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So the strings just go through the holes?

That's how it happens with my Hipshot stuff on my Telecasters, but the strings go through some plastic sheathing, so that they don't just break on the metal to metal contact as the string moves back and forth.

I think this is a terrible bridge.

Yeah, on his bridge they do. On any of the mods done here no, they go over the top and used grooved barrel brass telecaster saddles, not compensated ones. I agree that seems like a good idea theoretically, but would most likely function extremely poor in actuality. I mean, it couldn't be any better than using a tune-o-matic, which most people agree is like dragging your strings over a knife edge while utilizing the tremolo.

Maybe he could harvest the rollers off a roller bridge to lessen the friction of the string/old screw holes and charge an additional $100.

Jeez Larry, you need to learn how a bridge
works.

ThePearDream wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 6:22 pm

Jeez Larry, you need to learn how a bridge
works.

I read the other thread / poll

Poor Loureiro's gotten the ire of an angry Offset mob started!

oid wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 2:33 am

Let us just be glad I responded before I did my taxes.

If I were to feel a need to go to a steel "better" than mild steel, I would use unhardened W1, while slower working than mild, it is a joy to work, stainless is to brittle for my tastes, it is not bad to work with most tools, but sucks to drill and tap. Stainless and common cast are probably the last two steels I would choose for a bridge in the end, but I would choose bronze over any steel. Once the techniques are learned, especially layout, any of these metals can be worked with hand tools to tolerances only machinist and the like have the skills and tools to measure the error. Your work can only be as good as your layout.

I once chatted with an old machinist from the UK, his test to move beyond apprentice was to take a 2 inch thick plate of steel and cut out a square of 6 inches by 6 inches from it, all faces had to be perfect 90 degrees and mirror polished. He then had to cut a square hole dead on center, 2 inches by 2 inches, perfectly square and parallel with all edges, surfaces mirror polish. After that he had to cut a cube 2x2x2 which would fit perfectly in that hole, same requirements, it had to slide smoothly through the hole and when held up to a bright light there could be no light showing around the edges of cube and be perfectly flush with the faces, it had to pass this test regardless of which way the cube was inserted. The cube was then used to test the rest of the measurements, since the main piece could be sectioned off into eight 2x2x2 cubes. He had to do this completely with manual hand tools, took him 3 tries to get it right. Do not underestimate the accuracy which can be achieved with hand tools alone.

That sounds about right. A metalworker friend of mine has a huge workshop with all the cool machines you'd want. Last time I went and asked him for a job that required precision, he just grabbed the piece of metal I'd brought, an old shabby angle grinder, and cut the damn thing in his lap (he's in a wheelchair, had a horrible motorcycle accident twenty years ago), fiddled about with files for a bit and handed it back to me, perfectly dimensioned and square.

I'm curious about what you're saying. I've never delved into tool steels, do you harden your W1 after shaping it or leave it as is?
I guess some of it is down to preference and habits. I just use water and standard cheap drill bits for SS, and plenty of cutting oil when tapping it. It makes much less of a mess than, say, aluminium, which seems to stick to everything and leave a nasty dust everywhere.

There is no real reason to harden W1 for use in a bridge, unhardened W1 is much like the malleable cast steels, not at all brittle and works nicely with little if any clogging of files/grind stones, tools work through it in a nice even predictable but slow fashion and never grab or skip. Files, hacksaw blades (the traditional sort), grind stones, twist bits (the wire gauge sort) are largely fine tuned to work this stuff and they do it well as long as you get decent tools. In the end if I were to make a steel bridge I would just use mild steel, it has all of the qualities needed for a good bridge and is easy to get, the only reason I would use a tool steel is if I had a scrap sitting about that was perfect for the job or someone was paying me to do so.

Aluminum is all around nasty stuff to work, clogs files constantly, have to regrind your bits if you want good clean on center holes, don't even think about going near it with any sort of stone and it does not glow when heated, just starts to melt without warning and any time you drill/cut/file the stuff you are left with a razor sharp edge full of even sharper burrs. I only tolerate it because it is easier to bend without a break than mild and it is considerably cheaper than brass/bronze.

Have you been making stainless bridges? Or just making other odds and ends from stainless?

mbene085 wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 4:57 pm

timtam wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 4:35 pm

The bridge itself is interesting. How well it works is as yet unknown. But it's the marketing / sales angle that seems to worry people. Perhaps if he had said this people would have been happier ? .... 'Here's an idea for a bridge that you can make yourself from readily available parts. Or if you don't want to make it you can buy it from the Jess Loureiro website.'

You'd have to be a pretty inept businessman to say, "I'd like to sell you this thing you can make yourself in 15 minutes at a 70% savings."

I mean, Booster Juice just blends together easily-obtainable ingredients in a Vitamix for an absurd price, but they're smart enough to not openly post the recipes.

To be fair that does happen sometimes, but normally it's a design that the inventor really only intended to open source but there's a demand from people who can't build it themselves.

"Here's a design I made, if you can't build it yourself I can make it for you."

For example the guy who runs smallsound/bigsound is very open and supportive with sharing the schematics and build instructions for his products, even going so far as to help people debug their builds, but there's still a huge demand for them because they're so damn good (and kind of a tricky build).

That said, not really the case here.

ThePearDream wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 13, 2018 6:22 pm

Jeez Larry, you need to learn how a bridge
works.

Right. Ever since I got my beard and mustache caught in a traditional Jazzmaster bridge and had to ride in the back of an ambulance to the emergency room I've been meaning to really learn how these complicated bridges work with all the specialized tools that they require.

Although in a more serious vein some of you really know a lot about your metals around here. I don't know anything about that, really.

I admire him for making the effort to go ahead and produce these things and I guess the price is partly because of all the faffing around required to make them available. He probably isn't getting the parts at a wholesale price if he is just testing the market. It may indeed look like he just drilled some holes and I can understand why his claim of originality is pissing people off.

Re: the cost. Whenever I've come up with a good idea that I could produce at home as a cottage industry I've never gone ahead once I've worked out how much time is involved dealing with orders.... making it, packing them, fuel to the post office, eBay/PayPal fees, 'I never received my item eBay fraud', people moaning. It just never translates to anything near a living and you just have to do it because you want to and once I've thought about it in the morning after the wine has worn off I think "Fuck that for a game of soldiers!" and forget about it. We from time-to-time remember and joke about the stupid cottage industry ideas I've come up with. I bet once he has added all of this up he's probably not even earning minimum wage from it. It's like the car mechanics always used to say when I got a £400 bill on a car worth£200 "It's not the parts mate it's the labour innit!". He's doing more than drilling some holes and that is why it seems pricey.

The thing itself - it reminds me of a guitar tech bodge/solution from the 70's. It's quite clever in concept but doesn't look properly executed. I'm sure those holes serve more as a 'string snapper' - so if you wanted to record that with high gain whilst moving the trem fiercely you might be able to capture the sound of multiple strings breaking all at once! Might sound cool who knows?

The demo didn't show it in action - as in actual playing so would be interested to learn how it affects the sound. Brass saddles are a funny one. Brass softens the sound a fair bit. On Telecasters, I find the steel grooved saddles too bright unless they are old and rusted - half the time I think some of that vintage Pre CBS magic is just crud and rust changing the sound by taming the rattles and top end! I'm not sure if I'm joking or not.

Larry Mal wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 14, 2018 6:30 am

I got my beard and mustache caught in a traditional Jazzmaster bridge and had to ride in the back of an ambulance to the emergency room

in the spirit of schadenfreude, i hope someone took pictures