Where's that confounded bridge?

[ricardoblue]

Hello—newbie to this page, though I have a long direct and indirect history with Guild. Currently, I have a 1966 Starfire III which I love. I have three questions, so thinking to post them separately.

Q#1: Tune-O-Matic or similar bridge?

This guitar has a solid, floating bridge. It’s impossible to place it so that intonation is correct on all strings; when five are just right, the G string is off (insert appropriate / inappropriate jokes here). I’d like to replace it with an adjustable bridge, without altering the body (no new holes!), to improve playability but keeping it returnable to original condition. Any recommendations? Do I need to know the radius of the archtop at that point? (For that matter, is there a resource for complete detailed specifications on these guitars?) Thanks!

 

[GGJaguar]

Welcome to LTG! It' possible you're having trouble with intonation because the Bigsby bridge Guild fitted back then is compensated for a wound G string and you're using a plain G string. If that's the case you can try a very light gauge wound string like .017 or .018. The other option is as you mentioned - fit it with TOM style bridge on a "floating" archtop style rosewood base.

 

[BradHK]

Welcome to LTG! It' possible you're having trouble with intonation because the Bigsby bridge Guild fitted back then is compensated for a wound G string and you're using a plain G string. If that's the case you can try a very light gauge wound string like .017 or .018. The other option is as you mentioned - fit it with TOM style bridge on a "floating" archtop style rosewood base.

Great advice. Bigsby also makes a bridge compensated for an unwound G if you want to stay with the Bigsby rocking bridge.

 

[AcornHouse]

You can find sets with a wound G fairly easily. I use D'Addario for mine that call for it. That should cure your problems quickly and cheaply, as others have mentioned.

 

[ricardoblue]

Welcome to LTG! It' possible you're having trouble with intonation because the Bigsby bridge Guild fitted back then is compensated for a wound G string and you're using a plain G string. If that's the case you can try a very light gauge wound string like .017 or .018. The other option is as you mentioned - fit it with TOM style bridge on a "floating" archtop style rosewood base.

Thanks! A wound string sounds like a good place to start. I've read quite a few posts that say TOMs change the tone quite a bit.

 

[ricardoblue]

You can find sets with a wound G fairly easily. I use D'Addario for mine that call for it. That should cure your problems quickly and cheaply, as others have mentioned.

Thanks! This sounds like an easier fix than changing the bridge.

 

[ricardoblue]

Great advice. Bigsby also makes a bridge compensated for an unwound G if you want to stay with the Bigsby rocking bridge.

Thanks . . . curious about the Bigsby bridge . . .

 

[Walter Broes]

Tune-a-matics get a bad rap for some reason - undeserved IMO. the right one, set up right works great.
A lot of great music got and gets made with guitars with TOM bridges, and it's nice to have a guitat that plays in tune as much as possible.

 

[Rocky]

Thanks . . . curious about the Bigsby bridge . . .

The aluminum saddle should be a drop in replacement on the bridge base. They have them available separately on eBay, and probably other places.

I'm also a big fan of the serpentune Tru-Arc bridges. While Walter will disagree with me, I've never had great success with tune-o-matics on a guitar with a vibrato. Getting a serpentune really fixed several issues I had with my ES-345 with Maestro, that a couple different tune-o-matics did not.

 

[Walter Broes]

It's probably different for every guitar, preferred setup, playing style and string gauge, but I've used TOM's succesfully for 25 years now, yes. The only small problem I have with them is they wear out - my main guitars need a new one every so often because I'll just sweat the plating off, and the saddles get a little chewed up, they're soft bronze or similar. But they're cheap bridges, so..

 

[ricardoblue]

Thanks, guys . . . I really appreciate the dialogue!

 

[Rusty Chops]

Thanks . . . curious about the Bigsby bridge . . .

I like the Bigsby “wiggle strip” aluminum bridges. They have a sound I like.
They can be had compensated for wound, or unwound, G string.

My made-in-Korea X-175 (avatar) has a wooden bridge saddle compensated for wound G.
I just run plain G anyway (tuned a skoash flat [an old Tele trick]). It works.

 

[ricardoblue]

I have the 'wiggle strip' for wound . . . need one for plain G string. I see the Gretsch versions available . . . guessing it will fit?