We need a new Bridge Champion

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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Maggieo
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Re: We need a new Bridge Champion

Post by Maggieo » Wed May 22, 2019 12:06 pm

jvin248 wrote:
Mon Oct 08, 2018 5:52 pm

As another bridge to consider for design research, there is the PRS Vela. It's not a retrofit candidate but similar to Mastery.

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Unrelated, but that would be the perfect bridge for a Tele-Gib project.
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timtam
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Re: We need a new Bridge Champion

Post by timtam » Thu May 23, 2019 1:08 am

loveinathens wrote:
Wed May 22, 2019 9:01 am
Can someone just PLEASE make a set of Mustang saddles in various radii????? Sets for like, 9.5" and 12" should be swell for those of us rocking custom and/or modern necks.
Good point - that would be handy. There are a few companies that sell Mustang saddles, and while most don't specify radius, one would assume that they are mostly 7.25" ...
https://www.allparts.com/products/bp-21 ... or-mustang
http://www.graphtech.com/products/brand ... --6-string
https://guitarpartsfactory.com/saddles_jagjazz.htm

One company makes titanium saddles that are claimed to be 9" radius but they are extremely expensive ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KTS-Titanium-M ... B01MXLO0PV
https://www.k-t-s.com/en/products/mu.php
However they are also the only company AFAIK that specifies the height of each individual saddle ... and based on calculations one can make of required saddle height for a given radius*, they are closer to the saddle heights for 7.25" / 56mm E-E spacing than they are to 9".

* https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/sag.htm (see 'Calculating Height of an Arc at Any Point')

EDIT: Just found a set of Japanese adjustable Mustang saddles that look beefy and maybe decent, somewhat similar to the ones on the Warmoth adjustable Mustang bridge ...
http://www.montreuxguitars.com/us/datal ... ?code=8999
https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/chu ... em/102151/
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loveinathens
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Re: We need a new Bridge Champion

Post by loveinathens » Thu May 30, 2019 9:55 am

timtam wrote:
Thu May 23, 2019 1:08 am
loveinathens wrote:
Wed May 22, 2019 9:01 am
Can someone just PLEASE make a set of Mustang saddles in various radii????? Sets for like, 9.5" and 12" should be swell for those of us rocking custom and/or modern necks.
Good point - that would be handy. There are a few companies that sell Mustang saddles, and while most don't specify radius, one would assume that they are mostly 7.25" ...
https://www.allparts.com/products/bp-21 ... or-mustang
http://www.graphtech.com/products/brand ... --6-string
https://guitarpartsfactory.com/saddles_jagjazz.htm

One company makes titanium saddles that are claimed to be 9" radius but they are extremely expensive ...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KTS-Titanium-M ... B01MXLO0PV
https://www.k-t-s.com/en/products/mu.php
However they are also the only company AFAIK that specifies the height of each individual saddle ... and based on calculations one can make of required saddle height for a given radius*, they are closer to the saddle heights for 7.25" / 56mm E-E spacing than they are to 9".

* https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/sag.htm (see 'Calculating Height of an Arc at Any Point')

EDIT: Just found a set of Japanese adjustable Mustang saddles that look beefy and maybe decent, somewhat similar to the ones on the Warmoth adjustable Mustang bridge ...
http://www.montreuxguitars.com/us/datal ... ?code=8999
https://global.rakuten.com/en/store/chu ... em/102151/
Image
Damn, still seems p steep for me considering the Warmoth Modified bridge is like $50? I honestly wonder why aftermarket Jazzmaster/Jaguar saddles a la carte or per set aren't a thing considering the number of people with non-vintage neck radii.

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Re: We need a new Bridge Champion

Post by Monty1 » Sat Jun 01, 2019 12:32 am

oid wrote:
Mon Sep 24, 2018 2:36 am
mackerelmint wrote:
Thu Sep 20, 2018 1:57 pm
so I'd probably offer them in stainless and brass.
Stainless will be very very slow to work on the china mini lathes if those are still what you are thinking about getting, it is hard stuff and you will have to take a very fine cut with that low horse power and plastic gearing, it also absolutely SUCKS to tap tiny holes in, expect to break taps and ruin saddles. Nickle silver may be a good alternative for silvery saddles, pretty much brass with enough nickle in it to make it silver in color, costs about the same, works just as nicely and nickle silver will sound much more fancy and exotic than the cold sterile stainless steel.

Stainless is not fun.
A bit late to the party but from experience anything ferrous is a nightmare to machine on a small lathe.

It's not so much a power issue, go in too aggressive on anything and it'll stall, but a rigidity issue. There's just not enough iron in the lathe bed to keep it from flexing on small lathes and stainless will chatter like mad due to it hardening as you cut it. The tool posts on mini lathes are pretty weak, they flex just as badly as the bed does. No problem with plastics, ally or brass but as soon as you hit stainless it's not good.

I've predominantly given up on ferrous and switched to titanium which machines really well. I'm a couple of models up from a mini lathe and have fitted a mahoosive quick change tool post that makes the slide more rigid but Ti will machine well on most things. I use grade 5 Ti, it's alloyed with vanadium and aluminium and is fairly hard, similar to steel, and occasionally use grade 23 which is a low oxygen content alloy but is fundamentally the same as grade 5 for my purposes (comes in smaller rod diameters as well so the extra cost is often offset (geddit??) by being able to obtain a smaller diameter rod). Pure Ti is too soft for most things but might work here.

It's more expensive that steel but the amount I use it's almost immaterial plus there are always offcuts for sale on the bay for peanuts. I machine a relatively small number of relatively small components so I'm less than £1 per item out of pocket over using stainless. As long as you have decent tools that are centred and properly sharp and use a good cutting fluid it turns, drills and taps with relative ease. Given the number of after market bridges and nuts that are Ti I assume it's robust enough for the job and has acoustic properties that are desirable to enough ears to make it a commercially viable alternative to steel or brass. Off the lathe I get a really fine brushed finish but put it on a polishing wheel and it comes up to a near mirror finish.

If I absolutely need to turn stainless I'll usually visit a mate that has a 18 inch swing monster but even then I have to go steady and on small diameter work the spring (where the hardness of the steel means the work piece deflects away from the cutting tool rather than cut) often becomes an issue and I have to work with a centre or a travelling steady or risk ending up with a taper. I've found that taking really light cuts exasperates the spring problem on sub 20mm diameter steel, I need to go in fairly aggressively, big cut, very low feed rate but for the final dimensioning passes you have to go light if you want any kind of precision or a decent surface finish to the finished piece.
I like shiny new guitars but I'm intending to send them back to get them factory reliced in 30 years time

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