Placing Gotoh "Buzz Bridge" (electric sitar)?

[pilotfish]

I have a tele-ish body that might be getting a Gotoh "buzz bridge," which is the same thing that's used on the Jerry Jones and other electric sitars.

It's supposed to be a direct replacement for the bridge on a 56 or 59 Danelectro, but of course I don't have one of those. So the question becomes--how do you know where to put it for proper intonation (as far as that goes with these things)?

The edge of the bridge is curved so that it looks like it's supposed to help intonation. But if you look at where the *regular* saddles fall on a Danelectro, they're tailpiece-ward of the two bridge mounting bolts. The curved edge of the sitar bridge would be nutward of those bolts.

I've tried estimating where the "intonation line" should fall by measuring the nut-to-12-fret distance on about a dozen different pictures of Jerry Jones and other sitars, and seeing where that equal distances falls from the 12th fret to the bridge. So far, the results are pretty inconsistent. Some fall just tailpieceward of the mounting bolts, some fall about halfway across the body of the bridge, and the rest are all over the map. I'm guessing this must be more because of lens distortion in the pictures.

Anyway--if anybody has any experience, knowledge, or hearsay about how to do this, I'd love to hear it. I'd hate to have to drill lots of unnecessary holes in the guitar body trying to get it right. :-/

[pilotfish]

I guess what it comes down to is, does the string contact the bridge at the very edge of the bridge, or at some point partway across the bridge?

[oigun]

Check the radius of the neck to. I thought the dano's have a fairly flat radius 12" or 14"
[EDIT] Just try to measure it on a stringed guitar but it looks like it's 14" or 15" Don't think telenecks have thar radius....

[Doug 54]

I have 1 with plans to get a used Dano.

Look at the intonation curve on the bridge: The G is forward which means it works best for wound G's.
I'm gonna grind/file/whaddever it to compensate for an unwound G on mine

[iansmitchell]

the rogue electric sitar has the same bridge and costs about 75 buks more than the partt alonne.

[pilotfish]

Originally Posted by iansmitchell

the rogue electric sitar has the same bridge and costs about 75 buks more than the partt alonne.

I got the bridge for $65 off eBay, and the rest of the parts are things I already had, except for the $20 neck. So it's working out OK.

[RichardWitt]

Originally Posted by iansmitchell

the rogue electric sitar has the same bridge and costs about 75 buks more than the partt alonne.

I have bought one of those electric sitars off eBay, just out of curiosity?

It's not that great! The radius (if it has one?) is really flat!

When I purchased the guitar the intonation was way out! Messing around with the bridge I found that the front of the bridge was adjusted too high and the strings didn't ring out properly. I adjusted the bridge up and down and found as I did it the intonation changed with it. I got the buzz and the intonation just right after about 5 or 10 minutes?

From that, I still couldn't tell you where the intonation is set? My guitar is currently in pieces ready for a rebuild (the body is junk on those things!) but if you need to, I can measure the distance from the nut to the front adjustment holes for the bridge if you like?

[RichardWitt]

Ok! It got the better of me!

I clamped the neck into the body and it measured bang on 63cm or just slightly over 24 & 3/4 inches from the very end of the fretboard to the center of the two holes that mount the bridge to the body.

I hope that helps!