Pete Galpin
Soapygit
First of all - hi everybody! New here and first post, so apologies in advance for any newbie mistakes.
I've just been through the process of upgrading the bridge on my 22 Soapbar, and thought my experience might be helpful for anyone contemplating doing the same.
First though, a few words on the guitar. It's a 2008 Custom 22 Soapbar, I bought it new, so it's been a familiar instrument to me for a decade now. The 2008 limited run had a mahogany neck i.e. the same as most mainstream PRS models, and unlike all the other 22 Soapbar runs, which all had maple necks. They're often described as a "Strat on steroids" - wrongly, in my opinion. For me it's more like a great LP Junior, with a trem and more versatile switching. Because the neck and middle pups are the same, the neck/middle position is more like a neck humbucker sound - great for jazz things. The bridge/middle position can sound very Strat-like with the volume down around 7, but turned up it's very Peter Green-is. The bridge pup on it's own is just a rock monster sound. In summary, it's a very versatile instrument. However it always felt like there was the potential there for something more.
Last year I upgraded the trem bridge on my old Strat. I'd already replaced the stock unit with a Callaham unit - a big improvement, but when the trem arm snapped off I decided to see what else was out there. I ended up fitting a Wudtone unit, tonally it was slightly better than the Callahan - but that's high praise, because the Callaham was a vast improvement itself. The Wudtone also worked much more smoothly and efficiently. I won't go into detail of the design, there's enough articles out there already. Suffice to say it uses a shim under the bridge plate to better transmit the sound. As Wudtone had recently introduced the DD bridge for PRS', I thought I'd give it a try. I wanted to retain all the great warmth, resonance and sustain of the guitar, but improve the clarity and articulation. The debate about the best materials for trem blocks and saddles has been running on forums like this for many years, and I was no wiser about what would work best on the guitar. So I ordered the standard unit - stainless steel trem block - plus stainless steel saddles - plus a brass trem block. I also had the option to use the PRS saddles on the Wudtone bridge. And then the experimenting began...
In a nutshell, the Wudtone with brass saddles and brass block - in other words the same materials as the stock unit, produced a slight improvement in sustain and resonance. All down to the shim design I suspect resulting in better sound transference. The trem also worked every bit as smoothly as the standard trem, but without the worry of eventually knife-edge wear. I then replaced alternate saddles with stainless to better compare string to string performance. Stainless-equipped strings were louder, with better attack. When I swapped the brass trem block for the stainless block, I initially thought it had improved still further. But it gradually dawned on me that something was missing - the warmer, more vowel-like sounds in the bridge/middle position were diminished, and the guitar felt more generic. The jazz tone in the neck/middle position was somehow more anaemic too. So the brass block was mated with all the stainless saddles. This was what I'd been looking for. The tone, sound, sustain and resonance I knew and loved, but with better attack, articulation and dynamics. So, for me, that was the magic combination.
I recognise all guitars are different, and players want different things from their instruments, so another person with another guitar might come to a different ideal solution. But hopefully my experience will help anyone looking to upgrade their existing bridge.
I've just been through the process of upgrading the bridge on my 22 Soapbar, and thought my experience might be helpful for anyone contemplating doing the same.
First though, a few words on the guitar. It's a 2008 Custom 22 Soapbar, I bought it new, so it's been a familiar instrument to me for a decade now. The 2008 limited run had a mahogany neck i.e. the same as most mainstream PRS models, and unlike all the other 22 Soapbar runs, which all had maple necks. They're often described as a "Strat on steroids" - wrongly, in my opinion. For me it's more like a great LP Junior, with a trem and more versatile switching. Because the neck and middle pups are the same, the neck/middle position is more like a neck humbucker sound - great for jazz things. The bridge/middle position can sound very Strat-like with the volume down around 7, but turned up it's very Peter Green-is. The bridge pup on it's own is just a rock monster sound. In summary, it's a very versatile instrument. However it always felt like there was the potential there for something more.
Last year I upgraded the trem bridge on my old Strat. I'd already replaced the stock unit with a Callaham unit - a big improvement, but when the trem arm snapped off I decided to see what else was out there. I ended up fitting a Wudtone unit, tonally it was slightly better than the Callahan - but that's high praise, because the Callaham was a vast improvement itself. The Wudtone also worked much more smoothly and efficiently. I won't go into detail of the design, there's enough articles out there already. Suffice to say it uses a shim under the bridge plate to better transmit the sound. As Wudtone had recently introduced the DD bridge for PRS', I thought I'd give it a try. I wanted to retain all the great warmth, resonance and sustain of the guitar, but improve the clarity and articulation. The debate about the best materials for trem blocks and saddles has been running on forums like this for many years, and I was no wiser about what would work best on the guitar. So I ordered the standard unit - stainless steel trem block - plus stainless steel saddles - plus a brass trem block. I also had the option to use the PRS saddles on the Wudtone bridge. And then the experimenting began...
In a nutshell, the Wudtone with brass saddles and brass block - in other words the same materials as the stock unit, produced a slight improvement in sustain and resonance. All down to the shim design I suspect resulting in better sound transference. The trem also worked every bit as smoothly as the standard trem, but without the worry of eventually knife-edge wear. I then replaced alternate saddles with stainless to better compare string to string performance. Stainless-equipped strings were louder, with better attack. When I swapped the brass trem block for the stainless block, I initially thought it had improved still further. But it gradually dawned on me that something was missing - the warmer, more vowel-like sounds in the bridge/middle position were diminished, and the guitar felt more generic. The jazz tone in the neck/middle position was somehow more anaemic too. So the brass block was mated with all the stainless saddles. This was what I'd been looking for. The tone, sound, sustain and resonance I knew and loved, but with better attack, articulation and dynamics. So, for me, that was the magic combination.
I recognise all guitars are different, and players want different things from their instruments, so another person with another guitar might come to a different ideal solution. But hopefully my experience will help anyone looking to upgrade their existing bridge.
