New Bridge for Bernie.

[Jalguitarman]

Hello all.

I am new to the forum and I was wondering if I could get some input about replacement bridges for my Bernie Marsden SE? I am either going to replace the stock bridge with a Mann made 2300 or a Schroder straight back adjustable bridge. I think they are very similar for the most part except for the fact that one is Aluminum plated with Nickel, and the other is un-plated Aluminum, are there going to be any real differences into between them? Has anyone compared them?

 

[bodia]

For my money, Mann all the way. I have 5 of them on various SE and Core guitars. Lots of Mann fans around here with respect to the Bernie, myself included. Other than the intonation factor, added sustain and "openness."

I mean, come on, he was involved in some of the original designs! Ya can't beat that!

 

[dogrocketp]

I like em both,but my keepers seem to have the Schroeder Boat tails.

 

[Jalguitarman]

I was wondering if anyone here could tell me for certain what material the stock bridge on the my Bernie Marsden is made out of. I do have a reason for asking. Thank you.

 

[garrett]

Oh, that must be a new Schroeder. Much more tempting now without the hump. The nickel plating would be nice. Bare aluminum can get grungy and needs a polish after a couple of sweaty gigs. However, I like that the Mann uses springs to keep the saddles in place. I haven't used a Schroeder, but at least with the old PRS adjustable, the little C clips sometimes rattle. A minor inconvenience, though. I like that the Schroeder has channels for the strings; my Mann bridge has some scuffs from stringing up the wound strings.

I think the Mann bridge is more in keeping with Paul's Rules of Tone (from what I know of the rules) with its unplated materials. It's not coming off my HBII any time soon, I can tell you that much.

Another consideration is the studs. Unless you're reusing the SE studs, you'll need to decide which ones you like better. That's probably what would drive the decision if it were me.

The stock SE bridge is aluminum, which I believe may be cast instead of milled. I've compared the SE to the USA bridge and found little physical difference. The weights were nearly the same as well.

 

[bodia]

The stock SE bridge is aluminum, which I believe may be cast instead of milled. I've compared the SE to the USA bridge and found little physical difference. The weights were nearly the same as well.

I believe you are correct!

 

[Jalguitarman]

Oh, that must be a new Schroeder. Much more tempting now without the hump. The nickel plating would be nice. Bare aluminum can get grungy and needs a polish after a couple of sweaty gigs. However, I like that the Mann uses springs to keep the saddles in place. I haven't used a Schroeder, but at least with the old PRS adjustable, the little C clips sometimes rattle. A minor inconvenience, though. I like that the Schroeder has channels for the strings; my Mann bridge has some scuffs from stringing up the wound strings.

I think the Mann bridge is more in keeping with Paul's Rules of Tone (from what I know of the rules) with its unplated materials. It's not coming off my HBII any time soon, I can tell you that much.

Another consideration is the studs. Unless you're reusing the SE studs, you'll need to decide which ones you like better. That's probably what would drive the decision if it were me.

The stock SE bridge is aluminum, which I believe may be cast instead of milled. I've compared the SE to the USA bridge and found little physical difference. The weights were nearly the same as well.

Yeah, I don't really like the hump on the original Schroeder. Not my cup o' tea. I think both bridges are comparable in many ways. I am leaning towards the Schroeder for the reasons you stated, mainly because of the channels for the strings. I am at least going to buy a set of the John Mann studs/stud-wells. As I think the holes are in my Bernie are 1/2 inch if I have my facts straight. The USA Thread stud wells included with the Schroeder are 7/16. I know John Mann's stud-wells will fit. I want to convert the Bernie to USA thread so that I can use practically any studs I want.

I am honestly up in the air about using steel or brass studs. I like the locking studs but I can't find any steel locking studs with the larger PRS style head. I notice the Bernie has excellent string separation when I play it unplugged. What is odd is, when I compare it with my Carvin CS6 (unplugged mind you), the highs are brighter on the Carvin and the highs are warmer on the Bernie. As you would expect, but the Bernie has really good string separation and the strings seem to blend together more on the Carvin. I say all that because I am wondering if the steel studs have something to do with the string separation on the Bernie. I am not 100% certain what the tail piece and bridge studs are on the Carvin, but I do know they aren't steel. Which makes me wonder if Brass studs will cause the string separation to go away on the Bernie. Which is something I don't want. I would likely just use the USA one piece version on the Stock SE but I can't get the intonation right on the stock SE bridge. So I can't imagine the USA version would be any different. Thank you for your help.

 

[dogrocketp]

I always get metric lockng studs for my Schroeders. I also actually like the hump. Aston will notch for the string gauge you need. I had him do one, and then asked my luthier how he did. My luthier said excellent. I also put the Schroeder locking studs on my USA Mira, with the original bridge which I like. Just tell Jason SE or USA, and he`ll get you the right locking studs. If you have the original nut on the guitar, that may be the real cause of the intonation problem.

 

[Jalguitarman]

I always get metric lockng studs for my Schroeders. I also actually like the hump. Aston will notch for the string gauge you need. I had him do one, and then asked my luthier how he did. My luthier said excellent. I also put the Schroeder locking studs on my USA Mira, with the original bridge which I like. Just tell Jason SE or USA, and he`ll get you the right locking studs. If you have the original nut on the guitar, that may be the real cause of the intonation problem.

Actually, I had a new nut installed. Which unfortunately the guy who did it screwed it up so I have to take it somewhere else. There is a gap between the nut and fretboard. He didn't glue it correctly. There is a bit of glue mess on the fretboard. The Low E string buzzes horribly, he installed the neck pickup ring the wrong direction. And he scratched the headstock (though I think it's not to deep to buff out) . So this nut may have something to do with it.

 

[Andyp]

I've got a "Tone pros" on mine and it makes a huge difference. Necks will shift from season to season; or outside to air conditioning.

 

[Andyp]

Actually I had a new nut installed. Which unfortunately the guy doing screwed it up so I have to take it somewhere else. There is a gap between the nut and fretboard. He didn't glue it correctly. There is a bit of glue mess on the fretboard. The Low E string buzzes horribly he installed the neck pickup ring the wrong direction. And he scratched the headstock (though I think it's not to deep to buff out) . So this nut may have something to do with it.

That's terrible. . Wow. Feel for you. I learned to do a lot of my own stuff due to just that kind of thing.

 

[Jalguitarman]

I am thinking it's time for me to learn to do my own set ups. I can get things fairly close by eyeball but I need to get the right gauges for the job. This guy works for a major music store chain. I found out after the fact that this guy has had a lot of complaints and yet he still works there as a tech. The only reason I had all the work I did done before buying a replacement bridge was, I wanted to see if it would intonate correctly with going from 10s to 9.5s as that would dictate what replacement bridge I was going to get. I will say that even though the nut was not right it with perhaps some help from the new tuners made the unplugged tone even better and add to that the Bare Knuckle Mule humbucker set and the tone is amazing when plugged in. But the guy who screwed up on the nut needs to find a new line of work.