Gotoh vs. Graphtech Resomax bridges

[The_Sentry]

OK....New thread. With a poll.

I got the Graphtech Resomax bridge for an Agile Dauntless. And this is a "before and after" video. I'd like to see if this works. As far as the premise goes, there's 2 videos: 1 video featuring the Gotoh bridge, and 1 video with the Graphtech Resomax bridge. For those who are wondering if it really makes a tone difference...you should be able to play and pause between the vids for the most immediate comparison I can think of.

Other things to note:

Amp: Roland Street Cube (black panel setting with tone controls at high noon.)

String height (measured at 12th fret from top of fret to bottom of string).

Low E: 5/64". High E: 4/64".

Gotoh vid:

YouTube - Gotoh vs. Resomax Part 1

YouTube - Gotoh vs. Resomax Part 1

Graphtech Resomax vid:

YouTube - Gotoh vs. Resomax Part 2

YouTube - Gotoh vs. Resomax Part 2

[Jason]

I don't have my headphones with me right now, but my general impression is that the Resomax sounds a bit warmer and the tone a bit "truer". It sounds like the Gotoh is adding some kind of high frequency, resonating overtones. I'll have to give a better listen with some phones though.

Cool vids, thanks for sharing!

[The_Sentry]

Originally Posted by Jason

I don't have my headphones with me right now, but my general impression is that the Resomax sounds a bit warmer and the tone a bit "truer". It sounds like the Gotoh is adding some kind of high frequency, resonating overtones. I'll have to give a better listen with some phones though.

Cool vids, thanks for sharing!

I'm kind of getting the same impression. But at the same time, it seems like the Gotoh was a bit...brighter. I think the most noticeable difference was with the fingerpicking vs. any other test performed.

[Jason]

Originally Posted by The_Sentry

I'm kind of getting the same impression. But at the same time, it seems like the Gotoh was a bit...brighter. I think the most noticeable difference was with the fingerpicking vs. any other test performed.

Yes, the Gotoh was definitely brighter, that was coming across to me. Some of the unpleasantness might have been from the way the camera's microphone was picking up those extra high frequencies. Sounded really harsh on this end. And yeah, the fingerpicking is where the major differences seemed to show up.

[The_Sentry]

Originally Posted by Jason

Yes, the Gotoh was definitely brighter, that was coming across to me. Some of the unpleasantness might have been from the way the camera's microphone was picking up those extra high frequencies. Sounded really harsh on this end. And yeah, the fingerpicking is where the major differences seemed to show up.

Well....cool. We agree on it!

I gotta admit somethin' Jason...I really, really wanted to see some sort of actual demo between the 2 products. I hear so much about "Just get a Gotoh, get a Tonepros...the graphtech saddles are great..."

I guess I'll have to play around with the silverburst some more...but there is definitely a noticeable difference in tone between the 2 bridges. (And I'm glad even the camera's bloody mic was able to pick it up...)

[JDouglas]

To me, during the finger picking it sounds like the fretted notes on the graph tech are warmer and were blending better with the open notes. In contrast the Gotoh fretted notes were much brighter an really stood out from the open strings but not in a good way imo.

[JDouglas]

On the faster strumming I like the twang brighter bite of the Gotoh.

[oldaxeman]

Thanks Sentry I noticed the same difference as Jason, though my ears are somewhat older and probably more abused

[xsouldriverx]

i dont know the price difference but i like the resomax better. the gotoh is a bit to shrill at times. can this be Eq'ed out with the amp? maybe but i generally enjoyed listening to the resomax recording more.

[The_Sentry]

Originally Posted by xsouldriverx

i dont know the price difference but i like the resomax better. the gotoh is a bit to shrill at times. can this be Eq'ed out with the amp? maybe but i generally enjoyed listening to the resomax recording more.

Yeah...the Gotoh did seem shrill on some spots. I suspect that the Resomax offered something a bit more even as far as tones, but that Gotoh was definitely brighter.

I suppose it coulod be EQ'd out...but I kinda wanted to see what the real difference was between the 2 with the exact same guitar, amp settings...everything.

I guess if there's anything I hope to accomplish here, it's some food for thought in terms of whether or not it's worth it to get a resomax bridge, or for that matter graphtech saddles. At the end of the day...it may just boil down to style and preferences.

[xsouldriverx]

i got a tonepros bridge with graphtech saddles. ill report to you how that sounds.

[The_Sentry]

Reviewing this thread...the Resomax is a nice bridge. I left it in the Agile. Between that and the Graphtech nut...it sounds pretty slick right now.

I will say this though...if you have a dark sounding guitar (Like, as an example...an Epi LP Custom)...I don't think the Resomax bridge would be of benefit vs. that Gotoh bridge which did sound brighter.

[Wandenkolken]

looks like the gotoh is sounding more brighter and with more volume (I don't know if this is because of the position of the microphone), but I liked the sound of both.

[The_Sentry]

The mic was off of the video camera. It wasn't moved (I didn't move the amp either.)

That Gotoh bridge was a bit brighter...