Roller bridge for Guild S-100 Polara NS

[squidfish]

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone might have a ready recommendation for a roller bridge for the Newark Street Guild Polara S-100. Something I could just drop in without having to change the posts would be amazing. Bonus points if I can order from an EU website.

I figure it can be a nice touch to facilitate some string bending behind the bridge, and I suspect it must be a fairly common mod, so thought I'd just check in here.. otherwise I'll have to go get measuring, but yeah I don't think I'd feel comfortable changing the posts myself...

Thanks in advance and cheers,
Steve

 

[Default]

I don't know any off hand that drop in, but have you considered graphite saddles? Also, the nut slots might need some filing and/or graphite to keep from binding.
Sounds like some faux pedal steel is in the making!

 

[Default]

Thomann - Welcome Home!

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www.thomann.de

 

[squidfish]

Interesting, I hadn't considered this, but am researching it now -- thanks!
Nut seems solid btw, the past owner replaced the stock with bone and I've always been happy with the tuning stability.

 

[SFIV1967]

Göldo has roller bridges which you can get from music stores in Europe and also Thomann. You would need to check the size and radius and so on versus the current bridge, but I'm sure you find one.

Göldo TOM Rollerbridge HW05N

Göldo TOM Rollerbridge HW05N, TOM Style Steg im Vintage-Design, bei der die Reiter mit kleinen Rollen ausgestattet sind, für 14" (356 mm) Griffbrettradius, M4 Bolzen, Bohrlochabstand: 73,5 mm, Einzelsaitenabstand: 10,4 mm, Gesamtsaitenabstand: 52...

www.thomann.de

ABM (Guilds original manufacturer in the 70s) is another possibility, again you need to check which model:

ABM Roller Bridge 2400n-RO N

ABM 2400c-RO Roller Bridge N; Roller TOM-Style Steg für E-Gitarre; individuelle V-förmige Rollen für Bass- und Diskantsaiten; Material: Glockenmessing; Reiter: Präzisionsrollen; im Lieferumfang enthalten: Bolzen 4 mm auf M5, M5 Einschlaghülse...

www.thomann.de

Or TonePros:

TonePros TP6R N Tune-O-Matic Roller

TonePros TP6R N - Standard Tune-O-Matic Bridge with Roller Saddles (Small Posts) - Nickel, Tune-O-Matic Brücke für E-Gitarren, Locking Nashville Style Brücke ermöglicht die exakte Einstellung der Saitenlage und Mensur durch arretierbare...

www.thomann.de

Ralf

 

[squidfish]

Thanks for this, Ralf! Would be cool to go with ABM given its the original manufacturer for Guild, though all the same Göldo has a much nicer price point. Hmm guess I'll need to get some measurements!

 

[squidfish]

Any advice on whether bridge radius needs to match fretboard radius? Guild lists the Polara fretboard as 10" radius, but so far I'm only finding 12" or 14" radius bridges.

 

[SFIV1967]

Would be cool to go with ABM given its the original manufacturer for Guild,

Well, it was called "Müller" or "ABM-Müller" back in the days but they provided the harp tailpieces and bridges to Guild and probably some other metal parts as well.

Made in Germany seit 1930 - mit Passion und Präzision

Familie Mueller gründete die Firma Ende der 1920er Jahre . Die Firma machte sich einen Namen als Hersteller für Blasinstrumenten-Bauteile. Schoenbach ...

abm-guitarpartsshop.com

I think in general the problem might be that the Asian (Korean) bolts are not the same size (metric vs inches) for a replacement bridge, so you might need to change the threaded bolts.

Just for info, here is ABMs product page for the Roller Bridges, but as you said, they are quite a bit more expensive to other companies.
On the products page under Details and Downloads you find more info.

ABM 2400-RO Rollen-Steg

Die Brücke klingt sehr gut und ist extrem präzise gearbeitet. Hervorragend im Betrieb mit Tremolo-Einheiten.

abm-guitarpartsshop.com

Ralf

 

[SFIV1967]

Any advice on whether bridge radius needs to match fretboard radius? Guild lists the Polara fretboard as 10" radius, but so far I'm only finding 12" or 14" radius bridges.

The bridge should not have the same radius as the fretboard at the nut. A 12" bridge is perfect for a 10" fretboard radius. The distance between the strings at the nut and the saddle is wider at the saddle, so when you set action for low and high E-string at the 12th fret with a saddle that has the exact same radius like the fretboard the 3rd and 4th strings could be too high over the fretboard (think about a cone with a small radius at the top and a wide radius at the wider diameter area), so a slightly larger radius bridge counteracts that effect.

Ralf

 

[squidfish]

Thanks, this is all very helpful. The ABM is 4mm to M5 bolts with M5 bushings. I don't have anything precise for measuring here but the post on the S-100 seems 4mm too -- not sure about the part that screws into the stud. But from what I understand in the ABM guide, either it'll be M5, or it won't, and if it isn't then I should just use the ones in the guitar. So probably I should just go for it, though perhaps taking apart the existing assembly wouldn't be bad once I get some time the weekend. Either way, thanks again!

 

[squidfish]

Half a year later, I still haven't bit the bullet and ordered the roller bridge, but I'm working myself up toward it again (the ABM 2400n).

In the meantime though I received the following dimensions straight from Cordoba customer service on the stock Polara bridge (KWM18... serial number), which may prove helpful to posterity:

For this Polara Bridge (009-9129-049), I have the following specifications:

• Post Spacing: 73mm
• Post Diameter (Body Side): 7.1mm
• Post Diameter (Bridge Side): 3.87mm
• Post Diameter (Hole in Bridge): 4.1mm