Acoustic with a Tune-O-Matic bridge

[DeepEnd]

The local (St. Louis) paper ran an article about local guitarist Richard Fortus, who is currently a member of Guns N' Roses. It included this pic. It looks like he (or someone) retrofitted a Tune-O-Matic bridge to his J200. the pic in the print edition is clearer but you can see it if you look:

 

[Tony Burns]

Ive seen that before -believe it may of been made that way -i think the guitar as i remember seeing years ago was a Gibson Hummingbird.

So thats not so unusual . gives you more of an electric feel -

 

that J-200 is pretty wild.

[MrHarryReems]

Seems to me that the intonation on a guitar like that would be a tad better than a standard acoustic.

[DeepEnd]

I've seen it on knockoffs. A college friend owned Yamaha copy of a Dove with a similar bridge. I hadn't seen or at least noticed it on the real deal. Those adjustable bridges have a reputation as tone killers, which is why you don't see then more.

[Etienne Rambert]

I have no idea why any acoustic player would want a ToM bridge. I hate having one on my electric.

[DeepEnd]

I have no idea why any acoustic player would want a ToM bridge. I hate having one on my electric.

I have one on my Schecter and I like being able to set intonation for each individual string. That would be handy on an acoustic if it were possible without sucking tone.

[Freeman Keller]

It should work fine - there are lots of archtops with floating ToM bridges so the bridge could either float or have some sort of structure for the studs and posts. If its just floating I would worry about the break angle using pins but from the picture it looks like they solved that. A ToM would be very heavy which is generally thought to be undesirable and of course you are locked into the 12 inch radius and 2-1/16 spacing without some serious work. You do have quite a bit of compensation adjustment but most people manage to get standard saddles to intonate adequately. Being able to easily adjust the height would be convenient during setup but again, how often would you need that during regular use. Lots of archtop builders feel that all that adjusting wheel mechanism is detrimental to the transfer of energy from the strings to the top, electric players don't seem to care.

 

You certainly couldn't use an undersaddle pickup (however there are some ToM's with built in piezo crystals).

 

Whether it was done at the factory or aftermarket, it seems like a solution in search of a problem..

[MrHarryReems]

Lots of archtop builders feel that all that adjusting wheel mechanism is detrimental to the transfer of energy from the strings to the top, electric players don't seem to care.

 

 

That's generally because electric guitars aren't getting their sound from the vibration of the top, it's from the strings over the magnetic pickups.

 

[DeepEnd]

It should work fine - there are lots of archtops with floating ToM bridges so the bridge could either float or have some sort of structure for the studs and posts. If its just floating I would worry about the break angle using pins but from the picture it looks like they solved that. . . .

It could be just me but those pins look like they're a fair distance from the saddles and it doesn't look like the pin holes are ramped. I'm not convinced break angle is as critical as some folks think but it doesn't look like there would be much of an angle the way it's set up.

[Freeman Keller]

Remember that an archtop bridge, whether its a ToM or not, has a relatively shallow break angle - they work on entirely different principle than a fixed bridge

 

 

And even if the bridge is fixed like a Les Paul, there is still some debate on how much break angle is good - some folks wrap over the top of the stop bar to minimize it

 

 

If you divide the vectors at the saddle into down into the top and parallel to it, the less angle the more downforce and the less the bridge wants to rotate. I can't tell much from that picture and I really don't care - if it works for him, more power. Seems like a lot of effort and it does muck up that elegant bridge.

 

ps - another thought, we have discussed those bridges with the adjustable inserts and generally decided its a bad idea. I've modified a couple of guitars for people to remove them (I wouldn't do it on a true vintage instrument). Its possible that this is someone's solution to that situation - you've got a bridge with a big fat slot in it, why not fit a ToM into the slot (particularly if you are used to them on your electric guitar).

[Freeman Keller]

 

That's generally because electric guitars aren't getting their sound from the vibration of the top, it's from the strings over the magnetic pickups.

 

 

In general I agree with you but the guitar itself certainly affects the sound. For example, these both have the same pickups, yet sound quite different when played thru the same amp and effects (none)

 

 

 

Likewise, these have the same pups, yet sound different because one is chambered and one is not

 

 

(to stay sort of on topic, all of those have ToM bridges)

[DeepEnd]

Except that we're not talking about an archtop but a regular flattop guitar. The mechanics are different. I do agree that it's a shame to muck up that lovely bridge.