My Custom Shop guitar was approved! Help me decide on some specs

[JacksonVHT]

My Kelly Star was approved.

I'm trying to decide on a bridge.

Should I go Kahler 3300 or a hard tail and why?

[Brian]

My Kelly Star was approved.

I'm trying to decide on a bridge.

Should I go Kahler 3300 or a hard tail and why?

Nice!

What body wood/neck wood did you go with? From my experience, I like a tunamatic/hardtail bridge on an all Mahogany guitar. Alder/Maple or Poplar/Maple I like the Kahler 3310. Seems to give the tone a little more articulation to my ears.

Congrats on the order . I too have a custom on order and I am getting a Kahler 3310 with black saddles.

What other specs you going for? Color, etc.

[customshopkv1]

Nice!

What body wood/neck wood did you go with? From my experience, I like a tunamatic/hardtail bridge on an all Mahogany guitar. Alder/Maple or Poplar/Maple I like the Kahler 3310. Seems to give the tone a little more articulation to my ears.

Congrats on the order . I too have a custom on order and I am getting a Kahler 3310 with black saddles.

What other specs you going for? Color, etc.

Totally agree. I just ordered a King V - Mahagony - Tuna - String Thru Body

[pro-fusion]

My Kelly Star was approved.

I'm trying to decide on a bridge.

Should I go Kahler 3300 or a hard tail and why?

It's pretty simple--do you use a trem or not? If you don't, I personally think the TOM bridge is a lot nicer than the Kahler 3310 fixed bridge. The 3310 doesn't have very good sustain, to my ears and can be tinny sounding.

[wilkinsi]

TOM bridge over a Kahler any day. I can't stand the sight of Kahlers.

[KBRR]

TOM.... kahlers are just ugly

[slash]

If you go TOM do string-through. The stop tail will detract from the coolness of your new axe

[Evil Homer]

I am interested in that new bridge from Schaller called Hannes.
It's about more body-contact than a TOM but less vibrating parts than a Kahler.

[JacksonVHT]

I'm getting the Kelly Star with the following:

1/8 Quilted Maple Top on a Mahogany body

Ebony fretboard on a quartersawn maple neck

Dunlop 6105 fret wire, jumbo narrows

Transparent black with Ivoroid binding around the body, neck and fretboard.

Matching finish on the headstock. (Non reversed)

24 frets

Bone nut, Sperzel tuners, black hardware

Pups will be a SH-2 Jazz neck and TB4 Bridge.

I may be forgetting something.

I used the Marty Friedman signature Kelly look for it.

So basically (This is using some forumites pictures):



With this color theme:





The main reason why I want to go with a Kahler is because they sit low to the body like the Floyd Rose on my KV which I'm very comfortable and used to playing, while it seems to sit higher with a TOM. I feel a little more sloppier playing like that, but if you folks think TOM would be the way to go I may do that.

Thank you!

[Brian]

With a mahogany body/maple top I would most likely go with a string-thru TOM bridge. I believe there is a different neck angle used for guitars with a TOM.

I have seen a couple of guitars where they have recessed the TOM bridge. Carvin comes to mind. Here's a pic..



That might be something you could inquire about if you wanted that lower Floyd like feel without opting for a Kahler.

[Robert Burns]

I'm getting the Kelly Star with the following:

1/8 Quilted Maple Top on a Mahogany body

Ebony fretboard on a quartersawn maple neck

Dunlop 6105 fret wire, jumbo narrows

Transparent black with Ivoroid binding around the body, neck and fretboard.

Matching finish on the headstock. (Non reversed)

24 frets

Bone nut, Sperzel tuners, black hardware

Pups will be a SH-2 Jazz neck and TB4 Bridge.

I may be forgetting something.

I used the Marty Friedman signature Kelly look for it.

So basically (This is using some forumites pictures):



With this color theme:





The main reason why I want to go with a Kahler is because they sit low to the body like the Floyd Rose on my KV which I'm very comfortable and used to playing, while it seems to sit higher with a TOM. I feel a little more sloppier playing like that, but if you folks think TOM would be the way to go I may do that.

Thank you!

Very nice, but imo...And matching Headstock, is a nice touch!

[Newc]

The neck angle for a TOM would be steeper, thus raising the strings further away from the top of the body.

Personally I wouldn't go for the Kahler, but the 3310 is a flat-mount, which means no routing. If you wanted to have it changed to a TOM later, you could do it easily.

I wouldn't do string-through, though. Makes the guitar look like it's trying to be a violin. Get a stopbar, or if you're dead-set on stringthrough, get a symmetrical V-plate.

[toejam]

What body wood/neck wood did you go with? From my experience, I like a tunamatic/hardtail bridge on an all Mahogany guitar.

You mean tunomatic/stoptail. A hardtail is what Fender uses on its non-trem guitars.

[toejam]

The main reason why I want to go with a Kahler is because they sit low to the body like the Floyd Rose on my KV which I'm very comfortable and used to playing

Then you want a hardtail bridge.
Here's my Fender with hardtail.

[VitaminG]

Personally I wouldn't go for the Kahler, but the 3310 is a flat-mount, which means no routing. If you wanted to have it changed to a TOM later, you could do it easily.

I didn't know that - I assumed they'd have the same rout as the trem version. But that makes sense

I wouldn't do string-through, though. Makes the guitar look like it's trying to be a violin. Get a stopbar, or if you're dead-set on stringthrough, get a symmetrical V-plate.

I feel exactly the opposite. The stop bar would look goofy & ruin the flow of this pointy axe. And a V-plate would look out of whack with the KS body.

Stringthrough looks much cleaner, and if you wanted to, the entry holes could follow the line of the edge of the guitar. That would seem more "custom" and look nicer than a generic stopbar or V-plate