Interesting Stars Guitars tailpiece/bridge on Reverb

[hieronymous]

This showed up in my Reverb feed:



https://reverb.com/item/37706075-stars-guitars-alembic-brass-bass-bridge-1970s-rickenbacker-guild-starfire-replacement-bridge

I'm always on the lookout for something interesting to replace the harp bridge on my Guild AleM-85, but this looks more like it was made as a Rickenbacker replacement?

[gearhed289]

I've seen those over the years on Rics. Usually natural brass, so the chrome plating is nice on this one. Price seems steep.

[Soilandstone]

Hi!

We really appreciate the feedback regarding pricing and overall input.  My husband and I run the Reverb shop selling the bridge (Thorpe Collect Create). We have lowered the price to better reflect the market.

Yes, you are correct, these were originally sold as replacements for Rickenbackers. However, Chris noticed (having owned a few Starfires) that it seemed that these could very possibly work in that application as well. He's considered doing that himself. If it could work out, we think it would look awesome on an M-85.

We would be happy to take additional measurements and provide more pictures if that would be of interest.

- Jen T.

[edwardofhuncote]

Hi Jen, that's a cool piece there, especially with the chrome plating. With apologies for swiping your picture, could you please measure this distance from the mounting screw holes to approximate bridge saddle location? I believe Chris' idea might be right-on... this would be pretty sweet on a Guild Starfire or M-85. 


Thanks!

[Soilandstone]

Hi,
We did our best to get detailed measurements.

We measured the distances with the bridge centered within the tailpiece.
From the left mounting hole to the approximate center of the bridge (E side) we measured about 2 3/16”.
From the right mounting hole to the center of the bridge (G side) we measured about 2 3/8”.
From the center mounting hole to the middle of the bridge is about 2 1/8” (shorter because the center mounting hole is more forward than the other two mounting holes).

There is room for you to mount the bridge centered, forward or back within the tailpiece.
We shifted the bridge forward and backward within the tailpiece and determined that any of the measurements listed could be modified by approximately 1/16th-2/16ths in either direction, depending on how one chooses to mount the bridge within the tailpiece.

It would be great to confirm that this would work for a Starfire, M-85 or something similar. Chris has thought about this being a neat idea whenever we’ve come across these, but we have not tried it before.

Sincerely,
 
Jen T.

[edwardofhuncote]

Thanks Jen, I will dig my Project Starfire out tomorrow and apply these dimensions. I feel like it should work fine if I can figure out how to make the flat base make full contact to the top. Perhaps with a thin wood shim fastened to the underside, dished out a bit.  Very much like fitting a bridge to an upright bass.

Gears are turning!