1963 Sidejack Roller Bridge question

[Riv]

Hi everyone-

I'm new here, so please forgive me if this is common knowledge or something.

I have an original '63 sidejack which has seen some better days but still has lots of life left in it. One thing I'm not sure about, however, is the roller bridge. Obviously being this early it's possible that it's just not that refined, but I would like to describe it and make sure it sounds right.

The saddles and rollers seem correct, but I'm not completely sure about the baseplate. It seems kind of rough to me. The shape seems right, but it seems flatter than the neck radius. Actually, it seems like one of the "ears" is bent slightly up and I don't see any curve to the radius with the naked eye.

The screws are slotted and instead of acorn nuts on the ends it has round nuts that have solder closing them off, if that makes sense. The bottom of the bridge has "mosrite" scratched into it rather crudely. At the raised points of the scallops on the front and back there are definite tool marks.

It looks rather hand made.

Does this ring a bell with anyone? Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Bob Shade]

That is the correct bridge. Originally the bridges were flat with no radius. The saddles were then made with different depths for each string to compensate for the radius on the fingerboard.

That radius to the bridge deck changed in 1965 at an attempt to sure the buzz that can happen between the bridge deck and the roller saddle over time.

Your non acorn nuts with solder tips were only produced in 1963 on the Ventures model.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[Riv]

Thanks Bob!

I'm glad to have it confirmed!

In other places I found into regarding the order of the saddles with the wider gapped rollers under the lower strings, etc. When I got the guitar the order was different so I changed it.

I assume that was the correct move?

Is there any way to have the bridge flattened? With the one ear tweaked up slightly it actually has a bit of a negative radius.

Thanks!

[Bob Shade]

There is 3 different size gapped roller pairs. The widest pair go to each "E" string. The next widest pair go to the "A" and "B". Then the smallest pair go to the "D" and "G" strings. This creates the correct radius for the fingerboard.

You can take the saddles off and carefully bend the bridge deck back into shape with a piece of hardwood that will fit in the bridge deck and a vice.

Bob

[Riv]

Thanks Bob!

On this one there are 2 wide ones, three narrow, and one that's in between.

Any idea how to properly reassemble it?

[Bob Shade]

I would assemble it as it normally would go, but use the 3rd narrow one on the B string.