Lessening The String Spacing Of A Tom

[verhoevenc]

Hey, I was just wondering, is it possible to decrease the string spacing of TOM style bridges? Say, but re-notching the saddles to your new desired position? Has anyone done this? Anyone see and problems with this idea? Any help would be appreciated.

Chris

PS: I noticed that a number of the Graphtech replacement saddles are "untapped" as in you have to notch them yourself.... could this be my solution? How hard is this?

[verhoevenc]

Also, one more thing. It's not ACTUALLY a TOM bridge I'm looking to do this on, it's actually a Hipshot Baby Grand which has the "stopbar" section of it built right onto it. If I off center notch new saddles and install them into said bridge and I gunna risk the strings popping out of the notches when you play/play-hard because of the fact that the stop holes and saddle notches are no longer 100% in-line?

Chris

[j. pierce]

I don't see much of a problem with it. (Although someone with more experience might chime in and correct me) I have a 12 string with a TOM that's been double notched to accept the paired strings. The string path from bridge to tailpiece is not perfectly in-line for all of the strings. I've also got a Schaller TOM with rollers on a Bigsby-equipped guitar, and it allows you to adjust the string spacing, and the string path is now not pefectly straight from bridge to tailpiece. Worst case you might have to notch it a little deeper than you usually do, and you might have a little bit of string binding at the bridge, but I can't imagine you'd be making the string path really that far off.

[verhoevenc]

Anyone else with opinions?

Chris

[GregP]

If it's not already slotted, there's no problem whatsoever putting the slots where you want. Another option is if the bridge accepts TOM saddles, replace them with a certain kind of roller saddle (I have a set that I've used, so I know they exist... indeed, they may be the more common kind!) on which the "roller" part is actually on a small horizonally-mounted screw. Just move the roller back and forth along the threaded bit in order to adjust spring spacing. A pic says a thousand words, but I don't have one right now, so I'm not sure it's very clear what I've said.

Greg

[j. pierce]

Those rollers Greg discussed sound like the same type on my Schaller bridge. Pic from Stew Mac here. It's a little hard to tell what's going on there, but Greg's description is right on.

I'd love to know where to get those roller saddles on their own, if you remember where you got them Greg?

[GregP]

Unfortunately for those trying to source them, I got them from Frank Falbo, who in turn got them at what I gather was a swap meet of some sort. So, no actual source. They likely originally came from a full-on roller bridge. I suppose if you're desperate enough you could get a roller bridge from GuitarFetish or something, and they'd work, but that's 20-odd bones just for some saddles.

Greg

[j. pierce]

Huh, look at that.

I didn't know GFS carried anything like that.

Actually, the only roller TOM I'd seen was that Schaller one. Which is pricey, and hard to get. (Stew Mac seemed to be the only place that actually had them in stock; I had some one order through my local guitar shop, and they're still on backorder - a year later.) I like the look of that Wilkinson one.

I don't actually think I have a use for just the roller saddles, just vague plans in the back of my head.

[Mickguard]

I had the GFS roller bridge...it rattled so loudly, it made the guitar no fun to play. I also broke a lot of strings with it (but I can break strings on any guitar... )

Verhoeven, how much of a difference are you talking about --I'm guessing not that much, right? So I don't see that as an issue --I installed Bigsbys on a couple of my guitars and in both cases there was a difference between the saddle width and the way the strings came off the roller (i.e., the strings were not 100% straight). And I found no incidence on tuning. I don't know if that's standard fare for Bigsbys, more likely it's because I was pairing the Bigsby with a non-bigsby bridge.

I used Graphtech saddles, which are more slippery, so that helps. Changes the tone though, which is a good or bad thing depending on what you're looking for.

[Guitarfrenzy]

First off, why do you want to change the string spacing at the bridge? Are the two outer E strings too close to the edge? Was this a guitar you built? If so, you should have bought the correct bridge for the neck you made or was going to use. You could have read my Calculating the Correct Bridge For Your Guitar article, and punched the numbers in to find which bridge would be best for you. Let's say you did the numbers and it turns out 2" string spread at the bridge for the two outer E strings. We'll if you bought the Hipshot bridge your talking about, which has a string spread of 2-3/32", then you can see why the strings are so close to the edges of the fingerboard. That's why you need to plan ahead, and since the bridge you bought was preslotted and if I'm looking correctly, using wide V shaped slots. Your best best it to buy new saddles and slot them to correct the string spread. You probably could have avoided this situation if you'd had done the math. Good luck bro..

MaTT Vinson

[verhoevenc]

Oh, the math was done correctly. It's jsut when I added the fretboard onto this neck, even though i clamped down, AND on the sides to keep everything flush, one of the clamps broke while I was gone and the fretboard slipped ever so slightly over. However, this ever so slightly over made the width DOUBLE that slightness thinner because i had to sand flush on BOTH sides (to get rid of fretboard over hang, AND the showing neck blank part). However, it luckily wasn't big enough to cause frets to go out of line,a nd thus not intonate, however it WAS enough to make my strngs closer to the edge than I would have liked.

Chris