Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello again, another question from a newb. I am building an electric LP DC in which I'm going to use a Graphtek Resomax wraparound bridge/tailpiece combo. I'm wondering if anyone has used this type of bridge and whether it needs to be angled like a tune-o-matic bridge or whether there is enough travel in the saddles to get the compensation with those alone. I'm thinking it will have to be tilted a couple millimeters low on the bass side but I've seen pictures of gits that look like it's dead perpendicular to the strings (which I think looks a little better). Any thoughts?

The ResoMax looks like a completely standard Tunomatic bridge to me in terms of size and saddle travel. You can check measurements against those published on StewMac's site for various TOM configurations, but I suspect it's a simple drop-in replacement. The fret calculator on stewmac's site provides information on where the holes need to be drilled:

http://www.stewmac.com/fretcalc

Ideally, the two screws used for overall adjustment of the bridge should be able to take care the the differences between the treble and bass side of the bridge, in addition to the adjustments for each saddle.

I've used a Gotoh tunematic bridge that requires very little additional setback on the bass side. This is because the bridge width is quite wide. The bridge you plan to use seems to have a similar width.

This is how I've been determining where to set the bridge on a few guitars I've built.



I believe this photo shows the intonation set.



If you wanted to do something like this, a piece of wood with holes drilled for the sixth and first strings clamped to the body could substitute for the tailpiece.

The 'problem' with not angling to the fairly standard amount the StewMac calculator gives you is that you limit your future choice of strings. Say you wanted to add some really heavy strings and down tune - not really going to work if you've only got a tiny amount of additional play. You don't ever need to adjust closer to the nut than the actual scale length, but the other direction...

Actually, that's a really important point that I hadn't considered. The buyer is going to down tune it probably all the time. How do you factor such a thing into the location?