GFS Tele kit Bridge Mod. Anyone done this before?

Hello Everyone from the New Guy. I have to thank everyone who posts cool tips and stuff as I been reading many old and new posts which has taught me a great deal about telecasters and guitars in general. Anyway check out what I've got myself into.....LOL.

While working on this kit I noticed that the Bridge Plate could not be mounted in the proper place 'cause the pickup pocket was too far toward the neck. So I mounted it anyway to see exactly where things ended up after setup.

It worked but I wanted to properly place things without milling a pickup pocket so I did some measuring and cut the bridge, installed and reset everything. took a before and after pic.

I know the pickup isn't exactly in the position it's supposed to be but it does sound good. Haven't seemed to loose too much tone in that area. EDIT: I was wrong here

This thing has a very good acoustical sound maybe due to the very light Paulownia wood (almost like Balsa wood) and the saddles are set high and not so close to the bridge.

Anyone done this before? I'm really happy with this Tele kit. Glad I bought 2 of them.


Originally Posted by Thinlineggman
Judging by the saddle placements, the mounting holes for the bridge were placed too far back. The saddles are roughly the same distance from the pickup poles, but they are placed at different distances from the back of the ashtrays.

Right on and thanks for the heads up cause I didn't really see that:

i kinda like it

Welcome to the forum. Cool solution you got there, and it looks very cool too

Judging by the saddle placements, the mounting holes for the bridge were placed too far back. The saddles are roughly the same distance from the pickup poles, but they are placed at different distances from the back of the ashtrays.

Judging by the saddle placements, the mounting holes for the bridge were placed too far back. The saddles are roughly the same distance from the pickup poles, but they are placed at different distances from the back of the ashtrays.

I do believe your right. You had me take a closer look. I cut the plate with a hacksaw by hand (without a vice, laying the plate upsidedown on a peice of non skid material holding the plate with my left hand and sawing with the right) so the material missing from the plate is maybe a bit more than the blade and a bit of filing. The new holes for the bridge was set back approx .450 in.

All in all your saying I just set back the bridge plate everything else stayed the same.

welcome to the world of tele bridges not all bein the same .. there is a bridge that would fit your guitar without havin to hacksaw it but i see you came to a pretty crafty solution that all it cost you was a little sweat equity and a hacksaw .. and in the end you have a sort of g.e. smith kinda tele bridge ..only on the g.e. smith model they just mount the bridge pup to the body and don't use the top part of the plate ..he seems to think the plate colors the tone somewhat .. i always thought it did too but in a good way .. try mountin the pickup right to the body without the plate and see for yourself if the tone changes all that much .. just curious tho cause nobody mentioned it .. does the intonation line up right now ?? either way tho it lends a lot of credence to the old adage of neccessity is the mother of invention ..

welcome to the world of tele bridges not all bein the same .. there is a bridge that would fit your guitar without havin to hacksaw it but i see you came to a pretty crafty solution that all it cost you was a little sweat equity and a hacksaw .. and in the end you have a sort of g.e. smith kinda tele bridge ..only on the g.e. smith model they just mount the bridge pup to the body and don't use the top part of the plate ..he seems to think the plate colors the tone somewhat .. i always thought it did too but in a good way .. try mountin the pickup right to the body without the plate and see for yourself if the tone changes all that much .. just curious tho cause nobody mentioned it .. does the intonation line up right now ?? either way tho it lends a lot of credence to the old adage of neccessity is the mother of invention ..

Glad you replied, I tried hard to set it up as best as possible after reading a-lot. The intonation really surprised me after some time and patience.
First: Set the saddles approx. by eye, same with the action, tuned the strings to STD (9-42 strings that came with the kit) and set the neck truss rod tension (.002 in. at the 8th fret with a straight edge)
Second: Set the intonation and action just until any fret buzz subsided on all strings and frets. Played for 30 minutes hard and rechecked and reset whatever needed attention. Action ended up at 5/64" 6th string and 3/64" 1st string measured at the 14th fret. No Capo used.

This thing has a very good acoustical sound maybe due to the very light Paulownia wood (almost like Balsa wood) and the saddles are set high and not so close to the bridge.

I forgot to mention at these setting I can go Drop D with just a wee bit clank while fretting 6th string at the 1st fret. Sounds good but next time maybe I should set the neck while tuned in Drop D to see how that works.

try mountin the pickup right to the body without the plate and see for yourself if the tone changes all that much

I will be doing this thanks for the tip

That idea certainly opens up a lot of possibilities. Thanks for sharing!!