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The Roswell Filtertrons didn’t exactly sound like the Gretsch versions, but they sounded really good and seemed to have their own personality. I plugged it in and it did not disappoint. It felt solid in my hands, stayed in tune, and played easily. I quickly assembled the neck, put on a set of strings, and, I have to confess, it really had me at hello. It arrived a week later from California, and it looked stunning. Note the additional hole our columnist drilled through the Wilkinson ashtray bridge he installed, to allow more fluid movement of the B-string without snagging or popping off the saddle. Bottom Feeder Tip #367: Make sure you read the fine print on an auction. I almost threw a fit over that, but finally reasoned that if I was meant to have the guitar, it would be fine. Then the seller informed me that he was going to remove the neck for shipping. After taxes and shipping, the total was $268. I wasn’t sure I wanted it, but after several days I pulled the trigger. The guitar really feels solid, sounds great, and is fun to play.“The Roswell Filtertrons didn’t exactly sound like the Gretsch versions, but they sounded really good and seemed to have their own personality.” So, is it a keeper? For now I’d say it is. Finally, installing the Hipshot was the easiest part.Įverything took about three hours from start to finish, but I wound up with a nice playing and sounding guitar with a bender. Too little angle and the string will pop out of its slot on the saddle, especially if you use a pick and fingers like I do. Too steep an angle and the string tends to hang up, not going back down to pitch properly. I could’ve used the existing hole for the B string, but since the angle over the B-string saddle is critical, I like to drill a second, higher hole in the back of the ashtray for tuning stability. The semi-transparent, pink, Mary Kay-type finish also nicely displays the grain of the ash. The contoured rear body is a nice ergonomic touch. It’s a handy bridge to keep on hand for all kinds of projects, because it can work on top-loading as well as bottom-loading guitars. So, I took the strings off, shimmed up the pickups with stiff foam rubber to be closer to the strings (there are no springs), then went to my bridge drawer and grabbed a Wilkinson half-size T-style ashtray bridge with 3-way compensated saddles. Here’s a close-up of the reverse headstock, with two double-string retainers and chrome hardware. After a few hours playing my new 6-string, I made a decision reserved for only a select few guitars: I was ready to slap on a Hipshot B-Bender.
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“The Roswell Filtertrons didn’t exactly sound like the Gretsch versions, but they sounded really good and seemed to have their own personality.”