Vintage bridge conversion on California Series Tele...with a twist...

[abd_trade]

Howdy folks,

So I have, what according to the neck is, a 97 Fender Tele California Series. When I bought it, the guy told me he has put new bridge, tone plate, knobs, pickups and scratchplate on - Cool.

Over the course of two years I have switched out the pickups and been pretty happy with the results but lately a friend of mine has been on at me to go for a vintage bridge to get that twang back. I pulled the six-saddle bridge off my guitar and discovered it has 4 mounting holes (I thought california ones only had 3!!!) and also that the new bridge he fitted was a Gotoh six-saddle, nothing like the original ashtray six saddle they came with...

My questions are, what the heck do I do? I don't want a long scale bridge if I can avoid it. Must I fill and re-drill to suit an ashtray style? Has the guy swapped bodies on me and not said anything? Are there pickup mounting issues I will face?

HELP!

Happy to take photos if that helps.

 

[Bartholomew3]

If it has a GOTOH 6 saddle with 4 screw holes the original Fender 3 saddle bridge or an aftermarket better quality 3 saddle with 4 screw-holes should fit right in there with no mods.

It's my impression that various 6 saddle Fender bridges are not well liked around here and the GOTOH you have was probably installed for that reason.

I have a vintage tele and sometimes switch back and forth between the 2 bridge styles...sounds like you can also if I'm reading this right.

 

[KokoTele]

Yep, your guitar is set up for a vintage style bridge. That Gotoh bridge was designed to have the modern style saddles but to replace a vintage bridge with no modifications.

The 6 barrel bridge that Fender used on these guitars wasn't very well-designed and caused some problems. The strings didn't sit in the center of the saddle, so one height screw would have most of the string pressure on it while the other had very little. On the higher strings this made it easy for the saddles to walk all over the place, and for the screw without pressure to back out and rattle. Many people replaced those 6 barrel bridges with a vintage style 3 barrel bridge and compensated saddles.

 

[abd_trade]

Excellent - Seems the Gotoh plate is significantly longer than the ashtray though...can anyone explain the difference?

Looks to me like the saddle just sit further back and are a tad longer which makes the whole plate longer overall.

Thanks.

 

[Bartholomew3]

The difference if any doesn't matter - the saddles adjust to where they should be in either case.

Significant - not really - possibly a slight amount.

The only drawback might be finish discolouration under the GOTOH which may show if you switch.

In accounting terms it's immaterial and will not have any bearing on how it plays.

 

[abd_trade]

Got it. Thank you sir!