I'm making an axe to replace one that a friend has fond memories of. It had a tele style bridge cut for a humbucker. The bridge is different from any I've seen in that the pickup is spaced much closer to the saddles than normal. The edge towards the neck looks to be about 3/4" wide. My friend swears there was a Music Man logo on this bridge, but I can't find any thing like it on this site or anywhere else. Anyone ever seen this bridge?
- Thread starter dugg
- Start date
Thanks INMT. I've been searching Harmony websites. So far no hits, but it's a fun study never the less. I never knew Harmony has been around since the late 1800's! Seems like Harmony didn't make too many custom shaped bridges.... I'm starting to consider getting a custom milled plate. It's really quite a puzzle, where this bridge could have come from. I posted a query on another big forum for instrument builders, and got highly critiqued for even wanting such a bridge! Various trolls highjacked the conversation and tried to turn it into a discussion about pickup placement, and how no one in their right mind would place a pickup so close to the bridge. I immediately thought of some MM models like the Axis that have extreme PU placement. When I mentioned that to my friend who owned the 'lost axe', he said that he remembered that the bridge WAS a MM, but I'm starting to think that my talking about pickup placement just planted that idea in his head and that another source, like Harmony, is more likely. Any one else got a clue?
andynpeters
Well-known member
Maybe the MM stood for Mighty Mite who made quite a lot of cheapish hardware back in the '80s
jamminjim
Well-known member
Yup andy is on to sumpthin there....most likely it's a Might Mite if it says MM on it. I recall they did make a bridge like that at one time. Don't know if they still make parts but they weren't too bad. Their website is still up. I used a MM body and neck to build my first homemade guitar which was a tele clone. It was a pretty nice little guitar, but the neck pocket wasn't the tightest. It did play well however.
MightyMite-2006
these tele hummer bridges are easily found on ebay
Chrome Humbucker Bridge for Fender Tele Telecaster - eBay (item 350108683156 end time Oct-18-08 10:49:18 PDT)
telecaster bridge, Musical Instruments, Fender items on eBay.com
Ya know yer friends old tele with a hummer was probably pretty bright/icepick-ish with the pup closer to the saddles like that. Maybe the humbuckers are all a little farther away in these newer bridges because they sound better that way. Or could it be that the distance between the saddles and pup are near the same and the old bridge just had a wider top part? Might have to have one custom made to your specs if you can't find one.
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Butch Snyder
Well-known member
Thanks, andynpeters. I went to the MightyMite site but the newer tele bridges are similar to stock. I'll keep searching for 'vintage' mighty mite bridges, maybe something will turn up. The normal humbucker cut tele bridge is not what my friend is looking for. The picture I posted is blurry, but you can see the thick edge at the top, which is quite different from the standard HB cut. Also, the plate looks a little long compared to a normal one, doesn't it? Thanks again to all for your attention, this site is jammin 
jamminjim
Well-known member
dugg - the old hummer bridge plate doesn't look much if any longer than a regular tele plate. Compare where it lines up with the control plate to any other tele.
I just got off the phone with my friend. He says it said 'music man' on it in full letters....(!) It was years ago that he had this axe, but this guys memory is very good, I doubt he's wrong. jamminjim, I think you're right. On second inspection, it does look about the same. Grrrr
John C
Well-known member
I just got off the phone with my friend. He says it said 'music man' on it in full letters....(!) It was years ago that he had this axe, but this guys memory is very good, I doubt he's wrong. jamminjim, I think you're right. On second inspection, it does look about the same. Grrrr
Unfortunately in this case your friend's memory is faulty - Music Man never, ever made a bridge like that. Not in the Leo era, and not in the EB era. That I can guarantee, since Music Man in any incarnation never made parts for other companies. The Leo-era bridges were kind of similar to the the saddle-lock bridge G&L still uses today. EBMM has used either trems or string-through bridges more like a Strat string-through bridge. They never had one with a bridge plate like a Tele.
My first thought when I saw the picture was Mighty Mite (from your friend remembering at least two capital Ms). It seems like Mighty Mite, Schecter, Charvel (back when it was Wayne's music shop and parts store), and DiMarzio all sold a similar bridge. I remember seeing quite a few Schecter Teles with that style bridge back in the late 1970s/early 1980s. A lot of imports had that style bridge as well.
jamminjim
Well-known member
Was the "Music Man" logo removeable? Or was it stamped or milled into the metal?
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John C
Well-known member
No, the "Music Man" was always stamped into the bridge. Actually, I just can't remember if the old Leo-era Sting Ray guitar bridge had "Music Man" stamped on the "lip" at the back of the bridge or not. The Leo-era Sabre bridge did have "Music Man" stamped on them, but they didn't have the "lip" and were more like Leo's later G&L Saddle Lock bridge.
The EBMM-era bridges also have "Music Man" stamped on the "lip" at the back of the bridge
However, no Music Man bridge had the Tele-style plate that surrounded the pickup.
I think you're right John C, no Music Man bridge ever had that tele style plate that I've seen. I've searched quite a bit for the Mighty Mite bridges and found none that have that close position of the PU, but I'll start researching Charvel, Schecter and Dimarzio right pronto. Thanks again everyone!
