Guitar Nerds Anonymous

Brass saddles look right on a tele. I've got the Gotoh compensated ones on mine - happy compromise as they intonate pretty well.

P90s just because. Wish I'd put one in mine, fat but still recognizably single coil.

I like P90s, my “offset” Tele has a pair. They aren’t that common though. That new Noventa Tele has a single P90 in the bridge position, like a Les Paul Junior kind of vibe.

would a P90 be preferable to a humbucker at the neck?

Totally a matter of taste. P90s are more dynamic than humbuckers but fatter and hotter (louder) than single coils. Because of the high output and non-humbucking design they sometimes have a tendency to be a bit noisy.

Callaham bridges though... I'll never own a Strat or Tele without one again.

I've got Staytrem on my Jazzmaster but if it hadn't come with it already on I'd probably have gone for Mastery for the bling bling...

Jim Root is an exceedingly rad dude.

Sorry i was being a retrogrouch!

Oh now you've got me thinking about upgrading the bridge on my Mustang. Although how shit that guitar is is a large part of its charm

Maybe it's just jags I've played as they don't have much tension across the bridge but the strings all bunch up into the middle.

If a Jag is strung with the type of thick strings they were designed to be used with (I'm talking treetrunks - I used 13s on mine) then they stay in fine. It's only when people use them with 11s, 10s, and 9s that they tend to jump out.

Which Mustang have you got? Player with the fixed bridge or Jazzmaster style?

It's a vibrato system, but not quite as convoluted as the Jazzmaster one - the arm just threads into the tailpiece. I never use that though, I just grab the tailpiece when smashing harmonics for mad soundz. Not sure I've had that guitar out the case since about 2014 when that photo was taken, would be nice to show it a little love

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That's pretty! Here's what I went with on my Duo-Sonic and it feels and plays superbly now, I didn't even go near the pickups but I do have my eye on the Lindy Fralin Mustang pickups...

That looks awesome! Pick ups sound cool as well.

It's possibly a little sacrilegious, but despite getting my Mustang in all-original 1978 glory* I immediately put a Dimarzio Tone Zone in the bridge, and I've been meaning to fit locking tuners and a graphite nut+saddles. When I was gigging it a lot it generally took a proper beating, hence the tape on the pots.

*I say glory, when I fitted the pickup I also redid most of the wiring as it was a total mess, despite appearing unmolested.

Oh bloody hell, I didn't realise it was a 1978!

You could always trawl Reverb for some original pickups, probably wouldn't cost the earth for a 70s Mustang...

I wouldn't bother with locking tuners myself, bone nut and good quality tuners will do the job really nicely but I would think about the Staytrem bridge or maybe get something made to suit?

Great tip on the Staytrem, I've not heard of that before. My guitar nerding has mostly been superceded by bike/moto nerding over the past ten years.

I've still got the original bridge pickup in case I need to return it to stock, but I decided when I got it that I wouldn't coddle it. Sounds stupid but when I came across it, it was all a little cosmic in a 'guitar chooses the player' way, so I've always thought I'll use and abuse it forever. Even though it's not very versatile, it's gone onto pretty much every recording project I've ever undertaken regardless of style or whether I was even supposed to be supplying guitar parts

Good thanks! Haven't had much time to crank it yet. Has a microphonic valve so i'll have to hunt down my box of spares.

Tonally it's darker and less scooped sounding than my fenders but that's kind of what I wanted. Takes pedals well too. Haven't found the well documented cabinet rattle yet but then i haven't revved it hard. Feel like the tone knobs don't do much which is odd given the extremes of bass and treble you have on tap with sf fender.

Have been playing alongside the champ using a EH holy grail mini into both which sounds great. Looking forward to setting it up wet/dry with the vibrolux.

^^sweet mustang!

Nice! I've got a SD Quarter Pound in the bridge position on my Jag and I love it, makes the neck pickup sound feeble as... Been thinking about swapping that one out as well... Staytrem is a fabulous bridge, I haven't looked back since fitting one, couldn't get on with the Jag or Mustang versions... But as @BleakRefs says, probably cuz I'm using 10s...

Short scale/low string tension on the mustang doesn’t help with that, lots of clicking and clanging leading to tuning issues when one gives it the beans. Reckon I’ll pull the trigger on that bridge pretty soon

New triple string tree and strap buttons for the Jag, I don't do straplocks, m9... There were bits of matchstick in the screw holes so I'm gonna try my hand at fixing that properly with a bit of very thin dowel I've got lying around, my drill and some superglue... Pray 4 me...

Upgrades still left to do are just the behind the bridge pick-up mod, Quarter Pound in the neck and a new nut... Then I'll stop!

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I live and die by matchsticks in strap button holes. I have some very expensive guitars that are defying gravity only by the grace of Swan's finest firestarters.

I do match sticks in mine too, tend to cover them in wood glue before putting the screw back in.

Grolsch washer 4eva

Sorry i was being a retrogrouch!

No problem at all! I know nothing about guitar's so any help is appreciated.

I would use wood glue over superglue if you can. Overall it will set stronger and fill any gaps better than superglue. Downside is it takes longer to set.

I'm just a sucker for the original tele recipe of thin stamped steel bridge plate and three brass saddles. tbh it'sa bit of a fetish at this point as i've heard loads of different bridge and saddle set-up still sound distinctly "tele". But I do believe that the thin tinny stamped bridge is a part of the sound though. My USA tele came with a thick chromed brass bridge plate and steel saddles. It sounded incredibly bright and was very quiet acoustically. Changing the bridge brought a load more of that clucky, percussive, almost slightly acoustically resonating thing that classic teles do. It's not just about moar treble.

90s Lucinda Williams crush REACTIVATE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jMyhTSLSJ4