Tune o matic which way round

It generally depends on the type of TOM bridge - Gibson ABR-1 types have screws towards the neck and the Nashville ones have them facing the tailpiece. It doesn't really matter. Likewise with the saddles. I generally have mine all with the flat side facing the neck unless I need to get that tiny bit of extra travel to get the intonation correct.

TheFretboard Fantasy F1 thread. ICBM Frets: The typical far-east ones - which all come with three saddles facing one way and three the other - can be poorly finished and sharp enough to cut the wound strings if the vertical face is at the back, so you want to fix one or both of those things. Gibson ones usually come with just the low E and A saddles that way round.

Generally you want to have it so the screws are easy to get to and the strings don't contact them, if it's possible to arrange it for both at the same time. Sesh Frets: If it's a narrow, vintage-style ABR-1 bridge it'll probably have 3 of the flat sides facing backwards and 3 facing forwards, to give enough travel for setting the intonation.

If it's a wider modern bridge the flat sides of all 6 saddles would normally face forwards. But either way, you can turn the bridge round whichever way you want it and set the intonation accordingly. No rules! AndyR Welterweight Posts: Where's all the top end gone? Don't be embarrassed - I was getting ready to ask a question about this as well. Someone recently said on here that the screws on a T-O-M ought to be facing the pickups not the tail-piece The Epis were 2nd hand years ago, but the Explorer was brand new last month.

So my question was going to be - is there a right way? In answer to yours, I have had no difficulty at all with setting intonation on all these guitars that have the bridge the "wrong" way round. In fact, I'm getting totally confused when I keep turning the screws the wrong way on the new Tokai. If anything, I would say it's easier to adjust intonation if the screws are facing the tailpiece - when you need to undo the screw so the saddle is moving away from the screw-driver , at least the saddle wants to move, the string angle behind the bridge is pushing it.

Saddles can be moved back and forward with a screw to adjust intonation. After traveling from the machine head, going into the nut, and arriving at the saddle groove, the strings continues his journey to the tailpiece or the back of the guitar, if you have a string-through-body design , that is responsible for holding the string firmly and tightly in place. Thanks to his symmetrical design, the bridge can be placed either way round on the two main posts, leading to a little bit of confusion among players.

Players today are constantly looking for different materials especially for the stopbar, but also in order to achieve tonal varieties , such as brass, nickel and aluminium. Finally, the Tune-O-Matic bridge should be arched to match the radius of the fretboard.

Throughout the years, Gibson made some variations on their bridges. As years passed by, other companies started to build TOM bridges as spare parts or upgrades , leading to a huge catalogue to choose from. Thanks to his thumbwheel system, the height on both sides can be adjusted within minutes. Gibson took the ABR-1 design and developed into a bigger and sturdier bridge. Main differences are the extended saddles travel, bigger posts and saddles screws orientation.

As today, one of the most popular guitar bridges on the market, is found on virtually every Gibson you may buy. Gretsch issued his own version, called Adjust-O-Matic , virtually identical to the Nashville design.

Other manufacturers are offering replacement bridges, such as Gretsch , Gotoh , and Schaller. Roller bridge The roller bridge combines the solid design of the TOM bridge with freely rolling saddles. The saddles rolling parts are manufactured from solid milled bell brass. Babicz Full Contact Bridge Babicz took the tune-o-matic design one step further with their full contact bridge.

The saddles are also individually adjustable in height. Vintage or modern studs? Nashville bridges, also called modern Tune-O-Matic, have larger posts compared to the vintage versions. When shopping for a new bridge vintage or modern style , you have to check your posts and buy accordingly. There are adapters from small to large posts, as well as vintage bridge with factory-provided large posts.

Wow, I always wondered about the symmetry of the saddles. I would always notice it was 3in a row the the next 3 in a row a little staggered towards the neck. What I'm saying is that there are two basic orientations for each saddle on a TOM not a wraparound bridge and one saddle per string.

There's a flat side and an angled side of each saddle, one side faces the stop piece, and which side faces the stop piece makes a maximum intonation adjustment range differential according to the thickness of the saddle. Multiply that distance by 2 because the other end of the adjustment range also has the same expansion opportunity. Proper saddle orientation can allow but not necessarily guarantee greater adjustment range.

I'm explaining my understanding of the presumed reasoning for the old 3x3 habit. It's along the same lines of reasoning for why the bridge studs are not perpendicular to the strings, instead they are slightly offset,,, to allow for a greater intonation range.