Hello, and welcome back to Mod Garage. Last month, we started to talk about the new bridge and saddles for our guitar, so let’s continue where we left off. In general, the two contact points where the strings meet the guitar are crucial and very important regarding playability, comfort, and tone. It’s always worth taking special care of the bridge and the nut on any electric guitar, and this month, we’re focusing on the bridge. Let’s break down the details of our replacement bridge and what we can expect from it.
The new bridge is much lighter than the stock model, which is great for getting a lighter-weight guitar. The overall weight of a guitar is a major factor for comfortability—a heavy guitar will add nothing to your life besides shoulder and back pain. Contrary to what you might read on the internet, science tells us it won’t increase sustain, nor add any “heavy” tone attributes to the amplified signal.
The thinner metal walls of the new bridge aren’t closed—a great attribute for reducing weight—and the double-cut “tapered walls” are a practical update, though some will disagree and prefer a bridge with vintage-style closed walls. There are countless bridge options for Telecasters, so find the best fit for your playing style. The edges of the short walls on my new bridge felt a little sharp, so I used some fine metal files and sanding paper to smooth them out. Your hand is resting on this surface, so you don’t want any jagged edges.
In addition to the classic string-through-body method, the new bridge also offers the late-’50s top-loading option, which means the strings are not running through the body but rather directly through the back of the bridge plate, giving you a gentler break angle. I recommend a bridge that provides you with both options. Top-loading your strings can give a feeling that some describe as “loose” and “rubbery,” but this route has its devotees, like the great Jim Campilongo, and it can make string bends a bit easier. Experiment to see if you like it or not. On my new bridge, all the holes for guiding the strings felt a bit gritty, so I spent some time taking care of any burrs.
The new bridge has two additional screw holes at the front, which is a very clever upgrade—two extra screws there will help join the front part of the bridge to the wood of the body. Speaking of screws, the stock bridge was attached with tiny, soft screws, which I replaced with standard-sized stainless-steel ones.
So why are these two additional screws a boon for our guitar? One of the most common culprits behind unwanted Telecaster feedback is the typical bridge plate itself. The Telecaster bridge system was designed in the 1940s by Leo Fender, and it was a crude design at best. Its function was to position the strings and offer a rough and easy adjustment of intonation and string height. Today, they don’t make them like they used to—the current-production Fender vintage bridge plates, as well as most budget aftermarket versions, are made from thin, hot-rolled steel in a deep-drawn process. This process produces parts very quickly and cheaply, but at a severe cost in quality. The steel used must be soft and thin to allow it to fold and bend in the corners, but sadly, this process creates internal stress in the material, which can bow the plate so that it can’t sit flat on the body. This often creates unwanted feedback on Telecasters.
The early bridge plates Fender made used a cold-rolled steel procedure to avoid this problem. Using two additional screws at the front of the bridge plate to firmly attach it to the body can minimize this issue. Our new bridge is straight as an arrow anyway, but it doesn’t hurt to secure it extra tight. To test your own bridge plate for any bowing, simply place it on a flat surface and check for wobbles. To level things out even more, I sanded the backside of the bridge, starting with 150-grit sandpaper and working my way up to 1,000.
Now, let’s have a look at the saddles. The classic T-style bridge sports three barrel saddles for intonation and height adjustment. As I said before: Crude at its best! Since this vintage bridge has two strings on each saddle, you’ll always be compromising on intonation. If you’re looking for perfect intonation, you should go with a new bridge with six individual saddles, like on a Stratocaster.
My new bridge came with three compensated saddles made from brass, which is the material used in the very early Fender days. These saddles are available in a large selection of materials, including steel, stainless steel, aluminium, diecast, and titanium, and also in compensated, uncompensated, smooth, threaded, and other configurations. (Differences between saddle materials are often audible when playing the guitar unamplified, but nearly none of these subtleties will present in the amplified tone.) For example, if you’re looking to shave off even more weight, I’d go with aluminum, but the brass saddles with my bridge are great quality, so I decided to keep them.
Our brass saddles are compensated for intonation in the most pragmatic way possible: slanted drill holes for the intonation screws. This not only looks quite vintage—it’s effective, too. The stock bridge uses a different compensation technique, which I described in my previous column. It works, too, but the look irritates me, and usually comes with some sharp edges. No matter what system you choose, take care to put the saddles in the right spot on the bridge plate. Typically, you can find an imprint on the underside of the saddles to indicate their position.
Our barrel saddles have a flat underside rather than being completely round, which makes it easier to do a low setup and—you guessed it— saves some precious weight! To make the surface of the saddles as glossy as possible, I polished them in several steps: first with a Dremel tool, before breaking the shine again with some super-fine Micro-Mesh to get to a used look without losing our smooth surface.
Finally, let’s talk about the height adjustment set screws, which are key for comfortability and tone. Depending on your preferred string action and the length of the set screws, chances are good that they’ll stick out a little bit from the top of the saddles. I find this super uncomfortable; bloody palms are not unusual with this quirk! Luckily, this problem is easy to solve.
These set screws are available in different lengths, and since they can make life so much easier for just a few cents, I recommend that you start building a solid collection of short and long versions. Rather than trying to level off the top of the set screws sticking out of the saddles, simply swap in a shorter screw and you’re done.
Take special care of the underside of the set screws, where they make contact with the bridge plate. It’s important to have the flattest, smoothest possible surface here—this is a spot where you can absolutely influence the amplified tone of your guitar. To hold these tiny set screws in place while filing and polishing their ends, I screw them into an old Telecaster saddle so they stick out, and lock the saddle in a vice afterwards. This way, you can work on the underside of the screws with files, sandpaper, or a Dremel. This takes some time, but is very important: I spent roughly 30 minutes with my six set screws, but I’m very happy with the result!
Next month, we’ll continue with our guitar’s pickup, electronics, and wiring. Our $259 budget for future investments remains untouched this month, but not for long! Stay tuned.
Adding a new dimension to the company’s product line, Laney has introduced the Prism-Mini portable stereo multieffects guitar amp and Bluetooth speaker. The compact amp delivers a full spectrum of sound with 100 presets, Bluetooth® control, and stereo depth.
The Laney Prism-Mini packs a full-featured digital effects engine, Bluetooth® connectivity, and rich sound in a portable desktop amp that you can take anywhere. With 100 presets (50 factory / 50 user) and six simultaneous effects, it’s ideal for practicing and recording, and includes a bright 1.77" full-colour screen and intuitive volume and parameter controls to make it easy to quickly dial in preferred sound.
You can jam along to your favorite tracks via Bluetooth® 5.3, practice in tune and on time with the built-in tuner and drum machine. The Prism-Mini’s rechargeable battery provides up to 14 hours of continuous operation. Available in Black or Blue - it’s the modern mini amp that feels unmistakably Laney.
With USB Type C power, true stereo 3-watts per channel output, and dual 1.5” woofers, the Prism-Mini delivers detailed tone from a remarkably compact body. The Prism-Mini is partnered with the new Laney Tone Wizard mobile app, which makes it easy to edit patches, manage presets, and control your amp directly from your phone or tablet. The Tone Wizard app supports Android and iOS Platforms.
You can import and export preset files, store your Prism-Mini patches and even load third party IR’s. It also has a built-in drum machine.
Key Prism-Mini features include:
100 presets, 17 amps
6 effects at once
Bluetooth capable
Built-in tuner and drum machine
Free Tone Wizard app (to control the amp)
Rechargeable battery offers 14 hours continuous playtime per charge
Laney’s Prism-Mini carries a street price of $149 USD. For more information visit www.laney.co.uk.
Canadian boutique builder MayFly Audio Systems has introduced the Déesse dual flanger.
The Déesse has two foot-switch selectable sides with independent Speed and Width controls. Set side A to be a classic slow flange, sent side B to a ring modulator sound (or anything in-between), and switch between them on the fly, live. It includes two knobs for controlling Manual and Regen function for both channels.
Like the popular Mayfly Goddess dual chorus, the highly versatile Déesse uses bucket brigade delay chips for its organic, immersive sound. These chips are expensive and a pain to work with, but MayFly Audio feels that this old-school tech still sounds the best.
Key features include:
Dual flanger with footswitch selectable sides
Separate Speed and Width controls for each side
Global Manual knob adjusts the midpoint of the LFO (Low-Frequency Oscillator) sweep, effectively controlling the range where the flanger is operating
Global Regen knob (Regeneration or Feedback) for controlling the intensity of the flanger’s the comb-filter effect
Old-school bucket brigade chips for unrivalled flanging sound
True-bypass switching
9-volt DC power operation via standard externals supply, 55mA – no battery compartment
Evocative artwork by Sabine Elliott
About the pedal’s name: Déesse is French for Goddess. According to MayFly “this flanger sounds like it has divine feminine connections, but we could not call it ‘Goddess’ as we already had a pedal with that name. So instead we named it after a mythical Québécois character who ranks right up there in the powerful, mystical, and la Femme category. Kind of like the pedal itself.”
The Déesse carries a street price of $215 USD / $295 CAD. For more information visit mayflyaudio.com.
Kemper GmbH, the creators of the acclaimed Kemper Profiler, have launched their next-generation profiling technology 2.0 — designed to deliver breathtakingly dynamic and lifelike amp captures.
The new technology is available in public Beta Profiler OS 14.0, a free software update for the Profiler MK 2 Series and all Profiler Player owners. With OS 14.0 also the Profiler Player will be able to create Profiles in the same quality as its big brothers.
For creating a new Profile of a treasured amplifier, over 100,000 individual frequency points are meticulously analyzed. The result is the most organic and authentic amp tone possible, preserving every nuance of your amp’s sonic character.
This new system delivers a truly analog-inspired measurement rooted in pure physics — not a simple approximation. Each Profile captures the amplifier’s unique behavior with exceptional precision, moving far beyond traditional “amp snapshot” territory, and the entire profiling process is much faster than you might expect.
The new profiling engine profiles the true dynamic behavior of any amplifier and cabinet using the longest and most intricate impulse responses ever implemented in a guitar amp profiler. It even captures the true cabinet bass resonance of a rig, widening the sound scape, and makes it user-adjustable for later tweaks.
When satisfied with this ultra-high-resolution snapshot, congratulations — the Profile is ready to go.
However, for those who are not satisfied with just a snapshot of their precious amp, the Profiler offers a rich palette of new, exclusive features that redefine and truly revolutionize what guitar and bass tone sculpting can be.
The technology includes these precision features and deep control:
Authentic Gain Detection: The Profiler determines the true amp gain during profiling, applying it directly to the Gain control for further tuning.
Faithful guitar-level response: Thanks to Kemper’s level-calibrated Profiler hardware, every Profile is guaranteed to respond exactly like the original analog guitar amplifier. On any Profiler model, with any guitar, at any time.
Cabinet Resonance: Real speaker and cabinet resonance are captured and can be adjusted later via the new Resonance Frequency and Resonance Intensity parameters.
Automatic Definition Matching: The popular Definition parameter is set precisely for each new Profile and remains fully adjustable.
Smart DI Profiling: Profiles created without a cabinet (via DI box or load box) are automatically labeled as DI Profiles. Simply add an imported impulse response or merge a cabinet from another Profile to create a complete Profile.
Ground lift on board: No need for an additional isolator box during profiling to prevent ground hum. Thus no coloration of the signal chain.
Flexible Routing: Send cabinet simulation to the PA while bypassing it on the monitor output and run a real speaker cabinet — or enjoy authentic stage sound through the Kemper Kabinet using its Speaker Imprint technology.
Intuitive Tube Stage Controls: Allows for modifying the tube distortion characteristics easily and musically.
Pure Cabinet Technology: Smooths out harsh or phasey high frequencies for a more natural, cab-in-the-room experience.
Cabinet Morphing: Transform cabinet size and character to explore new and unconventional tones.
Kemper’s patented Liquid Profile technology is the icing on the cake to make the Profile complete, transforming an amp snapshot into a moving picture. Liquid Profile adds the exact authentic gain stage behavior and the authentic tone stack controls seamlessly to the Profile when the target amp model is pre-selected from the menu. This turns any static capture into a fully interactive, living amplifier. Adjusting gain and tone controls exactly feels and sounds like with the real amp — the unmistakable behavior and feel of the original treasured amplifier.
As before, there is no need to own real tube amps to profile them at home. Professional Profile creators have their amps running hot right now. Coming up with the most amazing collection of authentic amp tones for the Kemper Profiler Platform.
The new Kemper Profiling Technology 2.0 is available for all Profiler MK2 models. comes as part of the free Kemper OS Update 14.0 for all Profiler models. Non MK2 models will handle the 2.0 Profiles at a lower resolution. For more information, visit www.kemper-amps.com.
When it comes to reverb, very few pedal manufacturers have done as much to reinvent the category as EarthQuaker Devices has over the past couple of decades.
The independent, family-owned company has a long history of opening new doors of experimentation for ambient adventurers with landmark pedals—like Afterneath, Dispatch Master and Astral Destiny—that have found their way to stages of every size the world wide.
Today, the sonic wizards at EarthQuaker Devices are expanding our aural universe once again with the release of the Towers Stereo Reverberant Filter—an entirely new entry into the pedal brand’s reverb product portfolio.
Perhaps best described as a “soundscape generator,” Towers sends your input signal into a unique set of resonant filtered feedback networks to create a massive stereophonic expanse that’s rich in movement and atmosphere.
Towers is the type of reverb pedal that will sound incomprehensibly huge and haunting with all the settings maxed out, but it’s also the type of pedal that offers virtually endless possibilities for the users who take the time to explore its wide range of sounds. There’s something really special about the textures the pedal generates when its subtler settings are explored.
The sheer amount of possibilities is thanks in part to the pedal’s three distinct modes of operation. There’s a Manual Mode, whichputs the player in charge of the filter frequencies and stereophonic movement. Then there’s Envelope Mode,where playing dynamics breathe and morph into everchanging filter movements. Finally, in LFO Mode, the playersurrenders control to a slow-moving oscillator that sweeps the filter frequencies andacross the stereo field.
And while anyone familiar with the brand’s history knows that Towers isn’t EarthQuaker Devices’ first or only reverb pedal, company President and Founder Jamie Stillman wants to ensure the market understands that Towers is a new type of reverb for the company and is by no means simply an evolution or fresh take on an existing pedal.
"I don't want people to think that we've redone the Afterneath, or that we've redone the Transmisser, or that we've redone the Astral Destiny,” Stillman explained, “Towers represents a linear progression of reverbs. It’s not an evolution of or update on any current or legacy device.”
Stillman is tight lipped when it comes to divulging too much information related to the secret sauce that gives Towers its unique voice, but did explain that the colorful, resonate movement that occurs in the reflections is created internally and isn’t the type of effect you could recreate with external hardware.
When it comes to the big questions most prospective purchasers ask themselves when trying to decide if they should buy a new pedal like “who is this pedal for?” and “would I benefit from adding this to my rig?” The answer is it’s really a pedal for any and every reverb-loving musician who is ready for something new.
In the case of Stillman—the architect of Towers—it was something he wanted because he really loves having resonant filter movements in the tails of a reverb.
Ultimately, guitarists, synthesists, drummers, vocalists, and all other types of musicians in search of an expressive reverberant voice are encouraged to make a journey into the Towers, because all who do will be rewarded with massive resonate experimental reverbs, subtle expressive reflections, and a lifetime of ambient adventures.
Towers is built by the skilled tone technicians of EarthQuaker Devices on the banks of the prestigious Ohio and Erie Canal located in the heart of the heart of it all, Akron, Ohio, USA.
Features:
Mode: This is a 3-position toggle switch that changes the mode of operation. Towers has three modes to operate in:
Manual - The filter frequency is manually changed by adjusting the Frequency control. This works across the stereo field, with the left channel opposite the right.
Envelope - This adjusts the filter frequency with an envelope that is controlled by picking dynamics. In this mode, the Frequency control adjusts the sensitivity of the envelope.
LFO - The filter frequency is controlled by a slow moving LFO, and the Frequency adjusts the rate. This mode also sweeps across the stereo field creating a slow panning filter effect.
Preset: Selects which user preset to use in preset mode, allowing you to recall your favorite mystical configurations.
Activate Footswitch: This turns the effect on and off.
Stretch Footswitch: Stretch slows down the entire digital system of Towers. As a result, the reverb length is doubled, the spectrum of frequencies is altered and a pitch bending effect can be heard throughout the morphing process.
