Gretsch Melita bridge
The Melita bridge also known as the 'Synchrosonic' was a new design of archtop guitar bridge from the 1950's which you will see on countless Gretsch guitars from the smaller bodied Jet models, up to the White Falcon.
What is different about it? Firstly the standard rosewood type bridge foot is replaced by two linked and independently moveable feet, connected by a steel flat blade spring.
The next difference is the top of the bridge, it has for each string, a moveable saddle which can be slid back or forward to give the correct intonation. The position can then be saved by doing up the round button on top of the saddle.
The Melita was an alternative to the Tunamatic type of bridge and also offered better string intonation than could be achieved from a standard bar type bridge. One small drawback was that the raised screw caps made palm muting of the strings at the bridge tricky. It was also possible to catch a sleeve on the exposed screw caps too.
The saddles on the Melita above are nylon and stainless steel ones are also available to fit to give more sustain.
The Melita looks and impressive piece of hardware and Gretsch now produce this to go on their guitars. The bridge does have that 50's look which may appeal, I prefer a Space Control to the Melita, although it does not have the intonation allowance, but you can't have it all.
No comments:
Post a Comment