacings to choose from. On second thought, that wouldn't work anyway. To flip the saddle around means that the 'mirror' axis that the saddle flips around is the screw hole that the intonation adjuster passes through. To get normal Gibson spacing on the saddles each notch needs to be directly above the screw hole, but doing so means that the spacing will not change if you flip it around 180 degrees. If you offset the saddle notch slightly to one side of the screw adjuster hole you can then get your wider spacing by flipping the saddle, but at the expense of then making the un-flipped notch narrower than the regular Gibson spacing. The only way to get the un-flipped saddle to sit in the correct position for Gibson spacing with an offset notch is to machine a custom Tune-o-matic frame that has all the intonation screws at slightly offset spacings, which is kinda defeating the purpose of the simplicity of your proposal. No - the only way this can work is to either use un-notched saddles and notch the required string spacing in them yourself, or invest in a adjustable roller bridge like the Schaller STM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rossco Wright Posted September 27, 2023 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2023 Thank you Thank you !! to Curtisa, for the links to un-notched saddles. This is what I need. I will order it today. RosscoWright.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusader Posted September 29, 2023 Report Share Posted September 29, 2023 I've bought a couple of Gibson "Non wire" ABR-1 bridges recently which have un-notched saddles https://www.stewmac.com/parts-and-hardware/all-hardware-and-parts-by-instrument/electric-guitar-parts/electric-guitar-bridges-and-tailpieces/tune-o-matic-bridges/gibson-historic-non-wire-abr-1-tune-o-matic-bridge/#mz-expanded-view-1218363792368 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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