I like the concept of the traditional adjustable bridge, and I’m not one who is concerned with super lightweight anything—I think controlled damping is an important part of fine tone. The thumb wheels are a weak point, obviously, and wear on the couple threads supporting the load easily leads to a tipping saddle and eventually stripping (from experience). Looking at past threads I know that certain people have experimented with designs (notably Marty Jacobson and Vern Brekke) and I was hoping to know what worked and what didn’t.
I am interested at the moment in trying a threaded insert through the saddle that could take the load over many more threads and using a set screw style threaded rod with a hex socket (or even a simple slot for a screwdriver, though that seems much harder to turn under tension). It would be adjusted from above and spin freely in the base. I think ideally it would only be threaded on the upper half of the rod and the lower part would fit snugly enough as to not chew up the hole in the base with turning. I would hope that with both sections of the post deep in the base and saddle tipping would be prevented, but I think taking out more wood in the saddle for the insert could create a weak point. I’d be hesitant to simply tap the saddle and and be relying on wooden threads. I think some bass bridge adjusters function similarly, but have a wheel for the adjustment. Has anyone already tried this? Anything to report?
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