Replicas - Bridges

As well as needing this type of bridge to cut and fit as the bridge pick-up mount, there are other reasons for having a body that supports this type of bridge:

The screws which attach the bridge to the body are behind the string holes rather than in front, and the string holes that run through the body are not located in the same place as those drilled for a standard 'ash-tray' bridge.

Current Squire guitars have this problem, and the picture left shows a converted Fender Nashville Telecaster, where a small part of the pick-up routing has been left uncovered. The Nashville Tele comes fitted with an ash-tray type bridge, so having a guitar with this type of bridge does not always mean that the body will be suitable.

On this type of bridge, the fixing 'poles' can be adjusted to raise or lower the action.

Also, note the two small screws that have been drilled through the back of the bridge, behind the pegs, which can alter the intonation.

Rick's bridge is the easiest (and cheapest) of the Quo bridges to replicate, and fit.

This type of tail-piece (left) can be purchased from any guitar shop for about £10.

The trick now is to convert the basic 'bridge' (left) into a 'Parfitt special'!

1. Intonation adjustment screws through the tail-piece behind each peg

2. Grooves cut for the strings

As long as the tail-piece is securely fastened to a work bench, the groves are fairly easily filed away.

As with Rick's tail-piece, basic tune-o-matic bridges can be purchased quite cheaply from most guitar shops. However, there are two things that give away poor attempts at proper replicas of this guitar:

1. Nylon saddles. Francis had the original metal saddles swapped with nylon ones, and this is another detail Tony faithfully includes on his replica guitars.

2. The tail-piece. Tony makes his own, which are exact copies of the original.

For this bridge configuration any comparison of replica guitars is simple, it either has a G&L bridge or it doesn't! So our checklist is simple:

1. G&L Saddle Lock bridge

The G&L does not support a 'string-through-body' arrangement, and the strings are loaded through the slots in the rear of the bridge.

Also note the protruding bar at the back of the bridge, which makes the bridge tricky to fit if you don't have a template!

The saddles are 'locked' into place via a small screw in the side of the bridge.

The bridge is then secured to the body via five screws, one through either side, and three through the unit behind the saddles.

The G&L 'Tribute' series of guitars also feature a model which comes fitted with a saddle lock bridge, although in this case the unit is stamped with 'TRIBUTE' rather than G&L. Both versions of the bridge are manufactured in the same factory in California.

There is no doubt that this is a solid guitar bridge, and also pleasing on the eye, but it does come with one downside - intonation adjustment. As well as being used to anchor the strings, the slots in the rear of the unit also provide access to the small screws that secure the saddles, which can be turned to adjust the relative position of each saddle and thus the intonation.

For certain makes of guitar string, it is possible for the string tail to hamper access to the saddle adjustment screw.

In a kind of bizarre twist, a couple of the bridge units Tony used on early Quo replicas came from G&L guitars where the owner has had the bridge replaced due to the sometimes awkward nature of guitar setup. I guess this is something that Francis doesn't have to worry about!