Lightning Bolt

Top wrap v Tune-O-Matic guitar bridges: You can get into a mess of trouble here. There’s a perception that the intonation flexibility of the old-style lightning bolt design is inferior to that of bridges with individual or partial string adjustment screws, such as the Tune-o-matic. I’ve been wrestling with this somewhat idealistic theory for a while, but I’ve finally come down off the fence.

I’ve been experimenting with an LP Junior and an SG Junior, trying different wraparound bridges but always finding them troublesome. Often, they simply don’t go low enough, and actual intonation accuracy isn’t really possible. It’s fiddly, without delivering consistent results.

So I’ve reverted to the old-school lightning bolt design, named after the zigzag intonation pattern cast into the bridge itself. Unlike a Tune-o-matic, where individual saddles can be adjusted to alter the length of each string, the lightning bolt has a fixed compensation pattern. String length is adjusted only by rotating the bridge on its two mounting studs, moving the contact points for all six strings together. This is a compromise, but one that seems to work well enough in practice.

The picture above shows two Tune-o-matic-style wraparound bridges and a Wilkinson model that allows partial intonation adjustment on the G and B strings. I wasn't happy with it. More importantly, the mounting arrangements don’t allow the bridges to sit low enough on the studs, which limits how far I can lower the strings to achieve the action I want. All that extra adjustment flexibility is of little use if the bridge itself won’t sit at the right height.

Lightning bolt on the SG: Sits nice and stable. The wraparound feature provides good tension, and the intonation is pretty much OK (close enough for jazz) without a lot of messing about.

Lightning bolt on the LP: Seems well enough bedded in, despite not being under full tension because I’ve added a small tailpiece as an anchor. I did this a while ago, when I got fed up with the Wilkinson bridge. It's hybrid design and Allen screw slide adjustments made it too awkward to adjust, so I ended up using it as a dumb bridge.

The lightning bolt was added recently. I kept the unorthodox tailpiece, and the whole thing looks neater to me.

LBs are £10 on eBay if you're quick.