Help me mod my Fender Cyclone!

grungebob

@che I'm sorry you're experiencing the same as me. I've just had a thought though (one I wished I had a few years back), what if you used tele or mustang saddle would that work their much shorter?

JD50

How many millimeters do you need to move back the saddles or bridge?

ICBM

I assume you've already tried taking the springs out on the affected strings - hopefully just the low E, and maybe the A and G. If it's not too far out with that, you could shim the neck away from the end of the pocket a bit, the screws will still fit if it's only a mm or so.

grungebob

If it's anything like my old two it'll take more than springs and a shin to get right. I seem to remember it got worse the thicker gauges of string I used. Mine was low E,D and G

ICBM

grungebob said:

If it's anything like my old two it'll take more than springs and a shin to get right. I seem to remember it got worse the thicker gauges of string I used. Mine was low E,D and G

That doesn't sound good. It will definitely get worse with heavier strings, they always intonate a bit further back. I've only ever set up one as far as I can remember (they were never common) and although it's a while ago I think it was with 9s and I think I remember having to take the spring out on the low E.

It sounds like they messed up with the scale length calculation - maybe because they weren't familiar with the 24-3/4" scale, it always seemed like a bad choice to me for a Fender!

Moving the bridge isn't going to be that easy, you'll have to plug and very accurately re-drill the six pivot screw holes or it will cause trouble when using the trem. Mustang saddles won't work either, they don't have a hole for the string to go through. Tele saddles - 3, not 6 since the 6 have the screw offset to one side - would, but you'd have to drill three more holes in the back edge of the bridgeplate. That's probably the least work though.

Ché

@ICBM could you give me more info on which tele saddles to use?

I can intonate the D but everything else is way off.

ICBM

Ché said:

@ICBM could you give me more info on which tele saddles to use?

I can intonate the D but everything else is way off.

Any compensated Tele saddles will work. You will need to drill three new holes in the back of the bridgeplate between the existing E/B, G/D and A/E holes to take the intonation screws though - that might not be that easy, if the plate is hardened at all… not sure if a MIM one will be.

It will end up looking like this:

http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t25/Bubbanov/26DEC082008003.jpg

If you don't want to do that, you might be able to use some alloy Strat saddles and cut the back ends down a bit, bit if it's so far out that only the D intonates that might not leave you with much thread length.

Ché

Thanks @ICBM,

Interesting, would the 6 screw holes line up okay? I'm thinking it'd be worth getting a new bridgeplate and drill the holes fresh?

I always thought it would be difficult to intonate every string given they're joined in length by the one saddle?

ICBM

Ché said:

Interesting, would the 6 screw holes line up okay?

No, that's why you'd have to drill new ones.

Ché said:

I'm thinking it'd be worth getting a new bridgeplate and drill the holes fresh?

I doubt anyone makes one which isn't drilled. Making one yourself from plain steel, chroming it etc would be much harder.

Ché said:

I always thought it would be difficult to intonate every string given they're joined in length by the one saddle?

Not really. The difference between the individual string pairs is fairly predictable - in fact the whole lot are, PRS make a single-piece wraparound which only adjusts at the two ends and is fine with any string gauge I've put on one. (Apart from with a wound 3rd string.)

Purely from experience I can usually set a Strat up by eye and have it very close or even dead on when I check it .

Ché

Sorry I've confused myself. The 6 screw holes in the body. Would they need to be re-drilled?
The 3 holes in the back of the bridge would need to be drilled, I'm assuming there's enough space between the 6 already in there to fit like this: (this bridge looks to have different string spacing though)



I'm assuming the idea is you keep the bridge in the same place but use Tele saddles so you can move them far back enough to intonate. I only woke up an hour ago forgive me if I'm making this more difficult than it needs to be.

guitarcookie1

What about using the saddles from a six-saddle tele bridge like this one:

http://streetwiseguitars.co.uk/bt01c.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiA_MK0BRDQsf_bsZS-_OIBEiQADPf--srz854AWT_Op2h7jnr5GYJfhwQNIW5g0XoOdKIPR-YaAkj68P8HAQ

They're much smaller than the Strat saddles & you wouldn't need to drill the bridge plate as you would to fit the three-saddle tele ones. They also look as though they are fitted central to the screw?

underdog

Not sure if it's any help but my duo sonic bridge looks like the one in the post above me, but of course with just the 3 holes in the place you want them.

ICBM

Ché said:

Sorry I've confused myself. The 6 screw holes in the body. Would they need to be re-drilled?

No, just three new holes in the back of the bridge like that.

The reason for not moving the screw holes in the body is that without a proper drilling jig it's actually quite hard to get them perfectly located and all exactly vertical, and if they aren't then the bridge will bind on them and cause tuning problems when you use the trem.

Ché said:

I'm assuming the idea is you keep the bridge in the same place but use Tele saddles so you can move them far back enough to intonate.

Yes, exactly.

guitarcookie1 said:

What about using the saddles from a six-saddle tele bridge like this one:

http://streetwiseguitars.co.uk/bt01c.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiA_MK0BRDQsf_bsZS-_OIBEiQADPf--srz854AWT_Op2h7jnr5GYJfhwQNIW5g0XoOdKIPR-YaAkj68P8HAQ

They're much smaller than the Strat saddles & you wouldn't need to drill the bridge plate as you would to fit the three-saddle tele ones. They also look as though they are fitted central to the screw?

Not quite, they're slightly offset with the string groove just to the left of the screw hole as you look at them from the back. It might work - or maybe with them the other way round - if the strings aren't correctly centred on the neck at the moment. You could kill two birds with one stone...

Ché

interesting, worth a shot you reckon?

ICBM

Well... it could just be the pic, and it's hard to be sure at that resolution, but it does look like the strings are off a bit towards the treble side. Since we're seeing the guitar from slightly below the neck, the top E should appear to be a fair way over the fingerboard, and it isn't, it looks to be right along the edge. So moving all the strings about 2mm towards the bass side might just work.

But check it first!

Ché

@ICBM can I just send this guitar to you to take a look at?
:P

ICBM

If you insist, but I always warn against combining couriers and guitars where it isn't essential .

It should be pretty easy to fix yourself to be honest - have a look closely at the string alignment and see if it's likely to be possible to use the Tele saddles first.

Ché

Yeah that's true,
Is there anyway to be sure of that? Measuring the string spacing?

ICBM

Ché said:

Yeah that's true,
Is there anyway to be sure of that? Measuring the string spacing?

Just have a good look at it from straight on. You'll see straight away if the strings are centred or not.

Ché

Looks okay to me... I think.