Trimmed my Tele bridge

[TmcB]

I like ashtray bridges on Tele's as much as anyone after being converted by my '52 Hot Rod Tele but the thing that would drive me nuts is hitting the bottom edge of it with my pick.

I saw a few aftermarket bridges had taken a cue from Danny Gatton and cut off about an inch off of the front of the bottom wall. Quite enjoying the stock bridge and not really interested in getting a Barden or Callaham bridge after all, I decided to mangle my own things.

I used a dremel cutting disc in my drill press in order to keep at least one axis stationary (as well as being under-confident in my freehand dremel usage), and cranked the base right up so I could cut just where the curve stops to go vertical. Worked a treat athough the diagonal cut would have been far quicker had my stupid drill press base actually rotated to the required degree.

Anyway, a little filing and smoothing out with sandpaper and we have this:



Makes a big difference in playability and is really straightforward to get done.

[jeremyb]

Neat work Tones!

[TmcB]

Neat work Tones!

Thank you sir!

It came out better than expected to be honest.

[LucyTheSpud]

Thats cool! Dont know why iv never seen this before, i hate ashtray bridges for that part, never thought of cutting it off...

[codedog]

While we're trimming things I decided to give this a try... Elite Tele feature on a beat up Squier body. Since it was an experiment I didn't bother trying to match the finish. A bit of slightly mint green bathroom paint leftover did the trick.

Haven't had any issues with the bridge plate so far so I'll save your mod till needed

[sizzlingbadger]

Come on, don't be shy get that Jigsaw out...

[druz15]

m8 the loss of 8% of the mass of nickel is going to severely reduce the overtones and warmth. I predict you will be unable to get that high end back unless you use a treble booster wired up with Brian May's pubes placed inside an ancient Kauri box with ground unicorn horn glue sealing it up to make it airtight. Otherwise the tone will get out.

You will really regret this decision when you start recording and the engineer is like "hmm something is wrong, have you shaved part of your bridge down? No we CAN'T fix it in post"

[WellyBlues]

Another product for your business to sell Tony?

[Molly]

Neat job.

Was wondering where I could get a Fano style bridge in place of the Bigsby on my Cabronita. Perhaps cutting down a stock Tele bridge might be an option.

[jeremyb]

[vintage52]

Is that like a GE Smith or something?

[jeremyb]

Had to look that up, nah it's a reproduction of a vintage tele bridge, you can get half ones like that

[calling card]

I raise you a hand forged one.



Has strat pickup.

[Molly]

I raise you a hand forged one.



Has strat pickup.

That looks like it could survive a nuclear attack. I can't make stuff like that... I'd fuck it up somewhere.It'd be just about perfect then I'd slip and drill a hole in the wrong place.

[TmcB]

I raise you a hand forged one.



Has strat pickup.

Dayum, can't beat that!