Tele bridge recommendations?

[Steve Sawyer]

Still making progress as you can see from the pics below. I'm dry-fitting everything to make sure that I resolve any fit issues. This revealed that the control cavity was mis-routed a scrunch (a hair too narrow for the pots). Went back and corrected the template (which is where the issue was) and cleaned that up. Also, the bridge pickup was off-center for some reason, so I cleaned that up as well. Had to do a little trimming where the pick guard fits around the control cover, but everything is looking good now.

As I was working on this, I became a little concerned about my choice of bridge. It's a cheap vintage-style "ashtray" bridge from GFS, and I noticed that the edges of the holes where the strings pass through the bridge and through the guitar body had a nasty burr around them. I figured the treble strings in particular wouldn't last long if I tried to bring them into pitch riding against that burr. I used the ol' Dremel to grind off the burr and polish the edges, but I really have no great burning desire to stay "vintage". When I started this project I was working with a friend who was (jokingly) our "subject-matter expert" having built a fretless banjo at one point, and he was really hot on going very vintage.

I was looking at a Gotoh "modern" bridge that isn't too terribly expensive, but thought I'd ask what others have used for their Telecaster-clone builds.

Thanks.

[Peter Wilcox]

I just use cheap Chinese ones through Amazon like this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1 for about $7.

I've made 4 Tele copies - not planning on any more - and these bridges have been pretty well made and have had no problems.

[Mark Swanson]

I like the modern tele bridges. They work great and offer everything I want in a bridge, no hassles. I am not stuck on the vintage thing, why use inferior designs?

[Brian Evans]

I just used a Gotoh "modern" bridge the same as you linked to, and liked it a lot. Very happy with it. I got it from here: https://www.woodtoworks.com/Gotoh-Bridg ... _4833.html

And note that the price is cheaper than Stewmac and in $cdn, so around a 30% discount to US bucks these days. Might pay for shipping. Plus you might find something else you want - I used the Bill Lawrence tele pickups in my project.

[Barry Daniels]

I recently used this one. It is not super thick metal, but I like the cut-away side clearance. Also the saddles are semi-compensated.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T4 ... UTF8&psc=1

[Steve Sawyer]

Thanks for the recommendations!

I like the modern tele bridges. They work great and offer everything I want in a bridge, no hassles. I am not stuck on the vintage thing, why use inferior designs?

Yeah, Mark - I've seen similar comments wrt the original "ashtray" design. If I was into building "aged" guitars, it would be a different story, but I'm after something that looks good and plays as good as I can make it.

It'll be awhile before I'll be assembling this axe, so feel free to offer other recommendations if anyone has one...

Thanks again!

[David King]

My Tele guru friend always says that the thinner bridges sound better to him. Worth an experiment some day.

[Barry Daniels]

A lot of the Tele guru's also say a traditional three-saddle bridge sounds better than the bridge with six fully adjustable saddles. That is why I went with the one in my previous post. I am not a guru but it sounds pretty traditional to me.

[Steve Sawyer]

A lot of the Tele guru's also say a traditional three-saddle bridge sounds better than the bridge with six fully adjustable saddles. That is why I went with the one in my previous post. I am not a guru but it sounds pretty traditional to me.

This is my first build, so I was kinda shying away from the three-saddle arrangement. I don't want to run into some kind of intonation problem, and be unable to determine if it's an issue with the compensation of the bridge saddles, or something else I've done wrong.

I'd be curious to know how the three-saddle setup affects the sound (just curious ignorance here - not questioning the claim). That bridge that you linked to looks like a good 'un.

[Edgar Jessop]

I used this one:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Autenti ... 85618.html
More here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?in ... kup&page=1

[Barry Daniels]

I was able to get the strings compensated just fine. The round saddles have bevels to place the string break point near the ideal locations.

As far as the tone claim, that is not mine but some comments I found at the Tele forum (TDPRI). And I have no real evidence of the benefit either way. I'm sure that you could find recommendations against the 3-saddle bridge. In my case, I was going for a more traditional look.

[Freeman Keller]

On my latest barncaster the owner-to-be spec'd Glendale components

http://www.glendaleguitars.com/

They are pretty expensive (he paid for them and had them shipped to me). They have a funky worn look without being "reliced" - seem fine and the triple saddles intonated without any problem (I've only used individual saddles before). He also wanted a P90 in the neck and spec'd Budz pups - expensive but I really like the warmth of the neck.



One thing to consider is reversing the cavity cover so the volume control is in front and switch at the back (put the switch in the normal way so neck is forward) - a lot of players like the access to the volume pot. Also I used a four way switch on this one, give the option of either pickup alone and both in series and parallel

[Gordon Bellerose]

I've used a couple of these with great success.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/Modern-St ... p_501.html

[Michael Jennings]

I've always gone with Callaham parts for "Fender" styled builds. Certainly more expensive than the usual suspects but the quality is definitely there.

[Steve Sawyer]

Thanks - more ideas to consider!