660/12 bridge question

[kenf]

I've been spending a lot of time reading through the archives and ran across several threads about replacing the six saddle 12 string bridges with the twelve saddle ones.

A few of the posts make mention that the bridge is unattached to the top. Can anyone better describe this? How is the bridge position located if it isn't attached?

[deaconblues]

The bridge (fig. 1) sits atop the bridge plate (fig. 2), which has small divots for the legs. Modern plates can adjust forward and backward slightly to change intonation. You'd be hard-pressed to find a bridge on any guitar that is actually attached - classic archtop bridges (like a Gretsch) are completely unattached and require measuring to place in the right spot on the guitar.

Figure 1: A Rickenbacker bridge

Figure 2: Two bridge plates.

[kenf]

Perfect - thank you! All my other basses and guitars have one piece bridges that are screwed down - I wasn't quite sure what this was about, and I'm not about to restring just to find out!