Tone of 90's American Standard Strat Tremelo Bridge With Cast Powdered Metal Saddles

[goldenhose]

Do the stamped bridges have a better tone? Anything else you can do to the tremelo bridge to improve tone?

[docjeffrey]

You can buy all kinds of aftermarket parts for Am. Std. strat bridges--saddles, trem blocks, handles, etc. According to one article I read, Strats from that period with opaque finishes had poplar bodies instead of alder, and the transparent finishes where poplar with veneers. Fender put an end to that practice in 2000. Be that as it may, there are plenty of good strats from that period.

 

Graph Tech makes some cool saddles. I have a set of Ferraglides on a Thinline Tele (it has a strat hardtail bridge). Callaham makes pricey bridge parts. You can even get titanium inertia blocks that cost a fortune.

 

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/saddles_graphtechstratferra.htm

 

http://www.kts-america.com/index.html

 

http://store.rsguitarworks.net/

[goldenhose]

yup I read about the poplar bodies. Are the cast saddles considered undesirable? The reason I ask is some people switch them

[DaleH]

Myself I like milled block saddles.

[goldenhose]

Myself I like milled block saddles.

Is there much difference in tone?

[mrbrown49]

 

Is there much difference in tone?

 

 

I think there is a slight difference in the character of the attack. The stamped saddles sound a bit snappier IMO, but it's subtle.

 

If you really want to change the tone, upgrade the pups.

[goldenhose]

I am in the process of changing pickups. I switched guitars too. I went from alder/rosewood to ash body/maple fretboard. I think it sounds better.

But I still like the old guitar with alder body and rosewood fretboard.