Suggestion for my issue.. Glendale, Rutters, Callahan or ??? Tele Bridge

[Lucky Dog Guitars]

I've got a particular tele that is pretty "thin" sounding & lacking sustain compared to my other teles.

I upgraded the pickups to Lindy's & that helped.. but still needs some help.

Any suggestion on a tele bridge & saddle kit that will add some bottom end balls & some sustain... while getting the thin/trebly stuff under control a bit.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[pitbull45]

I have the Callaham bridge and enhanced compensated saddles on a MIM Thinline. Sounds good to my ears.

 

[stephenyi]

Callaham has the thicker bridge that should theoretically increase sustain vs. Glendale's more vintage thickness bridge (not sure about Rutters).

 

[jpervin]

The Rutters bridge assembly in my Tele definitely helps with smoothing out and enhancing all frequencies in the tonal spectrum. Not sure if it helps with sustain but I know it's not hurting it since this guitar has great sustain and rings like a bell!

 

[TresGatos]

Glendales (which I love) won't help here. Rutters and Callaham are the thicker guys you should be considering.
I prefer Rutters of those two.

 

[jklotz]

Something I do to all my teles is to string it up and tune to proper rension. Then gently unscrew the neck screws a 1'4 turn, allowing the string tension to pull theneck tightly back into theneck pocket. Then retighten. If you have any gap at all between neck pocket and heel of neck, that will effect the sustain negitively.

Afterwards, tune again. If string went flat a little, you will know you had a gap.

 

[Lucky Dog Guitars]

thanks for the replies so far guys. That last one about the neck pocket is cool!... Any other tricks for increasing sustain?

 

[pitbull45]

Something I do to all my teles is to string it up and tune to proper rension. Then gently unscrew the neck screws a 1'4 turn, allowing the string tension to pull theneck tightly back into theneck pocket. Then retighten. If you have any gap at all between neck pocket and heel of neck, that will effect the sustain negitively.

Afterwards, tune again. If string went flat a little, you will know you had a gap.

Just tried the neck pocket trick. Tuned and losened 1/4 turn - went flat. Retuned then tightened screws - went sharp. Then retuned. Didn't hear any creaking but I must have had a slight gap.

Thanks for the tip

 

[scmavl]

Rutters. Added much sustain and clarity to the Tele I put them on.

 

[jklotz]

Just tried the neck pocket trick. Tuned and losened 1/4 turn - went flat. Retuned then tightened screws - went sharp. Then retuned. Didn't hear any creaking but I must have had a slight gap.

Thanks for the tip

No problem. Let us know if it helped. My experience has been that 3/4 of my teles showed no or little change when I did that. But the other 1/4 (yea, I've got a few teles...) that I could see a difference on the tuner afterwards showed noticeable increase in resonance, sustain and just felt tighter and more lively. YMMV

 

[BlackStrat_Fan]

I'm not a "Tele" guy, but I did a MJT build a couple of years ago with a Rutters bridge and saddle setup. It's a great quality piece, and really good guy to deal with if that means anything to you.

 

[Boris Bubbanov]

thanks for the replies so far guys. That last one about the neck pocket is cool!... Any other tricks for increasing sustain?

Telecasters were never designed with massive sustain as a desired characteristic.

My view of sustain is you can have too much, more often than too little. Let that badly played note die already!! :^)

Seriously, this particular Tele could be improved but it sounds quite unsuited to you and your style. Keep the trick pickups and sell it and keep looking. Someone else might be looking for that guitar. Use the neck setting trick on the other Teles you have instead.

 

[kev]

Here's some other things to try if you haven't already:

- take the bridge you have off of the guitar and level it dead flat on the underside, then re-install. That lack of contact (if it wasn't dead flat and/or if it's deformed currently due to the screws being too tight) can contribute to your issues.

- is the nut cut properly (no 'pinging' from any string when tuning/bending, for example)

- ensure there's enough (or not too much, ha!) break angles on each string, both at the bridge and at the headstock

- no proud frets when the neck is dead straight, then add in just a little neck relief afterwards (less than or equal to the thickness of your high 'e' string)

- check to make sure your pickups aren't too close to the strings, esp. your neck pickup. The magnetic fields of those single coil pickups will choke a string quick.

If none of the above options that folks have responded with trip your trigger - consider another bridge option, a 2Tek. I consider it a drastic option (esp. compared to most of the free ideas shared in this thread, ha!), but a great one. Plenty of what you're asking for, plus more.

- sell it as is, as Boris B. suggests, 'hate to see her go...' LOL

 

[mslugano]

Another vote for the Rutters. Great, low profile, solid, toneful compensated bridge!

 

[fretless]

You might want to consider a Gotoh six saddle bridge. It's much heavier than a vintage bridge and whole thing is chromed brass. Should add plenty of missing punch and sustain. It has an overall "beefier" tone.

 

[Ape Factory]

Callaham bridge with KTS or Gotoh compensated titanium saddles. Has a beautiful top end on mine with Fralin Blues Special. Nice and fat too.