Music Man Bridge

Fri Jul 29, 2016 12:44 pm

Let me first say that I have no idea if this is the correct place to post this. It has nothing to do with G&L guitars, so it must be "Off Topic" but please consider this as a legal disclaimer that I was totally and completely most unequivitably insane at the time I posted this. (She turned me into a Newt.) Weighed down from previous posts that appeared in the wrong forum. (He says with a devious smirk.)

So, the 1977ish Music Man Sabre II came with a bridge that was obviously an early version of the Saddle Lock Bridge (from that other guitar maker). I am a bit concerned about the way the strings sit in this bridge. In the picture below you will notice that the strings come up (through the body) and before they contact the saddles they take a bit of a turn around the intonation springs and then hit the saddles. Is this a problem? It happens because there is no offset in the saddles like they have today and the notch for the string is directly in line with the intonation screw and spring.

I have never owned a guitar with this setup. Have any of you owned these guitars with this bridge and what was your experience with tuning, setup, string breakage and the like.I am looking at picking up one of these and wonder if this was a known flaw in this bridge.

Image

Thanks for any insight,

Tom

Re: Music Man Bridge

Fri Jul 29, 2016 3:58 pm

FZTNT wrote:Let me first say that I have no idea if this is the correct place to post this. It has nothing to do with G&L guitars, so it must be "Off Topic" but please consider this as a legal disclaimer that I was totally and completely most unequivitably insane at the time I posted this.


Not sure about nowadays, but back in the day it was for anything Leo did post-FEIC.

FZTNT wrote:I have never owned a guitar with this setup. Have any of you owned these guitars with this bridge and what was your experience with tuning, setup, string breakage and the like.I am looking at picking up one of these and wonder if this was a known flaw in this bridge.


I've never played a CLF-era Music Man guitar, but my '77 Stingray Bass has a similar string path. I don't have any clear pics of the bridge with strings, but here's one of it empty:

Image

The only problem I've had with this one in the two years I've owned it was finding flats that were long enough and could handle through-body stringing. The strings definitely bend around the screws. I have no idea whether problems with that led to the bridge change on the Sabre Bass in 1979.

Ken

Re: Music Man Bridge

Sat Jul 30, 2016 8:05 am

FZTNT wrote:Let me first say that I have no idea if this is the correct place to post this. It has nothing to do with G&L guitars, so it must be "Off Topic" but please consider this as a legal disclaimer that I was totally and completely most unequivitably insane at the time I posted this. (She turned me into a Newt.) Weighed down from previous posts that appeared in the wrong forum. (He says with a devious smirk.)
Tom


From the GbL History & G&LDP/G&L Knowledgebase/Marketplace Guidelines:
To see the various sub-forums which the G&LDP forum
consists of, click here: G&LDP. All of the sub-forums have Forum rules and they are located at the top of the sub-forum,
where it says "Please click here to view the forum rules", so please read them prior to posting.
And, if you want to talk about non-musical topics, go to the G&LDP's Off Topic sub-forum.


Hope this helps.

:ugeek:

Re: Music Man Bridge

Sun Aug 14, 2016 11:27 am

Hey!!

Is Ken the only one on this forum that has any experience with the Music Man bridge? Predecessor to the Saddle Lock.

I'm seriously thinking of picking up a Sabre II but those strings bending around the intonation screws hurts my mind. Seems like the strings would constantly be popping out of the saddle grooves.

What do you old timer pre G&L Leo experts think.

Tom

Re: Music Man Bridge

Sun Aug 14, 2016 12:06 pm

I have a '78 MM Sabre I and play it quite a bit. Zero issues with the bridge.
Fab guitar.

Cheers,
KF