Welcome, Gearheads, to the first installment of my new column, Russ Spiegel’s For Gearheads Only, dedicated to taking a look at all those gadgets and doodads we musicians seek out in order to get that special sound for our instruments or recordings.
KTS PR-01 Set replacement bridge with titanium saddles.
Hello from KTS
A couple of weeks ago I received an email from Stan Bobrowski over at KTS Musical Products, Inc., asking me if I would be interested in testing one of their new titanium saddles for Gibson and Fender-type guitars. I of course jumped at the chance, which led to this review. Let’s hope there’s more in the future.
For Starters
While doing research for this article, Stan put me in touch with Hiroshi Masuda, who is the President of Japan-based KTS. Mr. Masuda was kind enough to answer a number of questions and filled me in on his company and their titanium-based product line.
Why Titanium?
KTS started out as a manufacturer of titanium products for various items, but Mr. Masuda, being a guitar player himself, was intrigued by the acoustic properties of this material. Titanium is one of the hardest metals around, yet its specific gravity is almost half as much as either brass or steel, and it can withstand much more stress than either of those materials. Mr. Masuda’s company conducted tests on the metal and discovered that titanium saddles tended to create a clearer sound due to the metal’s ability to produce stronger basic harmonics along with less cluttering of the higher harmonics (for more on this, see KTS’s sound analyses at: http://www.kts-america.com/sound1.htm). This promised better sound response from titanium-based products in general.
I won’t get too deep into metallurgy and the manufacturing and machining of metals, but one reason few companies produce any titanium products for musical use is that the process for the production of titanium is a great deal more involved and thus more costly than other metals. Thus, the KTS PR-01 bridge set lists at $92 in chrome and $115 in a gold-plated version. A comparable ABR-1 bridge replacement from Stewmac.com lists at $22.70/$30.78 for their chrome/gold versions with brass saddles.
First Step – Installation
After receiving my test set I installed the KTS PR-01 bridge on my Gibson ’63 reissue ES-335. The first hitch I encountered was a sitar-like buzzing when I tried to play my guitar. This has always been a difficulty with the ABR-1-style bridges and I curse the man who devised this rather problematic system. As I had learned from pro guitar repairmen, I then tried to crimp the retaining wire in order to increase its downward pressure (thus killing the buzzing), but, unlike my experience with Gibson ABR-1s, the retaining wire popped right off before I could do anything. A bit dismayed, I then tried to exchange wires with my ABR-1 but found that the dimensions were different. Ok, next idea: exchange the saddles. No go. No matter how I tried, I couldn’t get the KTS saddle to fit into the ABR-1. So, I went back and painstakingly tried to rebend the retaining wire, eventually succeeding enough to give it another try. I reinstalled the KTS bridge & saddles and it seemed the buzzing was gone for the most part, but another try at the restraining wire sent it flying off again, this time into my guitar’s f-hole.
The Test & Results
I eventually managed to locate the wire and used the bridge and saddles on a number of gigs. The results were astounding. I found that the dynamic range of my guitar had greatly increased. My quiet notes were quieter, and my loud notes were by far louder. In essence, it had become a far more dynamic instrument. My guitar sounded brighter as well. Alas, for me in a jazz setting, this was actually too much dynamic range and I opted to go back to the smaller dynamic range of my Gibson bridge with brass saddles, if only for the more typical jazz sound. Nevertheless, I would think that a titanium bridge would be a real advantage for Strat or Tele players and I would love at some point to give KTS saddles a try on my Blade Strat.
Final Thoughts
Whether it is a Gibson original or a replacement, the ABR-1 style bridge is problematic at best – the retaining wire often buzzes and must be carefully doctored to produce a clean sound. KTS uses an attractive chrome-plated Tokiwa zinc base but, due to patent restrictions, Gibson parts won’t work with it, nor can the KTS saddles fit into the Gibson base. There is a definite sound difference between the brass and titanium saddles, and I can only wonder how much more spectacular a sound would be generated by an entire titanium bridge, but can also conceive that this would be a very pricey product due to the high cost of manufacturing titanium.
Is it worth the cost? If you are a real Gearhead and have the money and want to jump on the high end of sound production for your instrument, I think you would be well served with KTS’s titanium saddles. I personally found the construction of the PR-01 bridge base unfortunately wanting and would suggest trying the Nashville or Fender styles instead.
The KTS PR-01 set comes assembled with a bridge and notched titanium saddles, and includes two posts and two thumbwheels.
http://www.kts-america.com/
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© Russ Spiegel, 2010
If you are a manufacturer or distributor of musical products (including software) Russ would love to check it out and write about it at “For Gearheads Only”. You can email him at:
russ@russguitar.com
www.russguitar.com
