Setting up a Telecaster Bridge
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- Опубліковано 11 лют 2020
- Tip a Tea and support me: ko-fi.com/devilandsons Daniel from Devil & Sons Guitars walks us through how the bridge on a Telecaster Guitar works, with some tips on how to set it up.
For a full set up video please watch: • How to correctly set u...
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Good job! These videos are really informative. Thanks!
Cheers, and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment, it's much appreciated.
Excellent! Very detailed information, just what I was looking for. Thanks!!
It's my pleasure. Thanks for commenting.
Mine is the 6 piece saddle for the sake of intonation, love it over the 3 saddles version which it originally had. Thoroughly explained and very easy to understand! Great video as always!
Thaks so much for commenting. Yeah, I will always go for 6 saddles for the sake of the intonation too.
Excellent! You have wonderful communication skills, clear and concise. I got a lot out of this video, thanks!
Thank you so much, that's very kind. I'm enjoying making these a lot, I've actually got one planned for each day in February!
Great video, this helped me understand my telecaster and adjust it nicely, many thanks!
I'm so glad it helped, thanks for letting me know.
Perfect explanation! Thank you
Thanks so much.
what a superb video. great info well conveyed. thanks
It's a pleasure. Thanks so much for such a nice comment.
That was a great video tutorial. It taught me exactly what I wanted to know. Very well presented, nice and clear. Thank you for making this available. 👍
Hey, it's a pleasure. Thanks for commenting, hearing it's useful makes it all worthwhile.
Great video,straight to the point and easy to understand unlike the majority who just like the sound of their own voice,brilliant, well done
Thanks so much Harry, I really appreciate you taking the time to leave that comment and am glad it was helpful
Awesome info!
Awesome comment! Thanks so much.
The best explanation on UA-cam.
Amazing, thanks for such a kind comment. I've got loads of new videos coming up, I hope you like them as much.
Great video! Thank you.
It's a pleasure, thanks for commenting.
These videos are hugely underrated.
Thanks so much. Hopefully word of mouth and people sharing is helping to grow the channel. Feedback like yours makes the effort worthwhile.
Dude, thanks for this breakdown. Just getting into playing electric and have started wondering what all those parts with hex ends do when you start tightening and loosening. My tele is a 2020 so also cool to see the difference from the bridges of the past.
Welcome to the world of electric. Thanks for watching.
Very useful Thanks.
Thank you for commenting- it's always good to know things are useful.
Thank you so much it’s nice to find someone you can understand I will go ahead and try and improve the action on my telecaster it’s already pretty good but after showing what you can do with the brass saddles and it’s quite interesting does it matter what difference does it make when you push the pro saddles forward not up-and-down I know that when you push them up and down it alters the height of the action What happens when you take the bridge backwards and forwards does that affect your action in any way or the tone in anyway many thanks
Thanks for commenting, and so glad it all makes sense for you. The back and forth adjustments are really important for your intonation, so your tuning, where as the height is the action. If you have the time I explain this in more detail in my set up video.
ua-cam.com/video/fvD-qsM3piQ/v-deo.html
You can always skip to the intonation part of that video, time stamp in the comments section.
awesome
Thanks so much.
Great video. What size allen key are you using ?
It's normally a 1.5mm hex. Thanks for watching.
Great video, Daniel! I can finally do it myself and get rid of the set of .10 strings I highlighted that I do NOT want to have, when I took my guitar to a shop :D
I'm glad it was helpful. I don't understand why so many people seem to have bad experiences in guitar shops! Better you can do it yourself. I have a full set up video too that you may like.
@@DevilAndSons And this was a respected professional who has a lot of experience and working with a lot of musicians who make their living playing on their guitars.
I'm already watching your full setup video 🤓 Thank you!
Such a shame, string choice is normally something I ask early on for setups, got to get that right.
And thanks, I hope that video is as useful. It's long but I'm quite proud of it
Question please. Are you familiar with the Certano G/B Bender? I have looked at that device, and am wondering if it can be installed on either a 3-saddle or 6-saddle bridge for a Tele, or will only work with a 3-saddle bridge? Thanks in advance for your answer, either way.
I'm afraid I'm not familiar with it enough to answer that question. I had a vague memory that it effects just one string because it works through just one single saddle, implying it works with 6 saddles, but I'm not 100% on that.
Hi Daniel,l have just had my Tele bridge delivered.its getting put on a squire strat I will be going with Tele pick ups in the bridge and neck and was considering a hot rail hum bucker in middle.theres a 5way switch in already but would this be a complicated set up l have no soldering experience but am decent with my hands,alas electrics tend to be a bit of a nemesis.l understand keeping middle as a single coil would make the switch easier but how much harder would the swap be is my question.cheers fella,hope all's well 4u.
That sounds cool. So replacing pickups is pretty straight forward if you have everything all wired you can basically remove one puck up at a time and put the new one in the exact place. It should be obvious which wire on each pickup is the hot and the ground. For the humbucker it's not more complicated at all if the humbucker is not set up for coil tapping (I.e it will have the same amount of wires as the single coil so be like for like). It's possible the humbucker will have additional wires but the manual with it will definitely show you which wires to use as a straight forward humbucker and which ones need to be soldered together if you aren't coil tapping. Good luck.
Hi, when they say the telecaster is a 25 1/2" scale. Is that the low E ? The High E ?
Is it the center saddle ? Some strings will not be exactly 25 1/2" scale when it's all set up because they will be staggered a bit. So which do I set at the 25 1/2 " to start with ?
Hope that made sense. I purchased a kit to build and I am at the point to string now. LOL
That absolutely makes sense and I have another video all about that
ua-cam.com/video/8piycrcII5o/v-deo.html
A well done vid.clearly explained.i have a question regarding my tele that has the thru body set up with the alternate model type with 6 brass barrels.its a new to me guitar.only changed top e.i thought i had a string alignment issue at first with top e drop off.its a few mil out.now i notice the barrels are closer across on the top e side compared to bottom e side.would loosening strings perhaps a shim and retighten fix this.it is a g and l asat.thanks for any help Daniel.
That does sound odd, and like the neck alignment is wrong. A shim is normally a fix for problems with action related issues. I would recommend loosening the strings very slightly, loosening the screws on the neck a little bit (whilst holding the neck so it isn't pulled forward by the strings) and pushing the neck so the strings line up, then tightening the screws on the neck. Quite often with bolt on necks they just need a little nudge. I hope that makes sense, if it doesn't work let me know and I'll try to suggest something else.
@@DevilAndSons hi Daniel,l tried to do the quick easy fix yesterday but no joy that was with one person on screw driver one on guitar.when I look at the nut it has more fretboard showing on the bass e side compared to top e side,not a great deal but a few mill.i am putting a new graphite nut on soon.do you have a WhatsApp or Facebook I could send some pics to showing the bridge set up etc.thanks for the advice .
That does sound like a problem with the nut.
You can contact me on Facebook.com/devilandsons - I may not be able to reply properly until Monday but I'll keep an eye out for your message.
My tele has the 3 saddles and gets a buzzing or dead tone on the G string all the time. I think it's hitting the hex screw coming through the saddle it's hard to keep that string in tune also which is notorious for G strings anyways. I wanted the brass 3 saddles for the sake of vintage but I'm questioning that decision every time i play. Sometimes it affects the B string but always the G.
I don't like the three saddles for that sort of reason, it also makes it a bit harder to intonate correctly. Are you able turn that screw to raise the string a bit higher? Of course if that makes the string too high for you or doesn't stop the buzzing it's nit the solution.
It's possible the problem is the truss rod. I have a longer set up video, but with links in the description you can jump to the relevant bits - truss rod and string height/action.
ua-cam.com/video/fvD-qsM3piQ/v-deo.html
Do let me know if that videos helps, if not I can suggest some other things to try.
I have a question. If we look at the view at 0:16 and say the z axis is depth (adjusted with the grub screws), the x axis is lateral (adjusted by the long screw the saddles are threaded onto), how do we set axis y (up and down from this perspective)?
There's plenty of play up and down and sometimes adjusting the grub screws can actually cause the position to change (2:50 for example) and this affects the string alignment, the spacing between pairs of strings and can have a knock-on effect on the rest of the setup process but it seems to get overlooked when discussing Tele saddle adjustment (or at least the threads/articles/videos I've seen). Should they be positioned so each string aligns with the centre of the pole piece on the pickup or is there another point that is used as a reference?
Hey. Thanks for such in indepth comment. I'm actually travelling a bit at the moment so just looking on my phone. I will respond properly when I can watch the video and type (on my desktop) middle of this week.
For now though it's always best to have each string over the pole pieces as central as possible, this not only looks good but should help with getting an even signal for each string. This is also why on some pickups pole pieces can be raised and lowered, to help even out the signal.
Really though on a tele bridge adjusting the grub screws shouldn't make a difference to the spacing on the strings. Bringing the saddles back and forth could make a minute difference. The real difference is where the string goes over the saddle and normally there is a groove to ensure that is a fixed space. To alter string spacing you will need to alter those grooves or make a change at the other end on the nut.
Great info thank you. I have a three saddle version and have found when they are angled to the neck radius (two outer ones angled) the string spacing at the bridge is uneven. Is this normal?
Are there grooves in the saddles for the strings to rest in? Sometimes you can just shift the strings along the saddle if it is smooth.
Also check that the saddles are touching each other and haven't pulled to one side or the other.
At the nut you get uneven spacing between each slot to allow for the thickness of the string.
At the bridge I don't think the spacing is normally compensated (perhaps you have a special model that does).
The main thing you should check is do all of the strings pass over the poles of the pickups? If they do this may be why the strings seem uneven, they need to pass over them equally to get consistent sound for each string.
If they do match the poles properly, and feel evenly space on the fretboard (I.e. you don't have one of the e strings too close to the edge), and it isn't an issue when you are playing then I don't think it would matter.
I have heard of this being a problem before, and one solution is to try turning the saddle over 180 degrees.
I hope that is of some help.
@@DevilAndSons Thanks for the reply. Yes the saddles have grooves. They all pass over the pickup poles ok, one string is ever so slightly off centre. It plays fine and they are all even at the nut. T|he strings are perfect on the fret board, both E's well in from the edge.
I didn't notice it at first but then all of a sudden I saw it as I ajusted the action. It's like the strings are in 3 pairs of 2 so the A and B strings a slightly further away from the D and G.
It's my first Tele so I just wasn't sure if it was correct. I love it though and now that you've reassured me, I'll just embrace it's quirkiness even more. Thank you for putting my mind at rest, much appreciated.
It sounds like it all is set up more or less as ir should be, so enjoy playing it.
Hi. I have a 6 piece saddle. I noticed the saddle, mainly the bottom 4 are squeezed and angeling towards the high E string so much the E string is almost off the side of the neck. The saddle heads on some strings are off to an extent that the strings don't sit on the grooves. How can a adjust the angle?
That sounds very frustrating. Firstly, when you loosen the strings do the saddles still angle wrong? Secondly are the allen screws that adjust the saddle height at the same height for each saddles (I.e. of there are two in a saddle those two should be the same)? Has it always been like this or is ot a new problem? It could be that the neck has slipped in the pocket (should be easy to fix).
When do you adjust the bridge and when do you adjust the truss rod?
Thanks for commenting. This video focuses just on how the bridge works, it should be used in conjunction with my full set up video: ua-cam.com/video/fvD-qsM3piQ/v-deo.html
In the comments of that video are some time codes to jump to specific parts like truss rod adjustment, but you may find it useful to watch the whole thing. Let me know how you get on.
First adjust truss rod, because the bridge depends on, how truss is adjusted. Remember there is only one right position for the truss: nearly straight, tending to be konkav. That's under 0.5 mm between the 8th fret and the string, while using the string as a ruler pushing 1. and 17./18. fret. Every well playing guitar may hearable snarring if you induce it without amp, but not really noticeable while playing through amp. Just reduce it to a minimum :)
Good point about listening through an amp.
is possible to set up 3 saddles version as good as 6 piece saddle?
In my opinion it is generally isn't as you don't have the same individual string control, but realistically it probably isn't that noticeable in most situations. Some three saddle versions have saddles that are compensated with a slightly different ridge on each side of the screw.
all the replacement bridges I see are about 86mm long. my existing is about a little over 98mm? any suggestions on an issue like this? thanks.
What guitar is your original on? I would imagine the extra distance is towards the neck so screwing a different one on should be a matter of lining up the saddle positions as on the original and hopefully the rest will cover the pickup cavity, so you will just see some extra body, and maybe screw holes. I'm assuming yours isn't an original fender, or perhaps does ot have a humbucker in it?
@@DevilAndSons im lookin at it . I can line up the pickup and still intonate the saddles. it's a little narrow and short. cavity showing at sides just a sliver. no big deal . it's a squire tele.
I'm very surprised that the squier is different to the standard, and that if it is the same thar you can't find a standard size. Lucky it covers what's needed.
Hi Daniel l have now put a Tele type bridge plate with six individual saddles on an old strat type guitar.l have slight issues with the string height grub screws protruding thru the barrel interfering with the strumming/dampening hand.l figured l could take a measure and cut the screw to just within the barrel.they are Alan key type screws,l would like to have them working via both ends with the Alan key after the cut.any ideas as to how l should go about the cutting.thanks for all your advice along the way.
That sounds good, does it look like you hoped? You can actually buy those screws in different lengths, that's what I would do as I imagine cutting them would be really hard.
@@DevilAndSons I didn't know that,makes perfect sense, thanks for the advice
No worries. It really changed my world knowing that, when those grub screws are too high it really annoys me.
@@DevilAndSons where did you source yours from,checked e bay out and the post from USA kills that and the Chinese sites are hopefully going to respond to my request.
I would have suggested ebay or amazon. There are lots of UK based guitar parts sellers that sell on them and I assumed there would be US ones too... hold on let me have a look.
could you give me a measurement from the front of the nut to the back lip or front edge of the traditional tray? My squire has that long strat style bridge you have and a rather large pickup route in the body. Trying to determine just the sweet spot to fasten the replacement bridge to. New tray is 86mm in length. If your tray is 86mm then the measurement from the frt. of nut to the frt. edge of the tray should suffice. thanks... hope this make sense.
I don't actually have that guitar, it was for a client. I always recommend setting the saddles to the middle of their movement and setting this at the scale length (so 25.5" for a fender). If that makes sense. That would be the sweet spot. Otherwise the best position to conceal evidence of what's beneath (including the cavity and previous screw holes) as long as that gives you enough leeway for intonation set up.
@@DevilAndSons yeah thanks
That's OK. Sorry I can't give an exact answer to what you wanted, bit always remember in this situation that the most important thing is the saddle position and the scope to be able to adjust them if needed.
@@DevilAndSons That's cool , you can't if you don't have the instrument. I could figure one out but would like to see what one measures off the rack. I could go to guitar center and pull a measurement. I'd like to get it right the first time. thanks for getting back with me so quickly.
Ha, I like thebidea of turning up to a shop with a tape measure and measuring the guitars. Good luck.
Hi there from Australia
With those ashtray covers can they go on the other style of bridge without the sides
These ashtray covers do need the sides to grip to. I have had an ashtray cover for a strat style fixed bridge that could grip the edge of the base plate. It's possible the tele bridge would grip without the sides, holding tight to the baseplate but as it's bigger I'm not sure how stable it would be. Sorry not to be definitive.
And hi from the UK.
@@DevilAndSons
Thank you for your reply 🙂
I suppose it's a personal preference with which bridge you had I am all new to this style of bridges in your opinion what would be the best the 3 or the 6
I much prefer the 6 saddle, it gives you more control over the tuning, I also think it looks slightly more modern. Sometimes there's a give so if you want a more traditional look I would go with the 3 saddle version. Are you building a guitar or doing upgrades?
@@DevilAndSons
Hi again
Yeah l like the 6
Just buying one and with the 6 l think it would be a bit easier for me to tune because I'm not too familiar with these setups I am more familiar with the Bigby the hollow body like Gretsch 🇦🇺👍🇦🇺
Why your modern 6 saddle is not center?
Is it off?
I would have liked an extra minute to the video of intonating some strings, but this was still a really good video, thank you
Thanks for commenting, and glad you like it. I try not to cover too much about the actual set up in these videos, just more on how the bridges work. For more intonation guide etc I have a whole other video (but it sounds like you are pretty confident and won't need it), but just in case ua-cam.com/video/fvD-qsM3piQ/v-deo.html
Devil & Sons Guitars I see, looking back at this title and seeing this other video you linked, it makes perfect sense. I’m checking it out!
@@jonathanevans4623 great, thanks.
hiya, I just picked up my tele and i notice that G and B strings are a little buzzy. I checked the action and it seems to be quite low. Since im new to electric guitar, i think its too low for me. Would it serve me to raise the G and B strings up? I know i can take it back to get a free set up but I wonder to save me some time and just Raise those strings using the techniques in this video.
If you think the action is a bit low it's definitely worth adjusting the saddle height (therefore string height) although it may be best to raise all the strings slightly. Great you're up for giving it a go, and also great they gave you a free set up if you need it.
I also have a full set up video that may be helpful ua-cam.com/video/fvD-qsM3piQ/v-deo.html
@@DevilAndSons Your advice worked yay! I will carry on like this until i need to change my strings and then i will take it to get my free set up. Thanks again love ur vids!
Excellent. Glad it worked, thanks for letting me know.
I made mine go too low and now I cant get it back in place
Sometimes loosening the strings helps, then there is nor pressure on the saddles when you adjust them. Afterwards you can returned. It can be annoying to do this between each step but it may be the only way. Unless I've misunderstood what you mean by too low.
@@DevilAndSons I'm new to guitars and I wanted to change my tone a bit and the actual pickup went down in the hole all of a sudden and I got the screws back in but it moves around and can rattle I think that's because something moved the springs inside of it and I don't know where the springs go
Oh no, that's frustrating. Yes, the screws go through the plate and into the pickups but the springs go over the screws on the underside if the plate, it means they push against the underside of either the scratchplate or the bridge plate (depending on the pickup) and the pickup itself stopping the pickup from wobbling. You'll have to loosen the strings a lot, or take them, unscrew the part the pickup is attached to, push the pickup screws through the holes in the top, put the springs over it, then screw into the pickup. I hope that makes sense.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsXnZEiRpbZN0?feature=share
That video may help a bit.
This is more of a lecture on the types off Tele Bridges and their differences and functional adjustments. You didn't actually show how to set up the saddles with the strings on. You can get an understanding of how it works but you wont see how it is supposed to be done. The intonation on a Tele in particular is tricky. I wanted to see how you "split the difference" between 2 strings. Also you didn't show how to set the string height based on the fretboard's radius. Talking about it is a lot different than showing it. 2 different things. Maybe you have another video called how to actually set up a Telecaster Bridge. When you do a search on Telecaster Bridge set up, your video is first on the list. I wish you had done an actual set up.
Hmm, interesting. Maybe I should change the title. The aim was to show his the adjustments are made on thus specific bridge, I have done the same for other bridges too. The aim was to elaborate on my full set up video which talks about intonation, string height, truss rod adjustment etc in order to help someone with a telecaster. Apologies if it wasted your time.
If you have the time thus is more in depth on set up
ua-cam.com/video/fvD-qsM3piQ/v-deo.html
But you are right, perhaps a video focusing on how to intonate a 3 saddle bridge would be more useful to many people.
@@DevilAndSons Thanks! Will check it out. I actually enjoy your videos a lot.
That's kind of you to say, I hope you'll enjoy that one too.
Yeah yeah yeah.. great. it's old looking. get to the point!!!
Did you get there?