Anyone ever sand a vintage style bridgeplate to crazy thin?

[boris bubbanov]

The typical stock Fender vintage plate is .045-.050 inches, thickness.

We know than sanding the underside and getting it flat is a good deal.

Has anyone kept right on sanding until the plate was .030 or even .025?

What does the guitar sound like with a super-thin plate? Squeal City?

Or enough twang to tie your ears in a knot?

[Mark Davis]

As long as its flat and the pickup is potted it wont squeal.

Ive sanded them so its completly flat but never went nuts and tried to make it paper thin.

[MattC]

Hey Boris,

I ordered one to put on my 2008 HWY 1 tele. I just liked the look of the vintage one. I spent about 1 hour sanding the bottom as flat as I could get it. I had to take a few breaks, I worked up one heck of a sweat! I used several sheets of 80 grit sand paper.

After an hour I still didnt get the very center as flat as the rest of the bridge. I went ahead and put it on anyway. I tried it for a few days but all of the sustain and the "certain" sound my tele had unplugged and plugged in had gone. Parts of the body that would vibrate didnt vibrate as much or at all.

I put the old bridge back on...before I did I checked it with 80 grit sand paper to see how flat it was....It was dead flat!!!!. I put it back on and all the sustain and sound was back. The original bridge looked better made than the vintage which really suprised me. The original seemed just a bit heavier before I sanded the vintage.

PM me if you would like the vintage bridge, I will send it to you for free and you can sand some more of it to do your test!

PS Youre advice and info on the new tuners for my tele was spot on. The new vintage tuners look great and work perfect. The conversion bushings where a perfect fit.

[GhostofJohnToad]

Interesting I have never heard this idea of sanding the bottom of the bridge. What is the theory on this? Is the idea that more of the baseplate is in contact with the body so therefore increased sutain, vibrational transference, etc?

[telemania]

I went a different way. Bought a body that required a standard bridge. I was intrigued by Melancon Guitar take that drops the bridge pup directly into the body and not mounted on the bridge. My neighbor had a lathe, so I cut the pickup portion out - mounted the pickup directly to the body and kept the brass bridge at full thickness. To my ears, it did take some of the highs off but kept the resonance. Consider cutting the bridge in half and leaving the thickness alone.

[maxwas]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

We know than sanding the underside and getting it flat is a good deal.

Why?

[6x47]

Cause!

[e-merlin]

It gives the bridge better contact with the body and, in theory, cuts down on microphonics.

[Mark Davis]

If the bridge isnt flat it can make a harmonic vibration that starts the feedback chain.

I just used 320 grit black sandpaper wet on a known flat surface.

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by telemania

I went a different way. Bought a body that required a standard bridge. I was intrigued by Melancon Guitar take that drops the bridge pup directly into the body and not mounted on the bridge. My neighbor had a lathe, so I cut the pickup portion out - mounted the pickup directly to the body and kept the brass bridge at full thickness. To my ears, it did take some of the highs off but kept the resonance. Consider cutting the bridge in half and leaving the thickness alone.

Those Melancons are beautiful.

Yeah, I've been fooling with half bridges, also:



This Taipan/No-caster didn't kill played through the RI Twin, but through the Custom Vibrolux, yum!

[boris bubbanov]

Originally Posted by MattC

Hey Boris,

I ordered one to put on my 2008 HWY 1 tele. I just liked the look of the vintage one. I spent about 1 hour sanding the bottom as flat as I could get it. I had to take a few breaks, I worked up one heck of a sweat! I used several sheets of 80 grit sand paper.

After an hour I still didnt get the very center as flat as the rest of the bridge. I went ahead and put it on anyway. I tried it for a few days but all of the sustain and the "certain" sound my tele had unplugged and plugged in had gone. Parts of the body that would vibrate didnt vibrate as much or at all.

I put the old bridge back on...before I did I checked it with 80 grit sand paper to see how flat it was....It was dead flat!!!!. I put it back on and all the sustain and sound was back. The original bridge looked better made than the vintage which really suprised me. The original seemed just a bit heavier before I sanded the vintage.

Glad the tuners worked out great.

*

I guess it shouldn't be too big a surprise - surely Dale Clark or somebody would've tapped into the extra twang if a thinner plate got you there.

Here's what will happen. Some science guy will devise a means of establishing which frequencies a particular neck and body respond most favorably to. Then the bridge plate will be custom milled from billet to respond to the favored frequencies, like a tuned pipe on a motorcycle. Or, if the guitar sounds too 1 dimensional, to the harmonics of those primary frequencies.

BTW the Taipantone plate showed above is .060. Fender and Glendale are still the skinny plate kings!

[Ricky D.]

Originally Posted by boris bubbanov

Glad the tuners worked out great.

*

I guess it shouldn't be too big a surprise - surely Dale Clark or somebody would've tapped into the extra twang if a thinner plate got you there.

Here's what will happen. Some science guy will devise a means of establishing which frequencies a particular neck and body respond most favorably to. Then the bridge plate will be custom milled from billet to respond to the favored frequencies, like a tuned pipe on a motorcycle. Or, if the guitar sounds too 1 dimensional, to the harmonics of those primary frequencies.

BTW the Taipantone plate showed above is .060. Fender and Glendale are still the skinny plate kings!

Boris, the science guys came and left long ago, shaking their heads. Tele's are strictly "shade-tree engineering". With a very few exceptions, the best parts-makers we know make their products the way they do because a lot of experimentation led them to their current designs. I don't discount the technical knowledge some have, but we never see anyone put forward a mathematical model of complex mechanical bridge impedance either.

And there's nothing wrong with that. Instruments designed by musicians usually sound better.

[vanguard]

boy, those glendale cold rolled steel plates are thin! i swapped out a 52 fender plate for one and it looked and felt considerably thinner. both plates sounded fine, with the glendale having more brilliance and clarity. was this because of the thinner plate? who the hell knows.