Members marder explorer Posted November 17, 2005 Members Share Posted November 17, 2005 Anybody put a Callaham bridge on their Tele? I've got a near new American Series...wondering if I should spring for Fralins or the bridge, with some of the leftover cash from my recent Explorer sale... So, what should it be? Anybody bought some of their cryo treated pickups? Actually tell a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marder explorer Posted November 17, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2005 only on the 2nd page but I wanna spend money bumper.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marder explorer Posted November 17, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 17, 2005 +- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CrackerD Posted November 17, 2005 Members Share Posted November 17, 2005 Doesn't Callaham say the tele bridge he has makes a bigger tonal difference than pickups?I haven't tried either, but would love to try his tele bridge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Telefonic Posted November 18, 2005 Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 Sheesh, certainly somebody has bought one of these things. Seems to me that eric zwicky bought the Fralins from Callaham for his tele project, maybe he'll answer. The bridge sounds great, but dang, eighty bucks? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CrackerD Posted November 18, 2005 Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 their stuff is hella spendy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marder explorer Posted November 18, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 That's why I'm balking at buying either...80 for bridge + 160 for their cryo Fralins = me even poorer in the months ahead... It does say on their site that the American Series (what I need for my '05 MIA) bridge makes a bigger difference than pickups. Thing is, I don't know enough of the sound differences between the 6-saddle modern style and the "twangier and more 'Tele'-sounding" 3-saddle compensated style). I guess it comes down to how much more Tele can it get...and if that'd be a good thing for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eric zwicky Posted November 18, 2005 Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 Originally posted by Telefonic Sheesh, certainly somebody has bought one of these things. Seems to me that eric zwicky bought the Fralins from Callaham for his tele project, maybe he'll answer. The bridge sounds great, but dang, eighty bucks? yes indeed, good memory! but we are waiting for the finish to cure on the body and neck before we do the assembly, so i can't comment on sound quality yet.i will be happy to post my impressions of the callaham bridge and fralin pickups once we're done, hopefully in a month or less.thanks,-eric Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members _pete_ Posted November 18, 2005 Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 I bought the upgrade kit for a Mexican Strat. It's very good stuff. The steel block does make a difference. I also bought the blender pot. Every Strat should have one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr.Mow Posted November 18, 2005 Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 I bought his hardware kit, it was ok.. Plating on some parts was a little average, the steel trem block is nice though. In reality its not that much more expensive than buying genuine Fender parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bromanking Posted November 18, 2005 Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 I got the Callaham bridge for my 52 reissue Japanese Tele. I did it mainly because the original bridge was rusting and I was afraid it would get into the pu and screw it up. Mine originally had the 3 brass saddles anyway and a very good sounding Broadcaster type pu in the bridge position. I don't really think the Callaham bridge made much difference in the sound. Intonation was improved a little because of the angled saddles. I think the biggest improvement was the cutaway part of the bridge plate. I had learned to work around the original, but I like the cutaway better. The Callaham does look better with more consistent and thicker metal. I am getting a slight bit of rust, but not as bad as the original. I do wish it was a little better plated though. $80 does seem like a bit much, but all in all I think it was worth it.B. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members marder explorer Posted November 18, 2005 Author Members Share Posted November 18, 2005 That's another thing, the American Series like I have doesn't have either side bent up, so there's no real improvement there for me, just the thickness of the metal and 3 saddles versus 6 like I have now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Irish Wolf Posted June 10, 2006 Members Share Posted June 10, 2006 I'm in the same situation with a sweet natural american tele from '00. HMM... What to do...????? Could i put a vintage bridge on or would that be damaging? RS has a nice relic'd bridge for -60. I think i'm gonna go with Bill Lawrence pickups though. They are 40 each(so cheap) and Bill seems old enough that he might not be making them for too much longer. Better scarf em up while we still can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Soulgolem Posted September 13, 2006 Members Share Posted September 13, 2006 I have a japanese 52 reissue Tele that now has the Callaham bridge and the Callaham treated fralin pickups. I didn't notice a major improvement with the new bridge (didn't have the pickups yet) but I feel it gained some sustain, intonation is obviously better due to the angled saddles, and it gave some weight to the guitar (made of basswood, very light). Sound is a little deeper, and modern (in a good way) focused I should say maybe. Keep in mind that it's very subjective and minimal changes I'm talking about here. Next I tried Rio Grande's big bottom set which consists of a high gain tele bridge pu and a vintage sounding neck. I was always complaning that my neck was too dark compared to my bridge and had to adjust tone control when switching. Didn't have that problem with those, I really liked the neck, but the bridge sounded a bit too dark (maybe muddy) to my tastes. So I bought the callaham treated fralin set that I saw in a paper ad. Somehow, these retained the vintage sounding in the bridge and had almost all the output my hi-gain bridge had. Still have that neck being too dark compared to bridge thing but now it doesn't bother me, bridge is trebly, neck is dark, but they both have so much clarity that it just makes sense. Just two great sounds. I feel some people would think it's too much clarity, to some people this removes some of the vintage feel, for my part, these are the pickups that will stay definatley in the guitar. Very responsive, easy to attack hard and get tube saturation with just the strenght of your pick. Truly love them. Except one thing, the combination of high gain and low gain pickups of the Rio Grande gave me a middle position that I really liked a lot, very sweet, yet very "3rd middle position" had it's great middle character while being much more different than both other position. With the fralin, it just feels like the middle spot between both pickups, which is great, but just a bit subtler. Francis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ace6550 Posted September 13, 2006 Members Share Posted September 13, 2006 I've got an unused Callaham Tele bridge (for American Series teles) I'll sell to you for $45 shipped. Seriously. Brass saddles, I'm pretty sure. I bought it for a project that never materialized. I have used the trem blocks on a couple of American strats. There was an 'tiny' increase in the sustain, but not enought to warrant the loss of play. (the Callaham blocks don't have the angled cuttoff on the backside - you can't push the bar down as far). I have two of those I need to let go of as well. Just e-mail me if you're serious about buying the tele bridge. I've got a paypal account so you're covered there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Wyatt Posted September 14, 2006 Members Share Posted September 14, 2006 Originally posted by Ace6550 I've got an unused Callaham Tele bridge (for American Series teles) I'll sell to you for $45 shipped. Seriously. Brass saddles, I'm pretty sure. I bought it for a project that never materialized. That seems like a fair deal, and makes it affordable to experiemtn with it. But, as to the original question. They are well-made, but over-priced compared to performance IMHO. The difference isn't drastic, and it is a subjective thing. If you absolutely knew a ferrous bridge plate would get you exactly the sound in your head, then go for it. Overwise, you are merely buying into opinion. '50's and '60's Tlee's are both calssic for their own unique reason's, and each had different bridge designs and materials. '50's bridge plates were ferrous, '60's were not; '50's saddles were brass, 60's were steel; '50's had 3 saddles, '60's had 3 or 6; etc. The Callaham bridge is designed for the '50's tone, but some people might prefer the '60's, or even modern, etc. Callaham isn't the only option BTW, but the others are all high priced also...Barden, Glendale, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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