I am going to go ahead and admit I don't like the Muller bridge -- I think it imparts a banjo-like, plunky tone acoustically and, although that doesn't make it through to the amplified sound so much, I don't like it and I think I know why they sound that way to me. I'd previously just assumed it was a "too many moving parts" problem of the saddle rollers vibrating on their threaded shafts, but I have one that's all really tightly-threaded and still sounds that way to me.
So, something occurred to me the other day... Energy-wise, the downward pressure from the string on most bridges pushes a saddle into direct contact with the bridge body, which, in turn does the same to the guitar body via its studs. There's a kink in that chain of interaction with the Muller bridge, though. The tiny little metal threaded posts on which the rollers ride stick out perpendicular to the little blocks that ride along the bridge body, so some of the strings' downward pressure would figure to be absorbed in torqueing the threaded rods, since the rolling saddles "float" above the bottom of the bridge base. I have a hunch that the right sized piece of metal (little fiddly bits of filed metal, tiny nuts, a stack of tiny washers...) wedged b/w each roller and the bridge base, so that there was a direct transfer of downward pressure from roller saddle to bridge base, might make a big change in tone.
Alternately, has anyone replaced the Muller bridge altogether in a way that was reversible? I'm wondering whether another aftermarket bridge of some sort might have the right post spacing to be tapped out to ride on the existing Muller height-adjust studs.
So, something occurred to me the other day... Energy-wise, the downward pressure from the string on most bridges pushes a saddle into direct contact with the bridge body, which, in turn does the same to the guitar body via its studs. There's a kink in that chain of interaction with the Muller bridge, though. The tiny little metal threaded posts on which the rollers ride stick out perpendicular to the little blocks that ride along the bridge body, so some of the strings' downward pressure would figure to be absorbed in torqueing the threaded rods, since the rolling saddles "float" above the bottom of the bridge base. I have a hunch that the right sized piece of metal (little fiddly bits of filed metal, tiny nuts, a stack of tiny washers...) wedged b/w each roller and the bridge base, so that there was a direct transfer of downward pressure from roller saddle to bridge base, might make a big change in tone.
Alternately, has anyone replaced the Muller bridge altogether in a way that was reversible? I'm wondering whether another aftermarket bridge of some sort might have the right post spacing to be tapped out to ride on the existing Muller height-adjust studs.