I never understood what's wrong with individual saddles. We are talking about a design, where saddles individually move in 2 dimensions and intonates in all situations, vs a super early design that we are trying to fix with all kinds of workarounds.
@@TeleCaster66 I'm not going to debate if there is a difference in sound, if you can hear it you can hear it. But if we are not AB-ing the 2, but you are trying to fit your sound in a musical context is it really worth the inconvenience?
There's a difference in tone, but it's really slight, to my ears. With a minor adjustment to amp EQ, it's even more slight. In a band mix... well... Plus, the average Jane or Joe in the audience will never say, "Sounds OK I guess, but if the guitar player only had a 3 barrel bridge... tsk." I used to be a strict 3 barrel advocate, but I've grown to really appreciate the intonation fine tuning available with the Gotoh Modern 6 saddle bridge. No offense to my 3 saddle friends out there, of course.
I was disappointed when I found out I couldn’t replace my American pro bridge with a standard but once I saw this video I bought the saddles and it made my playing much better! Thank you!
I put this in my otherwise brilliant (for the price) Aria TEG2 Tele. The one problem it had was intonation, and the Gotoh solved that nicely. As a bonus, it also improved the tone.
I like all the Gotoh tele bridges. I do like the offset drilled barrels. I've had them, they work great and look cool. Right now I have the Wilkinson with the beveled saddles. This is great too, but I have no need to hide the mods to the saddles. They're all clever and work great.
I am one of your Tele fanatics, so I'm excited for this bridge and the shootout video. Hopefully you find love and not suffering. Wire one with a 4-Way Switch for the great series/Humbucker like pickup combo.
Good recommendation. I have Gotoh saddles on two Tele’s and agree with everything you said. Well, except for the traditional sides of the ashtray bridge on Tele’s 😊 The sides don’t bother me at all, but I can understand the appeal of the modern feature.
They aren't perfectly intonated, but real close. I can't seem to get the low E and A string to intonate perfectly. All the others are fine. The E is sharp, and the A is flat. go either way and one or the other gets worse. I have it set in the middle and it really isn't that bad, but the only way to get them as good as the others is to bend the saddle screw.
Gotoh makes the best hardware on the market. Anybody can list 5 or more guitar hardware brands that are more well known (read: more expensive) and Gotoh stuff is more solid and reliable than all of them even without comparing prices.
Hey Aaron! These bridges are excellent, I currently have two Tele’s ( Both Warmoth builds too ). I’ve toyed with a handful of bridges and this ‘In Tune’ bridge is the one I went with on one of mine and specifically for it’s three barrel brass saddle and the low or no shoulders on the frame of it 🤙 Babisch also makes a nice one as well without the shoulders however that one has 6 separate saddle adjustments. Dig the videos man, please keep em’ comin!
The supposed extra "tone" that is claimed to be provided by the 3 saddles is in the category of "The juice isn't worth the squeeze." I don't like the possibility of being the slight bit off on stage because of intonation issues. I do like the idea of being able to check my intonation often and with ease between regular setups by my luthier. I use a six saddle Kluson bridge and it is heavier than my Gotoh but the tone I get from the 6 saddle one is awesome.
My trick- buy a left-handed bridge and flip it over for a right-handed guitar. Then the pickup is closer to the bridge on the bass string side which to me, sounds better and makes much more sense. I also do that on my Strat pickguards. I started ordering them from Warmoth way back in the day before it was an option. Then they started offering that option. Maybe I had some influence on that trend- probably with a lot of other people asking for the same thing. The angled bridge pickups never made any sense to me. I wanted a balanced tone from string to string, not a super bright sound on the brightest strings.
I did this on the Mahogany body from the tone woods video. I love it. Die hard tele fans with hearing damage won't dig it (between teles, twins, motorcycles and guns and the average age of such people it is not insignificant) but IMO it sweetens it a bit as you ascend the neck on the treble strings.
I'll stick to my Wilkinson Bridge. It can be strung either thru-body or top mounted . The saddles are compensated plus can adjust forward and backwards plus with screw on top of saddles also adjusted side to side.
Who says you have to be all about "vintage" to like teles? I have jumbo frets and 12 and 14 inch radius on mine. The appeal of the three saddle bridges is that the fewer parts, the better the tone. Teles hav modernized just like all other guitars.
Now if only every 12 string bridge were also compensated for the lower 3 strings (upper 3 are the same, lower 3 an octave higher). I have made saddles for tune-O-matic's by hand so I could intonate them by filing in two peaks, intonating the low note by adjustment, and the high one with a file.
Forgot to mention that the Gotoh saddles stop the annoying string-wandering effect that afflicts many vintage style saddles. Rock solid intonation and string spacing with no guesswork whatsoever.
Not sure I agree. Electric guitar has been recorded since the 50’s. It’s now a sound from years past. Modifying a classic guitar sound to me is like wanting to modify a Steinway to make it sound better. The old Tele guitars had a cheap thin metal bridge and that’s part of the sound.
I have used this bridge and/saddles on a few teles and its a definite step up from the standard tele bridge but still not the best option IMOP. The wilkinson compensated bridge is less expensive and intonates even better than this one and maintains the look.
Wouldn’t the 6-saddle gotoh GTC-201 be better than this one, from the measurements it looks like direct drop in replacement for 4 hole vintage tele bridge
I have a deluxe chambered tele in violin colored top. It has the 6 saddle bridge, but I swear it is the best intonated, on tune anywhere guitar I have ever owned. No other guitar I've owned plays this well. I gave away my Les Paul because it was the worst intonated, never in tune guitar. I know, it wasn't the guitar, it was me but then why the tele???
Now way bro. Strats are. Tummy cut for comfort. Contour forearm area for better comfort. Fatter head stock for hanging better. 2 horns for better carrying. 3 pickups instead of two. And hendrix lol duhhh. Sure you can get a modded tele that's closer to a strats advantages but at that point you just have a hybrid tele or you should just get a strat.
@warmoth yes sir , I have one with the full ashtray & 3 saddles,and one with the flat bridge & 6 saddles.personally I strongly prefer the traditional setup.just old fashioned I guess.at some point I might switch to 3 brass saddles.best wishes & thanks for the reply.
We don't have enough "let's open a box and see what's inside" videos, now the we have to watch the people who make what's inside open the box to see what's inside? 🤪 I'll have to try one next time - my Mason Bender build wouldn't like this bridge.
Best thing about Fender guitars has always been form following function. Therefore, I like six saddles. Three is a tiresome affectation, akin to artificially "relic"-ed guitars. Just MHO...
This is an amazing bridge and would rule them all if only it were available in nickel instead of chrome, which is just tragic. Chrome can't be aged properly. Fortunately you can get an identical bridge in nickel then add the Gotoh In-Tune saddles for just about the same price (Phil. Luthier Supply).
I have a vintage Tele body that has a neck cavity width of 2.2in (55.88mm). Anybody know a good provider or custom shop that could help me find a neck? Warmoth only makes standard sizes. 🤷♂️
wish it didn't have that stupid "in tune" scribbling, its not something that rubs off. I think it used to have just "GOTOH" on there which is a lot more acceptable
@@Duncanlinc okay its not as spanky but it helps a little bit 😂 I'm just biased because I'm not the biggest tele fan but i have a custom tele with a strat style bridge and a bunch of odd layout choices lol
