Aluminium seven string tailpiece and steel tune-o-matic

[Mc Tanza]

Hi! This is my first post in this forum, so please bear with me.

On to the question: Do any of you know of some company that manufactures an aluminium seven string tune-o-matic stop tailpiece? I've been looking everywhere for days but seemingly no one makes one, only the usual zinc ones.

Also, is there somebody out there doing seven string tune-o-matic bridges from steel? Maybe Callaham? Any experience on the subject?

 

[SirMyghin]

The only one I know of doing steel ToM's is Callaham and you already know that. I would shoot them an email and see what they say. I know some LP guys who swear by that steel bridge.

 

[Mc Tanza]

I'll write them. In three weeks some friends will be visiting the USA so maybe they can bring me some candy with them, although I'm afraid it would be prohibitively expensive if they are to make me a one-off, but we'll see. I haven't tried one of their Tom's yet, but I have one of their strat bridges installed in a guitar and it made a noticeable difference for the better.

Any insight about the alu tailpieces?

Thanks for your answer!

 

[MF_Kitten]

Ola Strandberg (Strandberg Guitar Works, i believe) makes aluminum hardware

 

[Rook]

Why the specific material requirement, may I ask?

 

[eaeolian]

I can't find a spec sheet on the ABM 7 string tuna, but from the price it better not be zinc.

Edit: Never mind. It's brass.

 

[Mc Tanza]

Ola Strandberg (Strandberg Guitar Works, i believe) makes aluminum hardware

I've checked his website, didn't know his work, thanks! The quality appears to be impressive, but his prices are very expensive on standard offerings, so I imagine the custom works would be over the roof expensive.

Why the specific material requirement, may I ask?

I find the usual standard zinc pieces made to a not so great standard, plus the material is inferior to brass, aluminium and steel for guitar application purposes. Aluminium is what's used on some of the higher end LP type guitars for a tailpiece and it usually fits them well. As for the steel bridge, as I said before I mounted a Callaham steel strat bridge on a strat that previosly had a zinc block, and the difference, while not huge, is noticeable. I got a new seven string (my first one actually!) and I think that combo might improve even more its response (the guitar is awesome as it is). I could be radically wrong though, so what I'd like is to get some pieces in different materials and toy around with different combos on the same guitar to see what fits it best. For that reason I'm willing to spend some cash but not huge amounts, as at the end of the day I could be terribly wrong.

I can't find a spec sheet on the ABM 7 string tuna, but from the price it better not be zinc.

Edit: Never mind. It's brass.

Wasn't familiar with ABM parts either, so thank you. They have a nice catalog and find it interesting that they work with bell brass. I think I'll contact them to see if they can make some custom work and get a quote.

 

[Rook]

I find the usual standard zinc pieces made to a not so great standard, plus the material is inferior to brass, aluminium and steel for guitar application purposes. Aluminium is what's used on some of the higher end LP type guitars for a tailpiece and it usually fits them well. As for the steel bridge, as I said before I mounted a Callaham steel strat bridge on a strat that previosly had a zinc block, and the difference, while not huge, is noticeable. I got a new seven string (my first one actually!) and I think that combo might improve even more its response (the guitar is awesome as it is). I could be radically wrong though, so what I'd like is to get some pieces in different materials and toy around with different combos on the same guitar to see what fits it best. For that reason I'm willing to spend some cash but not huge amounts, as at the end of the day I could be terribly wrong.

Makes absolute sense, lol. On that note, I understand brass is a very popular choice for bridges as it tends to have a longer, harder wearing life span than things like Al because it is harder (i.e. more brittle) and less prone to getting all knurled and bent out of shape.

I was hoping you weren't gunna say "xyz technical metal player uses it with his EMG's along with his diamond plated fretz and it adds extra br00tlz" type answer, lol.

 

[Mc Tanza]

Makes absolute sense, lol. On that note, I understand brass is a very popular choice for bridges as it tends to have a longer, harder wearing life span than things like Al because it is harder (i.e. more brittle) and less prone to getting all knurled and bent out of shape.

I was hoping you weren't gunna say "xyz technical metal player uses it with his EMG's along with his diamond plated fretz and it adds extra br00tlz" type answer, lol.

Yeah, brass is a good material for bridges, although not ideal for every guitar. I tried some brass saddles some time ago in the strat that now has the Callaham bridge. The saddles took off a portion of the string attack, reduced its brightness and made the upper mids rounder. It sounded good but quite un-stratty, if you know what I mean. So I put the more standard steel saddles back again. I have three other guitars with brass saddles, one being a LP type, perfectly balanced tonally and the other two are G&L's. Sometimes I wonder if changing the saddles on those would yield a more spanky and clear tone. G&L started using steel saddles last year instead of the brass ones, so I may be up to something there.

In fact I don't know any guitarist that uses a 7 string an alu tailpiece haha. My guitar has already all TeH Br00tlz I could hope for. In fact, with these changes it might lose too many Br00tlz, hmm, we'll see lol.