GHOSTRIDER - Jim, who made the Tune-O-Matic Bridges on the Ghostriders?

[Refinement.540P]

I recently purchased a Vintage Sunburst GHOSTRIDER GR520 on E-Bay. I wanted to upgrade the pickups and change the bridge saddles to GraphTech graphite saddles. Determining which GraphTech saddles are the correct replacements depends on the maker of the Tune-O-Matic bridge. I'm assuming that the bridge is made by GOTOH but I'm not sure. The only way to be certain is to find out what's stamped on the underside of the bridge by either removing the bridge or trying to look underneath it with a small dental mirror. I was trying to avoid both of those approaches and started thinking that Jim Donahue would certainly know the answer to this.  The GraphTech website has a page that displays photos of 11 different Tune-O-Matic bridges.....some of them can be eliminated simply by sight. However, there are a couple of other Asian-made bridges besides the GOTOH. I seem to remember that the Ghostrider is Korean made, so I'm not certain that GOTOH was the manufacturer.  The GraphTech webpage for the bridges is:

http://www.graphtech.com/findsadt.htm

Jim, do you know the answer to this......or does anyone else out there know?  Thanks.

[gemberbier]

I'm pretty sure that Jim knows the answer, but whether he's got the time to visit the forum is another matter.
So I will try to help you out as good as I can.
First we take a look at that bridge in the catalogue:
http://www.ibanez.ru/info/catalog/1995/09.jpg
Well, I recognize that bridge. It is on my two Aria TA-61 guitars, which were made in Korea too, I think by Samick, just like your Ghostrider. The parts are also gold-plated.
So, I'll open a case to see how these saddles look like...
Well, to be honest, they don't look like any of the GraphTech saddles I see available in this webshop:
http://www.wdmusic.com/graph_tech_nuts_13502_ctg.htm
The top end of the saddles you need are quite narrow and tapered. I don't see that on any of the GraphTech saddles. Then the shafts are quite long, because these bridge slots have no bottom. So they go all the way down. Now, what's important, is that the hole should be on such a hight, that the edges of the saddle rest precisely on the metal of the bridge, when the adjustment screw is sticking through that hole, and there should also be enough space, to place these saddles next to each other.

I found this catalogue with the available saddles pictured individually:
http://www.graphtech.com/downloads/stringsaver/stringsaver_catalog.pdf
And although none of them is as tapered as the ones that are in my Aria bridge, the one that comes closest, is the PS-8615-00 (for Epiphone II).
Another option would be the blanks PS-8550-00 (need to be drilled and tapped, which is not without risk of breaking the saddle).

These saddles are not easy to replace. If you're lucky these PS-8615-00 will fit. I'd recommend to take measurements and/or take the bridge with you to a guitar shop (GraphTech dealer). Take one saddle out and lay them on the GraphTech saddle to compare width, hight, hole position. Maybe they will try, whether the new one fits into your bridge.

Actually, now I looked at your question, I'm glad I haven't had broken saddles on my Arias yet. I guess that ordering a new bridge through Aria is perhaps the easiest way to solve such a problem. But GraphTechs are really nice. I have at least 3 axes with GraphTech String Saver saddles: one Strat, one Epi Les Paul and one '78er Gibson The Paul that bought with damaged saddles. And I have one spare saddle for a 6 saddle telecaster from an incomplete set of someone who plays Keith's style I guess.


Ginger

[gemberbier]

I just found out that the the Aria bridge is called SPT bridge.

Ginger

[Refinement.540P]

Ginger,

Thanks so much for going to all the trouble and taking the time to help me out with this question. I will e-mail GraphTech and find out if they're familiar with a bridge that has that stamping. The other option, though more costly, is to replace the entire bridge with a GraphTech "Superbridge" that's already equipped with graphite saddles and which would probably be a definite upgrade to the existing bridge. In considering this, I wasn't really thinking much at all about breaking string saddles as I was thinking about the reduced risk of string breakage that's the result of using graphite saddles. Also, supposedly, the graphite saddles improve sustain as well.

Thanks again,

David

[gemberbier]

Stamping? David, that's a misunderstanding! I looked with my dentist mirror under the bridge of one of my Aria Pro II TA-61 guitars: no stamping at all.
I found the name in Aria TA ads, like this one:
http://www.promusicaustralia.com/guitar/Ariaelectric.htm
but also in older ones (Pro II).
I did a search on Google after I found the SPT name.
http://www.google.nl/search?hl=nl&client=firefox-a&channel=s&rls=org.mozilla%3Anl%3Aofficial&hs=o0l&q=Aria+Pro+SPT+bridge&btnG=Zoeken&meta=

There is not much room for stamping, because the slots have no bottom, very much like the TonePro, but then with a separate tailpiece. I didn't feel like taking the strings and the bridge of the guitar, but nothing in the mirror.

What if you press your saddle into wax in a small licorice box (Wybert or Lakerol or something like that)  in order to make a model (both sides and send that to GraphTech. But you can also lay two of them (show both sides) on the flatbad scanner next to a transparent ruler.

As I wrote, they do sell blanks, but there's a lot that can go wrong on shaping and drilling and tapping them. I wouldn't risk breaking that expensive material.

But it would be nice if they would develop saddles for the Aria Titan Artist series, which is a long running series (decades). Therefore they can produce the SPT saddles on a larger scale than just some saddles for the short-lived Ghostriders. Then they can make some money on them. If they are indeed the same, you are lucky.



Ginger