Godin 5th avenue wood bridge and neck radius

[Pam Tartino]

Years ago I changed the (plastic) bridge that comes with the Godin 5yh avenue CWII, I put a typical wooden one, the issue is that this guitar has an almost non-existent neck radius (16¨) and the bridge that I use if it comes with it, I give it quietly sand? (I would also do it with the p90 mic spacer that corresponds to the bridge since its height defines a string action too high for my liking) I'm using flatwounds .13

Thanks!!

[Endaro]

Hi Pam, welcome to the community!

I don't fully understand your question. I believe you're saying you bought an aftermarket wood bridge for your Kingpin and you're worried it doesn't match the fretboard radius?

If so, yes you can sand it, but I don't know that I would.

The question is, which side are you sanding? The fretboard might be 16" radius, but that doesn't mean the bottom of the bridge needs to be. Ideally, the bridge will match the radius of the part of the top where you're putting the bridge; you want it flush with as much contact as possible. It could be 16" in that spot, but it might be different.
So you could also try sanding the top, but it's a bridge and has string slots. It's the slots that would need to match, and that's a bit trickier.
Stew Mac, and probably others, sell string radius gauges which might help.

For myself, I would just make sure it fits the top and leave it at that. I think fretboard radius on a guitar is more for the hands, when fretting, than for the strings or their play-ability on the right hand.

[Doctor Jeff]

The OEM actually a composite bridge called Tusq, which is a porous resin fairly similar to bone. I have found that it works well with this guitar.

I would think a wooden bridge, especially ebony, would be denser, and potentially would transmit more sound, but not necessarily making a huge difference with a laminate guitar.

I guess my feeling is that the Kingpin is kind of package deal—laminate guitar, Tusq saddle and nut, P90 pickups. I personally like the sound and wouldn’t want to change it, but there’s nothing wrong with trying something different.

[entresz]

I put an ebony bridge on my Godin 5th Avenue, it was an acoustic one with a floating CC style pickup fitted to it.
Acoustically it sounded richer, the difference in the amplified sound was minimal.

I did have to sand the bridge a bit and adjust the radius of the saddle.