Replaced the wraparound bridges on ALL of my Bernie Marsdens

[Lewguitar]

I have three Bernie Marsdens.

Two were stock but the third had already been upgraded with 57/08 pickups and a MannMade Intonatable aluminum bridge with brass saddles.

Whether unplugged or plugged in, I felt that one was the best sounding guitar of the three. It had the deepest, most solid tone and the treble strings sounded smoother, thicker and less rattley.

So I ordered new bridges for the other two Bernie Marsdens. One more of the Intonatable bridges from John Mann. And one Paul bridge with brass inserts from PRS.

I wanted to hear the difference between the PRS Paul bridge and the MannMade one.

I also changed the pickups. Two of my Bernies now have 57/08 pickups and the third has Duncan Antiquitys.

Still having some trouble with the newest set of 57/08's...the bridge pickup is usable but weaker than my other two 57/8 bridge pickups and the neck pickup is louder. That set is going back to PRS. I think the bridge pickup is defctive.

But at least now all three have upgraded bridges with brass saddles.

I believe that well machined brass saddles can improve a guitar's tone.

I tried both the Mannmade bridge and the PRS Paul bridge on the Bernie with the Antiquitys. With the stock bridge I felt there was some low end missing compared to the Bernie with 57/08's and the MannMade bridge.

Didn't know if it was the pickups, bridge or both!

The new MannMade bridge really did beef up the low end of the Bernie Marsden w/Antiquitys and smooth and thicken the treble.

So did the PRS Paul bridge, but to a lesser extent. Sure feels nice though. Classy!

But the bottom line is that some of the thinner tone I was attributing to the Antiquity pickups was actually being caused by the stock bridge.

Only snag i ran insto installing the MannMade bridge is that the metric ht. adjustment screw studs John provided were almost 1/8" too long. When setting the action they bottomed out and started to push the threaded inserts out of the guitar top.

I have a bench grinder so I removed them and ground 1/8" off of the end of each one and that fixed it.

The action is nice and comfortable now.

https://imgur.com/xHrz2Jh

The third Bernie has new 57/08's I just put in and the PRS made bridge PRS uses on the Paul guitar. The strings cross on saddles inserted into the aluminum bridge.

I really like the clean look and the way this bridge feels against my hand. It looks and feels sleek and classy, and I do hear an improvement, especially with the treble strings. They sound smoother and less plinky than with the stock bridge.

I actually prefer the feel of the Paul bridge, but I heard a more dramatic improvement in tone from the MannMade bridges on my other two Bernies.

The guitars with the MannMade bridge sound a little thicker and more solid than the one with the Paul bridge, although I prefer the look and feel of the Paul bridge.

The Paul bridge is an elegant upgrade and I'm going to keep it even though the MannMade bridge seems to make the guitar sound a little more robust.

https://imgur.com/jLVKEB8

 

[Lewguitar]

I know not everyone will hear the improvements I did.

But I think most of you will.

Especially if you're starting out with a guitar you already like the sound of.

 

[MWebster]

Your commitment to your Bernie's is commendable. It's always fun reading about the next stage in your journey with them. Have you tried the SE Paul's guitar?

 

[Prina]

Your commitment to your Bernie's is commendable. It's always fun reading about the next stage in your journey with them.

I absolutely agree, especially considering the similarity, and some differences, with the base SE245's and knowing how well SE's respond to appropriate mods. One question off the thread topic:
What's the weight of each of the Bernies?

 

[Lewguitar]

I absolutely agree, especially considering the similarity, and some differences, with the base SE245's and knowing how well SE's respond to appropriate mods. One question off the thread topic:
What's the weight of each of the Bernies?

Mine are very consistant. On a bathroom scale 8 to 8 1/2 lbs. Not too bad.

The necks feel about the same too. Round and slightly chunky.

I love my Stripped 58 but even at home I play my Bernie Marsfens more.

The SC58 is new to me and still seems too precious I guess.

Now that the Bernie Marsdens all have upgraded bridges and pickups they're in the same league as the Stripped 58. Maybe a couple of percentage points shy of the Stripped 58 but still truly enjoyable, first rate guitars.

I have a gig July 4 and part of this is that my brother has finally asked if he can borrow a PRS for the gig.

He's one those "PRS guitars have no soul"..."My Gibson sounds better"..."PRS guitars are for dentists" kinda guys.

So I'm getting one of these Bernie's together for him.

I want the PRS I loan him to blow his mind!

 

[Lewguitar]

Your commitment to your Bernie's is commendable. It's always fun reading about the next stage in your journey with them. Have you tried the SE Paul's guitar?

Thank you. Very kind of you. Glad it's not boring!

I love guitars almost as much as I love playing them.

Squeezing that last drop of "tone" out of one has always been an interest of mine.

And it's fun to share my discoveries even if someone else discovered it long before me.

 

[Greywolf]

thanks for the good review

 

[nac]

Thanks for the review. I've been tempted to try the Mann bridge for my CE. You may have just pushed me over the edge

 

[Prina]

Now that you're getting near perfection for the Bernie sounds, consider the additional mod that PRS did for the limited 2017 European Bernie run which was a satin-finished neck. My SE245 with a sanded neck feels amazing.

https://guitar.com/review/prs-se-bernie-marsden-signature-2017-ltd/

 

[Lewguitar]

Now that you're getting near perfection for the Bernie sounds, consider the additional mod that PRS did for the limited 2017 European Bernie run which was a satin-finished neck. My SE245 with a sanded neck feels amazing.

https://guitar.com/review/prs-se-bernie-marsden-signature-2017-ltd/

Ha! Maybe. My favorite has MannMade locking tuners. Might upgrade to those on my other two. Sure makes string changing easy.

Don't want to Iose the Mojo tho!

Everything I've done so far has been to get that Mojo Workin!

 

[Lewguitar]

Overall my #1 is the 2012 SC58 Stripped. It's a Core guitar and just a little nicer in every way compared to the SE Bernie Marsdens.

https://imgur.com/Dl5UmCh

But of the Bernies:

#1. 2013 with MannMade bridge and PRS 57/08 pickups. This bridge and these pickups have the best tone, IMO.

https://imgur.com/nvMsYaJ

#2. 2012 with PRS Paul bridge w/brass inserts, Duncan Antiquity pickups, and locking MannMade tuners. The PRS Paul tailpiece looks classy and improved the tone of this guitar over the stock tailpiece. It's a smooth, super comfortable bridge to play and it does play in tune and sound really good. But I tried both bridges on this guitar and the MannMade bridge made a slightly more noticeable improvement in tone. However, I prefer the look and feel of this PRS bridge and I have the MannMade in my other two so I'm covered.

https://imgur.com/rhjJgJm

#3. 2015 with MannMade bridge will have Wolfetone alnico 2 Marshallhead pickups in about 2 weeks. I was able to repair the 57/08 set (Aside from them being magnetically out of phase, I found a frayed/broken wire inside the plastic insulation of the bridge pickup) but i want to compare the A2 marshallheads to the 57/08's in my other bernie and my SC58.

 

[Lewguitar]

I weighed them all carefully today.

The prettiest, the one with double cream humbuckers and the "Paul" bridge, weighs 8.5 lbs.

https://imgur.com/rhjJgJm

The other two, with 57/08's, weigh exactly 8 lbs each. They sound similar but not identical. Same weight but they resonate differently.

https://imgur.com/AwE4spI

At 8 lbs, they do feel lighter and do seem a bit more resonant than the 8.5 pounder. But also have the MannMade bridge.

Anyways, I prefer them.

That's not always the case though.

I have three CE22's and the heaviest one sounds the best and rings the longest.

Generally though, being both light and resonant is what I like best.

After the upgrades to pickups and tailpieces, I would take any of these guitars over most lps I've owned..

And locking tuners from John Mann should arrive this week.

I wasn't a fan before but now i like them.

Always something new to learn.

 

[Prina]

the heaviest one sounds the best and rings the longest.

Generally though, being both light and resonant is what I like best.

Looks like tone just depends on the guitar itself as long as the weight is within a specific range. Of the two Bernies in the review articles that noted the weight, both were 9 lbs.

My SE245's are 8.8(Soapbar), 8.4, 8.4 (and 7.8 for one that I returned) and I like one of the 8.4s best. Of course the most resonant ones I have are the Stripped 58 at 8.05 and the S2 594 SC at 7.8.

For reference Yasuhiko Iwanade's "The Beauty of the Burst" has measurements for a few dozen '58 - '60 LP's and they're within the 8.1 to 9.5 range with 75% below 9 lbs.

 

[Broseph]

Man I keep thinking how the amber prs core knobs would look great on these over the black and clear.

 

[Lewguitar]

Man I keep thinking how the amber prs core knobs would look great on these over the black and clear.

I agree with you.

I don't really love the look of the new PRS knobs but I use them because they feel more secure in my fingers. And they're easier to pull up on if you're using push/pull pots for coil splitting.

But I like the look of the old Gibson style gold knobs my guitars came with best. I saved them of course.

Dont really love the look of the PRS black or the amber lampshade knobs. Dull looking. No pop.

But I use them.

 

[Ironwolf]

I agree very strongly with the idea of much better tone with the mann-made bridge with individual brass saddles, when replacing the aluminum stop tail.
I actually did do the experiment, I switched back and forth several times, On my 2009 DC 245 Limited edition Ted McCarty (7.4 lbs).
Absolutely Improved sustain and string to string note clarity, it was the highly noticeable feature, each note stands out much more clearly when strumming a chord on the mann-made.
The aluminum gives a mushy slurry tone which can be good if you need that.

In addition I found the 5708's to be slightly mushy as well, so I replaced the 57/08's with the nearly perfect bareknuckle mules with no covers Les Paul 59 PAF's copies bareknuckle mules with no covers, slightly louder than the 57/08's, man does this guitar sound like a 1959 Les Paul.
I super enjoy playing this guitar for the last 5 years.
I found a never sell guitar. AND Oh Yeah the AMBER knobs woooo!

I was actually looking at the Bernie's when I stumbled across this, I bought it five years ago for $1600 absolutely phenomenal guitar with the upgrades of the bridge and the pickups, totally agree with the strategy.

Before with mush.

After with tight tone and string clarity.

teddy

have fun!!!

 

[Lewguitar]

I agree very strongly with the idea of much better tone with the mann-made bridge with individual brass saddles, when replacing the aluminum stop tail.
I actually did do the experiment, I switched back and forth several times, On my 2009 DC 245 Limited edition Ted McCarty (7.4 lbs).
Absolutely Improved sustain and string to string note clarity, it was the highly noticeable feature, each note stands out much more clearly when strumming a chord on the mann-made.
The aluminum gives a mushy slurry tone which can be good if you need that.

In addition I found the 5708's to be slightly mushy as well, so I replaced the 57/08's with the nearly perfect bareknuckle mules with no covers Les Paul 59 PAF's copies bareknuckle mules with no covers, slightly louder than the 57/08's, man does this guitar sound like a 1959 Les Paul.
I super enjoy playing this guitar for the last 5 years.
I found a never sell guitar. AND Oh Yeah the AMBER knobs woooo!

I was actually looking at the Bernie's when I stumbled across this, I bought it five years ago for $1600 absolutely phenomenal guitar with the upgrades of the bridge and the pickups, totally agree with the strategy.

Before with mush.

After with tight tone and string clarity.

teddy

have fun!!!

Beauty!

I like the Bare Knuckle pickups. I put a set of Bare Knuckle Abraxas pickups in one of my bernies but moved them to a 2000 CE22 someone removed the original pickups from. They sound even better in that guitar. Have a set of Bare Knuckle Nantucket P90's in my PRS Soapbar too. Played that ax July 4.

The MannMade adjustable bridge does seem to create a little deeper, bigger, even more pure sound, maybe due it's increased mass - but I really like the clean design and the way the Paul bridge sounds and feels against my hand too.

Either can help improve the tone of the guitar but the improvement with the MannMade seems a little more dramatic.

I have the MannMade bridge on two Bernies and the Paul bridge on one.

The Paul bridge with thebrass inserts looks like the old stock one without the brass inserts but it's not the same.

The Paul with the brass inserts is made a lot nicer.

https://imgur.com/EVZbqY9

 

[JasonE]

I have a Ted and a CU22 that has the PRS stop tail wrap bridge on them. I have often thought about buying the bridge with the individual saddles on it for them but I honestly am not putting enough play time on either of them to make it worth doing at this point. That could always change at any time though.

 

[Lewguitar]

Good thread: https://forums.prsguitars.com/threads/pauls-stoptail.14917/