Bridge Replacements

[DetroitBlues]

In my constant tinkering with my guitars, I've been looking at my 535 and considering going to Nickel, possibly aged Nickel (which is easy to do at home).  

But I remember the last time I replaced a bridge, the bridge did not have the correct notched string spacing.

Is there a company out there that does a 1 for 1 replacement for a Heritage that does not require the bridge saddles to be notched?

[rockabilly69]

Josh, notching saddles is actually pretty easy. Get the unnotched nickle brass saddle ABR from Faber.  Using the old strings, align them on the saddles, tap them with a small plastic hammer, hit the marks left with the hammer on the saddles with a few passes of  a small triangular file (you don't need a special file), and be done with it. If you need a reference use the old bridge to how deep to file the notches.

Here's a variation on that where they do the wound strings a bit different ...

 

[kbp810]

51 minutes ago, rockabilly69 said:

Josh, notching saddles is actually pretty easy. Get the unnotched nickle brass saddle ABR from Faber.  Using the old strings, align them on the saddles, tap them with a small plastic hammer, hit the marks left with the hammer on the saddles with a few passes of  a small triangular file (you don't need a special file), and be done with it. If you need a reference use the old bridge to how deep to file the notches.

Here's a variation on that where they do the wound strings a bit different ...

 

[Steiner]

Upon discovering the stock Heritage bridge on #1 was resonating off key, it became necessary to replace it.  Callaham was the first one; perfect!  It shut down those pesky, ringing overtone, noises that interfered with the sound.  There was only one problem, it wasn't gold.  After shopping Faber for 6 months and emailing them, I purchased what they recommended - didn't work.  After another exhaustive online search, I tried a Kluson bridge - it brought back the old and included new noises.  The last couple of months have been using a KMS (Kiss My Strings) GOLD bridge.  They were far easier to deal with - even though my requests were non-traditional (AKA Les Paul) style, they went out of their way to appease.

Faber is the only manufacturing company I've encountered that charges a $15 upcharge for un-notched saddles.  Since when does it cost more to not perform a machining process???

[rockabilly69]

44 minutes ago, Steiner said:

Upon discovering the stock Heritage bridge on #1 was resonating off key, it became necessary to replace it.  Callaham was the first one; perfect!  It shut down those pesky, ringing overtone, noises that interfered with the sound.  There was only one problem, it wasn't gold.  After shopping Faber for 6 months and emailing them, I purchased what they recommended - didn't work.  After another exhaustive online search, I tried a Kluson bridge - it brought back the old and included new noises.  The last couple of months have been using a KMS (Kiss My Strings) GOLD bridge.  They were far easier to deal with - even though my requests were non-traditional (AKA Les Paul) style, they went out of their way to appease.

Faber is the only manufacturing company I've encountered that charges a $15 upcharge for un-notched saddles.  Since when does it cost more to not perform a machining process???

I have Fabers on all of my Heritages, and they work perfectly!  

[Steiner]

2 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

I have Fabers on all of my Heritages, and they work perfectly!  

The Faber appeared to be of high quality; I couldn't get simple answers from them.  At the same time, KMS and Callaham both solved my requests.  All three are the $200+ price range.  A good bridge is machined to tighter tolerances and should be void of sympathetic, resonate sound.

The #2 electric here (Heritage) still has the original bridge; not sure of the brand or if the original owner upgraded it.  It, too, is silent.  In fact, all the other Heritages have original hardware.  'Twas only the H-575 that sent me into orbit.

[kbp810]

I'll count myself lucky, but I had an opposite experience -  I've had a couple questions and an issue before, and not only got fairly swift replies, but got them from Larry himself. Or maybe it was just someone posing as Larry? Either way, got what I needed and it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside, lol. 

Anyways, I'd imagine they're a fairly small outfit that's trying to produce and distribute at high volumes; which probably leads to some streaky support practices. Hard to explain the saddle upcharge though; especially when you can freely choose between nickel or bare brass, so it's not like theirs some additional manual labor involved in the swap? 

[rockabilly69]

I've also had great communication with Larry at Faber. And one time, after he figured out he sent me a bridge from a bad run, on his own initiative he send me a new bridge!

[bolero]

I've heard Larry has some nice leisure suits

[Steiner]

And a big, naugahyde door