String spacing HELL

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Dan Smith
Posts: 346
Joined: Mon May 18, 2015 9:33 pm
Location: Texas

Re: String spacing HELL

Post by Dan Smith »

I bought four different TOM style bridges from China.
Saddle to saddle string spread is 2.0" on all of them.
Gibson TOM bridge is 2.06"
Needless to say, the strings sit in too far in from the fretboard edges at the end of the board.
0.03" is not much, but quite noticeable.
I now measure the string spread on the bridge before I taper the board.
Dan
Ever-body was kung fu fight-in,
Them kids was fast as light-nin.
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Steve Sawyer
Posts: 965
Joined: Wed Jan 02, 2013 2:20 pm
Location: Detroit, Michigan

Re: String spacing HELL

Post by Steve Sawyer »

Just fer fun, I checked a few bridges that I've picked up over the last few months (laying in a small supply while the paychecks are coming in and watching for clearance items/sales).
  • No-brand bass bridge from GFS is 2 1/4"
  • Mighty-Mite TOM-style bridges on clearance from StewMac are 2 1/16"
  • Tele "ashtray" style 6-saddle from GFS is 2 5/32"
==Steve==
Chris Richards
Posts: 285
Joined: Wed May 09, 2012 9:24 am
Location: London, England
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Re: String spacing HELL

Post by Chris Richards »

This is a bit of a nightmare with Strats... Some off the differences are due to metric/imperial manufacture and vintage/modern, not only does it affect the string spacing but the string saddles aren't interchangeable and the six mounting screws aren't at the same spacing. If you're building from scratch it isn't a problem but if you're restoring a guitar having the wrong bridge can lead to a lot of extra work. I used to be happy to part build guitars for people, the customer usually says something like "can you do the neck and body, I've got a mate who can put it together" No matter how many times I tell them you get what you pay for with parts, seeing one Strat bridge for £20 and another around £100 with no apparent difference is pretty tempting. It's not just the bridge though, pickguards, pickups there's so many parts that you can get with fractional differences that add up to a headache.
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