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I hate how the old cheap Epiphone tune-a-matic bridges will rattle because the saddles are so loose. In the past I would pull the bridge off after setting the intonation and then fill all of the spaces around the saddles with white glue- a trick I learned from a guitarist back in the 80's.
Well I just got 3 of the LTD ESP EC-256P sculpted body LP's with P-90 stacks ($249-$279 at Hello Music) and although the action and jumbo frets are to die for the cheap tune-a-matic bridges rattle because they are so loose. Even worse I keep snapping the E strings at the bridge- I think it is because there is SO much play in the saddles. I really didn't want to remove the bridge and do the white glue thing so I tried out a different idea: beeswax!
I've been using beeswax to adjust my upper dentures until I have surgery done on the roof of my mouth in a few weeks. I carved off some slivers from my two pound block of beeswax and heat them up in my microwave using one of those glass jigger cups (usually about 90-120 seconds.) So I figured what the heck- let me try that stuff on the ESP LTD bridge. Wow! the bridge is much more solid with less of the vibrations wasted with the saddles moving back and forth. There could be a dampening effect from the beeswax but at this point I have no complaints.
The top of the bridge looks a bit funky with beeswax where it doesn't belong but I could clean that up using a low wattage heat gun once I make up a heat shield to protect the body.
Steve Ahola
P.S. So why THREE EC-256P's??? I have really liked the PRS SE Soapbar II's guitars and wanted to have one with regular P-90's and another with P-90 stacks but you can't mount a stacked P90 pickup in the neck position without seriously weakening the tenon neck joint (I ruined a guitar trying to do that!
) So with the EC-256P already routed out for the P90 stacks that would not be an issue. So one of them has a set of the PRS SE Soapbar pickups (from the guitar I messed up) and one of them has a pair of DiMarzio Deluxe 90's (a side by side humbucker that fits in a P-90 opening.) I haven't decided what exactly to do with the third one- I may put in the SD P90 stacks intended for the PRS SE Soapbar II. Or I may put in a matched set of P-100's from a LP Jr Special. Or I may put a dummy coil under a regular P90 in the bridge position- I might wind a P90 bobbin with some 38GA magnet wire I picked up on eBay to make it more transparent.
But the main reason I got 3 of them is that they play so well- maybe its all of the spinach that I have been smoking but I can easily do 5 fret bends with 010's on the 3 top strings.
BTW whenever I prematurely break a string at the bridge I always smooth out the slot a bit with emery paper to make sure that there are no burrs or sharp spots. After doing that a few times the strings seem to last much longer. That was NOT helping with the EC-256P hence the trick with the bridge.
EDIT- I broke another .010 last night.
I got even more wet/dry sandpaper out- 220, 500, 1000 and 1200 grit- to make sure that there were no burrs on the saddle. It could be a bad batch of .010's (I buy 6 packs of Ernie Ball singles) or maybe it is just that making 5 fret bends is something new to me. Heck I was lucky to get 3 or 4 frets before. I think it might be the jumbo frets and great action...
Well I just got 3 of the LTD ESP EC-256P sculpted body LP's with P-90 stacks ($249-$279 at Hello Music) and although the action and jumbo frets are to die for the cheap tune-a-matic bridges rattle because they are so loose. Even worse I keep snapping the E strings at the bridge- I think it is because there is SO much play in the saddles. I really didn't want to remove the bridge and do the white glue thing so I tried out a different idea: beeswax!
I've been using beeswax to adjust my upper dentures until I have surgery done on the roof of my mouth in a few weeks. I carved off some slivers from my two pound block of beeswax and heat them up in my microwave using one of those glass jigger cups (usually about 90-120 seconds.) So I figured what the heck- let me try that stuff on the ESP LTD bridge. Wow! the bridge is much more solid with less of the vibrations wasted with the saddles moving back and forth. There could be a dampening effect from the beeswax but at this point I have no complaints.
The top of the bridge looks a bit funky with beeswax where it doesn't belong but I could clean that up using a low wattage heat gun once I make up a heat shield to protect the body.
Steve Ahola
P.S. So why THREE EC-256P's??? I have really liked the PRS SE Soapbar II's guitars and wanted to have one with regular P-90's and another with P-90 stacks but you can't mount a stacked P90 pickup in the neck position without seriously weakening the tenon neck joint (I ruined a guitar trying to do that!
) So with the EC-256P already routed out for the P90 stacks that would not be an issue. So one of them has a set of the PRS SE Soapbar pickups (from the guitar I messed up) and one of them has a pair of DiMarzio Deluxe 90's (a side by side humbucker that fits in a P-90 opening.) I haven't decided what exactly to do with the third one- I may put in the SD P90 stacks intended for the PRS SE Soapbar II. Or I may put in a matched set of P-100's from a LP Jr Special. Or I may put a dummy coil under a regular P90 in the bridge position- I might wind a P90 bobbin with some 38GA magnet wire I picked up on eBay to make it more transparent.But the main reason I got 3 of them is that they play so well- maybe its all of the spinach that I have been smoking but I can easily do 5 fret bends with 010's on the 3 top strings.
BTW whenever I prematurely break a string at the bridge I always smooth out the slot a bit with emery paper to make sure that there are no burrs or sharp spots. After doing that a few times the strings seem to last much longer. That was NOT helping with the EC-256P hence the trick with the bridge.
EDIT- I broke another .010 last night.
I got even more wet/dry sandpaper out- 220, 500, 1000 and 1200 grit- to make sure that there were no burrs on the saddle. It could be a bad batch of .010's (I buy 6 packs of Ernie Ball singles) or maybe it is just that making 5 fret bends is something new to me. Heck I was lucky to get 3 or 4 frets before. I think it might be the jumbo frets and great action...