https://www.tuffsetbridge.com/?fbclid=IwAR2TF8ete1o_BZL583KQwlSNAtLsszXjEUqSXWOBWy_lSkRt4NkRyZnpBHE

Interesting new offset bridge. No affiliation, just sharing. What do you guys think?

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:31:38

Tqi wrote:

I see not much appeal in this. Seems to be all about fine tuning the radius - but; my radius is 9.5". A 9.5" bridge is fine. This feels like a product that is chasing the wrong market - that visual design quite closely matches the Les Trem II. They're also chasing sustain - I don't care, this is a Jaguar. This looks like it could have been an interesting design paired with a post solution for AoM guitars. This could have been interesting for pairing with an LT2 or on a JMJM. For a normal Jaguar? Nah.

Bonus, all they're offering right now is a promise that you can't have one unless you let them spam you with anything they want to in the meantime. That rankles - if you just want a slot in the purchase queue you should be able to have that.

The only way to guarantee a Tuffset Bridge is to join the mailing list. We’ll keep you up to speed on developments, and send you a personal invitation to purchase the bridge as soon as it becomes available.

Fuck'em.

Whoa, pump the brakes bro. This is a one man operation who has been working for over four years to make a proper mass-produced product, something he's never done before. he is an active member on OSG and does many amazing builds from scratch with his own designs. This bridge started as a concept years ago, with tons of input from many other offset users. He has traversed the world of patents and machining and deserves a little more credit before being castigated. He's also a super duper nice guy, all of his customers love him. The email list is not a fucking spam list, it is to let the first customers know when the thing is ready. Would you enjoy getting multiple emails per day asking when it will be ready, or would you rather have people sign up and send one email? This dude does not have a business with new products all the time and shitty sales bullshit. It is a one-man operation who is a guitar builder entering the world of third-party offset bridges. That's it. He does not sell the email addresses either. Believe me I would never give out my email to anyone that had any type of spam activity. My inbox is clean and gets zero spam. But bro, no one is forcing you to sign up. You can check the website on your own time. What a specious complaint that is!

The bridge itself may not be for you, but it sure as hell is for me! The only thing I don't like about the Staytrem is that I cannot adjust the saddle heights, and this solves that. You might as well focus your hate on the mastery product as well, because they did the same thing but in my opinion, but not as well. I prefer a rocking bridge, but do I go around yelling about how outrageously expensive the Mastery is? No I don't! (I do rage about their customer service, but not their product.) This bridge also features one amazing element that I've never seen in any bridge anywhere, which is the ability to lock every single thing down with one screw on each saddle. To me there is a lot to like about this and I can't wait to get one. I have three Staytrems and two Masterys and an '67 Jaguar bridge, and this looks like it will be better than all of them.

I mean, how would you feel if you worked years to make something like this only to read shit like you just posted?

Read this thread and and perhaps it will change your mind:

https://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=111312

Daniel Deathtide

Last edited: Aug 08, 2023 11:18:39

DeathTide wrote:

Tqi wrote:

Fuck'em.

I mean, how would you feel if you worked years to make something like this only to read shit like you just posted?

Not sure how I'd feel, but I know what I think from reading this thread: "Welcome to the internet, bro."

FWIW I think the bridge is a cool idea and it looks well-made, so I saved the link in my bookmarks in case I ever need to replace a bridge. Neat idea being able to tweak the radius, that opens up possibilities for partsmaster builds for sure.

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Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

chiba wrote:

Not sure how I'd feel, but I know what I think from reading this thread: "Welcome to the internet, bro."

Not on this site, that shit is not a staple here. In fact, it's only this site and one other one that doesn't have dumbasses posting their useless thoughts every second. At least it used to be that way.

Samurai wrote:

I’d prefer Staytrem

How can you possibly know this until you try it? Or are you just talking about aesthetics? I understand that, the look of the ST is beautiful. This Tuffset is more futuristic, kind of terminator or almost steampunk. I think this bridge would look better than a ST on this build:

Daniel Deathtide

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:31:26

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Last edited: Feb 02, 2024 16:30:59

IceratzSurf wrote:

But I have to ask, why if there are only basically 2 radius in production and vintage built of either 7.25 or 9.5 radius, why not design 2 different bridges set to those specifications and remove half the engineered adjustments?

Change has to start somewhere. If all there is available is 7.25 and 9.5, nobody can do anything different. We all know guitarists can be stuck to traditions, but the idea of a 9.5-to-12 radius on a Jazzmaster is a pretty fantastic one in my mind, and it would require something besides what is already available - something like what this fella has come up with.

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Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!

There is definitely some need for a bridge that can be adjusted to a different radius. In particular, I'm thinking of Warmoth necks, which have a 10-16" compound radius. This bridge would be a great option for someone doing a custom build with one of those necks or some other custom neck.

A second reason it would be useful is if someone had a guitar and wanted to switch the neck to the other standard radius, like 7.25" switch to 9.5" radius, or vice versa. Then they wouldn't have to shell out for another bridge.

Hello all!
I'm Dan the inventor of the Tuffset bridge, I thought I'd pop in and clarify some things (there are some great questions here already!), and generally to be available and answer any more questions you might have about the bridge. Thanks for having me!

The first thing I'd like to say is, I don't intend to create an awkward atmosphere by turning up unannounced! It's absolutely fair and reasonable that different people have different opinions, and this bridge isn't going to be for everyone. If you love the bridge you currently have on your guitar and couldn't imagine it being improved, that's the ideal situation as far as I'm concerned!

I'd also like to reach out to tqi and say I would really welcome your input if you are happy to continue to post on this thread.

I've been on forums for a long time, and I know what it's like - I've been "that guy" before, and I think a degree of scepticism (or even cynicism) is actually wise when a new product like this comes to market, especially with so many Offset bridges coming out of the woodwork in fairly quick succession.

I believe it comes from a place of protecting others from getting carried away with hype and making uninformed decisions, and I can't hate that. I guess I'm also here to prevent people from making uninformed decisions, because the last thing I want is for someone to purchase the bridge thinking it's something it isn't and being disappointed - so I think we're all on the same team really

As I said, some excellent questions! Excuse me if I don't quote them all directly, but I'm noticing a few themes which I will attempt to tackle in some detail.

Firstly, on the matter of individual string height adjustment versus a "fixed" radius.

As others have said, it does open up the possibility of using the Tuffset bridge for those building their own guitars who might want to keep their choice of fretboard radius open. For instance, though I'm a "Fender guy" at heart, when I build for myself I almost always favour a straight 12" radius. Edwardsand brings up the example of Warmoth necks that want ~18" at the bridge, so we're happy to be part of the conversation for those guitars.

Perhaps Deathtide remembers from the original Tuffset post on OSG, I was all set to go ahead with a locking fixed-radius design at one point, but then the thread mothballed a bit. I'd like to briefly explain the series of events that occurred.

What happened is, I reached out to Michael James Adams for his thoughts on the design and he said it was disqualifying not to have the individual height adjustment, specifically when working on vintage guitars. The reason being that over the course of 50 years or more, after several fret levels it's anyone's guess what the "real" radius of the guitar is by that point (levelling usually being done with a beam and often unintentionally imparting a compound radius to the fretboard on account of the string spacing taper between heel and nut).

The authenticity of a rocking vibrato, both in feel and sound, has always been a really important aspect of the Tuffset project - so it was simply not an option to me for it to be sub-optimal to use on vintage guitars.

I had no choice but to take Mike's advice very seriously, and I thank him for his honesty. That took things in a different direction, and since the solution we then developed was potentially novel and patentable, that resulted in an unfortunate but necessary period of radio silence on the project.

Another reason (and this is something that's not on the website so I can't blame anyone for not thinking of it) is that we're preparing kind of a "deep-dive" into a retrofit kit (or kits) for AOM / TOM-equipped guitars, and of course these include Gibsons, Epiphones, Gretsches and so on that sport a range of fretboard radii that might be different from the usual 7-1/4" and 9-1/2". The goal is to have a range of threaded "thimbles" that fit into the existing bridge inserts on these guitars and lock into place, allowing owners of those instruments to enjoy the authentic rocking vibrato sound and feel as well.

So, second question: the nature of the "soft launch" and the website!

Believe me, I do understand the criticism!

Perhaps you're already getting the impression that I'm a waffly "details guy" at heart, coming as I do from the forum tradition and not the snappy Instagram / social media mould.

The fact is, I just had to contain myself, otherwise the website would have ended up as a 15,000 word essay on the history, engineering, benefits and drawbacks of Offset guitar bridges.

Perhaps that approach would have been more endearing to a majority of hardcore Offset forum folk who are already up to speed with things - but the website had to cater to a wider audience than a mumbling forum diatribe (much as my natural propensity is towards the latter!).

Something I am always reminded of is this - the customer is buying a quarter-inch hole, not a quarter-inch drill bit.

The manufacturer is a member of the "drill bit community", and thinks the strength of their product is in the carbide construction, self-sharpening edge, sophisticated metallurgy (for instance). I'm sure the manufacturer is a member of the "drillbit101" forum, and enjoys sharing expertise and high-level opinions with other likeminded drill bit enthusiasts all about how they are manufactured, what makes a good drill bit or a bad one. There's no doubt, if you want to know about drill bits, that's really the place to go!

But most of the customers don't care about drill bits - the customer cares about making a hole, and the drill is just their means of achieving that goal. I hope you see my point!

It's sort of a features-versus-benefits perspective. The drill bit enthusiasts can geek out on the features, because, as informed and experienced specialists, the benefits of those features are obvious to them.

But they are not obvious to the ordinary person - who has a problem and seeks the product to solve it.

A million technical details about the features of the product are only noise to the customer, who wants to know the benefits, i.e. that it can make a hole.

The compromise we landed at was to be fairly brutal with the word count on the website, aiming for a more efficient "marketing" sort of flavour to outline the benefits in a way that holds attention and engagement; whilst featuring the "heavyweight" stuff in a few articles that go to those who have joined the mailing list including diagrams and design philosophy in the run up to the launch proper, so that everyone can make an informed decision whether they would like to purchase the bridge when they have the opportunity.

The first of these "articles" hasn't been sent out yet, but it will be a broad summation of the problems many people experience with Offset bridges, people's ideas as to their root cause and the means many have used trying to "fix" them.

The second article will be about the important distinction between fixed-post/low-friction and rocking-post/high-friction philosophies, and the resultant qualities these embody in the instrument. What differences should we expect in theory, and do these hold up in reality?

The third one is going to be about the two separate jobs screws can do - either to locate, or to lock. Here we're going to go into some detail about the difference between pressure and force, and look more closely at the Tuffset's design.

After that, the "development updates" are going to be photos from the factory of the earliest production pieces and detailing the materials options - yet to be determined!

The current plan is to release these articles on "Tuffset Tuesdays". I hope they are not annoying to those who just want to wait for the bridge to become available, but I feel they might be informative to others who would like to understand in detail what the Tuffset philosophy is, where it's come from, and how it is embodied in the final design before they make a purchasing decision.

Having said all that, I also recognise it's a valid perspective to say "the website is full of marketing rubbish, and they're probably going to send me a bunch of spam"! That would probably be my presumption also; but I must constantly remind myself through this process that very much goes unsaid on forums because "everyone knows it", when the reality is that not everyone is already so knowledgeable or invested as your average enthusiast forum member - and many of those people also suffer with their Offset bridges and are looking for a solution.

Anyway, I'm very glad to meet you all and to see that the bridge is fuelling robust debate! And I'd like to reiterate my willingness to answer any questions you might have.

Cheers and best!
Dan

Last edited: Aug 11, 2023 11:18:53