New Hannes Bridges available now for custom Bailey electric guitars and BYO’ers

Hannes Bridge

The Hannes bridge is billed as the most comfortable bridge in the world. I was a bit skeptical about that, but ordered a couple. One was requested by John Pollock on one of our Build Your Own Custom Guitar courses and I also wanted to try one for myself. They are a little expensive but you get what you pay for… John also had a nanomag pickup inset into the end of the fretboard for a more ‘acoustic’ tone – This was the best solution at the time as there were few options. John’s guitar was the co-star of the Bailey Promo film made by course mate Mark Screeton. The end result was pretty good, I hope you will agree, and the bridge worked out great.

The Hannes came about by a collaboration between designer Roland Hannes and Graph Tech, whose nuts and saddles we have used for many years, and is distributed by Schaller. The saddles are made from the familiar Graph Tech material that has served us so well in the past providing great tone, sustain, durability and consistancy in abundance. You can read all the blurb about it on the Schaller website but here are my thoughts as a guitar maker:

I love the design. It’s about time someone came up with something different – I wouldn’t say futuristic but it looks right bang up to date. The metal parts are available in the normal chrome, black or gold coating so it will match any normal hardware- tuners, jack socket plate etc. The bridge is very functional – it has a large amount of adjustment for saddle height and intonation and it is indeed very comfortable ‘in use’. When used in combination with a Graphtec nut the sound is maximised – noticibly loader and longer sustian.

On the downside it was a little tricky to fit but I have since made a simple router jig to make it a bit easier. The two bolts that go through the body have to be drilled very precisely as they have to line up exacly with the corresponding holes on the bridge and determine where it sits on the front. Luckily there are downloadable instructions and patterns to help get it in the right place. There is also a slot to route for the string retainer which is not recommended for the faint hearted – Hannes recommends finding a luthier to fit it for you – that’s what were here for!

I doubt it would ‘retro-fit’ on your old guitar but if you were making one yourself, or having one made for you, this bridge would be an excellent choice.

Hannes with Piezo Saddles

Ian is currently on the course building a single cut style guitar with a chambered body. He also chose a Hannes bridge and wanted an acoustic sound as well. Thankfully, the Hannes bridge is now also available with Piezo saddles built in – Graphtec happen to make one of the best piezo systems in the world so I have high hopes for this. The preamp is made by Schaller – they call it the Flagship so we’ll see if it lives up to it’s name. Ian is due to finish his guitar some time in June so I will keep you posted.

You can specify a Hannes bridge on any Bailey electric guitar

The Hannes bridge appears to have been accepted by (known for our fussyness and reluctance to try anything new) players and seems to be becoming quite popular. Overall it is a winner which is why we have added it to the list of options for all Bailey electric guitars. If you would like a custom guitar with (or without) a Hannes bridge contact us with your requirements.

Coming Soon…

I am currently making 3 new guitars all with stunning quilted maple caps. They will be finished soon, so have I decided to put the spare Hannes on one of these.

These guitars will all be brand new colours so watch out for that in a few weeks time…