The mismatch in radius between Gretsch Rocking Bar Bridges and the fingerboards of many Gretschs (particularly those with 9.45") has been noted on the GDP many times. As far as anyone can tell, the same RBB is installed on all guitars, regardless of fingerboard radius; the Gretsch RBB itself seems not to be entirely consistent in specification, and examples have been measured anywhere between 12" and 16" radius. Aftermarket bridges are even less consistent, with radii up to 20" reported. In other words, the curve of the bridge is flatter than the curve of the fingerboards. In practical terms, this means that regardless where bridge height is set, strings on the outside of the neck (1 & 6 and 2 & 5) will be higher off the fingerboard than the inner strings (3 & 4). Some players get fret buzz on those inner strings while the outer strings are adjusted higher than they like. This most severely affects the 9.45" radius guitars, but it's a problem with 12"-radius guitar as well. Conversely, some vintage-era Gretschs are known to have at least 16" fingerboards. Installing a modern-era RBB on one of these will result in the opposite problem: strings higher on the inside of the neck than on the outside. It's well-known in these parts that I'm dead-nuts about bar bridges. To me they're the ultimate in tone, feel, and response (and since they present me no practical problems with intonation, there's no need to talk about that). I do, however, have a 9.45"-radius Gretsch with a "mismatched" 14"-or-so bridge. It's never been annoying enough to do anything about, but at the best-compromise bridge height, the inner strings do have a bit of buzz and the outer strings are a little higher than I'd like. The best solution promoted in these pages heretofore has been to have a good luthier file the bottoms of the string slots in the bridge so that they describe a 9.45" effective radius, regardless the overall bend of the bridge. And that works perfectly, and (depending what your guy charges) is probably cost-effective to boot. But my brother's a tube-bender and machinist, so why leave well enough alone? A year ago I went to him with the idea of bending tube to the precise radii of the fingerboards, then reproducing the Rocking Bar's string scores and end, bottom, and hole profiles. Now my brother is both a perfectionist and obsessive. In high school, he and another brother engineered a V8 Vega with completely redesigned rear end and chassis so that slicks fit INSIDE the wheel wells. In his fabrication business, among other things he builds motorcycle frames, Indy car suspension parts, and parts for hospital equipment. He's made parts for NASA. In none of these pursuits is any imprecision or sloppiness of execution permitted. So I knew any bridges he came up with would be dead-on the radius requested, with other details right on the money. It turned out he had to buy additional tools and machining to do the bridges just right, and it's taken awhile. But here are the prototypes, and if they aren't right in every detail (we're evaluating the shapes of the holes), production versions WILL be.
Which is why I have in my grubby greedy hands bar bridges in both radii made of brass (like Gretsch's stock models), aluminum, and stainless steel! I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't put the polished brass 9.5"-er (that's a BR-95, by the way) on my guitar yet, to prove the concept works. (How could it not?) But at the Roundup, we did try both the aluminum and stainless versions on roadjunkie's 6120DSW, and everyone heard the difference in tone. Some liked aluminum better, some liked stainless. I liked both, for different reasons – and honestly kinda preferred either to the stock brass. (But to be fair, that could be just because I'm used to the brass, and was responding to the change.) Alas, I don't have sound samples yet. (I'm so sick of my playing I can't seem to get ANYthing recorded I can bear to listen to.) But I will have. I figure some guys will know which they like before even hearing, and others when they DO hear – but for those who want to experiment with both (or all three, if you don't already have a plated brass bar), we'll make Package Deals for the Truly Tone-Obsessed. (That's a BR-AL-ST/PDTTO-95 (or -120). Originally, I assumed anyone interested in these would already have a bar bridge, and thus a base. But I realized, maybe not. So we'll also have both ebony and rosewood bridge bases available, in both chrome and gold to match (or contrast with) the bridges. We're still firming up details of pricing and packaging (and double-checking the mounting holes); we ought to be able to take orders within a couple of weeks, and ship shortly thereafter. I mean, if you're interested (This thread is related to this other thread, which starts with the full story of these aftermarket bar bridges.) troy6120 was the first to receive a Tru-Arc aluminum bridge (and many others, whose patience I appreciate, are waiting) – and he did a great demo of the aluminum vs the stock brass. I'll let him post that. In the meantime, I'd been working on sound clips of my own. Ultimately, I'd like to post clips of all three basic Gretschpups with the bridges, meaning Dynasonics, Filtertrons, and Hilotrons. To start with, I worked with the guitar which inspired the whole Tru-Arc thing, the 6120GA with its 9.45" radius fingerboard and 12"-or-greater radius bridge (and TV Classics). The original problem was that with the mismatch in radius between fingerboard and bridge, strings were consistent in height off the fingerboard. I couldn't adjust for the action I preferred, because inner strings would buzz while outer strings would be higher than I like. This is, of course, an oft-reported problem. I FINALLY got the chance to try the 9.5" radius Tru-Arc bridges on the guitar over the weekend. First, I'm pleased to say that the radius-mismatch problem is just gone in a flash. The strings obviously lay over the neck more evenly, feel is consistent across all the strings, and action can go where I want it with predictable results. If I bring it down too far, the outer strings are as likely to buzz as the inner strings, and if I raise it, all the strings remain the same height above the 'board. The problem goes away so completely that I immediately forgot about it and focused on the tone of the three different metals – brass, stainless, and aluminum. But first, a pic of the guitar with the stock Gretsch RBB. You're looking for the relative height of all strings off the neck. I'm apparently not enough of a photographer to get everything in focus, but I think it does show the outside strings riding higher than the inside. The Sound Clips First I played a "control" bit with the stock Gretsch rocking bar. Next came the Tru-Arc BR-95 in brass, then the stainless ST-95, and finally the aluminum AL-95. Each was done back-to-back, with no more time between than it took to detune, swap bridges, and retune. As usual, within my limited range of technique, I've tried to cover a variety of styles and approaches in each of the sound files. And, since the different metals respond with subtle differences to dynamics and attack, I played soft and hard and long enough for my natural slop to exhibit a range of behaviors. Since there are at least six different "sections" of each demo, that makes each one pretty long – 5 to 6 minutes each. I realize that may make it more difficult to keep track of the sonic differences among the metals, but on the other hand, I think a general impression of each bridge's personality does emerge over the length of each sample. It's my experience (and that of everyone who has heard these bridges LIVE) that the differences are quite noticeable. I'm not sure they come through as clearly in recordings – though I do hear them, particularly when listening with headphones. Part of the story may be that somehow the guitar seems to feel different. I can't explain that; it doesn't seem it should. I also think each bridge encourages slightly different physical approaches to the guitar, and may make for different phrasing and even note choices as you interact with the bridge's behavior.
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