EverTune Bridges: Keeping it in Tune

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I’ve known about EverTune Bridges for a few years, now. Joe Satriani, Scott Ian, John 5, and, Vandals’ Bassist, Joe Escalante, all have guitars stocked with the EverTune Bridge. But it was a YouTube video featuring Shimon Moore from Sick Puppies fame that brought the EverTune Bridge back to my attention.

This aesthetically pleasing bridge was created for the sole purpose of keeping your guitar in tune under all conditions. Each string is on an individual saddle connected to a spring. The tension from the string counter balances the springs, and causes the saddle to pivot on an edge in order to keep your strings in tune within a certain radius. The term for this area they like to use is “Zone 2,” in which your strings will maintain their pitch. One thing that could get a little confusing is the string gauge. For the tech-savvy individual, EverTune provides a chart so you are able to use any gauge combination you want, but at the top of this chart it does say,

“These calculations are for all D’Addario electric guitar strings because they are courteous enough to supply their customers with unit weights and tensions for their strings.”

This is just fine for me, because that’s my brand anyway. Personally, I would approach it with an auto body mentality. I would have to see what I am working on in order to fully understand how it all works. For the blues string benders out there, you are not forgotten. Everyone has the option to be in “Zone 2” and bend all you want while maintaining the same pitch. But if you like to bend your strings, you just take the saddle at the near edge of “Zone 2” and boom, you are Stevie Ray Vaughan once again.

I have made two attempts to contact EverTune directly. The first one was lost in a pile of junk mail. Between super diets, Viagra, and offers to save 80% on “designer handbags”, Cosmos Lyles did reply to my original e-mail. I made a second attempt, which proved successful yet again, and this time, I caught it.

“The Initial kernel was July 2005. Initial prototype was November 2006. Initial production made EverTune for sale was January 2011,” says Lyles. Only one other name was considered before “EverTune” and it was “Perfect Tune”.

I have seen ESP/LTD and Halo guitars with the bridge. After visiting the site, I am now aware of VGS guitars, which seems to hail from Southern Germany. All the others are small luthiers like Erlewine, Joe Young, Asken, Wes Lambe, Ernie Taylor. The site states they have custom high and low tension saddles available. In regards of low tuning, does this mean if I were to install the EverTune with low-tension saddles I would be unable to tune to standard?

Cosmos reply:

“It’s all a range and depends on the string gauges used for each tuning. The attached chart lists string sizes on the rows with Scale Lengths on the columns (Column A is string size, Column B is the low note for that string size on a 25.5″ scale length guitar, Column C is the high note for that string on a 25.5″ scale length guitar. Column E is the low note for that string size on a 24.75″ scale length guitar, etc.)”

Templates are sold separately and are intended for luthiers if not installers, but this is the age of the internet and many people would be game for the chance to accept the challenge but I do caution this is not something you want to walk in to with your vintage Les Paul and fail. To learn how to do it right, click here.

Before I was done, I wanted to ask one more questions.

“What are some of the challenges you are facing during the final prototype stage of the EverTune electric bass bridge?”

“Time is the only challenge here.”

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About the Author: Started playing bass at 15. It was Danko Jones who inspired me to play at all, and in a small town I couldn't be picky on what I can get my hands on, so I bought a squire with pride. Obtained a B.C. Rich guitar months later. Moved to the city at 17. At 19 joined my first metal band as a bassist which ended at 20. Joined a bass heavy rock band, which I loved being in whole heartily. I now wait to venture into a new project. For the time being though, I am exploring my abilities as a writer.

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