Official Luthiers Forum!

Been doing a lot of reading and looking at pictures researching the way to build my first guitar and I have got my brain wrapped around most everything I need to do except for the bridge. I plan on using p90 pickup(s) not sure yet if 1 or 2. I have seen some p90 guitars built using the stopbar tailpiece ,some using a hipshot string-thru hardtail, and some using a pigtail wraparound bridge among others.

Any thoughts on which one to use? pros-cons

If it's Fender style- flat-top- I've used the Schaller non-trem roller bridge and will be
using it for my current Tele style with P-90s.

I also like it being top-load.

The most important factor in choosing the bridge is string height over the body. This can influence the way you mount your pickups, or the other way around. If you want to mount the P-90 to the top with a dogear cover, the strings need to be high enough to clear the pickup, maybe 3/4", so you need a bridge 3/4" tall. If you install the pickups in routed cavities, you can set the string height much lower. Generally, Gibson style bridges are taller than Fender style.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I want to mount the pickups directly to the body without the use of a pickguard. I would rather use the the soapbar style pickups if possible ? I think I have seen pictures of soapbar p90's mounted without a pickguard. I have narrowed pickup choices down between Fralin's and Lollar's, probably the same as ford vs chevy?
I will be making my own neck and body and have not cut anything to fit yet. After I get my bridge and pickups I will try and make a full size drawing before I start cutting

More like bmw vs mercedes!
Sounds like you want to mount to the top without a pickup route, which means a tall bridge.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I would use this bridge:

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I dont mind at all routing a hole for the pickup, I just dont want a pickguard.

I suspect you need to clarify to the board what guitar scheme you have in mind...archtop, semi hollow, les paul style, bolt on, etc.....

Here is the body, bolt on neck which I have not made yet so it can be any angle. Was just wondering if there was any advantages to using one type of bridge over the others

OK, so no pickguard at all. How do you plan on mounting the controls? Route from the back?
Yes, there are advantages and disadvantages for each bridge, but what they are usually depends on what you prefer. Draw a side view, showing the top of the body, the bridge, the pickups, and the strings. Use that to determine if you need a neck angle, how deep the neck pocket needs to be, how thick the neck & fretboard are in the pocket, how deep the pickup routes need to be, how high the strings are over the body. All these things work together, so you need to know all these things to select a bridge.
edit: on the other hand, you can select all the components and use the side view to MAKE everything work together.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Yes the controls will be installed from the back

Yeah, that's the best way. Pick your parts first. I've never found the need for a side view.

Routing neck angles is super easy. Just make a neck pocket template out of plywood and clamp it on the body with two shims under it. One will be about where the fretboard ends and will be as tall as how high you want the fretboard to come up out of the body and the other shim will go under the bridge, and is how tall your bridge is. I think this method is much easier than making some of the more complicated jigs I've seen.

(edit) On bridges, hardtail gives the most sustain, generally. A taller bridge with a sharper angle theoretically induces more pronounced attack. Tremolos speak for themselves. Most of the best one's are very expensive. Most of the cheap one's provide tuning issues. There are different ranges as well, Jaguar bridge being a pretty low range which is good for more subtle effect.

There's also different materials. I'll let someone else add their thoughts on that, as I have not experimented with many different materials (brass, aluminum, etc.)

But there's two cents

_________________
http://www.tinyhouseandland.com

I got the woodworking part. I do plan on making full size drawings of both the top and side view, at least for the first couple I build

Thats the kind of info I am after, much better than the picture THANKS

A (Fender style) hardtail is also easy to install: locate it and screw it on.
Much easier than trying to locate the holes on a tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece.
BTW, I dig the body, looks like some nice Mahogany. Good luck on your build!

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

While there's some basis for attributing some characteristics to various types of bridges, (hardtail gives the most sustain) most of that type of information is too subjective to be of any real value.
To me, the real differences in bridges comes down to two factors. How are the strings attached and how do the individual saddles adjust. There's wraparound, stringthrough, top loading, stopbar, and trapeze to attach the strings. My opinion is this choice is personal preference, whatever differences there may be will not be audiable to 99.95% of the population. Some bridges only have adjustments at the ends, while some have both vertical and horizontal adjustment of each individual saddle. The vertical adjustment lets you dial in the action height, and the horizontal adjustment lets you adjust the intonation, so you need to decide how much control you really need.

_________________
A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon