Gold Tone LS-6 bridge - is this normal?

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

Hoping someone can give me a reality check on how the bridge seems to be mounted on the new Gold Tone LS-6 I bought. It looks like the bridge is rolling forwards towards the neck instead of sitting flat against the body. I haven't tried adjusting the two bridge screws but the the bridge doesn't budge if I loosen the strings and try to rock it.

Figured I would ask here before contacting Gold Tone. Can anyone with one of these comment?

Guy Cundell · From: More idle ramblings from South Australia

Well, it might not be normal. My eight string is maybe six years old and doesn't angle the same way. However, yours may have had a design improvement because, as you can see with the original design, you need a bit of bluetack to hold the ball end in position while you are restringing. Don't know, but if yours is sturdy, it would be an improvement.

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

I don't think it's an improvement - I had to use a pair of needlenose pliers to bend the ball-end and shove it under. The ball-ends are sort of held in place by the what I would describe as jagged, rough millwork in the retainer slots.

Overall Iâ€™m happy with the lap steel but I noticed a couple of oddities after getting it home and spending some time playing it:

1) A faint noise present when playing either of the two unwound strings that sounds like a cross between a buzz and harmonic overtone. It's not present when playing the wound strings.

2) The 12th fret harmonic appears to be 2-3mm offset from the 12th fret marker.

This is what led me to remove the bridge cover plate, and I noticed that the bridge appears to be tilted forward towards the neck instead of sitting flat against the guitar body, which is what I see when I look at pics of the LS-8 bridge (couldn't find anything with the LS-6 sans bridge cover)

If this is not by design, my laymanâ€™s conclusion would be that the strings are leaving contact with the bridge slightly behind the edge (which is slightly below the bottom of the strings at this angle,) and that this might account for both the intonation being slightly out of alignment with the fret markers, and would explain the overtones in the unwound strings due to the shallower break angle.

I shot the pics and info to Gold Tone just now after I registered the guitar with them. I know several people on here spoke highly of these and would be very interested to know if anyone owners can comment on the appearance of my bridge compared to theirs.

Jack Gentle Jr · From: Tennessee, USA

Doesn't look right to me.

On my 6 string Goldtone the bottom of the bridge is flat and the front of the bridge is tilted slightly away from the pickup so that the strings contact the front edge on the bridge. The front edge of your bridge looks to be tilted toward the pickup so the stings contact the top surface of the bridge instead of the front edge. This is the way a Sitar bridge is and is what gives a kind of fuzzy sound.

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

You rock, Jack! This is exactly what I needed to know, and the pic says it all.Thank you so much. Hopefully Gold Tone will either send me a new bridge or an RMA to have them remedy it.

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Quality control is not the hallmark of Asian mass market instruments. Sometimes their importers will make the necessary adjustments to ensure a modicum of playability. Unfortunately, that apparently didn't occur with yours.

For a few dollars more you can purchase a new RAM Speakeasy, built in Illinois by SGF member Ron Mielzynski. For quite a bit less, you can purchase a new Melbert from fellow Forumite Robert Allen in Tennessee. Neither Ron nor Bob would ever ship a new instrument with its bridge installed cockeyed.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Tighten the screws.

David M Brown · From: California, USA

I don't know why these makers just don't use string-through-the-body design.

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

Investigated the bridge and discovered it was loose: https://youtu.be/flG6SbnROZc

One screw didn't tighten firmly, so I decided to have a look underneath:

Wondering WTF was in the holes, I found this:

Okay, so it's a load-bearing scrap of wire Very Happy

I guess they were out of toothpicks that day, but the plastic coating on the wire wasn't holding against the wood fibers. Pulled that crap out and replaced it with matchstick-sized dowel pieces.

Decided to take a closer look at the bridge, which was decidedly rough in the channels and around the back where the strings retainers would fit (if you could get them in)

That looked a little too chewy for my tastes, but here was the kicker https://youtu.be/i1mHfziWoRI

I drew pencil marks all over the bottom of the bridge and went to town using some cheap harbor freight diamond plates. You can see the worst of the high spots here:

After a few minutes on the crappy diamond plates I moved over to a 1000 grit waterstone:

I finished by polishing it on a 4000 waterstone. With the bridge flat, I moved on to smoothing and polishing the string guides and correcting the shape of the string retainer channels. I did the rough work with a set of small needle files, then smoothed and polished with small 1000 and 4000 grit rounded slipstones.

While I was at it, I checked the nut and snapped these pics of the nut before reshaping and polishing the slots with my fancy torch tip cleaner nut files Very Happy

Needless to say, it sounds better and holds its tuning better as well.

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

Good for you! Very Happy

It's refreshing to see somebody taking care of a problem instead of just whining about it.

Charlie McDonald · From: out of the blue

I agree, good repair. Did you ever get the tailpiece flush?

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Excellent repair. Congratulations. Nevertheless, you shouldn't have had the hassle.

You should document all this on a YouTube video, and then sit back and wait for Gold Tone's offer to remove it.

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

Thanks for the kudos on the repair! I put the screwdriver to it as soon as the guy from Gold Tone tech support suggested it. And yes, the sole of the bridge leveled out quite easily. I'm sure the biggest gain came simply from tightening the screws and dressing the nut, but the rest was easy work.

I wanted to document the repair here purely for the sake of capturing the knowledge for others who may run into something similar. Still more tweaking to do, and I'll document anything interesting.

Ray Beck · From: Texas, USA - Resides in Pensacloa, FL

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

Ray,

Interesting that you mention the strings not locking into place, as so had the same experience. The underside of the slots did have a lot of burring, but I found this was easily corrected by shaping the slots with a couple of small needle-nose files. You could also use a piece of emery sandpaper

Justin Lee · From: Georgia, USA

Well, I managed to get a few months out of my last bridge repair but then the screws holding the bridge started lifting again:

This time I decided to go ahead and drill the holes larger for hardwood dowls:

So far it seems to be holding MUCH better than my previous attempts to use larger screws with deeper threads. Seems maybe the wood is a little soft.

In any case, the only thing left is a slight sitar-like buzz on the highest two strings, and I suspect the edge of the bridge might be slightly rounded. Has anyone got a recommendation for what I can try short of removing and regrinding the bridge? I remember reading that some people try putting small pieces of aluminum foil under the string where it leaves the bridge but figure someone reading this might be able to point me in a good direction.

Thanks!

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Russell Taylor · From: Dade City, FL

I had an LS8 I purchased from a forum member and sold it to another forum member about a year ago. It had the bridge angle like yours. I was going to convert it to a string-through-body set up, but never got to it. I still think that would be a good & simple solution.

Mike A Holland · From: United Kingdom

I had this string through modification done to my Goldtone. Apparently not too difficult. Just bought some Telecaster string ferrules and the right size drills......So much better to string and much more stable!
Mike

Joe Burke · From: Toronto, Canada

Mike A Holland · From: United Kingdom

It's a CC type pickup that was manufactured and fitted in the UK by John Blakey. Unfortunately John passed away earlier this year.....very sad! He was a lovely guy. The guitar sounds great now!

John McClung · From: Olympia WA, USA

Justin, great photos of the process you went through, thanks for posting those!
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C. E. Jackson · Posted 18 Dec 2018 4:30 pm

Justin, I have had several steels with this type bridge problem and here is my solution.

I cut a pencil the length of the hole on the underside rear of the bridge, and cover the
pencil with aluminum-foil. Then re-tighten the screws or if necessary use slightly longer
screws. This gives new level support, eliminates the problem and the foil does not show.

C. E. Jackson
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Godfrey Arthur · From: 3rd Rock

I may have had opted for threaded inserts instead of a dowel.

You could then use machine screws and stainless ones at that for more tensile strength.

Without flange

The Asian guitar makers tend to send out imperfect unfinished items as a first wave and wait for anyone to complain. This appears to be their business model no matter if it's a guitar, a professional video editing monitor screen, a flashlight.

They get rid of their stock no matter.
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Bill Creller · From: Saginaw, Michigan, USA (deceased)

Why delete it ?? Must be some of those instruments out there that may need this advice on repairs.

Good to see that the wood and metal inserts worked for the pulled screws. I would be inclined to use the metal type, but...whatever works OK..

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