Glendale Tele bridges

You might want to look on the TDPRI where these have been discussed quite abit. Both Redd Volkaert and Bill Hullett speak highly of these, and either of them are about as fine a tele picker as you'll find.

 

Just slapped one of the double-cut, magnetic Glendale bridge plates on my Robin Wrangler. I'm using a set of Graphtech IOS String Saver compensated saddles with it (I've grown fond of those little things, so I refrained from ordering the Glendale saddles) and a Harmonic Design tapped Super 90 bridge pup. The Glendale bridge is replacing a Barden bridge plate. I haven't been happy with the tone of the guitar with the Barden bridge (using several different combinations of pickups), so I decided to change it out.

I haven't had time to do any thorough sound testing with it, but it looks to be a really, really nice little piece of kit. Very purposeful (no shiny plating, etc.) and precise. I'll try to follow up once I've put some time in on the guitar.

 

I'm definitely getting a set of those saddles for my Tele.

 

I just installed a Glendale double-notch/magnetic bridge plate with brass saddles in my American Deluxe Ash tele equipped with Lollar Specials and I pretty stunned by the difference in tone. With the stock bridge & saddles the guitar had a bright metallic edge, not twang but the ice-pick in the ear variety. The Glendale smoothed out the upper end while adding a a lot more harmonic content. Bottom string have more of a stringy twang, less authoritative than the original set-up but to my ears, a lot more authentic tele. Overall a very noticeable and welcome improvement. BTW the guitar intonates perfectly and the install looks great. A very nicely done product and a cool upgrade.

 

I use Glendale bridgeplates and saddles on both of my T-styles. If you like twang, you'll like the Glendale stuff.

 

I have the Twang set on my '63 CS RI Tele and they are fantastic, turned a great guitar into an even greater one.

 

Dale Clark (Glendale) is making the best hardware you can get for telecasters these days.. Huge difference in performance & tone when I upgraded both my '52RI & '69 thinline!

 

i have the saddles on my tele and they freaking rule! "intonation made easy, tele style!"

 

I love my Glendale saddles.

 

So why wouldn't just any compensated saddle do the trick?

M.E.

 

www.glendaleguitars.com

read about it....

 

I love my Glendale saddles - I got the Aluminum low two and Brass high two set (they've got a name... I don't know what it is). It's a MIM 60's Classic - very light and resonant; I drilled the back of the bridge for '59er top-loading style and really dig the slinky thing.

 

I love my glandale saddles. brighter on the bass strings than on the treble strings

 

Just curious...

Since the saddles are not adjustable, the intonation accuracy for the wound strings will depend on which brand of strings you use. The relationship of the core diameter to winding size affects the string tension, which affects the necessary intonation position of the saddle required. Also, intonation is affected by how high you set the action and how much neck relief affect you like.

Why not use the adjustable Wilkinson brass saddles on Suhr and other guitars? There is another brand that I can't think of at the moment.

Also, how would you go about choosing a magnetic vs. non-magnetic bridge plate? ($99 to $125 for a bridge plate? Ouch!)

 

These are great questions, KLB, and the type that would whip the boys over at the TelePage into a real frenzy..

There's definitely a difference in sound between magnetic & non-magnetic bridge plates - but players are divided over which actually sounds ''best''.

In the right guitar, I'm a big fan of the stock fender part.. a flimsy little thing that goes for about 12 bucks, IIRC.

And I don't know if Joe Barden or perhaps Mann-made are the other brands of intonated saddles you're thinking of, but I can tell you that I've been able to intonate both my teles (using a Peterson Strobostomp) perfectly w/Dale's saddles. I use EB 'Slinky's & SnakeOils (both .009s) and I've heard that Glendales work just as well w/10s.

I know, from a scientific standpoint, the laws of physics say this is flat-out impossible, but I'm just a geetar player:RoCkInwhat the heck do I know??

 

Certainly with a fixed position for the saddles intonation adjustment between those adjacent strings isn't possible. Nevertheless using DR Hi-Beams 10-46 the Glendales were spot-on on the E/B and G/D and ever so slightly off on the E/A - less than 1% diff using a strobe tuner. BTW, Glendale does make custom saddles for thicker string gauges.
I have Suhr tele with the Wilkinson saddles and while in theory I should be able to get it to intonate even closer , the practical reality is that once it's right, it's right and with the Glendale's there was no fine tuning of saddle tilt that I needed to mess with as I've done (endlessly) with the Wilkinson version. Sometimes that infinite adjustment flexibility is more of a curse than a blessing.

As far as magnetic vs non-magnetic bridge, I had a helluva' time trying to figure that one out. but my impression is the difference is subtle between the two types and that it's the plate thickness and flatness that's the primary contributors to the tone. I think/guess that the magnetic version is a bit mellower/less twangy than the non-magnetic one from the descriptions I've read but that's not a sure thing.

 

I've got a Glendale guitar with his bridge and saddles, and couldn't be happier. Great tone, and they intonate very nicely (at least with D'Addario 10s).

 

I have the Glendale brass saddles on my Nocaster. With D'Addario .010s the intonation is great. The guitar sounds wonderful and the wound strings have that "piano tone" thing happening.

Bryan