Did you know there are 7 main guitar bridge types? This is very important if you want to sound unique and stand out from other guitarists, as each bridge aids your flair and playing style!
What are the different bridge types? The different bridge types include:
- Tune-O-Matic [Fixed]
- Wrap-Around [Fixed]
- Hardtail [Fixed]
- Synchronized [Tremolo Floating]
- Floyde Rose [Tremolo Floating]
- Bigsby [Tremolo Roller]
- Stetsbar [Tremolo Roller]
- Duesenberg Les Trem [Tremolo Roller]
In this article, I will go through the different bridge types in loads of detail to you can understand replacements and overall transform your playing! Lets get started below…
WHAT IS A GUITAR BRIDGE?
Before, i go through in detail about the different types of guitar bridges let us first get on the same page and discuss the basics of a guitar bridge.
Simply put a guitar bridge attaches to the body of the guitar with its purpose to anchor the guitar strings to the body of the guitar. The bridge is found on the lower bout of the guitar body and directs the strings over the pickups (for electric guitars) or a sound hole (on an acoustic guitar) before it reaches the fretboard.
WHY IS A GUITAR BRIDGE CRUCIAL!
I cant stress how important the guitar bridge is. Without it there would be no way to set the intonation and scale length and your guitar would simply not function.
- Fine Tunes Intonation: adjusting the saddle to fine tune your strings and gets rid of dead frets and elevates fret buzz
- Controls Fretboard Action: accurately positioning the strings, a relative height to the fretboard. This controls the gap between the fretboard and the strings
- Controls String Alignment: The bridge partly aligns the strings over the pick-ups and sound hole. Whereby, height and gradient can be adjusted to suit your need
- Creating Tremolo effect: floating bridge systems main purpose is to provide you the functionality to spruce up your playing, giving you the ability to alter the pitch by the use of a whammy bar
As you can see that it’s so important, it might be worthwhile to take a look at the main types of guitar bridges.
FIXED BRIDGE VS. TREMOLO BRIDGE
There are many different types of guitar bridges out there. But, when you are talking about any kind of bridge they will fall into two main categories. These include fixed bridge systems and Floating bridge systems (also known as tremolo bridges)
FIXED BRIDGES
- Hardtail Bridges
- Tune-O-Matic Bridges
- Wrap-Around Bridges
To Note: they are called fixed bridges as the bridge is attached to the body and doesn’t sway. You may ask why you would want you bridge to sway? This would be so that you can get some cool fluttery / vibrato effects in your playing.
TREMOLO BRIDGES
- Synchronized Tremolos
- Floyde Rose / Locking Tremolos
- Bigsby
- Stetsbar Tremolo
- Duesenberg Les Trem
To Note: They are called tremolo bridges because of the tremolo effect that is created when in action. There are also two types of tremolo bridges, the floating tremolo and the roller/rocker tremolo.
3.3 WHAT BRIDGE IS RIGHT FOR ME? (FAQ)
Generally speaking, whether you are a lead, or rhythm guitarist it will somewhat dictate what bridge you would usually go for (theres no strict rules to this). It mainly comes down to what your end goal is.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/-JwjuoQEkAM
For example, as you can see from watching the above video, what you decide will form the basis of your tone. For me personally, i am playing alot of jazzy lo-fi at the moment and so i am using a Fender synchronized floating tremolo, as my main aim from my bridge is to add tremolo effect flutters into my playing style.
Some of these bridges are widely used by many brands such as, tune-o-matic and the synchronised tremolos. Whilst others may not be seen as much such as the Bigsby. However, each has their purpose, having their advantages and disadvantages depending what you are trying to achieve.
We will talk about all the individual bridges types below…
1. TUNE-O-MATIC BRIDGE
The Tune-o-matic is the first example of a fixed bridge. The best Tuneomatic bridge is the Les Paul Standard, whereby it was first developed by Gibson and used on 1952 Les Paul Custom. Gibson first made this design as a way to improve the precise intonation adjustment.
As you can see from the above image, the Tune-o-matic bridge is mounted to the body of the guitar by two screw pillars. The screw pillars (located on the left and right side of the bridge) allow for adjusting the height of the action. Further, each saddle is also adjustable, by turning a small screw, which gives you flexibility to altering the intonation.
As you can see from the above image, the tail piece and saddle are separate. Meaning that the bridge must be used with an additional tailpiece component (located to the left of my finger in the above image).https://www.youtube.com/embed/UNhhho9lSP4
The tune-o-matic bridges have a MASSIVE advantage as they are able to intonate more precisely than its counter parts!
…and even if its standard intonation flexibility isn’t enough there are also ways to improve it further!
1.1 THE BEST TUNE-O-MATIC BRIDGES
Gotoh and Kluson are two brands renowned for quality. However, I personally use Gotoh and so i would recommend those as i have never had a problem with them aging and cutting into the strings (reducing the life).
Furthermore, the KAISH offer the tune-o-matic roller saddles which have both their advantages and disadvantages (discussed below…)!
1.2 ROLLER SADDLES VS. V SHAPED SADDLES
The standard tune-o-matic V shaped saddles have two massive advantages. The first, the saddles can be adjusted individually and second they sustain better. However, over time the standard version can wear down strings as the saddle is positioned as a ‘V’ shape and it cuts into the strings as they get older. Thus, reducing the life of your strings. Whereby, roller bridges are designed to eluviate this problem.
Overall, I would always choose the V shaped saddles.
1.3 PROS & CONS
- Precise Tuning – The big advantage of the Tune-o-matic is that they allow for very precise intonation of each string
- Ease-of-use – In short, tune-o-matics are easier to tune, restring and adjust action. Also, with a sharp string break it offers exceptional stability and solid sustain.
- Convert into floating bridge – the bonus of having wrap around bridge is that you can easily switch them out for a stratsbar, or Duesenberg Les Trem floating design (we discuss these in section 7 & 8)
- 12″ Fretboard – Tune-o-matics are designed for fretboards with a radius of 12” or flatter.
- Universal height adjustment – They can intonate each string individually, but can only adjust the height of the strings universally.
1.4 WHICH GUITAR USE THE TUNE-O-MATIC BRIDGE?
Gibson Les Pauls Models
2. WRAP AROUND BRIDGE
The wrap-around bridges have been around the longest of all guitar bridges discussed in this article. Major brands have at some point used these, and still use them today. They get their name ‘wrap-around’ as they the guitar strings thread through the front side of the bridge and wrap around the tailpiece where it rests on the saddle.
The Wrap Around bridge is the last example of a fixed bridge design. As you can see from the below image the wrap around bridge types have the saddle and bridge combined into one solid piece.
Initially, the wrap around was a plate of and did not allow for precise intonation. This idea has long been improved, whereby they now offer individual saddle adjustment. The compact design design is very clever having all the components stored into a single unit. However, they do not intonation tolerance as broad as the tune-o-matics.
2.1 THE BEST WRAP AROUND BRIDGES?
If you are looking to switch out a wrap around bridge then the above will work just fine. These are generally more expensive than the other bridge types due to the more complex design. However, i personally use the TONEPROs on my custom guitar and it is brill!
If you want to branch out and spend more money then i would recommend the Ghost Loaded ResoMax. These are smoother in functionality and offer rounded V shaped saddles so your saddle doesn’t cut into your strings.
2.2 PROS & CONS
- Easiest of all to Restring – You just insert the strings from the bottom of the bridge, and it wraps around the top of it. I have ever had any problems with this, and I’d definitely recommend it for beginners
- Fine-tuning – Lack of fine-tuning/intonation capability in some models (not all)
- Converting to tremolo – You cant easily convert this bridge into a tremolo design without making permanent modifications to your guitar
3. HARD TAIL BRIDGE TYPE
Hard Tail bridges are known as hard-tails as the bridge consists of a sole unit rather than a disjoined bridge and tailpiece. This means the bridge is attached solid to the body of the guitar whereby the bridge doesn’t move. The hard tail bridge is attached to the body of the guitar using two metal screws.
With the below example you can see the hard tail bridge. This type of bridge has six individual saddles that rest on the bridge body, which can be adjusted for fine intonation.
As you can see in this type of hard tail bridge, the strings go in through the back of the guitar. By which the guitar string ball ends (bullets) are anchored by the bridge and helf into place. The ball ends remain anchored by a small hole only wide enough for the string to pass through, where the ball is trapped. From there, they loop over the saddle, across the fretboard and up to the machine heads.
3.1 THE BEST HARDTAIL BRIDGES
When it comes to replacing guitar equipment you get what you pay for. If you are looking to replace or upgrade your hardtail bridge then I would personally recommend the Gotoh (second option in the above table). The Gotoh brand has a good reputation, and their hardtail bridges are high quality made from solid steel to withstand high amounts of tension and correct possible tuning issues you maybe having.
3.2 PROS & CONS
What are the Advantages of the Hard Tail Fixed Bridge?
- Holds tuning well – Furthermore, they tend to hold tuning really well compared to the floating bridge types.
- Replacing is easy – The set-up is simple. You can replace one by simply removing the strings and taking out the screws.
- Ease of use – This is very beneficial for unexperienced players because restringing is not complicated, as sliding a string through the holes on the back plate and up to the tuner is difficult to perform improperly by newbies.
- Cant tremolo – the hardtail bridges only problem is that they cant give you that tremolo effect as they do not have a whammy function.
- Converting to tremolo – You cant easily convert this bridge into a tremolo design without making permanent modifications to your guitar
3.3 WHICH GUITAR USE THE HARD TAIL FIXED BRIDGE?
The types of guitars that use hard tail bridges are mainly Fender designs such as their Stratocaster’s and telecasters.
Read more – https://guitarskillsplanet.com/guitar-bridge-types/
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