Fine-Tune Bridge

I am thinking about bidding on a fine looking S-500 on Ebay that looks like it has some sort of a fine-tune vibrato. (Don't any of you outbid me now!) I am not familiar with this setup at all. Anybody familiar with it? How does it play?

http://cgi.ebay.com/G-L-Electric-Guitar-Hard-Case-Serial-G026299-/190523270155?

I am thinking about bidding on a fine looking S-500 on Ebay that looks like it has some sort of a fine-tune vibrato. (Don't any of you outbid me now!) I am not familiar with this setup at all. Anybody familiar with it? How does it play?

http://cgi.ebay.com/G-L-Electric-Guitar-Hard-Case-Serial-G026299-/190523270155?

From our Knowledgebase: Any info on the Leo Fender Fine Tuner Vibrato?.

Also a search in our G&L Registry on both the versions of this bridge you will find:

Bridge:Fine Tuner, Pat #

Bridge: Fine Tuner, Pat Pend

Also, here are the patent pages we have in the Gallery: D4724737

Hope this helps.

Good luck on your bidding - great looking S-500 (with an aftermarket pickguard).

that is a nice looking s-500 and appears to be a late build, 1st style body. craig is right to point out the aftermarket pickguard which looks like plastic. while the pg looks pretty cool the orginal metal pg (and control plate) the guitar would have come with was part of the grounding system (at least on the early ones) which may or may not make a difference to you. you might be able to get a metal pg made for it (Tone Guard?) or you might like it as is but i did want to mention it. i have a Skyhawk with the fine tuner bridge and it works just fine and plays pretty much like a regular DF setup. if you haven't already, check out Greg's site for some guitars and close ups of the different versions of the bridge. There are also a couple of completed auctions with Skyhawk's having this setup.

Late build, 1st. style body:

http://www.ggjaguar.com/89s-500.htm

Skyhawk w/ 1st version FTDF:

http://www.ggjaguar.com/87skyhawk.htm

Comparison shot of all 3 versions:

http://www.ggjaguar.com/finevibe.htm

ASAT with FTDF:

http://www.ggjaguar.com/ac-92.htm

Thanks guys! Lots of helpful info here for me to consider.