Crazy T-bird ideas - what to do about bridges.
 

Swapped my old W-bin cab for a stack of parts the other day. Specifically, 4 T-bird pickups and a set of tuners. I'm thinking about building a "nesting pair" of set-neck, non-reverse birds. hehe. That is a fretless single pickup model and a T-3 triple pickup fretted in the same vain as the Grabber G-3. I'm a little spooked by what bridge to use though. The three point gibson style bridge looks cumbersome and difficult, while a fenderstyle bridge doesn't seem right either and will screw with my neck angles I think. The fretless would be easy enough coz I could use a tailpiece and hand made timber bridge, but the fretted one needs a proper intonatable bridge. Comments? Ideas?

I thought the Hipshot Supertone was the best of both worlds: The looks of the 3 point bridge with none of the hassle. I've never had one, but I'm sure guys who have will be around soon enough to share their opinions about it.

Hi.

The Hipshot is an obvious idea, but IMHO it doesn't look too good.
With all its (alledged) shortcomings, the three point is the "correct" bridge for a Thunderbirds of certain eras.

TBer godofthunder59 makes the Badbird bridge, and even though I've seen only pics of them here, they look tons better than the Hipshot.
IMHO anyway.

Regards
Sam

Direct replacement for 3-point Gibson/Epi bridges, light, side to side adjustable saddles and can be used for string-thru

The original BadAss has the right height for Gibson-style neck tilt. I'm using one on my RayBird, and with a 2-degree angle, it's perfect. Vintage too.

Scott's BadBird bridge looks beautiful as well.

You can find imported aftermarket tune-o-matic/stop tailpiece combos for bass from the usual suspects. I bought a couple from Guitar Jones, and they're fine.

But if you're wanting to retrofit an existing body drilled for the three-point, then it or the Hipshot replacement are your only real options. The three-point is a fine, sturdy bridge, whose weaknesses can be addressed by stringing through-body or using a separate tailpiece.

badbird does look nice, but for $200 plus shipping? Mmm, probably not. I think I'm gonna go oldschool badass 1 or tune-o-matic.

reverend, I do hope there will be progress pics once you start building the pair. What you got and what you plan to do with it sounds interesting. :D

oh yes... there will be pictures... oh yes... oh yesssss.....



...and maybe even "lazers" on the headstocks... :hiding:

BTW. has any got a body trace for a NR thunderbird they could send to me?

If you want the original, PM me your address and I'll send you a tracing/measurements of my '64.

PM sent. Thanks heaps!