Telecaster bridge placement
Posted: Mon Mar 29, 2021 10:30 am
Please help me solve a problem.
I have a 21 fret neck.
On the body, the through body string holes came pre-drilled and the bridge and neck pickup routing is pre-done. Not bridge screw holes.
I have a vintage style tele bridge (six saddle), not an American standard style ie. it has 4 above the string through holes, and is shorter.
When I put the bridge in place, I line it up so that the string holes align to the body string holes, and so that the pickup hole aligns to the pick up cavity.
I measure the distance from the 12th fret (equal to the distance to behind the nut), to get the position of the saddles. There should be a centimetre of saddle movement possible forward and back to allow for intonation.
However after doing the measurements, I find that the saddles have to be positioned very close to the back/bottom of the bridge, with the big E only about a centimetre from the back of the bridge. The saddle springs are compressed entirely.
To fix the problem using the existing bridge I'd have to redrill the string through holes in the body back a further 1.5cm, and reposition the bridge further back. However that would look weird as there would be 1.5cm gap between the bridge and the pickguard. And I'd have a partly visible pickup rout, and have to re-rout below. Would look rubbish.
Alternatively, I could get a different bridge that has more distance between the saddles (and the pickup hole/string hole) and back/bottom of the bridge. This would have to be the American Standard bridge, or a hybrid vintage bridge, which is a vintage looking bridge that has the American Standard extra length and screw hole placement.
What went wrong?
I have a 21 fret neck.
On the body, the through body string holes came pre-drilled and the bridge and neck pickup routing is pre-done. Not bridge screw holes.
I have a vintage style tele bridge (six saddle), not an American standard style ie. it has 4 above the string through holes, and is shorter.
When I put the bridge in place, I line it up so that the string holes align to the body string holes, and so that the pickup hole aligns to the pick up cavity.
I measure the distance from the 12th fret (equal to the distance to behind the nut), to get the position of the saddles. There should be a centimetre of saddle movement possible forward and back to allow for intonation.
However after doing the measurements, I find that the saddles have to be positioned very close to the back/bottom of the bridge, with the big E only about a centimetre from the back of the bridge. The saddle springs are compressed entirely.
To fix the problem using the existing bridge I'd have to redrill the string through holes in the body back a further 1.5cm, and reposition the bridge further back. However that would look weird as there would be 1.5cm gap between the bridge and the pickguard. And I'd have a partly visible pickup rout, and have to re-rout below. Would look rubbish.
Alternatively, I could get a different bridge that has more distance between the saddles (and the pickup hole/string hole) and back/bottom of the bridge. This would have to be the American Standard bridge, or a hybrid vintage bridge, which is a vintage looking bridge that has the American Standard extra length and screw hole placement.
What went wrong?