[the-trooper]

Hello everyone
I have a guitar with one of those plain "normal" bridges. I can't post links yet, if you google RGAT62 it's that one, and I was thinking about changing the bridge on it.

Bit I can't find a schematics for Gibraltar anywhere online, something like those that Hipshot has for their bridges, with measurements for every hole and spacing between everything.

My concern is, if the new holes that I would have to drill for Gibraltar are to close to the holes of the existing bridge, that would mean I would first have to fill in the existing holes, and that is out of my expertise scope. Drill new holes, screw the screws, I'm fine with that. But I don't have the materials or the knowledge to go into any serious wood work.

So my first question is does anyone knows where I could find a schematics for it. If not, maybe someone has a guitar with it and would be willing to measure distances between holes?


My second question, I know there's no right answer, but in your opinion how much of an upgrade would that actually be? It's installed on Prestiges so it must be a great bridge.
Or should I just change the saddles with Graphtech ones?

Thanks in advance!

 

[sepulchrave]

It's certainly an aesthetic upgrade, however functionally you won't notice any real difference, a fixed bridge has to be pretty terrible to affect the tone and function of a guitar detrimentally.
If you're asking whether it's worth the effort, probably not.

 

[j.arledge]

i am inclined to agree that you probably won't hear a ton of difference by swapping it out. If you'd like to try something new, it may be a safer bet to buy just new saddles. You can find them in steel, graphite, and sometimes brass. There are other options out there too.

with acoustics i was skeptical about saddle material having a big impact on tone, until I was taught how to make bone saddles. Then i was pretty sold that it makes a large difference in sound. With electrics, you are already using metal saddles. Sure there is probably a little difference between materials, but ultimately majority of your sound is from you hands and the pickups/wiring.

 

[the-trooper]

I didn't have any tonal difference or improvement in mind. I was hoping to maybe get some more sustain out of it. I did have an issue with one of the saddles that was muting a string before i raised the action, even on 24th fret, so it's definitely saddle issue.
But for that, I can just change the saddles.
But than again, Gibraltar does look damn fine!
Also, my luthier sad that that bridge is the weakest part on the guitar (as in the worst, not structurally weak).

 

[the-trooper]

Anyhow, I found a picture of Gibraltar on ebay that was fairly straightforward, so I overlayed them in Photoshop using holes for the strings as reference points, the best i could.
I could maybe get away with drilling holes for front screws of Gibraltar, but back ones look dangerously close, if not overlapping a bit.

So that's the end of that, I guess

https://i.imgur.com/tU1zdWm.jpg

 

[snaggleyoda]

Perhaps changing the saddles & ferrules might make a a difference, as those are 2 of the points strings come in contact with guitar. Other than that, I don't think a new bridge will have any impact on sustain. I like Gibraltar bridges myself. Easy bridge to work with.

 

[the-trooper]

Perhaps changing the saddles & ferrules might make a a difference

Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with Graphtech ones.

 

[sepulchrave]

Perhaps changing the saddles & ferrules might make a a difference

Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with Graphtech ones.

Plastic saddles and ferrules whose sole reason for existence is to prevent the ball ends pulling through the timber, how will that help?

 

[the-trooper]

Plastic saddles and ferrules whose sole reason for existence is to prevent the ball ends pulling through the timber, how will that help?

I don't think ferrules would make any difference with anything. But I guess saddles can be machined incorrectly and since I already had problems with one of them the simplest solution is to just change them all, with ones that are (almost) guarantied to be great, to avoid any future issues.

 

[snaggleyoda]

Perhaps changing the saddles & ferrules might make a a difference

Yeah, I think I'm gonna go with Graphtech ones.

Plastic saddles and ferrules whose sole reason for existence is to prevent the ball ends pulling through the timber, how will that help?

Perhaps means it might. My string through guitars have brass ferrules in them. I've never owned one with plastic ones. I would say having plastic ones would actually dampen string vibration, which is crucial to sustain. Just as changing out a plastic nut to bone or graphtech, changing out plastic to a more resonant material at any point of string contact will theoretically result in longer string vibration, also known as sustain.

 

[sepulchrave]

The point of contact is the bridge, the ball end of the string doesn't vibrate at all, it just needs a solid anchor to stop it moving.
Brass is easier to machine than steel and doesn't rust, other than that there's no reason to prefer one over another.
Bridge saddles need to be hard so that the string doesn't wear a groove into them.
Selling stuff to non-technical people is easy, but tech savvy buyers won't fall for it.

 

[the-trooper]

The point of contact is the bridge, the ball end of the string doesn't vibrate at all, it just needs a solid anchor to stop it moving.
Brass is easier to machine than steel and doesn't rust, other than that there's no reason to prefer one over another.
Bridge saddles need to be hard so that the string doesn't wear a groove into them.
Selling stuff to non-technical people is easy, but tech savvy buyers won't fall for it.

I understand what you're saying, for the ferrules. But why are you "against" Graphtech saddles. They've been on the market for over 20 years, not exactly a novelty, and as far as I can remember they always get great reviews (aside from alleged loss of some high frequencies which is a matter of taste).

 

[sepulchrave]

I don't have an issue with graphtech saddles other than that I think they're a waste of money, your bridge is basically a copy of the Gotoh GTC101 which is made of superior quality materials in Japan, perhaps you should just buy one of those and swap the whole thing out.

 

[the-trooper]

I don't have an issue with graphtech saddles other than that I think they're a waste of money, your bridge is basically a copy of the Gotoh GTC101 which is made of superior quality materials in Japan, perhaps you should just buy one of those and swap the whole thing out.

Damn, this is great info! And judging by it's schematics it really is a drop in replacement. Thank you very much!

Would you happen to know what are the differences between bridges in the GTC family. For example here are PGTC-101 and GTC102. They look the same and even share the exact same schematics:

https://www.muziker.de/en/gotoh-pgtc-101-chrome
https://www.thomann.de/intl/gotoh_gtc102_bridge_c.htm

EDIT: found it, 101 is brass, 102 is steel.