Let's take it to the Bridge...

[Kine]

I just got my McRosie back from the PTC. It has the stop tail bridge and it was the first guitar I bought without a trem. I recently bought a DGT (or two!) and it has the PRS trem. I am a long time trem user but also love my stop tail for certain things (like bends!).

I'm curious about why people choose certain bridges.

What is your favorite bridge and why?

 

[gush]

I like the wrap around bridge on prs guitars. I even lowered the tail on my LP and feed strings in backwards then around, seems to help sustain. The prs trem is good but not perfect however, my next prs will have a trem.

I was a floyd guy for a long time and got used to having fine tuners within easy reach, just dont enjoy locking nuts anymore. I have mentioned a floyd with locking tuners on this forum a few times but nobody has commented on that so I dont know how well that would work. That is something i'm curious about and would love to try.

 

[László]

They all do what they're supposed to do, and they all sound great. Horses for courses, as far as I'm concerned. Each one does something cool.

 

[vchizzle]

I'm mostly a stoptail guy or the newer 2 piece. I started playing in the late 80's and got serious around 1990 at a time when many people were sick of trems that were overused and became a bit cliche. I had a bunch of guitars early on with them but never used them a lot, a least not to great effect. So I wasn't interested in them when I started with PRS in '96. I mostly use the adjustable stoptail for alternate, lower tunings and odd, heavy string gauges. At some point I may grab a SASnf with trem. The Starla bigsby has my interest too.

 

[Kine]

I was a floyd guy for a long time and got used to having fine tuners within easy reach, just dont enjoy locking nuts anymore. I have mentioned a floyd with locking tuners on this forum a few times but nobody has commented on that so I dont know how well that would work. That is something i'm curious about and would love to try.

I was a floyd guy previously as well and just got tired of it. I felt if you broke a string during a gig that you were sidelined for a bit. I didn't have the cash then for a backup guitar.

You saw Juka's Single Cut that he upgraded to a Floyd at the PTC? There's a recent thread about it. Pretty cool if you're into Floyd's.
http://prsguitars.com/forum/showthread.php?5554-NGD-Let-me-inroduce-the-SCF!

I really like the performance of the PRS trem even though it's not perfect. I like it's relatively simple construction and style.

They all do what they're supposed to do, and they all sound great. Horses for courses, as far as I'm concerned. Each one does something cool.

Yup, I hear ya. I suppose I was also wondering about tone. I think I've heard that, generally, fixed bridges are thought to deliver more sustain and richer tone. However, I'm not so sure about that...

I'm mostly a stoptail guy or the newer 2 piece. I started playing in the late 80's and got serious around 1990 at a time when many people were sick of trems that were overused and became a bit cliche. I had a bunch of guitars early on with them but never used them a lot, a least not to great effect. So I wasn't interested in them when I started with PRS in '96. I mostly use the adjustable stoptail for alternate, lower tunings and odd, heavy string gauges. At some point I may grab a SASnf with trem. The Starla bigsby has my interest too.

Yup, this is the reason that I went to a fixed bridge, I just got tired of the whammy wankin. Recently, however, I decided to return to the trem after years of not using it and I'm really enjoying having one. Maybe it's that after years of not using one, that I'm being more sparse in it's use and it's not something I reach for as a crutch cause I couldn't figure out what to play next.

Yeah, I've had my eye on the Starla too! That bigsby looks too cool!

 

[Mike Duncan]

Tremolo user here. I have owned stoptails in the past, but always gravitate towards the tremolo equipped models. There's a different "airiness" to the trem models, that to my ears, the stoptails don't have. That's not to say that the stoptails don't sound great, I just NEED and LOVE the PRS tremolo system.

 

[Kine]

Oh, something else I noticed while playing last night... The distance between the strings and the guitar body on the stop tail is much greater than on the Trem. I suppose depending on where you keep your picking hand, there's a comfort thing involved. I feel with the lower string height on the trem that my picking hand tends to be a bit more comfortable since I can support it better against the body if I'm playing closer to the neck pickup.

 

[gush]

I was a floyd guy previously as well and just got tired of it. I felt if you broke a string during a gig that you were sidelined for a bit. I didn't have the cash then for a backup guitar.]

You saw Juka's Single Cut that he upgraded to a Floyd at the PTC? There's a recent thread about it. Pretty cool if you're into Floyd's.
http://prsguitars.com/forum/showthread.php?5554-NGD-Let-me-inroduce-the-SCF!

I really like the performance of the PRS trem even though it's not perfect. I like it's relatively simple construction and style.


Yup, I hear ya. I suppose I was also wondering about tone. I think I've heard that, generally, fixed bridges are thought to deliver more sustain and richer tone. However, I'm not so sure about that...


Yup, this is the reason that I went to a fixed bridge, I just got tired of the whammy wankin. Recently, however, I decided to return to the trem after years of not using it and I'm really enjoying having one. Maybe it's that after years of not using one, that I'm being more sparse in it's use and it's not something I reach for as a crutch cause I couldn't figure out what to play next.

Yeah, I've had my eye on the Starla too! That bigsby looks too cool!

Yes, string breakage stinks in the middle of a show for sure. I used to feed strings through tuner first then go to trem leaving extra wraps so when I would break then I could cut string and reclamp it to saddle. Leaving ball end on top would keep string in place and string was stretched already. If you had a singer that was good at rattling off garbage to the crowd then you could do the repair on stage without too much hassle.

 

[jfb]

I prefer the stop tail due to the snap and immediateness it gives to my tone. I specifically love the non-adjustable PRS model. It's simplicity at its finest. It works and is comfortable.

 

[László]

I suppose I was also wondering about tone. I think I've heard that, generally, fixed bridges are thought to deliver more sustain and richer tone. However, I'm not so sure about that...

I'm not sure about it either. I think it's not "more", instead there are simply differences in the frequencies that will sustain and be accentuated by the different bridges.

Take, for example, the one piece stoptail versus the 2 piece stoptail. The 2 piece seems to accentuate the midrange and bring out a guitar's "woody" tone.. The one piece seems to accentuate the higher frequencies in a different way. The trem definitely gives a guitar a different sonic vibe, and then there's the whole business of the trem block, springs, etc., giving the guitar a bit of extra resonance.

To my way of thinking, all of these differences are good things, and make owning one of each a very good idea if you like a little variety in your rig. That's why I suggested "horses for courses."

 

[Sage]

Excuse me? Will you excuse me? I'm just tryin' to find the bridge.

Has anybody seen the bridge?

Have you seen the bridge?

I ain't seen the bridge!

Where's that confounded bridge?

 

[Rider1260]

Mostly trem for me on my PRSi but I am fine with both I am not a fan of the PRS 2 piece bridge just for looks but I am sure it sound great

 

[Kine]

That's why I suggested "horses for courses."

Oh, believe me, I'm working on that part! :biggrin: