Special Investigation: Bridges

The bridge is where the strings meet the body on a guitar, and is what causes the body to vibrate and create sound. There are two main different categories of guitar bridge: fixed and vibrato. A fixed bridge is a bridge where it is not possible to manipulate string tension during playing, as the bridge cannot be moved. Fixed bridges were the first guitar bridges and are used on all acoustic guitars, as well as all of the early electric guitars. The opposite is a non fixed, or tremolo bridge. A tremolo bridge is where the tension can easily be manipulated during play, with a special arm attached to the bridge called a tremolo arm or whammy bar. Tremolo arms allow the player to either increase or decrease string tension, or both, by pushing or pulling the bar. Doing this makes notes either lower or higher, and releasing the bar makes the tuning return.

Fixed Bridges:

• Tune O'Matic- The tunomatic bridge was invented by Gibson and was first put to use on the Gibson Super 400, and later, more popular models like the Les Paul. The tunomatic bridge was unique, and provided the key advantage of being able to adjust the intonation on each of the strings. This is possible because of adjustable metal saddles under each of the strings. Some tune o matic bridges also have the added advantage of easy action adjustment, made possible due to two thumbwheels on each end of the bridge which allow the strings to be raised or lowered.

• Ashtray- The ashtray bridge is the bridge famously used on the Fender Telecaster. This is another example of a fixed bridge. In this design, the strings go through the back of the guitar body and then go over three saddles. The ashtray bridge is notable for giving guitars a much brighter and twangy tone. One of the key drawbacks of the ashtray is that there are only three saddles which means intonation can’t be individually adjusted, which makes the tune o matic bridge favourable.

• Trapeze Bridge- Trapeze bridges were designed in the 1940s by Les Paul, and made appearances on many early guitar models in the Gibson ES series as well as early incarnations of the Les Paul. Trapeze bridges consist of a steel bar attached to the guitar by steel legs connecting the bridge to the bottom of the guitar. The main advantage of the trapeze bridge was easy action adjustment, much like the tune o matic, with thumbwheels at the ends of the bridge. However, trapeze bridges had a few key faults which means they are now a lot less common. They are quite poorly anchored which can lead to tuning issues caused by knocks, and it can be hard to palm mute the strings.

Vibrato Bridges:

• Bigsby- The bigsby bridge is a vibrato bridge and was the first vibrato bridge to be mass produced. Bigsbys come with a standard bridge called a roller bridge, which is similar to a tune o matic bridge where six rollers sit beneath the strings to allow for changing of individual notation. The most important part of the bigsby bridge is a metal bar that sits after the roller bridge and closer to the bottom of the guitar where the strings are attached to. This bar is screwed onto the guitar, and has a spring loaded arm attached to it. The arm is used to manipulate string tensions and therefore pitch- pushing lowers the pitch and pulling raises it. Bigsby systems come as standard on certain guitar models manufactured by PRS, Gibson, Epiphone, Fender, Gretsch and Ibanez. On top of this, one of the main advantages of bigsbys is how easy it is to install and remove them, which means many people customise their guitars to have a bigsby system. Players tend to do this on guitars that don’t usually have a vibrato system like Les Pauls and Telecasters. Many players prefer bigsby units because of their controllability and ease of use, which lends itself well to players who use longer, slower and subtler vibrato bends. The bigsby can typically reach a maximum of a third lower than original pitch, which is comparatively little compared to other vibrato bridges. Another drawback to the bigsby is the loss of sustain that some guitars experience when equipped with a bigsby.

• Six Screw/Synchronised Tremolo System- The first vibrato bridge to appear on a Fender guitar was the Synchronised Tremolo System or the Fender Six Screw. This design was very different to the bigsby, as the strings were held by an all new type of bridge which was firmly anchored to the guitar. The bridge has six adjustable metal saddles in a similar manner to a tune o matic bridge. The bridge was then attached to three springs built into the body of the guitar, accessible from the back under a panel. These springs are what gives a guitar with a synchronised system the ability to adjust string tension and gain vibrato effect. Although not as sensitive and subtle as bigsby models, the synchronised system can reach lower bends. The main fault in the six screw system is that after aggressive use of the whammy bar, the guitar can sometimes go out of tune.

• Floyd Rose- This vibrato bridge works in the same way as the six screw system, with the bridge and springs. Floyd Rose bridges are named after their inventor, who designed the system deal with the issue of his guitars losing tune after using his whammy bar. To remedy this he developed a lock system that locked his strings in position at both the nut and the bridge, this allowed hard and deep vibrato bends without affecting the tuning of a guitar. Numerous imitations have been created over the years by various companies including the very popular Ibanez ZR and Edge designs, and Floyd Roses have been included on guitar models as standard and are commonly added on by the player. These bridges have become particularly popular among heavy metal guitarists like Eddie Vedder

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