Fender Electric XII Bridge Removal

[akpasta]

Hi Folks,

You may be following my other thread about string spacing. I am about to take the bridge off to get to the block that sets the string height. I don't want to pull the string saddles off because i'd rather not re-intonate the guitar at the moment, if I simply remove the screws around the base of the entire bridge, will the whole component just come off, and if so will the block that controls the string height just plop right out of the bridge (the one the saddles sit on top of)?



Finally, there seems to be a grounding wire connecting to one of the screws, is that easy to remove and place back? Anything else I should know about?

Thanks!

[Homeless Blueless]

I have the strings off my Electric XII at the moment, so I can hopefully hep with this.

You shouldn't need to unscrew the whole bridge plate out from the guitar body to get the bridge base out.

The little metal bridge base that the saddles rest on sits on adjustable legs that are quite deep inside the main bridge plate (the big metal plate screwed to the body of the guitar, as shown in your photos).

Once you take the strings off, you will probably need to wind the saddles back on the intonation screws a bit towards the tail-piece to get enough room to lift the bridge base out.

You could take a photo and return the saddles to the same positions when you put the bridge back together. This is a bit of a pain but there will be likely other little changes to the intonation anyway if you are going to look at changing the bridge height, bridge spacings and/or string gauge. All part of the fun of a 12 string.

[Sonichris]

I read through your other thread about this guitar, and your idea on how to fix it isn’t very good. Her’s a much easier fix.

Get your machinist buddy to make new saddles, the exact same dimension, but with slightly wider shoulders where the strings ride . It would be a fraction of a fraction wider, but wider none the less. I’ll bet he could get a way with making 2, one for each pair of strings.

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[akpasta]

I read through your other thread about this guitar, and your idea on how to fix it isn’t very good. Her’s a much easier fix.

Get your machinist buddy to make new saddles, the exact same dimension, but with slightly wider shoulders where the strings ride . It would be a fraction of a fraction wider, but wider none the less. I’ll bet he could get a way with making 2, one for each pair of strings.

.

Thank you for the recommendation. Problem is I don't have infinite access to the CNC machine and if it's not done properly the first time I'd have to ask him make more. Replacing the saddle block and using spacers between string saddles allows more flexibility imo.

[Sonichris]

How much wider are you going to have it made?

[akpasta]

How much wider are you going to have it made?

I'm going to have it made exactly the same as the original, but out of unpolished aluminum. That way I can file the inside of the posts that the saddles sit between, allowing room for small spacers between string saddles as desired to space them so they don't buzz against each other.

I have not measured the difference, but the string pair spacing on the XII is less than on a Ric or most other electric guitars, even if it doesn't look that way to the naked eye.

[Homeless Blueless]

When you next take the strings off, you can examine whether you might already have room to put a skinny spacer in between some of the existing 1960s saddles to push the strings further apart.

On my Electric XII bridge, there is a little bit of room to do this. This could work well for you if the issue you are worried about is perhaps just on the lighter strings.

[akpasta]

I considered this yesterday when I took the strings off to get the saddle block off. I'm gonna get this part made and then I'll try the easy route like you suggest. We'll see how it goes.

I also though about having a nut made that spaces them more too. The stock nut placed them very close together.