Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

This is for anyone with a newer Gretsch[preferably hollowbody w/Bigsby]and for the moment,I'm gonna hit Paul W. with the Q, cause he has one of the same Gretsches I have; the 6122-59.
I also have a recent White Falcon.The 59, I string with D'Addario Chromes/.011 set; the Falcons, I think I have a Fender nickel wound .011 set,plain G.Here's what I've noticed lately while practicing some scales and finger exercises; while I'm doing my alternate picking going up, then down a string[any string, doesn't seem to matter]I'm hearing, for lack of a better term, an accompanying tone that is being generated Behind the bridge, between the back of it and where the string ends at the Bigsby.Now, there isn't really a heck of a lot of angle coming off the backside of the bridge , and I'm not having strings pop out of the notch in the saddle, but you think there is a cure for this? It's not like really obnoxious, but it is noticeable.Anyone else experience this?

Oh, yes. On both my 6122-59 and my Tennessee Rose.

The 7th fret on both the D and A strings, on up the neck, are the most obvious. It only shows up playing unplugged, though.

It is, I believe, a peculiarity of the solid brass rocking bar bridge, with its round cross section--even in the string land areas--shallow string grooves and break angle; there's lots of energy making it past the bridge to the 'tween area. This does not happen on my Setzer or my 6120 JR2; they have adjustable Gibson-type bridges.

Which Tennessee Rose? the one with the real F holes and 3 knob cluster?Nice guitar, that one. For that matter, Any new Gretsch!I want More of them!!!Glad you mentioned the Tuneomatic type bridge; that woulda been my next Q....somehow I suspected that was the case.

No--fake F holes and Hi-Lo Trons. Most of my Gretsches are Filtertrons; I wanted one with HLs.

For me, the tune-o-matic bridge works best on the Duo Jet. I tried each type of bridge and it was the best at the end of the day for intonation. The bar is a nice nostalgic look, but the downside was intonation and the problem described above.

I've had this issue slightly with two of my 3 Gretsches. It's noticeable on my Tennessee Rose and Country Classic more so than Duo-Jet, but it's there. I'd definitely agree that it's the bar bridge more than anything else.

This is a pretty common problem on mandolins, probably because the pitch of the main strings is higher and the space behind the bridge is comparatively long. Sometimes you'll see a mandolin player with a hunk of foam stuck under the ends of the strings, aft of the bridge. That's why it's there.