That's actually exactly what I did. Fortunately I didn't damage my working like you did. Bit of a design flaw in my opinion, but nothing too serious.Originally Posted by Hardcoretroubadour
Nice colour choice, looks great with the black hardwear. I'm a fan of explorers as you can see from my builds. Hope you didn't put the pickup ring screw through the bridge pickup like I did
Hi all,
so the guitar is finished and i'm really happy with how it all turned out.
i noticed one issue though:
the bridge and the tail piece are not perfectly aligned with each other, leading to a slight angle of the strings between the 2. originally i thought that this would be a minor aesthetic issue and nothing to worry about. however, if i play really hard and get a little too into the music sometimes the top strings (E B G) will pop out of the bridge...
you can see the slight angle in the photo below (as i mentioned, it is very slight)
i'm not too sure what can be done here but i have 2 ideas, and wanted to check in with you all.
1. file the grooves in the bridge deeper to make it more difficult for the strings to pop out
2. bring the tail piece closer to the body of the guitar to add some additional tension on the string pulling it tighter into the bridge (i hope i'm making sense)
let me know your thoughts.
Well, option 1) is always possible but it's not that easy to get the grooves all the same depth. It will help with the problem. You won't need much extra depth, probably just a couple of strokes with a v-shaped needle file
Is the tailpiece already screwed right down to the body?
What you don't want is the tailpiece so low that the strings touch the back of the bridge. You have an ABR style tune-o-matic bridge, and it's for this reason that the bridge is normally turned round so the intonation screws face the pickups. Otherwise as they are located up high and stick out a bit, the strings are more likely to touch the screws when the tailpiece is set low. As long as you can slide a piece of paper between the back of the bridge and the strings you're OK, but if the paper catches, then the tailpiece needs to be raised until it doesn't. This does put a limit on how close to the bridge the tailpiece can be moved, as too close and too low, the strings will catch the back of the bridge and you'll get buzzing and the strings will wear grooves in the bridge. So I'd certainly rotate the bridge before filing the slots deeper.
The Nashville style of tune-o-matic has the adjustment screws located lower, and they don't stick out from the body of the bridge so much. So, on a Nashville bridge these screws are normally set facing the tailpiece.
Any chance of a couple of close-ups of the bridge and tailpiece from the top and side (to show the current height and string angle)?
Thanks for all the info Simon.
Tail piece is pretty high up (reason being that i didn't want the strings touching the tail piece as it was creating a bit of buzz) and go go a long way down.
but you are saying that my bridge is in fact the wrong way around? - i'll change it up tonight and see what difference it make.
The buzz on the tailpiece was from the top of the string touching the tailpiece where the string goes in. it might have just been because it was touching only lightly and would vibrate when i played. maybe i needed to lower it further to remove the buzz.
i'll get some photos tonight, and then switch the bridge around and play around with the tail piece height. will post the results later this evening
It's not 'wrong', just better the other way round because of the possible string interference with the intonation screws. Apart from that, that type of bridge works both ways round.
You want the strings just clearing the rear edge of the bridge, not touching.
Thanks again Simon, you've been a great help through this build. many great pieces of help and advice. i've been watching a few videos on bridge and tailpiece setup (probably should have started there).
I'll play around tonight with the tailpiece height tonight and get some photos before and after.
Will feedback ASAP.
So I played around the the tailpiece height last night, and lowered it right down. strings are not touching the intonation screws which is great. Action is good, although i'll probably tweak a little. But most importantly, the string sit tight in their pockets and there is no buzz from the tail piece.
All in all i'm really happy.
Before and after photos of the bridge and tail piece
Before
After
On that Note. here are a few final shots of the Guitar in its finished state. i hope you enjoy.
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