The ESP Guitar Company

Did you use the posts from tonepros, or did you keep the original posts?

I used the Tonepros posts.

Did you buy the pre-slotted saddles, or did you slot them yourself?

They are pre-slotted.

Hmm, I'm not really sure how it would be affecting the sound. Can you loosen up the strings and put the original bridge back on?

Is there a space between the bottom of the bridge and the "wheels" on the studs?

I replaced the stock Gotoh TOM with the locking version from Tonepros.

I found some information from their website as well about installation.

The first thing to remember, is that even though every company uses the exact same specifications, and we can "fly to the moon", we still can't always get our bridge post holes drilled in exactly the same, right places.

This is understandable, and it seems that they are aware of this presenting possible problems and I am sure I am not the only one to have a piece that doesn't quite fit.

I went ahead and pulled the tailpiece off and put the original Gotoh one back on along with the original posts and solved the problem. I emailed Tonepros about the issue and I am waiting to hear back, I am sure they have a solution.

I will keep you all informed, and again thanks for the help. :D

So I talked to Tonepros. They are just as confused as I am. They said that I am the only person to ever have this issue, and all tailpieces that they know if in the world are all the exact same spec, so theoretically any one of them should fit. So there is confusion as to why my Gotoh one fits and theirs does not. They are trying to help, and we are trying to figure out the problem.

What gauge strings are you using? Since it seems to only be your wound strings, maybe they're not fitting into the grooves in the saddles.

I dunno. I'm grasping at straws at this point.

I actually tried two different gauges. 10s and elevens. But I did swap out the tail and put the gotoh back on and everything sounded fine. So Im leaning away from string gauges because I never swapped out the bridge section.

Its really weird. It does not make sense for my tailpiece to not fit. And theres not much I could be doing wrong since I can install and uninstall the gotoh piece just fine, its not rocket science.

There is a chance that you just received a bad one where the distance between the holes is off or the hole size is too small.
What I did was make my existing Gotoh into a locking bridge by drilling it myself and adding the set screws.

I did buy it new, and have verified with tonepros that the piece is theirs. I'm still waiting on a response from them on what to do.

I have a TonePros with the pre-installed GraphTech saddles in my Horizon NT-II, and right away I didn't like the sound with the bridge locked. I removed the set screws, and the tone was open and alive again.

Problem Solved

Tonepros sent me a different set of studs in the mail today, along with two large tonepros posters, one signed to me from the founder. It was a very nice gesture.

The studs they sent are locking studs, which are compatible with multiple bridge types, and this solved my problem. They have removable tops on them that can lock any type of bridge to the posts without the use of set screws. Everything went together smoothly, locked down tight, and sounds great. They were very easy to deal with, and I would definitely do business with them again.

cool beans, tks for the update!

It's great to hear that there are businesses that really are interested in making sure their customers are satisfied.

Glad to hear it all worked out!