Starla (Core) drop in roller bridge?

george7117

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Sep 5, 2015
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Anyone know of a drop in replacement roller bridge for a Core Starla? I'm looking for a little more tuning stability. (Maybe that is a dream for a Bigsby?)

I had a Reverend PA1 a while back and that guitar was solid tuning wise. I'm wondering if a roller bridge will help the Starla?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

DG
 
yep... standard feature on Reverends. I don't understand how anyone builds a Bigsby guitar without a roller bridge.... just don't get it.
 
That is what I thought would work best too. I've found a couple of aftermarket bridges at stemwac but I'm not sure they would fit (12 or 14 inch radius at the bridge) without some major modifications. Has anybody else had experience with doing this?

Thanks.
 
I would need to check my Starla I am betting the bridge radius is not 10" on the tune O matic thats on the guitar, I have read the mixed results in sustain and sound with a roller bridge.
I replaced my tuners with lockers and it is 100% better , I am thinking about this mod also , basically allowing the bridge to rock a bit


 
Thanks. I may try that as well with the tune o matic bridge. IF the roller bridge kills the sustain or tone, then I'll have to come up with something different. I love the way this guitar sounds and I just don't want to change that.

If anyone else has ideas, I'll take them!

Thanks again.
 
This thread might be old but her what I wished I knew about the roller bridges and the Starla S2. First the standard bridge is a 12 inch Grover TOM, yes,12 ... I checked. I replaced it with a ABM roller bridge I think they are great. I also tried another one from Stewmac but setting the intonation was such a pain. A few things about thw ABM Roller bridge: by default the saddles are oriented with intonation screws toward the neck.... so you need to diassemble... or simply lower the bridge pickup when you need to do a setup. Last option, which I am using is to put the ABM saddles in the Grover one. I think you can order them separately if you ask them directly.
 
This thread might be old but her what I wished I knew about the roller bridges and the Starla S2. First the standard bridge is a 12 inch Grover TOM, yes,12 ... I checked. I replaced it with a ABM roller bridge I think they are great. I also tried another one from Stewmac but setting the intonation was such a pain. A few things about thw ABM Roller bridge: by default the saddles are oriented with intonation screws toward the neck.... so you need to diassemble... or simply lower the bridge pickup when you need to do a setup. Last option, which I am using is to put the ABM saddles in the Grover one. I think you can order them separately if you ask them directly.
I also have an ABM roller bridge! I didn't need to lower the pickup to adjust the intonation. I used a screw driver with a long thin shank. While i liked the tuning stability of the ABM and the fact it is very well engineered it still sucks tone. I nearly sold my Starla until i put the original bridge back on. I have a core Starla and modified the vintage tuners to use the PRS locking screw. Thia really helped and the bridge rocks a little on its posts. As long as i dont go nuts so the strings slide over the saddles it stays in tune. I really liked the ABM as an engineered piece but it ruined the tone for me.
 
Honestly, I could not tell the difference in tone, adjusting the pickup height, was more obvious as a "tone defining" parameter to my ears. Diverging slightly from the topic, I also considered at some point getting the graphtech saddles, but in this case I didn't think it was worthwhile spending more money trying a solution where indeed the strings could get muffled because of the softer material.
 
Honestly, I could not tell the difference in tone, adjusting the pickup height, was more obvious as a "tone defining" parameter to my ears. Diverging slightly from the topic, I also considered at some point getting the graphtech saddles, but in this case I didn't think it was worthwhile spending more money trying a solution where indeed the strings could get muffled because of the softer material.
I tried the graphtech saddlew on my singlecut trem and was surprised how good they sounded but i sent them back and fitted KTS titanium. The tone difference with the ABM was when i played it acoustically its like there was not string definition and muffled. I play mine unplugged a lot of the time so its important that it sounds good to me acoustically. It just didnt sound right. The grover bridge just works for me at least. It rocks back and forth just enough to stay in perfect tune.
 
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