Positioning a Tele bridge?

Fuengi

Any tips on how to do this? 

I have modified my Burns Thinline which had a Rez-O-Tube bridge with a big hole through the body. I have filled this with hardwood and primed the entire body ready for the new colour coats. 

Next job is to drill out the ferrule holes and position the bridge but I have no holes or guide for the bridge because it's all been filled.

Tips on getting the bridge central to the neck would be useful. 

Do I set out the bridge 648mm from the saddles to the nut? If so, which saddle as they are not even? 

Should I make sure the saddles are in the middle of their adjustment so that I can go either way with them once the bridge is fixed? 

Now I'm typing this out it does seem self evident! 

lapua65

I found this on TDPI when I was looking.
Here is my "Two Strings and a Rubber Band"method..

If you have a pre-slotted nut, then your string spacing there is already determined for you. If you just have a blank, this procedure will also help you determine the positioning of the outside E strings at the nut as well as the bridge.

1.Put the two outside saddles on the bridge and remove the rest if necessary. Loop a fairly heavy rubber band under the saddles and for now just let it dangle.

2.Loop a skinny string thru each of the low and high E string-thru holes and back thru the ball on the string. Try to get it so the ball is positioned in such a way that the bridge lies as flat as possible on the body. Attach these strings to the tuners, making sure they come across the saddles correctly. These strings will act as your "straight edges" in positioning the bridge.

3.Now take the rubber band and hook it around the lower strap button. The rubber band should form a triangle that helps keep the bridge more or less centered on the body as you tighten the strings. Start tightening the strings more or less evenly, pulling out the slack as you go, until you "draw" the bridge up into its rough position. You want to adjust the saddle on the high E string to have 1/16" of its intonation adjustment screw protruding. That gives you a little leeway. Your goal here is to measure from the take off point of the nut to the witness point of the saddle and have 25.5". There is an article with diagrams
on the StewMac site that describes this well. Check this measurement occaisionally as the strings will stretch and the rubber band may pull things "south".

4. Using the strings as your straight edge, play with the lateral position of the bridge until it looks right. If your nut is unslotted, you will be playing with the positoning here as well. If the pickup route has been done, you may find yourself having to cheat a little to get the bridge in the right place. That means a little bit of the cavity may be exposed, but a lot of new Fenders are like this anyhow. When everything looks right, doublecheck your scale length measurement. If all is well, mark one of the bridge mounting holes with a pencil, or if the body is already finished use a sharpie. Carefully drill this hole dead-center on your mark and install your first screw. If you don't center this hole properly, the bridge will shift as you tighten the first screw "home". Recheck your alignments and scale measurement. If everything still looks right, make sure the bridge is as "square" to the neck and nut as it can be and install another screw to hold the bridge down firmly.

5. Now you are ready to drill your string thru holes. You can mark them and take the bridge off before you drill. I just drill starter holes using the bridge itself as a template, then take it off and finish drilling. A drill press, or at the very least a drill stand is almost a must. Put masking tape on the back of the body where the bit will exit, and set the bit to just barely protrude on the back. This will serve as your pilot hole for drilling for your string ferrules later. I have not perfected this part of the process, as it is very difficult to get the ferrules evenly spaced. But have you ever seen the some old Teles like this? I'm sure someone may have a better method of drilling the string thru holes and ferrules, but as far as postioning the bridge this method works like a charm.

TTony

Fuengi said:

Next job is to drill out the ferrule holes and position the bridge but I have no holes or guide for the bridge because it's all been filled.

Tips on getting the bridge central to the neck would be useful. 

My method is quite simple - and has always worked to date.

You need some masking tape, a long straight edge (or two), a pencil and a simple old set square (like you used back in school maths classes).

1. Masking tape down the centre of the body and mark out the centre line.
2. With the neck fixed in position, put a long straight edge along the side of the neck and across the body.  Put some masking tape on the body and draw the line.  Repeat for the other side of the neck.
3. With neck still in place, mark the scale length on the centre line.  Using the set square, draw the a line at right angles to the centre line to join the two outer lines  that you drew in step2.

That gives you the *basic* positioning of roughly where the saddles need to be. 

Depending on the sort of bridge you're using, you then need to work out where the posts (TOM) need to go - or the front of the bridge plate (Tele).  For the former, I always nudge the bass post back a bit  so that the saddles generally stay in the middle of the bridge once it's intonated properly.  For Tele bridges, I'll generally set each saddle in the middle of its adjustment range and work from there.

Fuengi

TTony said:

Fuengi said:

Next job is to drill out the ferrule holes and position the bridge but I have no holes or guide for the bridge because it's all been filled.

Tips on getting the bridge central to the neck would be useful. 

My method is quite simple - and has always worked to date.

You need some masking tape, a long straight edge (or two), a pencil and a simple old set square (like you used back in school maths classes).

1. Masking tape down the centre of the body and mark out the centre line.
2. With the neck fixed in position, put a long straight edge along the side of the neck and across the body.  Put some masking tape on the body and draw the line.  Repeat for the other side of the neck.
3. With neck still in place, mark the scale length on the centre line.  Using the set square, draw the a line at right angles to the centre line to join the two outer lines  that you drew in step2.

That gives you the *basic* positioning of roughly where the saddles need to be. 

Depending on the sort of bridge you're using, you then need to work out where the posts (TOM) need to go - or the front of the bridge plate (Tele).  For the former, I always nudge the bass post back a bit  so that the saddles generally stay in the middle of the bridge once it's intonated properly.  For Tele bridges, I'll generally set each saddle in the middle of its adjustment range and work from there.

Thanks Tony, that all sounds like a sensible approach. Must dig out my set square! 

TTony

Then read the post, didn't see what sort of bridge you were using ... posted my reply ... and then saw the thread title!!

D'oh.

To position a Tele bridge, I usually do it by eye, having first marked out those lines.

With the Tele saddles in the middle of their range, just lay the bridge on the body and move the bridge backwards/forwards until the saddles are "on top of" the scale line that you drew perpendicular to the centre line.  Make sure that the bridge stays square though - wherever you place the bridge, the front of the bridge must be parallel to the perpendicular scale line.

(so much easier to show than to describe in words!!)

WezV

I would not have the saddles in the middle of their adjustment range.

They should not need to move towards the neck to intonate, only away from it.... So you want most of your adjustment to be away from the neck.  Allowing a little forward movement for fudge room only

But you also don't want so little tension on the springs that the saddles can flap about.

I set the high e about 3/4 of the way forward on fender style bridges, just about the point the spring starts to come under tension.   


 I  would also get the rest  of the hardware on first to help make sure everything lines up nicely

TTony

WezV said:

I would not have the saddles in the middle of their adjustment range.

They should not need to move towards the neck to intonate, only away from it.... So you want most of your adjustment to be away from the neck.  Allowing a little forward movement for fudge room only

That's a good point too - I've never had a problem intonating a Tele, but my saddles tend to be squeezed in more than they're stretched out!

Fuengi

Hardware incoming from @Alegree !