Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

DesertDawg wrote:With modern materials Bigsby would have made the bridge totally rigid but employing Teflon saddles. The bridge doesn't move at all, but the strings slide on the slick, but tough, Teflon. It's THE way to go for the modern Bigsby player.

Sounds interesting. I had wondered about that. Has anyone made such a bridge?

jps wrote:http://www.graphtech.com

This is getting more interesting all the time. Do the saddles fit the bridge in my 1982 320? They only show floyds and tune-o-matics in the photos.

Ricks are probably not on their radar but if someone were looking for such saddles, perhaps a call to them might produce interest.

I'd call them first but you can probably re-work a Teflon saddle with a file to fit a Ric bridge.

DesertDawg wrote:you can probably re-work a Teflon saddle with a file to fit a Ric bridge.

I sent in an e-mail enquiry about just that, will let you know what they say
Their nut looks great.

you'll have grounding issue, those plastic saddles are non-conductive.

Possibly, but you could easily ground the tailpiece instead of the bridge.

I got a nice reply from Graph Tech:

(quote) Hi Kira.

Thanks for the great pictures. We've come up with a couple of options for you...

1. We have the PS-8550-00. There's no picture of it but it looks exactly like the PS-8500-00 except without the hole, of which you can have a luthier drill and tap for you.
2. A 4" saddle slab, PQ-9125-00, and have a luthier cut, drill and tap into saddles to get a perfect fit.

All of our saddles are non-conductive, which shouldn't cause any problems as long as the bridge or tailpiece is grounded (and of course the strings). I hope that helps somewhat. You can always call me if you like at 604-940-5353 ext. 30

Best of luck,

Jon Jenkins
Sales and Customer Service
Graph Tech Guitar Labs
604-940-5353 ext. 30
(unquote)

The blank nut and bridge slab are about $11.00 US each, while the set of blank saddles is about $32.00
Not costly to find out. I'd like to check out a slab of that material.

I hope this works out well for you; the lead guitarist in my covers band has Graph Tech saddles on most, if not all, of his guitars.

Nice reply you got there Kira.

I'd personally get a slab saddle and work from there. Teflon machines quite easily so some handy work with a small hacksaw, a file and a thread tap should work really well.