Anyone ever change a Bridge pickup on a Glaser bender?

[jeffallwood]

This is something I'm needing to do soon, but I have a mental picture of loosening that last screw and SPROING!!..parts everywhere! Is this something an ordinary fool like me can attempt or do I need a luthier to look at it? Thanks!
-Jeff Allwood

[Teleologist]

I have a Glaser vintage bridge B-Bender, but I kinda doubt your mileage will vary much ;) No springs or other stuff will come flying or falling out. You will need a well lighted work surface to get it back together, otherwise if you can do a normal Tele bridge PUP this isn't much harder. I don't know about the double benders though.

There's a short small rod that's attached to and extends down from the string-anchor fork that engages in a hole in a nylon block located at the bottom of the rout. This block gets 'pulled' toward the neck by a rod attached to the neck plate lever and has the spring attached to the other side. The block, pull rod, and spring all stay in there when the bridge assembly comes off - just unscrew the 3 or 4 bridge plate screws and lift it off like normal.

The trick to getting it back together is getting the little rod back in the hole in the nylon block while at the same time getting the bridge lined up, the wires stuffed in there, etc. This isn't as bad as it sounds - the rod will engage before the bridge is all the way down and you'll know it's right before you screw down the bridge just by moving the ramp part of the saddle. This is where a good desk or work light and having the Tele flat on it's back makes it easier to see what's going on. Chances are you'll get it right in one try ;)

[jeffallwood]

Thanks for the reply! You've eased my mind somewhat...this is a repair I'm gonna have to get into in the near future and I was mightily concerned. Thanks again!-Jeff

[Rick Towne]

is the job guitar techs hate because of the pin placement issues. As notes, there are no springs or moving parts to come out. I have several pictures I'll try to post of my ASAT Classic double bender with the bridge off. After ten years of curiousity, I'm having Bill Bores at Steelbender replace the Gotoh bridge with the original A/C bridge, keeping the Glaser bender saddles. I changed pickups once, but have left it to professionals since then.

[Zac]

I have changed out pickups on guitars with glaser benders more times than I can remember. Just remember the following.

1. On a modern six saddle bridge you will have to remove a saddle to get to all of the screws holding down the bridge.

2. Have a well lit area as mentioned above.

3.Don't mess with the hex screws on the bender saddles unless you need to adjust the action or intonation.

4. Don't try this for the first time right before a gig.


Zac

[Rick Towne]

Just got the email with pictures that my lefty ASAT Classic with Glaser b/g is on its way back to me tomorrow with the modified stock ashtray bridge in place of the Joe-installed Gotoh. Will post pictures and bring the guitar to the CWFSJ (Clarence White Forum) gathering on Saturday......

[SteelBender]

The picktures in the link below may take some of the mystery out of who is behind the curtain and under the bridge of a Glaser installation.

1) Follow Zac's suggestions.

This is the project photo gallery of the recently converted modern bridge to the vintage bridge.

http://www.benderguitars.com/images/...wne/index.html

The vintage G&L ASAT bridge needed slots milled in it for the string pullers which are a bit like the keel of a sail boat. They reside below the surface.

Each puller has a hardened steel pin that passes through a small hole in the puller actuator. The first puller connected to the strap lever is actually part of the spring. If there is a second puller, that pin passes through a nylon actuator which is mounted on the end of a short brass lever and the other end pivots on the bottom of a threaded nylon insert.

The real challenge is to get the pin or pins to pass through a hole that you cannot see. If you have two pullers, the you have just doubled your fun.

Here is one way you can reduce some of the entertainment .

1) Remove the strings - all of them before loosening the bridge.

2) Loosen the two saddle height screws. I have found this easier and less risky of stripping the one saddle locking socket screw. This locking screw has a washer below the bridge and the added surface area and friction makes this one screw harder to turn than the two saddle height screws.

So if you loosen the two saddle height screws, DO NOT loosen locking screw as Zac mentioned above. Adjusting them back can be like getting four legs level on a table on a wavy floor. But only loosen if you must do so the remove one of the bridge retaining or mounting screws. Otherwise, don't mess with the saddles with pullers on them.

Remove the bridge mounting screws but do not remove the bridge. If you loosened the saddle height screws with the puller, tighten them back now.

Before you remove the bridge, get a piece of masking tape and put it across the saddle and puller(s).

Now remove the bridge and observer the position of the puller pin and hole in the tension spring or floating second string puller.

You can now replace your pickup.

Upon replacing the pickup, I would adjust the pickup up fairly high. This can help with the aligning the puller pin. A couple of times I found that the pickup limited movement of the bridge and puller pin and it took longer to thread the needle so to speak.

If your puller pin did not move because it was taped down, aligning the pin will be much more simple.

If the pin is free to move back and forth, it can swing this way or that as it touches or is tilted.

Before you put the bridge screws back in, make sure your strap lever actuator rotates the saddle puller - you know, the shin bone connected to the foot bone. You don't want it working like it is connected to a broken bone.

Other than that, don't worry yourself about this. The hard part is deciding to do it. But do it when you have time like Zac said and not at the red light on the way to the gig.



Good luck.

[Rick Towne]

My ASAT Classic bender has been substantially improved by Bill's switch of the bigger and heavier Gotoh back to the original thinner G&L ashtray which Joe Glaser declined to use in the original installation ten years ago. I'm sorry it took me that long to make the switch, although finding bender mechains who do work on lefties was difficult. In addition, the extra notch taken out of the treble side of the bridge (larger than that on the infamous vintique Gatton bridge) also allows the same picking hand position as on the lip-less Gotoh.

Thanks, Bill......

[slowhand4955]

Hello, I've just joined this forum and reading over the comments here. Say if any of you would like to learn how to really pick hot country licks try www.sizzlingguitarlicks.com this guy smokes the guitar teaching you just how to use double stops and B-Bender for that Fat Nashville sound. I had been flatpicking most of my life and when I ran across this site, ordered his material and lessons on DVD, it's like I am a beginner all over again but well worth every dime spent. Now on the B bender itself, I am familiar with them but I don't understand how the string attaches to the bender and exactly how it works. Does it pull the string or rotate it slightly around a drum? The bender mechanics are fairly simple to understand except for the string attachment part. Does anyone have a close up picture of how this thing attaches to the string?

[Chet Johnson]

Originally Posted by SteelBender

The picktures in the link below may take some of the mystery out of who is behind the curtain and under the bridge of a Glaser installation.

1) Follow Zac's suggestions.

This is the project photo gallery of the recently converted modern bridge to the vintage bridge.

http://www.benderguitars.com/images/...wne/index.html

The vintage G&L ASAT bridge needed slots milled in it for the string pullers which are a bit like the keel of a sail boat. They reside below the surface.

Each puller has a hardened steel pin that passes through a small hole in the puller actuator. The first puller connected to the strap lever is actually part of the spring. If there is a second puller, that pin passes through a nylon actuator which is mounted on the end of a short brass lever and the other end pivots on the bottom of a threaded nylon insert.

The real challenge is to get the pin or pins to pass through a hole that you cannot see. If you have two pullers, the you have just doubled your fun.

Here is one way you can reduce some of the entertainment .

1) Remove the strings - all of them before loosening the bridge.

2) Loosen the two saddle height screws. I have found this easier and less risky of stripping the one saddle locking socket screw. This locking screw has a washer below the bridge and the added surface area and friction makes this one screw harder to turn than the two saddle height screws.

So if you loosen the two saddle height screws, DO NOT loosen locking screw as Zac mentioned above. Adjusting them back can be like getting four legs level on a table on a wavy floor. But only loosen if you must do so the remove one of the bridge retaining or mounting screws. Otherwise, don't mess with the saddles with pullers on them.

Remove the bridge mounting screws but do not remove the bridge. If you loosened the saddle height screws with the puller, tighten them back now.

Before you remove the bridge, get a piece of masking tape and put it across the saddle and puller(s).

Now remove the bridge and observer the position of the puller pin and hole in the tension spring or floating second string puller.

You can now replace your pickup.

Upon replacing the pickup, I would adjust the pickup up fairly high. This can help with the aligning the puller pin. A couple of times I found that the pickup limited movement of the bridge and puller pin and it took longer to thread the needle so to speak.

If your puller pin did not move because it was taped down, aligning the pin will be much more simple.

If the pin is free to move back and forth, it can swing this way or that as it touches or is tilted.

Before you put the bridge screws back in, make sure your strap lever actuator rotates the saddle puller - you know, the shin bone connected to the foot bone. You don't want it working like it is connected to a broken bone.

Other than that, don't worry yourself about this. The hard part is deciding to do it. But do it when you have time like Zac said and not at the red light on the way to the gig.



Good luck.

Bill,
I'm glad to see you back in circulation. Does this mean that your Mother, Mailbox, and carpel tunnel are taken care of?

[BrianF]

Not sure you noticed, but Bill's reply (quoted above) was made in 2004

[Chet Johnson]

LOL. I paid no attention to that. Is Bill still off the radar?