Ed Romans 12 string ultra bridge

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 3:57 pm

Does any one have one of these? Should I just get the Ric version if they have it?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 5:22 am

As I mentioned in another thread (was it in response to something you wrote, Eric?), this supposed upgrade is a waste of $$$. Stick with the RIC 12-saddle piece.

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:30 am

I had them change to the rick part which they did have in stock. Amazing

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 8:05 am

I agree! Amazing!

steverok · Post by **steverok** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:05 am

I have been interested in hearing a review of his supposed ultra-tone bridge. I switched to the Ric 12-saddle for awhile, and was unhappy with the tone. The 6-saddle is of more solid constriction.

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:13 pm

I figure $100 for the bridge and set up. I can always sell it for maybe more since it will come with the 6 saddle also. I could get the ultra for $40 more but I think it will darken the sound. I also don't like the look of it.

myfretless · Post by **myfretless** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:01 pm

I ordered it from him when I got my 360-12. He didn't have either the RIC 12 saddle or his amazing creation in stock. So I got a refund and ordered the 12-saddle directly from RIC and had it installed locally.

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:06 pm

Other that not having it in stock were you happy with your purchase?

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:35 pm

Can you tell a difference in tone with the 12s bridge? Hows the intonation?

myfretless · Post by **myfretless** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 2:28 pm

Always happy with a new RIC purchase.

Love the guitar, it is a 2005 360-12 in BBR. I used it on Sunday to record "Jingle Bells" (should have called it "Jangle Bells") and had my five kids all sing on the track. We're sending a Christmas kids CD to our family members. I used my new 360 Anniversary DCM on "Away in a Manger."

The intonation with the 12-saddle bridge is much better, although still not perfect on my G string and the G octave. I also still had trouble with the octave Es but they have been tamed recently. I use RIC strings on it so there shouldn't be any issue with conformity of string diameter.

Tone? I only had the 12-string guitar with a 6 saddle for about a week before I changed it over and I didn't notice a difference. It has a similar tone as my new 360 DCM. I used to think the tone difference was more pronounced because my other 360 FG has VPs but now it's clear that it was the pickups. Plus the fact I use flatwounds on the 360 FG.

teb · Post by **teb** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 8:03 pm

I can't say I've ever noticed a change in my twelves' tone, sustain, etc. after having the bridges switched over to the twelve-saddle Ric bridge. What I have certainly noticed is a serious change for the better in intonation. I have a good photo spread of the twelve-saddle installation that M.A. did on my current twelve. It's covered in the first dozen pictures in this folder.

http://webpages.charter.net/tbradshaw/Arnquist%20Mods/

The bridge is moved back in order to keep the saddles more in the center of the bridge channel plate once the guitar is strobed.

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:46 pm

Wow. Great post and pictures. Really hard core. I don't know if my playing would be worthy of all that. Is that just the new nut or did you modify one? Thanks for the great pic and I will post a pic when I get the 620 and show you what Ed Romans did with it.

teb · Post by **teb** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 11:47 pm

The work was done by Mark Arnquist in Seattle, who is one of the top Ric twelve mechanics in the world and who specializes in making them more playable for folks with big hands that don't fit well on the standard nut/string spacing. The intonation was also pretty bad on this one when it went in. I did the easy stuff, like making the pickguards and wiring, but Mark did all the serious work. It wasn't cheap, but the difference in playability for somebody with big, flat-ended fingers is truly amazing.

shackleton · Post by **shackleton** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 8:12 am

I noticed the pick guards. Really nice. Have you made them before? Would you make more? Also I am still not sure what you did to the nut? I am thinking or ordering a nut as soon as ric opens the parts dept. again.

teb · Post by **teb** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:43 am

Before I got it, somebody had switched the TRC on this guitar to an older back-painted one. I wanted the guards to match, so I built them from clear plexi and painted the backs white. Once they were on, I noticed that they looked a lot richer than the originals, which were made from the current, white-colored plexiglass. They have a nice luminescence that the colored plexi doesn't give you. If you then polish the edges well, you also get some interesting lens effects that make the edges glow, depending upon what kind of radius you put on the edges and where the light source is located.

Make more of them as in "for money"? No way. Too much work - but Tony at Pickguardian can make all varieties of them and does great work for fair prices.

Arnquist built the new nut to have tight pairings and the widest string spacing that would possibly fit on the neck. That's also the reason for the re-fret. Rather than stop short of the neck binding, the new frets extend all the way to the edges of the neck. Otherwise, with the extra-wide nut spacing, the strings would have been falling off the ends of the frets while playing. He knew that I was planning on sending this guitar out for his regular package of modifications and e-mailed me a photo spread of a full-width re-fret on another twelve to see if I was interested. I decided to try it and in my case, it was worth every penny. I've wanted this guitar for forty years. Getting it was wonderful, but getting it modified so that my fingers actually fit on the fingerboard, so that I wasn't fighting the string spacing and could just play the darned thing, was pure heaven.