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Sound Samples HERE
The mismatch in radius between Gretsch Rocking Bar Bridges and the fingerboards of many Gretschs (particularly those with 9.45") has been noted on the GDP many times.
As far as anyone can tell, the same RBB is installed on all guitars, regardless of fingerboard radius; the Gretsch RBB itself has been measured at somewhere between 12" and 16" radius. Aftermarket bridges are even less consistent, with radii up to 20" reported.
In other words, the curve of the bridge is flatter than the curve of the fingerboards.
In practical terms, this means that regardless where bridge height is set, strings on the outside of the neck (1 & 6 and 2 & 5) will be higher off the fingerboard than the inner strings (3 & 4). Some players get fret buzz on those inner strings while the outer strings are adjusted higher than they like.
This mostly affects the 9.45" radius guitars, but if a guy gets an exceptionally flat RBB, he may have trouble with a 12"-radius guitar as well. (The RBBs are mass-produced, and are not entirely consistent.)
Conversely, some vintage-era Gretschs are known to have at least 16" fingerboards. Installing a modern-era RBB on one of these will result in the opposite problem: strings higher on the inside of the neck than on the outside.
It's well-known in these parts that I'm dead-nuts about bar bridges. To me they're the ultimate in tone, feel, and response (and since they present me no practical problems with intonation, there's no need to talk about that).
I do, however, have a 9.45"-radius Gretsch with a "mismatched" 14"-or-so bridge. It's never been annoying enough to do anything about, but at the best-compromise bridge height, the inner strings do have a bit of buzz and the outer strings are a little higher than I'd like.
The best solution promoted in these pages heretofore has been to have a good luthier file the bottoms of the string slots in the bridge so that they describe a 9.45" effective radius, regardless the overall bend of the bridge.
And that works perfectly, and (depending what your guy charges) is probably cost-effective to boot.
But my brother's a tube-bender and machinist, so why leave well enough alone?
A year ago I went to him with the idea of bending tube to the precise radii of the fingerboards, then reproducing the Rocking Bar's string scores and end, bottom, and hole profiles.
Now my brother is both a perfectionist and obsessive. In high school, he and another brother engineered a V8 Vega with completely redesigned rear end and chassis so that slicks fit INSIDE the wheel wells. In his fabrication business, among other things he builds motorcycle frames, Indy car suspension parts, and parts for hospital equipment. He's made parts for NASA.
In none of these pursuits is any imprecision or sloppiness of execution permitted.
So I knew any bridges he came up with would be dead-on the radius requested, with other details right on the money.
It turned out he had to buy additional tools and machining to do the bridges just right, and it's taken awhile. But here are the prototypes, and if they aren't right in every detail (we're evaluating the shapes of the holes), production versions WILL be.
I knew we'd need bridges in 12" and 9.5" radius, but then I thought, why not try some alternative materials as well?
Which is why I have in my grubby greedy hands bar bridges in both radii made of brass (like Gretsch's stock models), aluminum, and stainless steel!
I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't put the polished brass 9.5"-er (that's a BR-95, by the way) on my guitar yet, to prove the concept works. (How could it not?)
But at the Roundup, we did try both the aluminum and stainless versions on roadjunkie's 6120DSW, and everyone heard the difference in tone. Some liked aluminum better, some liked stainless. I liked both, for different reasons – and honestly kinda preferred either to the stock brass. (But to be fair, that could be just because I'm used to the brass, and was responding to the change.)
Alas, I don't have sound samples yet. (I'm so sick of my playing I can't seem to get ANYthing recorded I can bear to listen to.)
But I will have.
I figure some guys will know which they like before even hearing, and others when they DO hear – but for those who want to experiment with both (or all three, if you don't already have a plated brass bar), we'll make Package Deals for the Truly Tone-Obsessed. (That's a BR-AL-ST/PDTTO-95 (or -120).
Originally, I assumed anyone interested in these would already have a bar bridge, and thus a base. But I realized, maybe not. So we'll also have both ebony and rosewood bridge bases available, in both chrome and gold to match (or contrast with) the bridges.
We're still firming up details of pricing and packaging (and double-checking the mounting holes); we ought to be able to take orders within a couple of weeks, and ship shortly thereafter.
I mean, if you're interested!
ST-95 & AL-120: (Stainless, 9.5"; Aluminum, 12")
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AL-120 & ST-95.
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BR-120 & BR-95.
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AL-120 & ST-95 top detail.
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AL-120 & ST-95 back detail.
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