Some people (experienced repairmen included) would tell you to align the intonation adjustment screws of the tune-o-matic bridge facing the nut (as per above pic) which they claim is the correct way.So which way is the right way? Both ways are acceptable, as long as the intonation is done right.
9 comments:
And the saddles? I've seen a mix of the "sloped" side facing the bridge pickup on all six, or facing the tailpiece on all six, or a mix of the wound string saddles facing the bridge pup and the unwound string saddles facing the tailpiece.
I prefer the "sloped" to face the tailpiece on all six to reduce the possibility of the edge cutting into the strings at the break angle.
yes, string breakage is another factor people advise the placement of the tune-o-matic contraption, we'd do well to take cues from them.
thusfar, i have no issues with string breakage owing to an acute break angle- i employ the wrap-over-hardtail stringing :-)
Here's yet another to chew on: height of the tailpiece to affect the break angle of the strings/overall string tension? Instead of screwing the two studs all the way down to the guitar's top, I raise the tailpiece somewhat to reduce the angle; not sure if the tension is affected noticeably...
that would work as well but techies believe if you raise the studs too much, it would affect sustain...
if you lower the tailpiece flat to the body then you'll have increased sustain, if you have it raised then you'll get more bend out of the string, so higher would reduce breakages, but not enough for it to be worth losing the sustain.
sustain issues here, pertaining to the hard tail piece, is subjective. techies would tell you that the tune-o-matic unit plays a greater role in sustain inducement rather than the hard tail piece per se.
I've been monkeying around with the TOM on my Epiphone 335 style, and was looking up info about string tension when I came across this post. At least with this guitar, I have found that raising the stop bar approx. 5/32" from the "screwed-down" max. greatly improves the feel and tone. I have never found that increasing the break-angle past the point needed to eliminate buzzing improves tone on any style bridge, and tends to give a stiff, *muscle-bound* feel, while reducing the harmonic *chime* I like. I never got the "more break = sustain* claims, but I'm a "sustain is in the fingers" guy. Increasing the break too much on a TOM also tends to make the saddle lean toward the nut. Not a good thing. I often see the saddles split 3X3, the bass strings flat side-to-tail, treble angled-to-tail.
I've noticed that on my tuneomatic bridge, the grovves for the strings are deeper on one end than the other. Does this have a bearing on which way to install the tuneomatic bridge?
if this is the case, you should stick to the default placement. the indentations for the wound strings are deeper/ wider. should you reverse the alignment, the thicker sets would sit in narrower/ shallower slits which would cause buzzing in that area. also, chances are, the intonation would have already been done at the factory, reversing the placement would necessitate re-intonation.
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