Adjustin Faber® ToneLock™ Guitar Bridges

“How to adjust your guitar bridge” is one of the most occurring questions that arise after buying and installing a Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridge. Following the steps and tips in this article will result in maximizing the full potential of your Faber® Bridge and all of its parts, even the guitar bridge studs!

Setting up your Guitar

Before adjusting the Tone-Lock™ bridge, setting up your guitar is a very important step. You need to check if your truss rod is adjusted to the right stand of relief or straightness that fits to your style of playing. Your Faber® bridge is perfectly adjustable to adjust tones, but this part has a significant influence on the overall sound of the strings and guitar.

Check your intonation

After setting up your guitar, it’s important to check if all matching tones on each string are exactly tuned to your liking. This is where Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridges and tailpiece components come into play. In reality, these differences are very subtle to the ear, but it really makes a difference for the pros.

How Can you check your intonation?  

Play each string open, preferably in your natural playing position. Then compare it to the same tone on the 12th fret of each string. In the ideal case, the tone sounds identical, besides the fact that it’s exactly one octave higher. If this isn’t the case, you’ll need to adjust your intonation. Luckily, the Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridges have an easy and very customizable system that’s very intuitive to use. For all the following steps we recommend the use of a strobe tuner for the best results.

Adjusting the overall height of your Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridge

The first component that is easily adjustable is the overall height of the Tone-Lock™ bridge and tailpiece. Making use of both studs and spacers, which are included in the Faber® “Tone-Lock”™ MASTER KIT, you can easily adjust the heights for each component. This affects the overall angle of each string from the tailpiece towards the “Tone-Lock”™ bridge. The easiest way to do this is with the Faber Nut/Tailpiece Stud Tool, which is also included in the MASTER KIT.

Adjusting the intonation of each string with the Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridge

After adjusting the height of the studs of the components, you can use the tuner to see if the tones still match on each of the strings. The strings that show little differences or even a muted sound need to be slightly adjusted. Luckily, the Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridges incorporate a very easy system to micro-adjust each string on an individual level.

How can I adjust each string with the Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridge?

Adjusting strings in the Faber® Tone-Lock™ bridges are very easy. Each of the strings is allocated to an individual saddle, which can be micro-adjusted by tightening and loosening each screw on the Tone-Lock™ bridge. This can easily be done with a hex wrench. To adjust the tone higher, your saddle needs to be located more towards the nut and vice versa for lowering the tone.

Do a final check at the end with the tuner, to see if each string played open and on the 12th fret produces a similar tone. Adjust the saddles till the tones match in sound quality.