Any downsides to top loaded tele bridge?

[revtime]

Regardless of what you do, that’s a gorgeous guitar…who made it?

Per your original question:
I like string-through better, but I can’t say there’s any major/noticeable difference in sound/tone…it’s more of a feel thing for me.

The sticker on the back says Stallion guitars. A division of Gsharp guitars. I have gotten pretty good at determining a solid "cheap" guitar from a garbage "cheap" guitar. Lets face it some of these builds are done by folks that have passion and knowledge, even if you have never heard of them.
I love hunting them down.

 

[Diamond_Dave]

Unless you really know what you're doing, this is almost certainly going to be what you get when you drill holes for the string-through.

 

[dogletnoir]

The difference is that you can't tell "I have a string trough body Tele".

You can if you have at least one of each.

 

[Diamond_Dave]

Wisdom from TDPRI.com

Drilling through body string holes help

 

[RXMoore]

I don't know how much practical difference it makes, but I hated the top-loader enough to do the string-through conversion on my Tele. I just found it awkward to change strings. It's not enormously difficult if you have a drill press.

 

[slabboardsam]

Unless you really know what you're doing, this is almost certainly going to be what you get when you drill holes for the string-through.

View attachment 633718

Vintage correct.

 

[dbb541]

I have both and don't really notice a difference. Both my top loaders are on pine tele bodies so it makes it hard to compare to my other tele's. Functionally, I've had no issues, I don't see string break angle as a disadvatage, the top loaders have plenty. I tend to gravitate to my top loaders because I like how light the pine bodies are, very resonant too.

 

[Nate D]

It’s pretty much the same difference between a maple and rosewood board or an alder or ash body.

 

[revtime]

So I worked with this guitar a bit tonite. Got the relief right and actions a little low for my tastes but not too bad.
The bridge pickup sounded like weak crap. I went looking for a bridge pickup to replace it.
Then I thought well before I spend a hundred on a pickup (the whole guitar was 150 mind you) Ima mess with pickup height......and viola there it is.
I am gonna change the pots, switch, and output jack. The pickups stay.
Why oh why didnt someone inform me a p90 is so warm and sweet sounding?

 

[Messhead]

I've used top loaders and, while I do think the E and B strings feel a bit slinkier on bends, I have never noticed any real sound difference. I did go through a phase with dual load bridges where I would string through the bass side 3 strings and top load the treble side three strings. I think I saw that Billy Gibbons did that and...well...Billy Gibbons.

 

[revtime]

I think this guitar deserves some upgrades. Really like the sounds its making.
So an obsidian tele wiring kit, some locking tuners, and this bridge.

 

[Wound_Up]

I think this guitar deserves some upgrades. Really like the sounds its making.
So an obsidian tele wiring kit, some locking tuners, and this bridge.
View attachment 634404

I just posted that same bridge in this thread I believe. Edit: yep. In my pic, it's the one with the lower holes. I removed a Wilkinson M-Series plate and replaced it with that one. And I just transferred my Gotoh saddles over to the new one.

It's working fine on my Indio Retro DLX Plus. One thing I didn't like about it was that the pickup hole wasn't the right size. I had to grind it back/open it up some more so it would fit around the Fender 62 Custom Tele neck pickup. It wasn't wide enough left to right or top to bottom.

Pictured below with new bridge plate ground for Fender pickup.



Nobody's gonna comment on those useless saddles? They took compensated saddles and de-compensated them with those slots lol. Unless people use the inclines next to the slots, which would mean the slots don't need to be there. If you use the slots, you lose the compensation from the inclined planes on each side.

Makes one wonder what they were thinking. Or if they intended for one thing to be done and and they screwed it up. Sort of like that M-series bridge plate. With where the string through holes are, it appears that they misplaced the plates when drilling the holes by putting them upside down. So the holes ended up at the top instead of the bottom.

 

[StratUp]

So I worked with this guitar a bit tonite. Got the relief right and actions a little low for my tastes but not too bad.
The bridge pickup sounded like weak crap. I went looking for a bridge pickup to replace it.
Then I thought well before I spend a hundred on a pickup (the whole guitar was 150 mind you) Ima mess with pickup height......and viola there it is.
I am gonna change the pots, switch, and output jack. The pickups stay.
Why oh why didnt someone inform me a p90 is so warm and sweet sounding?

We tried to tell you about P90s. We tried.

They are very nice in the neck. Well rounded. Play with the height to get the sound just right on those too. Don't miss the pole piece adjustments.

 

[revtime]

We tried to tell you about P90s. We tried.

They are very nice in the neck. Well rounded. Play with the height to get the sound just right on those too. Don't miss the pole piece adjustments.

Sometimes I have to be hit with the 2x4 to affirm it hurts. Lol.
Not sure what I was expecting with a p90. It looks cheap and ice pick inducing. Boy was I wrong. Not about the cheap looking part. It still looks cheap to me. But I have new found respect for them.

 

[revtime]

I just posted that same bridge in this thread I believe. Edit: yep. In my pic, it's the one with the lower holes. I removed a Wilkinson M-Series plate and replaced it with that one. And I just transferred my Gotoh saddles over to the new one.

It's working fine on my Indio Retro DLX Plus. One thing I didn't like about it was that the pickup hole wasn't the right size. I had to grind it back/open it up some more so it would fit around the Fender 62 Custom Tele neck pickup. It wasn't wide enough left to right or top to bottom.

Pictured below with new bridge plate ground for Fender pickup.

View attachment 634405

Nobody's gonna comment on those useless saddles? They took compensated saddles and de-compensated them with those slots lol. Unless people use the inclines next to the slots, which would mean the slots don't need to be there. If you use the slots, you lose the compensation from the inclined planes on each side.

Makes one wonder what they were thinking. Or if they intended for one thing to be done and and they screwed it up. Sort of like that M-series bridge plate. With where the string through holes are, it appears that they misplaced the plates when drilling the holes by putting them upside down. So the holes ended up at the top instead of the bottom.

I thought the same thing about those slots on a compensated saddle. Im waiting to install till all the parts show up. Then I will take a closer look and see if those saddles actually compensate.

 

[StratSounds]

My only tele is a string through body, therefore I assume it is sonically superior and have no interest in arguing the point.

 

[crankmeister]

A funny thing with the massive parts market these days is that Tele toploader bridges have ball end holes in better and worse locations.

Some string through the plate lower than the intonation screw holes and provide a pretty solid break angle.
Some all the holes are the same height.
Some string through the plate ABOVE the intonation screw holes and provide the weakest break angle possible, depending on neck angle/ relief/ saddle heights.

I’ve been waiting to respond to this thread because I just started playing my first top-load Tele a week ago.

Happily, though it was a fluke, when I ordered parts for my build I happened to order a bridge with ball end anchors at the base of the bridge, making for the best possible break angle. I was glad to not have to worry about drilling (and botching the job) six holes through the body.

All said, my top-loader feels a little slinkier than my two string-throughs. But I don’t notice any other difference.

 

[Believer7713]

If you really want to see a converted through body tele then look no further.

@GrooVey has one too but @El Gobernador has the original one HERE.
Mine is actually the third one of us but I converted 2.

 

[CAR63]

It’s a little harder mod than it seems. The top loader bridge isn’t as good IMO, but I have an Esquire, that I use a lot with the top loaded bridge and it plays and sounds great.

I have a top loader Esquire too , plays just as great as my string throughs . No real advantage to mod to string through . in my opinion .

 

[dirocyn]

Maybe I'll try top loading next string change

I'm very much, if there's  already holes there then I'd be obliged to use them

View attachment 633336

Will there be more sustain and less twang or vice versa?

Im theory, through the body should make the body vibrate more. Top loaded should feel a little slinkier. The difference may be pretty subtle.

Since you can string it either way, you could string it both ways at the same time and see if the difference is big enough for you to notice.