Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Hi, I have a used Tennessee Rose and I'm thinking about putting a Tru Arc stainless 120 bridge on it. The Tru Arc looks to be a machined block of steel, with no saddles to adjust backward/forward. Do these bridges intonate well? Is bridge placement extremely critical on these? So far, my bridge is not pinned. But I'm thinking about doing this, too.

So...... If I put a Tru Arc bridge on and have the bridge pinned, am I locked into the string gauges that were used at the time the bridge was pinned? Pinning the existing Gretch bridge would still allow backward/forward travel in the saddles for intonation adjustment. Any info would be appreciated. Tom

Tom you are likely to get a number of answers here.

I see no reason to pin a Gretsch bridge unless you are highly aggressive in your playing.

The Tru-arc, in my experience, will intonate quite well provided you use a wound 3rd string. A plain G will cause you some grief, at least it did me. I use a 12, 15, 18W, 26, 36, 46 and have no trouble. I would also consider the Compton which has relief much like the Gretsch aluminum bridge. The Compton is less attractive but quite a bit cheaper and comes in aluminum, stainless, titanium, brass and copper. The Tru-arc is prettier or more Gretsch-like to my way of thinking.

Also is the matter of stainless versus aluminum. I have aluminum on mine and really like the tone. The Tennessean is already quite bright so you may fancy the tone better with the Aluminum.

If it was my Tennessee Rose I would get an aluminum Tru-arc bridge and keep it free-floating.

Just installed a Tru Arc ST 120 on my 6116PTV Power Tenny which comes from the factory with a pinned bridge base. I use 10-46 strings and the guitar intonates perfectly on all strings except the G which sometimes is dead on and sometimes slightly off. Perfect intonation is real good thing, but also take into consideration when you squeeze down on those frets things are gonna be off anyway. I swear
by Tru Arcs but from all I have read, the Compton is also a very nice product. However, Comptons aren't a truly compensated bridge like a Bigsby bridge. The Compton is angled, which pretty much is the same
thing as slanting the base. I believe that Tru Arc is now producing a newly designed compensated bridge. Bottom line whether its a Tru Arc or Compton it'll work better than the stock Gretsch Bar Bridges which have a significant radius mismatch with the fretboard (stock bar bridges 16"-20"; most Gretsch fretboards 12").

Hi,
I use a steel Truarc bridge on a DuoJet GH Signature and on a Tennessee Rose with HILO Tron pickups. Sound is twangy on both guitars, though i prefer the Hilotrons more, but this is a question of taste.
I personally have no problems with intonation , it is o.k., but not perfect like on a modern Bridge. Please keep the bridge floated, so you can correct intonation just a little bit ! The truarc bridge is a massive piece of metal and it improves your sustain, i like the sound, but.. like most things, there is no holy grail but a matter of taste !

Greetings

peter

It's a fun guitar. The weirdest thing, is that I never expected to buy one. I always blew off the Cabs, due to being a Gretsch nut for over 10 years - I figured they would never measure up to the FilterTron loaded Gretsches I used to have ( my present Gretsch is a 1954, Country Club, with Dynasonics). The only reason I even tried a Cabronita Thinline out, was due to the fact that I visited my favorite guitar shop out of boredom, and saw 3 of them hanging from the wall. Figuring that I'd see what all the fuss was about them, I took one for a spin. I was surprised to say the least! It was nice and chimey, when played clean, with great snarl when the amp's gain was granked up, to bring on the grind and the crunch. What was supposed to be a quick test (that I expected, would leave me thinking - "OK guitar, but I think I'll pass"), turned into an hour plus taste test, where I ended up trying out all 3 Cabronita Thinlines that the shop had. As a result, I ended up buying one. It sounds and plays just as great through my amp, as the one I tried out (and would have bought, if I'd been offered a better deal) at the guitar shop.

I replaced the Tune-O-Matic bridge on my 5120 a couple years ago with an aluminum Tru-Arc, left the bridge base unpinned, and I've never looked back. I guess I must be some sort of contrarian, because I've had flat wound strings with a plain G on the guitar for many months now, and I think the intonation is fine. Even the G string is spot on if the rest of the guitar is in tune. And the string gauges are 10-46.
JimK