Good Question 3 saddle or 6 saddle vintage....?

Ok that is another good question,wich is the best one to use for tone and intonation and things like that the 3 saddle brass or the 6 saddle style,i would think the 6 saddle would be easy to compensate for intonation ..? thanks for your time it is greatley appreciated

Your MIM STD has a 6 saddle bridge which is easier to intonate than the 3 saddle design but alot of people dont think the 6 saddle sounds as good.

You just got the guitar leave the bridge alone and change the pickups if your gonna change anything that will make more difference than anything.

this is another one of those loaded questions, you will get a lot of opinions both ways, some feel that the 3 saddle bridges give more sustain, but are harder to correctly intonate, others seem to have no problem wiht the 3 saddle bridges even with std non compensated saddles.
FWIW I have seen plenty of "pro" players that use the 6 saddle bridge Brent Mason comes to mind and that man has TONE to spare!

IMHO it's one of those things that would be hard to objectively tell the difference since it takes so long to change the bridge out, set up the action / intonation etc...
Like Mark said, pu's will probably make a much bigger difference.

Put StewMac compensated saddles on my vintage style bridge and now the intonation at the 12th fret is right on, when it wasn't before. But neck adjustment, frets,the nut and other factors come into effect when dealing with tuning issues up and down the neck. I have two teles with American Standard bridges, and they don't seem to have the sustain that my one with the old style 3 saddle bridge has But pickups, wood type, frets, etc. all contribute. Turn it up and floor it!

The six-saddle vintage bridge is a piece of crapola in my opinion......

The saddles are too narrow, and the string path is offset to one side, making the saddle unstable. The one I had on my MIM James Burton drove me nuts- constantly drifting and buzzing. It just wouldn't stay put no matter what.

I replaced it with a three saddle compensated bridge. Better tone, zero problems.

The modern six-saddle styles usually don't have this problem (if the string is centered between the height adj. screws), but I think they lack a little in the tone dept, being made of non-ferrous material. Lots of people use them, and manage to make some pretty decent sounds (like Brent Mason, for example).

It depends on what you're searching for tone-wise, though. I prefer the three-saddle intonated models for just about everything I do, although I do have the modern, flat plate six-saddle version on some guitars....


-Michael
Charter Member S. Texas He-Man Emoticon Haters Local #316

drove me nuts- constantly drifting and buzzing. It just wouldn't stay put no matter what.
-Michael
Charter Member S. Texas He-Man Emoticon Haters Local #316

Same here with a ~'89 Korean Standard Tele.

Studio pros like Mason have their studio pro reasons for their Tele gear and set ups, us nobodies have ours so if you're curious go ahead spend 50 bucks and an afternoon dropping in a 3 brass saddle ferrous bridge. Fun and good for your Tele, you'll do a complete set-up!

Mik

If you have a MIM std 6 saddle bridge it should work fine. I agree with Mark that it's better to invest in pickups and leave the bridge for now.

I do like the 3 saddle bridges and have no intonation problems with them either.

I'd go for the bridge and leave the pickups 'till later. For one, it's a cheaper proposition: $50 should have you set. And for two, the whole tele mojo is in the bridge. Between the interactions of the string and saddle, and the magnetic intereference of a ferrous bridge plate, a vintage-style bridge should be #1 on the mod list.

Besides, they just look cool.

Mike