![]() ![]() Golden Age Low-profile Wraparound Bridge: Here are some of the bridges that I'm considering: ![]() I'm wondering if this is really enough wood, or would I be better of gluing on some additional wood slabs on the sides of the block of wood near the holes for the threaded inserts? Does anyone know if the ES-335's, with stop bar tailpieces, used a center block of wood wider than 4.0"? And that assumes that the block of wood through the middle of the guitar is dead even centered. That leaves only 0.1175" of wood at the outside of the threaded insert. The dimension from the outside to the outside of each threaded insert is 3.765". The block of wood running through the middle of the guitar measures 4.0" wide. And lastly, I think that it may improve the tone and sustain. I also think that it is better to have the saddles perpendicular to the strings, instead of being non-perpendicular as it is with the stock bridge. As the wraparound bridge is mounted perpendicular to the strings, instead of being slanted, any intonation adjustment will NOT change the spacing of the strings. There also won't be any length of strings that can sympathetically resonant, as they can with both the trapeze tailpiece or the stop tailpiece. I'm thinking that it may improve the tuning stability slightly, as it will reduce the string length. Having said this, there are a lot worse guitars out there, and as well as being historically important, the 1820 bass can certainly provide the goods when required.I've seriously been considering replacing the trapeze style tailpiece with a wraparound bridge/tailpiece on my 1972 ES-335. Over the course of the 70s, the Japanese output improved dramatically, and in many ways these early 70s models are a low point for the brand. These new Epiphones were based on existing Matsumoku guitars, sharing body shapes, and hardware, but the Epiphone line was somewhat upgraded, with inlaid logos and a 2x2 peghead configuration. The Matsumoku factory had been producing guitars for export for some time, but the 1820 bass (alongside a number of guitar models and the 5120 electric acoustic bass) were the first Epiphone models to be made there. moreīy the end of the 1960s, a decision had been made to move Epiphone guitar production from the USA (at the Kalamazoo plant where Gibson guitars were made), to Matsumoto in Japan, creating a line of guitars and basses significantly less expensive than the USA-built models (actually less than half the price). Luckily, this is one of the easier vintage parts to source (see Ebay listings below). Identifying this bridge/tailpiece is easy - original Gibson parts have two numbers TPBR859 in the cavities at either end of the bridge. Early examples were nickel plated, later chrome. There are no saddles, but the whole bridge, can be adjusted to some extnet via the grub screws behind each post (6-32 x 3/8). Many guitarists prefer this set up, even on guitars with a fitted vibrato, as a guitar with a stop tailpiece tends to stay in tune a little better. As a tailpiece, the strings enter the neck-side, then wrap over the bridge the ball ends of the strings are clearly visible in the second image. One advantage of this unit is it can be used just as a bridge, or as a combined bridge/tailpiece as seen in the first two images below. The TPBR-85 bridge was very widely used in the 1960s, on models such as Gibson Gibson SG Special, SG Junior, SG-TV, Melody Maker, Epiphone Coronet, Olympic and Kalamazoo KG guitars it would have been fitted to tens of thousands of guitars.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |