Kahler Trem Systems

Kahler disappeared for a number of years, but when I first came across them back in the 80's they were the ultimate smooth trem, with a number of unique quality features. They are back in production and I have a small stock.

Fishman Pickups

Fishman pickups are probably the most widely used and reliable undersaddle pickups available - they have a variety to choose from, but most guitars will take a Fishman Matrix pickup and preamp combination. 

A Matrix with fitting works out at about £140 - and are normally in stock.

Graphtech  Stringsaver Saddles

These are the answer to string breakage and are available for most Vintage and Modern bridges - Strat/Tele and Tunamatic styles.

Graphtech Ferraglide Saddles

Steel saddles with the advantage of Ferraglide material inset into the saddle. Gentle on strings but with the advantage of a metal saddle.

Graphtech Tusq Bridge Pins and Saddles

These not only look good, they improve the tone because of improved acoustic transfer over plastic or bone. Martin,Taylor and many others already use this material as standard. Also available as a nut material.

Bigtone Pickups - are used extensively for Gypsy jazz / Selmer Macafferri type guitars. They are fitted internally into the floating bridge, when I say fitted, it is quite an involved process whereby the top of the bridge has to be sawn off, routed and the pickup encapsulated in epoxy - the top is then glued back on. The photo shows the bridge prior to the top being glued back on. The pickup itself is in the £65 region and fitted with a bridge approx £140 - contact for exact prices.

The top photograph shows the actual Bigtone element alongside a Bigtone fitted into a Dupont bridge (top removed to show element). The next photograph is a Bigtone fitted into a "Gitane John Jorgenson" model bridge.

D-Tar is the result of an association of veteran luthier Rick Turner (Alembic & Rennaissance guitars) and Seymour Duncan. What a combination!

I've recently installed a number of the Timberline and Wavelength systems in guitars and have been amazed by their accuracy.

Another great idea from them is to power the preamp at 18v which makes a massive difference to the overload characteristics of the electronics - the result is much higher headroom, you can attack the guitar normally without the piezo quackiness. 

Another major advantage of the D-Tar onboard preamps is the facility to take another input apart from the undersaddle element. A magnetic pickup or internal mic can be connected to this input and routed out of the guitar from a stereo jack - the tip carries the undersaddle signal and the ring outputs the auxilliary mic or magnetic. Shown is a very high quality  Audio Technica condenser lavalier mic which works superbly - it's fastened to the internal strut with a small strip of velcro which also serves to isolate the mic from extraneous body noise - the combination sounds incredible. I can supply the mics on their own for about £60. Click on the photo to take a look at the specs.

The Fernadez - FSK 101 sustainer kit adds infinite sustain to a guitar equipped with a humbucker in the neck position. The replacement kit supplied humbucker acts as a pickup or alternatively a sustainer. Often major surgery is required to fit this system, if you feel up to it I can supply the complete kit or contact me for a quote!

Alternatively this is the Fernandez - FSK401 sustainer kit for a guitar routed for single coil neck pickup and humbucker bridge combination. Again there is quite a bit of routing and wiring required to fit this kit, contact me for details.