Pigtail wraparound intonatable stop tail/bridge

[Rich]

This showed up today. No affiliation, but it sure looks like a great bridge to me. Has anybody used one yet?

[dharmafool]

I have not used one yet, mainly because I'm not a wraptail guy. But Steve's stuff is so superlative I'm tempted! I'll be using his ABR-1, stoptail, studs and bushings on my next guitar for sure.

[Rich]

We're planning on using this one on the Barnwood Osprey. (You can watch the progress of this build online, in the Rice Builds section above). Since I've held it in my hands, we decided to have another one made for another Osprey.. Very impressive workmanship and design.

[jtg116]

I have one on my LP Jr replica, I love it. Thanks for the forum guys, I love your guitars and all the info you give to people who love guitars!

[Rich]

jtg116 said:

I have one on my LP Jr replica, I love it. Thanks for the forum guys, I love your guitars and all the info you give to people who love guitars!

Yep, I'm very impressed with the workmanship on this bridge.

We appreciate your kind words, and your presence. Hope you enjoy being here. Thanks for joining the forum!

[badams]

Yes it looks like its very well made. It seems a shame to put that kind of detail into a bridge with such a poor fundamental design?
The wrap around bridge was Gibsons way of lowering the parts count for their lower end guitars. Any bridge that wants to lift off of the guitars body instead of push down into it is a flawed design.
The downward force of the strings over the bridge is what gives an electric guitar its natural sustain and sure doesnt hurt its tone.
Yes the bridge works and yes the guitar will sound okay .I wouldnt use a wrap around bridge on one of the guitars I build because I like to get everything out of them that they have.
A wrap around bridge is counter productive to that effort.

[Rich]

badams said:

Yes it looks like its very well made. It seems a shame to put that kind of detail into a bridge with such a poor fundamental design?
The wrap around bridge was Gibsons way of lowering the parts count for their lower end guitars. Any bridge that wants to lift off of the guitars body instead of push down into it is a flawed design.
The downward force of the strings over the bridge is what gives an electric guitar its natural sustain and sure doesnt hurt its tone.
Yes the bridge works and yes the guitar will sound okay .I wouldnt use a wrap around bridge on one of the guitars I build because I like to get everything out of them that they have.
A wrap around bridge is counter productive to that effort.

Although your point about Gibson cost cutting may be true, the wraparound bridge design is actually very efficient. The studs are embedded deep into the solid portion of the body, and the direction of pull does not pull away from the body in any way. Quite the opposite, it imparts massive rotational force on the face of the instrument, increasing sustain over the pure downward force of the strings on conventional TOM bridges. If you think it through, it is the same force that acoustic bridges have, only more of it- due to the primary direction of the string. I'd bet the farm that this setup will deliver phenomenal sustain and play in tune.

[badams]

Sorry man but theres no force onto the face of the instrument at all. Its all directed down into those heavy studs that eat string vibration. An efficient design for a bridge is one that will keep its position under string tension without any devices (such as screws or studs) to hold it down. A TOM bridge is also a poorly designed bridge in my estimation. The only time that I've used them is on lap steels. Even then I made my own base for mounting them and for securing the string ends. To my way of thinking Gibson has never used a good bridge design on any of their electrics. The best bridge (and the only type I'd even consider using) is a hard tail string through with cast saddles. Just my opinion.

[Rich]

It is obvious to me that we will never agree on this point. This is the best choice for the instrument, and will satisfy the most discriminating of players. It's the best wraparound bridge I've seen. Different bridges do different things. This one looks perfect for the project at hand.

[badams]

Well. We dont have to agree. I hope that my opinion might give others who are in the market for a bridge another way to look at things. IMO a wrap around bridge isnt the best choice for any stringed instrument. It seems to me that anyone who took a moment to logically think about bridge design could see the short comings of a wrap around?

[paulhersh9]

Mar 11, 2008 1:03:41 GMT -6 Rich said:

It is obvious to me that we will never agree on this point. This is the best choice for the instrument, and will satisfy the most discriminating of players. It's the best wraparound bridge I've seen. Different bridges do different things. This one looks perfect for the project at hand.

Rich, I'm with you on this. Earlier wraptails got a bad reputation because the execution of the design -- quality of materials, for openers -- wasn't up to the task. Things would twist and turn in unwanted ways, sacrificing intonation, tuning stability, etc. Hell, if there were less downward pressure the materials and manufacturing would be less intrinsic to the bridge's performance.

Pigtail's fit and finish are second to none. I have never heard of anyone using Steve's wraptail and not loving it -- long as the player wants a wraptail "tone signature," which is different from that of a tune-o-matic/stop-tail setup. Indeed, different bridges do different things.

To argue that the wraptail design is faulty, because of an absence of downward pressure, and to knock the tune-o-matic/stop-tail design for the same reason -- this simply doesn't add up. It's like saying the music made with Les Pauls is in some way inferior to music made with Telecasters.

[chris]

The biggest problem I've had with wraptails is old string grooves cut by inept "techs" into the intonation ridge. Couple that with the inability to use a plain G string on the original design and I yank them pretty quickly. I used Badass bridges on my 60's Melody Makers, and have been looking for a good choice for my '67 SG. The Wilkinson/Gotoh is great on my Osprey, no good on the Gibson.