El Degas replacement parts. Question!

[El Duke]

Hello! I just picked up an old El Degas Les Paul from a friend of mine. It's a gorgeous guitar and I'm slowly becoming a big fan of mid-priced workhorse guitars like those made by Grenada, Aria and El Degas in Japan in the 70's and 80's. It's in great shape considering it was stashed in a dusty basement for several years. I was about to clean it up, restring it and tune the intonation when I noticed that the bridge saddle on the 1st string was missing. No saddle, no screw, no spring.

My question is: Where would I find this replacement part? Failing that, are there any other Les Paul style bridge saddles out there that would fit the El Degas? Failing THAT, are there any bridges out there that I could buy that would fit the El Degas? Is it the exact same size as those used by Gibson Les Paul's?

Let me know if you have any info on this subject. I can't wait to play the thing with all six strings!

[charles]

I had the same problem with a Les Paul copy and what I did was checked with the local guitar techs to see if they had any bridge parts from 70's MIJ copies. One tech had a whole bag of old generic tunomatic bridge parts... I took in my bridge and matched up the parts that would fit. Seems likely that you could do the same.

I find that replacement bridges are sometimes NOT a good fit (I bought a replacement stop bar for one of mine and it was spaced incorrectly for my guitar) so if you can replace just the saddle/bridge/screw that's what I would recommend.

[El Duke]

Thanks very much for your input, Charles. I'll search around for what you've recommended. I notice that a lot of bridges for similar guitars don't often use the small springs that I'm seeing behind the screws on my El Degas. Is that spring absolutely necessary or if I found the saddle and screw would that be sufficient?

Thanks again.
Mike in Toronto

[charles]

The springs help keep tension on the screw & saddle so it does not shift due to vibration and use.
They are not easy to find but I bet a local tech will have a drawer of these old tunomatics or tunomatic copies.

Best of luck!

[El Duke]

Gotcha. I've removed the bridge and I'll take it with me on my circuit of nearby music shops. If the guitar is without strings for too long could it warp the neck or anything? I'll hopefully be strumming away on a fully functional El Degas very soon.
Thank you for the input, Charles!
I'll see you on the forum!
Mike

[charles]

If you leave the strings off for a very long time the neck could take longer to get back into position after you put them on, but I would bet that a few days with the strings back on and up to tension will get it back into shape, with nil-to-minimal tweaks to the truss rod required.

[El Duke]

Thanks. After 15 years of getting my guitars professionally set up, I'm finally starting to ask questions about these things in order to become a more informed guitarist. I appreciate all the help. I'm on my way out the door now, heading for the local shops. I'll keep the forum posted as to whether I've had any success locating the bridge parts.

-Mike

[El Duke]

Found a very similar bridge saddle at a local shop and as far as I can tell there's no problem with the action or anything. With a fresh set of D'Addario blues/jazz strings the guitar sounds GREAT and looks awesome too. Somewhere over the decades it lost its pickguard but right now I'm just working on the functional aspects rather than aesthetic qualities. What a great guitar. Thanks again!

[charles]

Glad to hear it!

[Barry]

Thanks. After 15 years of getting my guitars professionally set up, I'm finally starting to ask questions about these things in order to become a more informed guitarist.

That's the spirit Mike! I've been playing for more years than I care to admit, but it has only been in the last 3 or 4 years that I've gotten serious about learning the mechanics and intricacies of guitars. It was partly self preservation since I also contracted GAS at the same time and had to learn how to fix up the old guitars I have been buying and restoring...and I can't afford to pay someone else to do it!

In the process I've learned a ton of stuff about guitars and playing, things that I should have known years ago. So, the moral of the story is, you're never too late to learn. It'll greatly enhance your appreciation of the instrument.