Telecaster bridge placement

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werdna
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Telecaster bridge placement

Post by werdna »

Please help me solve a problem.

I have a 21 fret neck.

On the body, the through body string holes came pre-drilled and the bridge and neck pickup routing is pre-done. Not bridge screw holes.

I have a vintage style tele bridge (six saddle), not an American standard style ie. it has 4 above the string through holes, and is shorter.

When I put the bridge in place, I line it up so that the string holes align to the body string holes, and so that the pickup hole aligns to the pick up cavity.

I measure the distance from the 12th fret (equal to the distance to behind the nut), to get the position of the saddles. There should be a centimetre of saddle movement possible forward and back to allow for intonation.

However after doing the measurements, I find that the saddles have to be positioned very close to the back/bottom of the bridge, with the big E only about a centimetre from the back of the bridge. The saddle springs are compressed entirely.

To fix the problem using the existing bridge I'd have to redrill the string through holes in the body back a further 1.5cm, and reposition the bridge further back. However that would look weird as there would be 1.5cm gap between the bridge and the pickguard. And I'd have a partly visible pickup rout, and have to re-rout below. Would look rubbish.

Alternatively, I could get a different bridge that has more distance between the saddles (and the pickup hole/string hole) and back/bottom of the bridge. This would have to be the American Standard bridge, or a hybrid vintage bridge, which is a vintage looking bridge that has the American Standard extra length and screw hole placement.

What went wrong?
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Re: Telecaster bridge placement

Post by Jay »

You say behind the nut. Is that at the tuner side? Should be measured from the edge of the nut away from the tuners.

What scale length guitar was the neck from?
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Re: Telecaster bridge placement

Post by werdna »

Below the nut, not the string side. 25.5 inch - standard telecaster scale.
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Re: Telecaster bridge placement

Post by jeremyb »

How does your string hole positioning compare to this diagram?
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Re: Telecaster bridge placement

Post by werdna »

Thanks JB. Nothing to see here everyone.
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Re: Telecaster bridge placement

Post by GrantB »

werdna wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:17 pm Thanks JB. Nothing to see here everyone.
Does that mean you've solved the mystery?

If not

Screw everything together and measure properly the full length from the face of the nut (closest to bridge face) to the average centered saddles. People get this wrong a lot. I brought a Tele body from the USA and they had drilled and routed everything in the wrong place. Sent it back, at my fricken cost. So just make sure they haven't ballsed it up...cause it happens.
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Re: Telecaster bridge placement

Post by werdna »

GrantB wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 4:40 pm
werdna wrote: Mon Mar 29, 2021 2:17 pm Thanks JB. Nothing to see here everyone.
Does that mean you've solved the mystery?

If not

Screw everything together and measure properly the full length from the face of the nut (closest to bridge face) to the average centered saddles. People get this wrong a lot. I brought a Tele body from the USA and they had drilled and routed everything in the wrong place. Sent it back, at my fricken cost. So just make sure they haven't ballsed it up...cause it happens.
Grant, you've been here too! At least I now know all about teles. Installing the vintage bridge and it'll be fine.
In life, don't sweat the petty stuff, and don't pet the sweaty stuff.

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