tune-o-matic: roller saddle bridge or not?

i'm not using a vibrato. what are your thoughts on the tune-o-matic roller bridges? i do a lot of bending. thanks

I have an Electra LP Copy, and the bridge was just worn out. I was going to find some cheapo replacement, and came across a cheapo roller for like $2 more, so bought it.

Only problem I had with mine is the little brackets that hold the rollers in place kept wanting to fall out. I got some CA glue and a round toothpick, and just used a touch on each side of those little brackets to hold it in place....worked perfect. Rollers all still work fine, no problem tuning and staying in tune, and I do some pretty heavy bends myself when I get the mood. I'm happy with the roller setup.

Sure beats those pointed wedge shaped things.

I had the Schaller roller tune-o-matic on two guitars.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_Tune-o-matic_bridges/Schaller_Roller_Bridge.html
The reason was, I liked to be able to tweak & perfect the string spread.

Bending-wise, I don't know. The strings are going to go out of tune if you bend to the moon, no matter what. Just re-tune as you play like Albert King did.

Actually, the one time I saw Albert live, he didn't seem to give a nmad about his tuning! His large band (four horns + rhythm) was already playing a tune when he walked onstage. He took his axe out of its leather gig bag, plugged it in to his big Acoustic amp, hit a super-loud chord thereby ending that tune, and proceeded to lay it down with extreme vigor. He didn't tune up until after the first song. Thereafter, he would adjust his tuning from time to time during the tunes.

Albert regularly bent notes up a m3rd, or 4th. No fancy-Dan axe, either. It was that Flying V you see in pictures.

i have the v-things on my tune o matic. i was thinking of replacing. maybe i'll just leave well enough alone. thanks for the responses.

I bought a cheapo roller TOM to go with my Bigsby. It kept tune well but put a rattle on the G string. YMMV, but I'd go for a higher-quality unit in future (Wilkinson and upwards).

I don't see the need if your TOM saddles are notched right.....sometimes less is more.

Roller saddles on Tune-a-matic type bridges sustain less, and transfer less of the string energy into the body, than solid saddles. Different metals on solid saddles have slightly different sounds - brass, aluminum, steel saddles all sound a little different from each other.