Gretsch bridges and intonation

[Happy Tree]

I would love a Gretsch. Lots of beautiful ones to choose from, and that sound! But I severely limit myself because I only want a fixed bridge that has intonation saddles. Am I being too cautious?

I don't fancy a moving bridge, but there are others like compensated and wrapover, spacer, etc., that might be good. I just have no experience of them. How have your bridges performed?

 

[jb_abides]

There's a lot of 'depends' on this one. Which models are you looking at? Vintage or new, etc.?

Gretsch has at least 4 bridges. Also, on many contemporary models the bridges are pinned in place and not floating, so not so much an issue.

 

[LeonC]

Look at the Players Edition series of guitar. They're like playing guitars with the Gretsch sound, pickups, look and vibe...but with more modern features like fixed, intonatable bridges, necks mounted lower to the surface of the guitar, B7 Bigsbys (on many), locking tuners and so on. I've got a G6128TDS and a G6636-TDC and these are totally badass guitars. And I'll say this about their construction: they are flawless.

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

My Player’s edition Falcon came with a bar bridge, and I ended up putting an ABM 2400 roller bridge on it. It’s made from high quality brass, German made back when I bought it.

ABM 2400-RO Rollen-Steg

Die Brücke klingt sehr gut und ist extrem präzise gearbeitet. Hervorragend im Betrieb mit Tremolo-Einheiten.

abm-guitarpartsshop.com

The bridge post still rocks a bit with Bigsby use, but it’s been super solid and looks great.

 

[LeonC]

My Player’s edition Falcon came with a bar bridge, and I ended up putting an ABM 2400 roller bridge on it. It’s made from high quality brass, German made back when I bought it.

ABM 2400-RO Rollen-Steg

Die Brücke klingt sehr gut und ist extrem präzise gearbeitet. Hervorragend im Betrieb mit Tremolo-Einheiten.

abm-guitarpartsshop.com

The bridge post still rocks a bit with Bigsby use, but it’s been super solid and looks great.

The PE Falcon actually comes with a pinned ebony base with a tune-o-matic mounted on it...so it sounds like maybe a previous owner removed that bridge and put the bar on there?

 

[RocknRollShakeUp]

The PE Falcon actually comes with a pinned ebony base with a tune-o-matic mounted on it...so it sounds like maybe a previous owner removed that bridge and put the bar on there?

Mine came with the pinned bridge, and a stock bar bridge from the factory

 

[latestarter]

My Space Bar equiped Duo Jet from the 60’s has almost perfect intonation. Go figure!