Modify Baja tele Ashtray? It's hurting my hand!

[chopperoli]

Hi Folks, this is my first post here, I am new.

Last weekend I went to a new guitar shop with a friend, to buy some new strings for my 1981 Tokai Silver Star strat. I ended up leaving with a brand new blonde Baja Tele... I just couldn't leave the place without it, after reading so many positive things about it on this site! It is beautiful and I am extremely happy with it.

I have a couple of questions for you chaps though.

1. Sometimes I play with the right-edge of my palm rested on the bridge corner area. The ashtray bridge down there has some ridges on the corner, which aren't smooth and cause a bit of pain after a while. I think the height-screws in the saddles hurt as well. Do people modify these? I would like to file down the corner of the bridge, but I know it was designed like that and it would ruin the chrome plating.... So what can I do? This is area in question:


2. The pickups seem slightly noisy when facing the amp directly. I haven't touched the insides yet, but I believe the Baja doesn't have shielding from the factory. Is it worth shielding the pickguard back with foil? Or do you have to do the whole lot, e.g. painting cavities with carbon paint etc?

3. My volume / tone pots have a little play in them (e.g. from side to side wobble). Is that normal?

Cheers from sunny Sheffield, England

[telbert twang]

really nice tellie!

how about the ashtray cover from thomann?

http://www.thomann.de/gb/fender_tele...idge_cover.htm

IMHO makes it look cooler and complete and can be totally get used to (some complain about not getting that palm muting thing anymore, though)




note: be prepared to add a thin tape under it-s edges, to protect the guitar body and absorb its ´clunks´ against the body ( actually i even had to file mine to get its under edge totally flat)

[Phil Jacoby]

Sure, grind down the bridge corners and roudn over until they are comfortable for you. I'd remove the PU from the bridge and the bridge from the guitar.

I also suggest shielding more that the back of the PG; build a complete Faraday Cage by shielding the cavities completely along with the back of the PG. You can use copper tape, aluminum tape or shielding paint. Make sure no signal path shorts out to ground.

Shielding will help reduce noise, but not completely eliminate it. It is part of the beast...

[DWBH]

Yes, the bridge on my Baja also has some ridges. Although they don't cause me pain they shouldn't be there.
And, no, it doesn't have any shielding. Definitely one of the no-no's of this guitar.

[boris bubbanov]

Welcome!

Some of the aftermarket boutique bridge makers like Callaham and Glendale have a product that will not tear up the back of your hand, and may sound better to your ears as well. Very small diameter, very low saddle height screws. You could grind down the edges of your existing plate, and use shorter grub screws; the original parts should be very cheap.

Yes, shielding will help, Bajas are not shielded enough.

You are right, the pots, especially the S-1, do seem to wiggle a lot. Most of my Am Se Teles have little or none of this pot wiggle. The S-1 has inherent play in it, and so perhaps someone skimped on the washers, etc on the Baja tone pots.

[Al Nico]

The el-cheapo Wilkinson ashtray bridge from Guitarfetish.com has very smooth edges and is very well chrome-plated.

If you have a decent hardware store, they should stock "set screws" in different lengths that will match the thread of the saddle height screws.

[cdhopkin]

I bought a Fender ashtray from an Ebay seller called "Bridge Works" that had been modified like that. It's fantastic and the tone on my Esquire has improved now I'm using compensated brass saddles.

[Old Cane]

Is it just me? For 40 years I thought the "ashtray" was the cover, not the bridge itself. We always popped them off, turned them over on top of the Twin and used them for ashtrays.

I've never heard of an ashtray bridge.

[kensmith]

Originally Posted by Old Cane

Is it just me? For 40 years I thought the "ashtray" was the cover, not the bridge itself. We always popped them off, turned them over on top of the Twin and used them for ashtrays.
I've never heard of an ashtray bridge.

I agree with that, I had always referred to the "cover" as the ashtray....not the bridge. But I suppose the OP was referring to the bridge that goes with the ashtray cover :-)

I got a ashtray cover to save my hand too, but ended up not likeing it as it really restricts what I can do with palm muting and I think I just got used to the bridge without it. I ended up just cutting down (with dremel) instead of buying shorter grub screws. Now thew are all under the surface of the saddle and are nice and smooth. Problem solved.
I did not have the trouble with the plate as my Wilkinson is nice and smooth.

Good luck!

[Old Cane]

I think age has a lot to do with this. I've notice no old f@%ts call the bridge an ashtray. I can see this happening to the young guys though since I don't think new fenders come with covers, do they? Also, we are seeing a generation of non-smokers. So since they hear the term ashtray and the only thing there is the bridge I guess it could resemble an ashtray. Of course my wife can make an ashtray out of anything (including the living room carpet), important mail (oh, after she writes phone numbers on it) and so on.

And, is my wife the only one that does this? You know how young girls write on everything? Like her name is Sally Jones and she's dating say, John Smith and writes stuff like:

sally
sally jones
sally smith
mrs. john smith

and so on all over everything like phone books and stuff? And she's passed middle age? I don't know but I'm pretty sure I need to find this Smith guy and beat him up.

[cdhopkin]

You'll all be saying that this new fangled rock'n'roll is just noise next!

I know that ashtray is the cover for the bridge but for some reason I've started referring to the bridges as ashtrays. I guess it's because the term has come into common use for the bridge so you find yourself using it without thinking.

Just my 2 cents

[boris bubbanov]

My understanding of current parlance is that the ashtray is still the ashtray, but that any bridge plate evolved from the one that took the "ashtray" is an ashtray bridge. 4 screw holes above the through holes, etc.

In the same way that a bridgeplate that takes the six hammer saddles is a "six hammer saddle" or 'nashville' bridge. You could call it a 'three barrel' bridge plate but Callaham, Glendale, Taipantone, Yegbert, Numeric, Bubbanov and so many others all have bridgeplates which are not "ashtray' but still are able to take 3 barrel saddles. And a nashville bridgeplate is an 'ashtray' type even tho it is not a three barrel type.

I regret that no-one really cares whether some or all "ashtray" bridge plates will actually hold the ashtray cover in place. I never found many covers that wanted to stay on there anyway, plus there aren't many living players who drive their Teles with the ashtray cover in place.

Don't blame me. This is all Mr. Gatton's fault.

[chopperoli]

This forum is quality, it's nice that a n00b can initiate such a discussion!

I honestly didn't think about it that seriously, I suppose I thought the bridge was known as the Ashtray because of its raised edges.
I looked a little deeper on here and the true ashtray would appear to be the cool chrome cover thingy. My mistake in the OP.

How on earth does a cover like that stay on? The edges of the ashtray - no, sorry- the bridge (!) have no discernable attaching points for it.

I'm leaning towards keeping (an modifying) the original bridge, cos it has the "Fender Pat. Pend." script, I wouldn't like to lose that with an aftermarket job. And I ain't paying someone for a modified original when I can do it myself! Unless they are re- chrome plated after being machined.
I am tempted by these compensated saddles too... Hmm so many choices. But for now I just wanna play the damn thing!


Oh, and "Old Cane", might you have wandered off course slightly? Mad!

[Old Cane]

Aha! Exactly! Old timers would know but like we discussed I think for many years now (and i could be way off on this) new Fenders do not come with a cover. Not sure, just guessing. I can see you thinking what you are since you hear the term, look at the bridge and think, ok, it could be an ashtray.

The compensated saddles can be very nice upgrade if you need them.

And if I'm not mistaken the covers stay on with simple tension, kind of a pop-to-fit. Mostly, these covers got lost. Smart guys pulled them off and left them home. I carried my cover in my strat case for.....well, it's been 35 years now since the cover has been on it. Still in the case.

[telbert twang]

well, i am not a proper oldtimer ( can´t say " back in the sixties-seventies we used to..." ) but nevertheless - i read/write a word ´ashtray´ in telecaster context and am able to understand at once that the talk is either about tele´s stamped steel bridge´s cover (used as ashtray quite some times, obviously) or that particular bridge type itself , depending on sentence.

actually it would take quite brave imagination to see physically a guitar bridge behind a word ´ashtray´


and the ashtray won´t restrict anything if you go all way fingerpicking

[normantrophy]

Yeah, it's just held on with simple spring tension, it clips on, snaps off. I quite like mine if I'm into fingerpicking at that particular moment, say if I'm playing some old Delta Blues in bed on Saturday morning (not surprisingly, mine often ends up on the nightstand), but when I switch off to a pick, I'll usually take it off. For a long time, I took it off every time I went to practice, then put it back on. Lately, though, I've just been leaving it either in the gig bag or at home on the nightstand.

I'd say you could get some shorter screws, easy. You could also try CAREFULLY tapping that rough corner with a hammer (take the bridge off the guitar, maybe screw it to a piece of scrap) -- it might still affect the plating, but at least you're not grinding on it.

That guitar looks quite a lot like a MIM Fat Tele a bandmate of mine bought -- great guitar, but it hummed quite a lot, even with a humbucker. I thought this odd, and with a bit of tinkering, I found out that the bridge wasn't grounded. I ran a short bit of the traditional green wire from one of the pots over to underneath the bridge, and that took care of it -- no need to even shield it.

[KevinB]

The basic, vintage Fender bridge plate is indeed a crudely made item, and the recent ones I've seen all have sharp edges at the rear corners . Fender's Highway One plate is made from steel that is a little thicker, and much better fabricated with no stamping marks or edges. They are available on Ebay.

There again, just about ANY aftermarket bridge will be better made than the factory original, and there are many to chose from. It's also a very easy to swap out. Put on compensated saddles while you are there.

[casterway]

Originally Posted by chopperoli

How on earth does a cover like that stay on?

Answer; Barely.

[casterway]

Those little wrinkles on the corner are from sloppy toolmaking. They are creases from when the tray is formed. They should have been belt sanded down at the factory before chroming. Then, again, the original intent was to have it covered by the ashtray.

[jefrs]

Imo the Baja is good kit but standard of finish is not as high as the American models and it can usually benefit from some home fettling. File the sharp bits off. Move away from your amp, you can add as much shielding as you like but single coil pickups are still going to receive that mains transformer. Shielding may get rid of fluorescent tube noise but magnetic coils are really, really good at finding fluctuating magnetic fields like the transformer and, er, vibrating guitar strings.
Until you try to play it, the ashtray cover looks good, therefore it must be held on by art.

[pbenn]

IMO, it takes about a month for your hand to learn to avoid the bridge sides.

[chopperoli]

Thanks for the replies again. I really like the idea of installing a Fender Highway One bridge. I will keep my eyes out for one definitely. Only eBay?

It looks like Fender themselves are calling it an "Ashtray bridge" !!
I refer to the offical Fender website:
http://www.fender.co.uk/news/index.p...lay_article=96

By the way, it's not my guitar in the picture, it's just the first picture of a Tele bridge I came across to help visualise the corner.

[chopperoli]

PS you can really see those nasty corners on these:

[Old Cane]

Originally Posted by chopperoli

Thanks for the replies again. I really like the idea of installing a Fender Highway One bridge. I will keep my eyes out for one definitely. Only eBay?

It looks like Fender themselves are calling it an "Ashtray bridge" !!
I refer to the offical Fender website:
http://www.fender.co.uk/news/index.p...lay_article=96

By the way, it's not my guitar in the picture, it's just the first picture of a Tele bridge I came across to help visualise the corner.

UK site? No wonder.

[robrohdeszudy]

Shield the ^&*^% out of it and it will make a good axe even better.

The Wilkinson compensated bridges are great, but you might only need to stick some surgical tape on yours and call it done.