Robben Ford Discussion

[tedro]

are RF's tele saddles 1/4" stainless steel, threaded?

does he tune (intonate) similar to Jerry Donahue's tempered method or perhaps bend the screws (Gatton) to achieve actual intonation, or perhaps some type of compensated saddles?


for example, my stock tele saddles are 1/4", steel, threaded, and i bend the screws myself (manual compensation).

[Daved]

My post from December, 2003 :

"Robben's Tele bridge has the original threaded bars which does lead to inherent intonation problems, but he and I both feel it is a major part of the distictively classic sound of the Tele, so we choose not to alter it's stockness (This word is OK to use, Liz. You'll find it listed in the Official Funk & Daved's Reference Library Standard Dictionary/Thesaurus... LOL) with some of the available modern bridge variations.

I doubt if Robben, at least consciously, pulls any strings to alter string tunings when chording. I, alone, set his action & intonations (which I check regularly), so he is totally unaware of how they sit, as he actually knows very little about the mechanics of intonation. He DOES hear it if they're seriously out for some reason, but leaves it up to me to "fix the problem".

I have dealt with many Tele's and their threaded bridges thru the last 20+ years. There are a variety of fixes, none of them perfect, but I have always favored (having had the best overall results with) starting with "splitting the difference".

There are usually 3 threaded saddles, so I always try to find the balance between each pair of strings where the lower string in the saddle is slightly flat and the higher string is slightly sharp. This will leave you with NONE of the strings actually correctly intonated but, they will all be minimally out. And this will, of course, now create the problem of the the upper string in each saddle and the lower string of the saddle next to it being unbalaced towards each other, but what cha gonna do? You'll never get all six strings equally tempered and for some reason this seems to generically create the least amount of sonic discomfort.

A variation of "balance" (with its own set of problems) that has occasionally worked for me, is to set one (the same in each saddle) string spot on and let the other string in the saddle's intonation lie where it may. Now, every other string will be correct, but the alternating strings can be wayyyy out. Again, this all depends upon the arisit's ear and their style of playing the instrument. Generally, I prefer the first method. It seems to create the least amount of problem, requiring only minor tweaks.

All of this will, of course, vary from guitar to guitar, from string gauge to string gauge, from neck action to neck action, and from player to player with their individual styles of playing the instrument or the way the sound hits the artists ears. (Soloists have the least problem with intonation, rhythym chordists have more problems, and 2-string "country" scalers have the most problems, because of the noticable sonic relationship between strings and the individual notes. You just have to adjust & fine-tune for the predominant style that the instrument is used for.)

Depending upon whom I am working for, I tweak till I find a balanced intonation that works for them, but I always find that a good starting point is by "splitting the difference".

You can install individual saddle bridges and completely alleviate the problem, but then I ( and I find most dedicated Tele users I've worked with) feel that you lose part of the subtle 'charm' of the Telecaster sound."




P.S. Yes, you can bend the screws holding the saddles (I have tried this with Robben's, but in the long run we went back to the 'straight' saddle bars), but this causes other mechanical problems of it's own... or install offset saddles, which (next to individual saddles) will probably give you truer intonation with the least mechanical problem.

However, again, for MY ear and that of many Tele users, I feel that these remedies take away from the distictive characteristics of the Tele 'sound', which I happen to love.
_________________
B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)

[tedro]

thanks, Dave!

yep. i *had* to bend!