foolin with Tru-Arc bar bridges..very nice

I got myself 2 new Tru-Arc bridges; an x drilled solid brass and solid stainless steel. The brass had waaay to much low end for my tone post
SSU and blonde bassman. Couldnt even dial out the bass cut on my
Nocturne. Not for my SSU but would be perfect for a trestled hotrod, duejet with dynas or spectrasonic.
BUT...
the stainless steel version is the cats pajamas. I was not a fan of the
bar bridge but I think I've had my paradigm jostled a bit. I dont
want to like em, because I have worked hard to build a perfect ABR-1
for my guitar... hmmm.. I always have to take things too far so I'm gonna sell these (mistakenly received 9.5" radius meant for FMIC gretsches, my 99' has a 12" which I LOVE!! but damn 9'5" makes
travis pickin easy..didnt realize I was suffering there)
and get a 12" titanium with x drilling.

I hadn't jumped on the TAs yet, moslty because I don't really have a "problem" with the ABR-1. HOWEVER, if there's a TA that is BETTER, for some reason, than the ABR-1, I'd definitely consider it. The one thing I was really worried about was intonation- I don't want to remove or move my bridge pins, and I use 10's, I wondered if the TA, on my current pinned base, would still have good intonation. Having to remove or move the pins would be a deal breaker for me.

FWIW, my trestled HR doesn't need any more bass either!!

ruger9 wrote:

I hadn't jumped on the TAs yet, moslty because I don't really have a "problem" with the ABR-1. HOWEVER, if there's a TA that is BETTER, for some reason, than the ABR-1, I'd definitely consider it. The one thing I was really worried about was intonation- I don't want to remove or move my bridge pins, and I use 10's, I wondered if the TA, on my current pinned base, would still have good intonation. Having to remove or move the pins would be a deal breaker for me.

FWIW, my trestled HR doesn't need any more bass either!!

Its not better if you dont care about sustain too much Sure feels better..but it took me months to think about moving my bridge. It took so long for it to be "perfect"..but now...eh.. I did it and I'm gonna fiddle with it all.
It's probably just one of those "oooh a sexy redhead" things. (I could never live under the same roof as a redhead but you could let your mind drift in fantasy for a second)

My Spectra Sonic seems to carry a good amount of low end...especially in the neck and middle positions. Though the TA bridges are intruiging. I put in a glendale bridge and brass saddles on my Am. series tele and that thing kills now compared to the heavy bridge and 6 saddle (a top loader interests me now). So, bridges are an important part of the recipe for sure.

Need to see if I can coax some more sweet low end twang from my Club Royale. I'll have to sneak some playing time in between. Sometimes I wonder if a 60's Fender combo would get a little more twang?

I'm Incinerator wrote:

My Spectra Sonic seems to carry a good amount of low end...especially in the neck and middle positions. Though the TA bridges are intruiging. I put in a glendale bridge and brass saddles on my Am. series tele and that thing kills now compared to the heavy bridge and 6 saddle (a top loader interests me now). So, bridges are an important part of the recipe for sure.

Need to see if I can coax some more sweet low end twang from my Club Royale. I'll have to sneak some playing time in between. Sometimes I wonder if a 60's Fender combo would get a little more twang?

Club Royale is more jangle, shimmer n snarl to me.. A vintage
Fender is punch n Twang.. I even had a vox blue in my Princeton
and it made itself understood that it was not gonna sing anything
british through that speaker.

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

My Spectra Sonic seems to carry a good amount of low end...especially in the neck and middle positions. Though the TA bridges are intruiging. I put in a glendale bridge and brass saddles on my Am. series tele and that thing kills now compared to the heavy bridge and 6 saddle (a top loader interests me now). So, bridges are an important part of the recipe for sure.

Need to see if I can coax some more sweet low end twang from my Club Royale. I'll have to sneak some playing time in between. Sometimes I wonder if a 60's Fender combo would get a little more twang?

Club Royale is more jangle, shimmer n snarl to me.. A vintage
Fender is punch n Twang.. I even had a vox blue in my Princeton
and it made itself understood that it was not gonna sing anything
british through that speaker.

Yes it is, it's british to the core with it's jangle and shimmer. Punch and twang, sounds pretty nice. I used to get some nice jangle out of my Twin Rev. RI, but I can only imagine a PCB reissue won't be much like a true PTP pre CBS 60's fender.

does TA make a nickel or chrome plated brass bridge?

I'm Incinerator wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

My Spectra Sonic seems to carry a good amount of low end...especially in the neck and middle positions. Though the TA bridges are intruiging. I put in a glendale bridge and brass saddles on my Am. series tele and that thing kills now compared to the heavy bridge and 6 saddle (a top loader interests me now). So, bridges are an important part of the recipe for sure.

Need to see if I can coax some more sweet low end twang from my Club Royale. I'll have to sneak some playing time in between. Sometimes I wonder if a 60's Fender combo would get a little more twang?

Club Royale is more jangle, shimmer n snarl to me.. A vintage
Fender is punch n Twang.. I even had a vox blue in my Princeton
and it made itself understood that it was not gonna sing anything
british through that speaker.

Yes it is, it's british to the core with it's jangle and shimmer. Punch and twang, sounds pretty nice. I used to get some nice jangle out of my Twin Rev. RI, but I can only imagine a PCB reissue won't be much like a true PTP pre CBS 60's fender.

does TA make a nickel or chrome plated brass bridge?

no plating thats for sissies, thats the point. Polished
Copper, Aluminum, Brass, Stainless Steel

I'm Incinerator wrote:

I put in a glendale bridge and brass saddles on my Am. series tele and that thing kills now compared to the heavy bridge and 6 saddle (a top loader interests me now). ?

Hey Incinerator!

I've been thinking of doing the Glendale bridge & saddles on my tele for YEARS... just never did. How did they change the tone compare to the std. 6 pieces?

Just wondering about the plating, I just think it'd look ssomewhat out of place to have a brass bridge on a black/white/chrome spectrasonic


regarding the glendale bridge and saddles. I'm not great with adjectives, but I'll give it a try. I basically bought the Glendale on a whim. If I didn't like it, I could sell it or send it back (I think Dale gave a trial period?). The six saddle bridge gave the tele alot of attitude, so much that it seemed more ballsy than the LP I played for 3 years prior. The Glendale didn't really take away the ballsiness, but it seemed to spread out into other characteristics such as twang (now it really sounds like a tele), harmonics (If I'm not thinking about it, I can accidently pinch out harmonics on bends), there is so much more pop snap and presence...notes jump out of the guitar. It's definitely worth checking out if you're thinking about it. Dale is great to deal with and the packaging is awesome for that Mid 20th century, spaghetti western, and pin-up cool vibe. Plus there is no irreversable mods done to the guitar.

can I add my 2 cents about the tele bridge.. ( i know you didnt ask for it) if you have the ability to work a basic belt
sander, and I'm talkin cheapo hand held belt sander clamped in a benchvice.
You can make the same ..SAME tone quality from an allparts
Wilkinson vintage tele bridge.

The key is to sand the bottom of the stamped steel plate perfectly
flat to "iron" out the wrinkles,pits,warps of the plate.. This will couple
the bridge plate to the body for maximum transfer.

secondly since this bridge already has the staggered barrels, you only
have to sand the edge of the barrels at a slight angle so they will
sit tightly against eachother, again for maximum tone transfer.

just sayin... tight tolerances usually are all these parts need that are not afforded to them in mass production.

just sayin

btw.. about the brass tru-arc not matching the spectrasonic, since
its not plated its gonna look like an old cymbal so quick you'll forget
there was a gold pimp tooth on your guit at one time.
the biggest deal about them is that your spectra has a 9.5" radias but
your stock bridge (Abr1) is 12".

Those Wilkenson bridges aren't that bad. Heck, Suhr uses (used) them on his t-style guitars. The Glendale stuck out to me because of the AM. series conversion having the 3 anchor bolts as opposed to 5 on vintage style. Plus, Glendale was having a special so I saved a few bucks. I think as long as there is a tight fit and the material is light weight, hard, and strong-it should produce comparable results. If I had some extra time, money, and know-how-I'd love to make tele, strat, and JM style guitars after being inspired from some of the creston guitar builds I have seen.

I didn't know that the spectra sonic was only 9.5 radius? It feels flatter than my tele, and Gretsch had the specs at 12, I thought? The brass would give it some cowboy cool after some sweat and air hit it.

Thanks for the tele info guys. I LOVE my tele. It's my #1. I have ZERO complaints about it's tone. Truth be told, the only reason I was looking into the Glendale stuff was because I'm a HUGE Brad Paisley fan, and he uses them... different materials for different strings... he uses alum. for the E & A to make them more piano-like, and steel on the E & B to warm them up. But I'm not aching to change my bridge or anything.

As for the Tru-Arcs, the jury is still out for me... unles the Tru-Arc gives me some benefit I don't know I don't have, like the Bigsby staying in better tune, or the warming up of the plain strings or something, I see no reason to switch from my ABR-1. Altho I WILL be paying close attention from now on to see if my bridge rattles at all... haven't noticed it yet...

ruger9 wrote:

Thanks for the tele info guys. I LOVE my tele. It's my #1. I have ZERO complaints about it's tone. Truth be told, the only reason I was looking into the Glendale stuff was because I'm a HUGE Brad Paisley fan, and he uses them... different materials for different strings... he uses alum. for the E & A to make them more piano-like, and steel on the E & B to warm them up. But I'm not aching to change my bridge or anything.

As for the Tru-Arcs, the jury is still out for me... unles the Tru-Arc gives me some benefit I don't know I don't have, like the Bigsby staying in better tune, or the warming up of the plain strings or something, I see no reason to switch from my ABR-1. Although I WILL be paying close attention from now on to see if my bridge rattles at all... haven't noticed it yet...

Bigsby will slide easier, high end is smoother, much more sustain...
but I love the ABR-1. Selling the stainless steel but I am sending the brass X tru-arc back for an aluminum. Its got to make me go wow and
I'm not at wow yet ( as an abr-1 fan, bar bridge fans NEED this) just
more like "hey that is pretty n-i-i-i-ce".

regarding the swapping of bridge saddles on the tele.. I've fooled with
steel and different brass, but I just love the notched brass with the stamped steel..BUT I use 10g strings.. I just dont get those stock 9g fender string specs.
..and again on the barrel saddles touching, I've found just that simple
fix gives the low and high E strings more sustain. I mean not like aircraft grade titanium barrel saddles will but titanium is insane expensive. I was at NAMM trying out some silly priced booteek titanium
saddles on a stock tele and it was like Gods harp or something... just
outa my reach budget wise... I mean you could buy another delay pedal or something with that cash

Thos titanium tele saddles are CRAZY expensive. Glendale makes a titanium bridge plate too...I'd imagine that would be really really zingy. Probably not good for those thinner zingy tele pickups. They would probably sound like gods harp with some powertrons or supertrons or some fat tele pickups. I also agree about stock .9's on fenders, not good. I'm almost tempted to move up to .11's on my tele and .12's on my Spectra Sonic. Sometimes the low E slips of the saddle on my Spectra Sonic and both Es fret out pretty easily. Maybe I just need to have the action adjusted a bit.

I'll have to try out a true arc someday. The aluminum sounds interesting.

I'm Incinerator wrote:

Thos titanium tele saddles are CRAZY expensive. Glendale makes a titanium bridge plate too...I'd imagine that would be really really zingy. Probably not good for those thinner zingy tele pickups. They would probably sound like gods harp with some powertrons or supertrons or some fat tele pickups. I also agree about stock .9's on fenders, not good. I'm almost tempted to move up to .11's on my tele and .12's on my Spectra Sonic. Sometimes the low E slips of the saddle on my Spectra Sonic and both Es fret out pretty easily. Maybe I just need to have the action adjusted a bit.

I'll have to try out a true arc someday. The aluminum sounds interesting.

you fooled w/ callaham stuff yet? I'm interested in the solid steel trem block

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

Thos titanium tele saddles are CRAZY expensive. Glendale makes a titanium bridge plate too...I'd imagine that would be really really zingy. Probably not good for those thinner zingy tele pickups. They would probably sound like gods harp with some powertrons or supertrons or some fat tele pickups. I also agree about stock .9's on fenders, not good. I'm almost tempted to move up to .11's on my tele and .12's on my Spectra Sonic. Sometimes the low E slips of the saddle on my Spectra Sonic and both Es fret out pretty easily. Maybe I just need to have the action adjusted a bit.

I'll have to try out a true arc someday. The aluminum sounds interesting.

you fooled w/ callaham stuff yet? I'm interested in the solid steel trem block

No callaham stuff, yet. Maybe if I still had a strat. It sounds like his stuff is up there as far as quality goes.

I'm Incinerator wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

Thos titanium tele saddles are CRAZY expensive. Glendale makes a titanium bridge plate too...I'd imagine that would be really really zingy. Probably not good for those thinner zingy tele pickups. They would probably sound like gods harp with some powertrons or supertrons or some fat tele pickups. I also agree about stock .9's on fenders, not good. I'm almost tempted to move up to .11's on my tele and .12's on my Spectra Sonic. Sometimes the low E slips of the saddle on my Spectra Sonic and both Es fret out pretty easily. Maybe I just need to have the action adjusted a bit.

I'll have to try out a true arc someday. The aluminum sounds interesting.

you fooled w/ callaham stuff yet? I'm interested in the solid steel trem block

No callaham stuff, yet. Maybe if I still had a strat. It sounds like his stuff is up there as far as quality goes.

As an owner of a tophat club royale I hope ya have a strat.. the marriage of my 91 strat with the Suhr V60 neck into a CR is
THE edge!

used to have a MIM 50's classic strat, but never really got along with the neck on that, and I sold it about 5 years ago.

I'd like to get another one one of these days.not sure which kind of strat, though?

With me being a lefty, Callaham custom made me a block. While a little pricey, it has been well worth the $$. If I ever have to upgrade another MIM strat...it would be the first thing done.

I'm Incinerator wrote:

used to have a MIM 50's classic strat, but never really got along with the neck on that, and I sold it about 5 years ago.

I'd like to get another one one of these days.not sure which kind of strat, though?

depending on what MIM you get.. I got my boy one of those satin series
shot with nitrocellulose so it had a decent timbre to start. Put fat 50s in it
and it made it a real nice guitar, although I KNOW that crap trem block needs to go from anemic to bold. Callahams are about $25 more than I get steel milled but titanium are $250!
I am tempted to drill the block laterally and apply a 3/8 steel bolt and nut. $5!!

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

used to have a MIM 50's classic strat, but never really got along with the neck on that, and I sold it about 5 years ago.

I'd like to get another one one of these days.not sure which kind of strat, though?

depending on what MIM you get.. I got my boy one of those satin series
shot with nitrocellulose so it had a decent timbre to start. Put fat 50s in it
and it made it a real nice guitar, although I KNOW that crap trem block needs to go from anemic to bold. Callahams are about $25 more than I get steel milled but titanium are $250!
I am tempted to drill the block laterally and apply a 3/8 steel bolt and nut. $5!!

The MIM strat I had was a good guitar, decent tone. It was my second guitar after I was only playing a few months, so everything was left stock. The neck killed my hands 7.5 radius and a weird hard V back. I imagine some new pickups and electronics, a bridge, and a more comfy neck would have made that thing into a beast.

I could always go frankenfender for my next "F" style guitar

not to stray away from the topic...what would an aluminum TA do for my Spectra Sonic in its current (stock) state? All of the different types of metals and tone-hole options are almost daunting.

I'm Incinerator wrote:

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

used to have a MIM 50's classic strat, but never really got along with the neck on that, and I sold it about 5 years ago.

I'd like to get another one one of these days.not sure which kind of strat, though?

depending on what MIM you get.. I got my boy one of those satin series
shot with nitrocellulose so it had a decent timbre to start. Put fat 50s in it
and it made it a real nice guitar, although I KNOW that crap trem block needs to go from anemic to bold. Callahams are about $25 more than I get steel milled but titanium are $250!
I am tempted to drill the block laterally and apply a 3/8 steel bolt and nut. $5!!

The MIM strat I had was a good guitar, decent tone. It was my second guitar after I was only playing a few months, so everything was left stock. The neck killed my hands 7.5 radius and a weird hard V back. I imagine some new pickups and electronics, a bridge, and a more comfy neck would have made that thing into a beast.

I could always go frankenfender for my next "F" style guitar

not to stray away from the topic...what would an aluminum TA do for my Spectra Sonic in its current (stock) state? All of the different types of metals and tone-hole options are almost daunting.

I liked my ABR-1 with aluminum saddles best, good match!
ps. the tone wholes get me more cluck around the strings, but
I wonder what thatdoes to the sustain?

just sprung for an aluminum no-hole tru arc for my spectra sonic. I hope that it will do for my spectra sonic what my glendale set up did for my tele.

I'm Incinerator wrote:

just sprung for an aluminum no-hole tru arc for my spectra sonic. I hope that it will do for my spectra sonic what my glendale set up did for my tele.

Cool!! I got a new stainless steel w/ x holes on the high side for the SSLVO! Very nice!
RJ said his true arc made his spectrasonic a whole new instrument??? wow.

tvthewiredturtle wrote:

I'm Incinerator wrote:

just sprung for an aluminum no-hole tru arc for my spectra sonic. I hope that it will do for my spectra sonic what my glendale set up did for my tele.

Cool!! I got a new stainless steel w/ x holes on the high side for the SSLVO! Very nice!
RJ said his true arc made his spectrasonic a whole new instrument??? wow.

first thing i noticed, when i got my david lee, the roller bar bridge was of a different radius. so i had to swap in order to get the right string hight. i ordered a true arc 120 aluminium and it just was the rightest thing to do. Bigsby stays in tune, octaves are right, sustain is very much improved. overall the TA are the right choice, if you want a rollerbarbridge in your gritsch