Replacing silvertone archtop bridge with tune-o-matic?
 

Hi everyone. I have a 1950's Silvertone archtop. Its in good shape, Straight neck,good playability...but the intonation seems to go off at the 7th fret or so. I like the look, sound and feel of the guitar and would like to get the intonation adjusted. Could replacing the stock bridge with an adjustable one allow me to correct the intonation, or would I run into to issues with string spacing? Any info or recommended replacement bridges would be much appreciated.:)

In theory, yes, but measure the height. Most old silvertones, kays, harmonys, etc have much less neck angle, which means the old school bridges sit lower...the modern tune o matic will raise the action to unplayable levels, even at lowest setting.

Can you post a picture?

Thanks I'll look into that and see if I can picture too

Most Silvertone/Kay/Harmony archtops have a moveable bridge, so you can always move the bridge to correct the intonation. With that said, they also often have straight bridge toppers with no angle, so you can kind of choose the strings you want correct and live with the ones that aren't. On my Silvertone archtop the bridge base has to be at quite an angle to get the intonation right. I have a 1962 1445 hollowbody electric.

Anyway, if it's an electric and the neck angle is ok, a TOM can be a good choice. But they really kill acoustic tone for me, I must have tried TOM's on three or four archtops and taken them off. Some have notches on the saddles and it's hit or miss if they match your strings spacing and fingerboard radius. It's is very easy (for me anyway, your skills may vary) to get a chunk of ebony or rosewood, drill a couple of holes for the posts and file/sand for a couple of hours until it turns into a custom bridge...

Thanks mc5c, I play my archtop as an electric so I'm willing to sacrifice the acoustic tone. I'm going to have an adjustable bridge professionally installed, as well as nut replaced, tail piece and tuners. I'll post pics of the new upgrades, I'm considering a lollar. 50s wound. P 90 too,

Silvertones are rapidly increasing in value, so I would save the originals, put them in a bag in the case, and get screw-hole correct replacements so you don't ruin the collectibility of the guitar. You can usually find new identical replacements that are high quality if you look.

Here's a TOM bridge top from Stew Mac. You don't have to modify the guitar at all to try this.

Also, Lollar makes a floating Gold Foil pickup that you can attach to your pickguard. Again, no mod to the guitar (except an endpin jack). I have the Lollar Gold Foil installed on my 1954 Gibson L4 shown in this photo. Schatten thumbwheel volume and tone controls are attached to the underside of the pickguard. On an archtop the Gold Foil sounds a little like an old DeArmond single coil pickup.