Roller Bridges

Heartwood

OK, settle down. I'm cracking open this can of worms...

Roller bridges, love em or hate em, is there really an alternative for a TOM replacement when using something like a bigsby or les trem?

I've seen replacement saddles (graphtec etc), but these have a bad rep for robbing some tone, while rollers seem to be blamed for loss of sustain. How bad a compromise is a roller bridge, and if you were going for one today which would you get?

For context I've just bought a starcaster which I'm going to put a les trem on, and just deciding the next steps. NGD to follow if you're interested!

Basher

I'd be intrigued to know how much roller bridge saddles actually roll in normal use.

Also, is there nothing to be said for a saddle that has a smooth and rounded profile, like the roller bridge saddles, but fixed? (I suppose that's essentially just what a correctly slotted TOM saddle is.)

Seziertisch

Domed thumbwheels are the cheapest/most elegant solution, though depending on whether your bridge posts are imperial or metric you may need to find someone who can ream the thumbwheels out for you or replace your bridge posts/studs.

A roller bridge will work too but will change change the sound, which will at the very least be objectively different, if not subjectively better or worse. 

stickyfiddle

I don’t believe a roller bridge is the answer because all you’re doing is moving the point of friction from being between the string and saddle, to being between the roller saddle and the part of the bridge it sits in. 

Leo had it right when he looked at the different ways to make the bridge itself move and return without friction. With a tunomatic the best way to do that I’ve found is domed thumbwheels. Im not certain if you get can them for metric bridges, but I have two Gibson’s with bigbsies that work extremely well with this setup

Beyond that, a properly cut nut is the essential ingredient. Most shop techs get this vastly wrong and then tell people things like “Gibsons just don’t stay in tune”, which is utter bollocks.