Gotoh sitar bridge setup info needed

[Robert Moore]

I am custom building an electric sitar and I am trial setting the bridge. This is my first experience with the Gotoh sitar bridge, and naturally there are no setup instructions for it-just 3 springs and screws plus the bridge itself. I know that these can be tricky so if anyone has experience/or has a guitar with the Gotoh sitar bridge, I need some measurements or at least a couple of questions answered.

The basic problem is that the intonation goes progressively sharp, going almost a 1/2 step up by the 12th fret, once any "buzz" is set. Adjusted without the "buzz" (front of bridge down) it intones correctly at the 12th fret. I believe that the buzz is created by the grove in front of the string plate being sloped slightly downward from the tail of the bridge, but that leaves me a bit mystified by the bridge itself. I am unsure as to why the single back screw hole is designed to recess the spring into the bridge causing it to drop down below the plane of the front two screws(closest ones to the pickup) while the front springs are not recessed at all. It seems to be backwards from what the design would call for. I would have expected the front two screws to have the spring recesses.
Setting the bridge up right now means that the front two screws are almost completely compressed and the tail side is very loose to the screw.

Any ones with any experience, please jump in with your comments.

Thanks,
Bob

[Satnam Singh]

I've had a lot of problems with this bridge as well. I've made some progress, but have taken a break as I'm planning on using a different neck for my next go round.

First the front screws are recessed because the hold the bridge down from the top, with springs underneath holding them up. The bridge sits over (on top of) the single rear screw, string pressure holding the back of the bridge down, so no recess.

I spent some time searching the internet a year or two ago for the bridge placement measurements. It might take me a while to dig up my findings. My recollection is the front screws needed to be 25" from the nut for a 25.5" scale, but its been a while.

Best bet is to examine a working Danelectro (note the scale length may be different than what your planning for). Next possibility is to consider that the sitar bridge was a drop in replacement for the rosewood saddle Danelectro bridge, so I've considered picking up one of those in order to determine bridge placement (the single witness point makes placement determination more straight forward). Keep the bridge for later, and you have your self a convertible!

There were some pdf templates of the Danelectro floating around the internet, which might help with bridge placement.

I believe the bridge is problematic by design as the bridge is not only convex in the string path, but concave along the string path, only the concave flutes are exactly parallel, while the strings converge, toward the nut. I found it hard to get good buzz on all strings due to this. I'm planning to use a neck with a very wide string spread at the nut, to see if that helps.

That said, some folks do get excellent results, notwithstanding all of these issues.

[Satnam Singh]

Another comment on the bridge: while I figured the intonation point of the gently radiused "saddle" would be near the back of the bridge my experience is otherwise, that is closer to the front edge (maybe 3/8 to 1/2 inch back). Which raises another question: if the saddle is radiused rather than being pointed like a standard guitar bridge, when fretting strings you are moving the witness point round the radiused saddle which may affect intonation. I believe this is among the reason many people have intonation issues. Sitars have movable frets so this issue can be fixed by the player.

[Robert Moore]

Thanks for the replies.

Setting up this bridge is a real learning curve. I started with my own body design and I realize that I had misconceptions about how the bridge works. After reviewing pictures online (I don't have access to an electric sitar) I discovered that the string angle takeoff on the bridge is very shallow. I am using a through-the-body string setup and I had engineered too much of an angle downward. The result was that the springs could not compensate for the downward force and fully compressed. After closely examining the Coral setup (I found a closeup picture of the tailpiece) I realized that under the plastic cover the string ends are raised up almost to the bridge height. I've temporarily made a raised tailpiece that seems to do the trick, so I am going to engineer a tailpiece that handles through-the-body strings at the right height. I'll post pictures once I am done. This is a learning curve that really shouldn't be lost.

Bob

[Satnam Singh]

Many Gotoh sitar bridge setups us a trapeze tailpiece, something you might consider.

[Robert Moore]

A trapeze tailpiece would be a solution but as you can see, my body design won't take it. You can see how I solved the issue by bonding together 3 pieces of pickguard material which raises the ferrules up to a correct height. BTW, it's in primer, in the pre-assembly/fitting stage, Once I get everything functioning right I will disassemble and paint the body.

[Satnam Singh]

Nice guitar. Kinda a Breadwinner thing going on.

I agree that less break angle works better with this bridge. Once you have the sitar effect/intonation issue down and have concluded you have the break angle right, you might consider making the tailpiece thing out of a harder material, either metal or a very hardwood. I would think it would be less likely to compress/distort over time.

If/when your really happy with the bridge setup, please post your lessons learned here. The "how-do-you-get-the-Gotoh-sitar-bridge-setup-so-it-intonates-and-buzzes right" question comes up again and again across the internet.