What do you think of taped bridges?

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Just bought a 1999 Guild Starfire III-90. I will post some pictures soon. Just arrived today and it is in near mint condition. The seller had removed the Guildsby and put on a Guild solid tailpiece. He included the original Guildsby which I plan to put back on. No extra drilling was done so easy swap.

He had his luthier use a good wad of double sided tape on the aluminum bridge. The intonation seems to be dead on so no concern with that. I own many hollow body guitars and none of them have a taped down bridge. I never needed to double tape one. I realize that many people pin the bridge on archtops. My question is how much does this wad of tape kill tone?

What are your thoughts, suggestions? Should I remove the tape when I put the Guildsby back on or leave it?

Thanks in advance for any comments.
 

GAD

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Not a fan. Plus the tape can eat the lacquer.
 

AcornHouse

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Any barrier between the bridge and the top will, unless it’s a sound transmitting material itself, affect the tone to some degree. There’s no real need for it unless you want to take all the strings off when you change them, and can’t intonate afterwards. Clearly you have enough experience. I’d get rid of it. Use mineral spirits or naphtha to get rid of any gummy residue.
 
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Yeah, I never been a fan either. If I take all the strings off one of my guitars, I just tape the bridge down with low stick tape. then remove it when I am done. Convenient and makes it easier.

They used a lot of gooey tape on this one. It has to kill some tone. Although, the guitar sounds good.
 

walrus

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Just to ask since we are on this topic - what about "pinning" the bridge down? In that case, isn't the bridge still in direct contact with the body?

walrus
 

AcornHouse

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Just to ask since we are on this topic - what about "pinning" the bridge down? In that case, isn't the bridge still in direct contact with the body?

walrus
Tone-wise, that would be better. Of course, it adds unnecessary holes in the top, and the intonation better be spot on. And you can never change brand or gauge of strings.
 

walrus

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Ah, I never thought about the string gauge issue - interesting! Thanks!

walrus
 

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I'm considering a roller bridge on my P-90-Starfire-by-GAD. Since the owner before Gary had screwed the bigsby bridge to the top, it would be a snap to pin the new bridge.
 

Walter Broes

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If you want to use an electric archtop guitar, transport it, play it with a band, bend strings, use the Bigsby, and you don't use train cables for strings, you'll have to immobilize a floating bridge one way or another if you don't want to spend more time tuning than playing.

Some of my guitars have (very fine) grit sandpaper glued to the underside of the bridge facing the guitar body, others have extremely thing squares of double stick tape between bridge and body, and my cheaper guitars (silvertone archtop, Newark street Guild) have two small screws through the bridge base that go into the guitar's bracing.
 
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Walter, I like the sandpaper suggestion. This Starfire has an aluminum bridge and they put a good amount of what looks like gooey double sided tape. Looks thicker than I would have liked. I actually thought it was glued. But the seller explained he had his luthier did it.

I may end up living with it for a while to see how it goes. The intonation is dead on with the strings that are on it. This weekend I plan on removing the tailpiece and putting back the Guildsby.
 

nielDa

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Be sure the contour of the bridge matches the contour of the guitar‘s top, for maximum contact. Also, what’s anyone’s experience using violin rosin on the bottom of the bridge. I have some but haven’t used it yet.
 

txbumper57

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If you want to use an electric archtop guitar, transport it, play it with a band, bend strings, use the Bigsby, and you don't use train cables for strings, you'll have to immobilize a floating bridge one way or another if you don't want to spend more time tuning than playing.

Some of my guitars have (very fine) grit sandpaper glued to the underside of the bridge facing the guitar body, others have extremely thing squares of double stick tape between bridge and body, and my cheaper guitars (silvertone archtop, Newark street Guild) have two small screws through the bridge base that go into the guitar's bracing.

Completely Agree with Walter on this. There is a big difference between playing around the house or doing one man Gigs and Playing 4-5 nights a weeks with all the equipment that a full band carries and has to transport. If you are gigging regularly with an Archtop and need it to be dependable in the intonation department you have to find a way to secure the floating bridge to the top. Sometimes my luthier uses the very thin double sided tape squares which work great unless there is alot of sweat or humidity involved. Also from time to time he has used a very tiny drop of superglue on the bottom of the bridge. Just enough to hold it. Then if you have to come back and change the position due to string size change or whatever it just pops right off with no damage, at least to any of mine anyways, LOL!

TX
 

Walter Broes

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Be sure the contour of the bridge matches the contour of the guitar‘s top, for maximum contact. Also, what’s anyone’s experience using violin rosin on the bottom of the bridge. I have some but haven’t used it yet.
The rosin thing apparently works for some people, didn't for me. Bridge would get "loose" within days.

The bridge should match the guitar's top contour indeed, but with "rock and roll" gauge strings (as opposed to "Jazz", haha), that's not any kind of guarantee your bridge will stay put.
 
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I got a chance to take a few pictures.

I do the taping was a bit neat, LOL

Guild3-bridge-01.jpg


Guild3-bridge-02.jpg


Guild3-bridge-03.jpg


Guild3-bridge-04.jpg


http://chasingguitars.com/1999-guild-starfire-iii-90/
 

chazmo

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Hey, Chasing...

Forgive the truly ignorant question, but looking at your strings going over the bridge.... Is that bridge too narrow? Shouldn't the strings go right over the middle of the saddle(s)? I guess it doesn't matter much, but I thought that was interesting.
 
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Is that double-sided foam tape?
Yeah that's gotta be a real tone dampener!

Yes, looks thick and too much IMHO. I thought for a minute it was glue and I was glad it isn't. If it only had small about of thin tape I would not be as concerned.
 
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Hey, Chasing...

Forgive the truly ignorant question, but looking at your strings going over the bridge.... Is that bridge too narrow? Shouldn't the strings go right over the middle of the saddle(s)? I guess it doesn't matter much, but I thought that was interesting.

It is the stock bridge. I think what you are seeing is the iPhone camera angle.
 
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