Official Luthiers Forum!

I was browsing and looking for various types of electric guitar bridges and couldn't help but notice the HUGE price difference in branded bridges vs the ones coming from China. I was wondering if any of you have had any experience with these 10-20$ bridges? Were there mechanical problems, or maybe huge tonal difference that would justify me spending a lot more on the nicer ones for my first builds?

Gorjan

I am afraid to buy any Chinese stuff on eBay because Customs might increase the charges.

_________________
"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

You can buy $10-$20 bridges at Guitar Fetish all day long.
They work fine for me.

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

If you call Hipshot and tell them you are a luthier you get a huge discount. All I use is Hipshot hardware (Bridges, tuners, ferrules) and it is the best looking best performing stuff out there.

I buy onesies from Hipshot all the time and find the price to be a good $10-$15 lower than what I can find on ebay.

GFS bridges are varied. Some of them are really good, some of them not so much. Their $10 hardtail bridge for teles are strats are hard to beat at 3 times the price. But a distinction needs to be made.
If I'm building for myself, or just building as a learning experience I've got no problems using that bridge all day long. If I were building for a customer, I'd buy Gotoh at minimum, or Hipshot. Just because the quality is a known quantity to most musicians.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Chris I appreciate you recommendation. I helps knowing that someone has a good experience with those.

Fillipo now I am looking mainly at strat tremolo bridges, because you save a lot on those ($15 for chinese vs 60 for branded bridges) Here is a link from the seller Chris recommended:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-Set-Chrome- ... 5d405336d8

As for Hipshot and their luthier discount, it could not be enough to compare to these, essentially for the first few guitars on which I am not planing to spend a lot of money on.

Thanks everyone for your opinions and help though, Gorjan

I`ve used a few of these bridges from various sellers.
They work well when you have a repair on a low end guitar, or possibly your own (which you`ll want to change later on DAMHIKT).
You get what you pay for.
In addition I must add that the quality of most of these products is adequate for the job, but the mechanical side of it comes into play as well. Sometimes the threads have more slop than I prefer. Once in a great while there will be a flaw in the finish that I`m not quite happy about. It`s just not worth the effort to return it, either. The sellers that I have purchased from guarantee satisfaction, so to speak. They`ll come through if there is a legitimate problem, and one has done so in the past for me.
Always bear in mind, though, that you may have to do the final tuning of the saddles on some of these.
This kind of issue is usually from the machining process and there being a sharp burr in the wrong places.
You can make them work (in most cases).
Please take the 2-3 hours to check out all options before you make that purchase!
Coe Franklin

_________________
Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Don't you mean branded bridges vs the other ones coming from China?

I like Gotoh stuff, because I only make guitars for me or someone willing to pay a lot for them, but if I were trying to cut costs then I'd just order one of the X different cheap variants of the bridge type I was looking to use and keep reordering the ones that were good. If it isn't worth doing that (ie: you only need 1-3 bridges a year) then either spent a bunch of time looking for specific reviews on the internet or just buy a bridge somewhere reputable and get on with the fun part!

_________________
Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

just know that virtually all your money is going to some middleman, and some people in china are working basically for free, likely by force or leverage, and any environmental considerations regarding smelting/plating waste is out the window....is it worth it?

The guitar you build is a reflection of you and the choices you made.


Get one made in China and make your own determination. No big loss
if you don't like it and a big gain knowing for yourself exactly why you
do or don't like it.

Does anyone know of any good luthier in China? If yes, Please can I have their contact information.

I have seen alot of good American made bridges (Gibson post style) from the 60's cave in over time from string pressure - Id hate to see how fast a Chinese one might do the same thing.... Im not sure what kind of bridge we are talking about here however....
You get what you pay for .... on a cheapie repair sure mabye - but Id not want to put one on a guitar with my name on it...
Cheers
charliewood

I know someone who bought one of these $39.00 Fender style necks on ebay from China. I took a look at it and suggested he let the kid use it to hit rocks. Very roughly sanded with a crappy finish on it. A Horrendous fret job. I'm not just talking the fret finish but frets that do not run the whole width of the neck. There is like 10 frets that fall short. And there are various high and low frets after holding a straightedge to them.

_________________
Another day, another dollar.