Lets Talk Tele Feedback its killing me!

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bubs_42

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Nothing seemed to work killing the feeback and it all comes back tot he bridge. If I push the bridge down no feedback if I let off feedback. If I step on my od pedal its game over, feedback and in the bad way. I thought swapping the pups was going to do it but it didn't. I also took the bridge apart and made sure I got it as straight as possible for the most contact. Still same deal, its a six saddle fender bridge with the older round saddles. I'll swap it but I figured it I just drill a couple of little holes and screw it down it should solve my problem. 

Swapped Pups to Humbucking Dimarzio's

Straightened Bridge out

Retain Rubber on screws instead of springs

Tweaked and adjusted saddles to make sure all screws had down pressure. 

So should I swap the bridge or just drill and anchor it?

 
Swapping pickups and trying surgical tubing ruled those out. It's got to be that the bridge isn't flat against the body and vibrating. 

 
What type of baseplate (is it the vintage style and thickness)? If you haven't tried it, install one of the Allparts Barden tele bridges; they are thicker and also have the screw holes on the leading edge if you want to bolt it down.  That should eliminate the resonance if it was coming from the baseplate.

I had a similar problem with a set of Bill & Becky tele pickups - the bridge pickup went microphonic with any amount of drive or compression added.the pickups had a good reputation for being low-noise and they sure are since I took them out and put them in a drawer. Just could not get them to play nice with a vintage style baseplate (and I didn't have a spare Barden kicking around).

 
This is the bridge and yes it is very thin and easily manipulated. I was considering the Barden or the Hipshot Bridge. I was also thinking of half bridging it and screwing the pickup down to the body.

Jeff, I did stick and pick under it and that does stop it as well. I think replacing the bridge is in need as well as the tuners. When I went to restring it the bushings just started falling out. Multiple factors are sucking my tone. My other tele is just brighter and livelier but the neck is smaller 60's and this guitar in question is fatter 50's.

I've damn near come to just cleaning them both up selling them and going shopping. ;)   

 
Are your Teles homebrews?  I'd never heard of bushings falling out before with string changes, or thin and easily manipulated Tele bridge base plates either.  :blink: :wacko:   They ought to be solid as a rock, or should be anyway.

 
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Dimarzio Area T's are in all my Tele's. They're just a little noisy with high gain (not crazy high gain). I have 2 '62 type vintage bridges and 1 Barden bridge, and none of what has been described in the OP.

 
crunchee said:
Are your Teles homebrews?  I'd never heard of bushings falling out before with string changes, or thin and easily manipulated Tele bridge base plates either.  :blink: :wacko:   They ought to be solid as a rock, or should be anyway.
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Nope Mexican James Burton Telecaster. 

atomicwash said:
Dimarzio Area T's are in all my Tele's. They're just a little noisy with high gain (not crazy high gain). I have 2 '62 type vintage bridges and 1 Barden bridge, and none of what has been described in the OP.
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I have a few sets of tele's and so far the Josh's are my favorite and that is no lie. But like I told Josh when I ordered the set, I have no idea what good tele tone is so I keep buying more and trying them. My other tele is loaded with the Dimarzio HOT Area T and it sounds great but just like the Duncan 5+2 they just miss a bit of punch in the attack. 

hamerhead said:
Turn the damn gain down.
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You would be pretty shocked on how little i'm actually using. 

As of now I stripped everything off the guitar including the pick guard and neck pickup. So its just an ugly little Esquire with a Dimarzio Chopper. I wedged a pick under the bridge corner and slide a piece off a string pack under the corner. Tamed it down so it has to be the bridge. Just too flimsy so it will come off. The chopper is work in process, I will change the bridge and see how it sounds, not digging the string separation at the moment. That is one of the things that is great about a tele you can hear every string. 

 
bubs_42 said:
I was also thinking of half bridging it and screwing the pickup down to the body.
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Love the look of those as well as how it gets the bridge edges away from the playing hand! 

gesmith_tele.jpg


 
Fun-Tack.  Easy, cheap, effective and completely reversible. I've used it for decades.  Teles are near-perfect as-is, that kills the howling.

 
Yep - that plate vibration and sympathetic howling is brutal on those Tele bridge pickups.  Steve's fix will likely save you the expense of a new bridge, which may (or may not) fix the issue.

 
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I think tele bridges need to be well made... not too thick but hard as fugg... cold rolled steel and a minimum of plating on the back.

It's why there is a market for Rutters, Glendale and Callaham bridges that were made more or less true to the originals.

It's the most important part of your telecaster... the bedrock and foundation of your twang... this isn't where corners should be cut IMHO.

 
The Fun-Tack is the way...or drilling 2 holes on the leading edge which Fender does now on many Teles. 

Yeah, Fender bridges are cheap and prone to this....but that very cheapness, I believe is part and parcel to THAT Tele sound so much of us love. 

Let us know how it it goes.

 
I've been spending a lot of time with this guitar over the weekend. The heavier fender plate is otw along with the saddle upgrade. $60 upgrade is worth it since i'm not digging the bridge that is on the guitar and the 6 saddle bridge rides just far enough back to sit on the bridge screw, pitching all of my saddles toward the high he side of the bridge. I keep pulling the high e off the neck during a couple of songs. After the bridge is replaced we will see if I need to moved to 500k pots. The guitar is pretty dark in its present state. 

 
Send the old bridge out to be heat-treated. That'll stiffen it up (but may warp it some. ....it'll be a perfect fit then!).

 
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