ChrisCst22
New Member
- Joined
- Dec 14, 2012
- Messages
- 298
I decided to take the leap and swap out the stock stoptails from an 04' Custom 22 (Tort Shell) and '08 Custom 22 (Whale Blue) for the newish version of the adjustable stoptail.
I had swapped the '04 with the older style adjustable years ago, and after three years of gigging had completely destroyed it. So I went back to the standard stop and was happy that it seemed to handle my alien-acid sweat much better. However, I'm now using some funky string gauges. The '04 is in Drop C with Elixir gauges 11-14-18-32-42-52, and the '08 in standard with 10-13-17-28-38-49. (I accomplish this with a "Medium" set and "Light-Heavy" set, switching out top three and bottom three between the two.)
The stock stoptails worked great, intonation was really, really good. But with these bridges, it's perfect.
For my particular guitar and gauges, I needed a slightly longer G string (5th). Switching out the stock aluminum studs with the brass ones provided seemed to make a huge difference, and getting the notes in phase with each other and "tuning" in any string which was slightly off has yielded a much more phase coherent sound with chords.
There are some cool revisions made to this bridge from the last version. The saddles seem to be the same massive, brass saddles being used on the two piece bridges on 58's and such. They removed the "rattling C-clamp". The slots which accept the ball end of the string lock the ball sideways, as to eliminate rotation of the ball.
I'm very pleased with these. The stock tails worked and sounded great, and if I didn't tune to Drop C, I wouldn't bother replacing them. But they sure do make a difference if you do!
I had swapped the '04 with the older style adjustable years ago, and after three years of gigging had completely destroyed it. So I went back to the standard stop and was happy that it seemed to handle my alien-acid sweat much better. However, I'm now using some funky string gauges. The '04 is in Drop C with Elixir gauges 11-14-18-32-42-52, and the '08 in standard with 10-13-17-28-38-49. (I accomplish this with a "Medium" set and "Light-Heavy" set, switching out top three and bottom three between the two.)
The stock stoptails worked great, intonation was really, really good. But with these bridges, it's perfect.
For my particular guitar and gauges, I needed a slightly longer G string (5th). Switching out the stock aluminum studs with the brass ones provided seemed to make a huge difference, and getting the notes in phase with each other and "tuning" in any string which was slightly off has yielded a much more phase coherent sound with chords.
There are some cool revisions made to this bridge from the last version. The saddles seem to be the same massive, brass saddles being used on the two piece bridges on 58's and such. They removed the "rattling C-clamp". The slots which accept the ball end of the string lock the ball sideways, as to eliminate rotation of the ball.
I'm very pleased with these. The stock tails worked and sounded great, and if I didn't tune to Drop C, I wouldn't bother replacing them. But they sure do make a difference if you do!
