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Author Topic: Wraparound bridges...  (Read 9026 times)

themetallicat86

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Wraparound bridges...
« on: October 28, 2021, 10:36:45 PM »
So before I get too far into this, my favorite guitar is an ugly parts-caster.  I acknowledge it's lack of beauty, but I love the thing and I just might weep if it was destroyed/lost.  That being established, it's been through a number of changes since I first slapped it together: different paint jobs, pickups, tuners, a neck swap or three and three different wraparound bridges.

I started with a Hipshot baby grand (aluminum body, steel saddles and studs and brass body inserts).  Too bright overall and the high e and b strings came in contact with the aluminum body where they weren't supposed to causing the paint to wear away and a groove to start forming behind the saddle.  Fine sustain, quality build, just not working for me. 

The next bridge I tried out was a Gotoh 510ub (all zinc with hardened saddles).  Very dark, lacking sustain compared to the Hipshot.  I bought some titanium saddles from FU-Tone and the sustain and top end came back in spades (although the low end was always a bit tubby) but I hate the way strings are loaded into it (it's very easy to have strings run across the guitars finish, I had to be super careful when re-stringing). 

Now I've recently installed a Graphtech Resomax Sonic 1 (completely made of their proprietary alloy).  I had to drill out the body holes a bit to accommodate the inserts, but I'm rather glad I did!  More sustain by far than either incarnation of the other two, no flabby low end, harmonics of all sorts abound, squeals are near effortless, it's stupid light and I never knew I could have this much note definition without harsh high end!  That being said, it does not have adjustable saddles (which I was hesitant about).  But so far I've just intonated the low and high e's and nothing has sounded funky.  I emailed Graphtech and they said the bridge was designed around a 'standard' set of 10's.  I use Roto' RH9's and, like I said, the intonation sounds great to me (you're mileage may vary). 

For reference, my guitar has a 25.5" scale length if any of you were curious.  I also acknowledge that no piece of gear is perfect.  I hope the day finds you all well.

Dave Sloven

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Re: Wraparound bridges...
« Reply #1 on: October 29, 2021, 08:55:14 AM »
Interesting.  I have had a Graph Tech Resomax NW-2 on my SG Junior since 2014 and have always been happy with it, although it is not that easy to restring (unless you take the bridge off).  The pickup on this guitar is a Stockholm soapbar with 500K pots and a 0.033uF Russian PETP poly cap.  Nut is Graph Tech TUSQ XL and the tuners are Gotoh SG301-MGT with the 05 small pearloid buttons.  E standard tuning wth 9-46 strings but it used to be tuned to D standard with 10-52 strings.  It has adjustable saddles so that's not a problem.



« Last Edit: October 29, 2021, 08:59:29 AM by Dave Sloven »
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themetallicat86

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Re: Wraparound bridges...
« Reply #2 on: October 29, 2021, 05:09:45 PM »
The Sonic 1 is fairly easy to restring, it has slots on the bottom side towards the pickups.  You just stick the ball end between the bottom of the bridge and the top of the guitar, slide it into the slot and pull it tight.  It's much smaller than the NW's though, so there's a bit more real estate to work with.  I was actually just thinking about a new Warmoth body I have being built that I wish I had ordered a different bridge route for (but hey, the Hipshot flat mount IS a great bridge).

b.gandt

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Re: Wraparound bridges...
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2022, 08:15:08 PM »
What a cool guitar!  What is the pickup?

I've seen Dave's guitar also, looks like two votes for Graph Tech!

Nolly

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Re: Wraparound bridges...
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2022, 03:50:04 AM »
I’ve had excellent results with the ABM bell brass wraparound bridges - sustain is incredible, lots of musical  harmonics (not zingy like aluminium or steel) and without the flub you get with zinc bridges.