Long story short, I am wondering about the influence that the bridge (considering always the same type - a Floyd Rose-like bridge) has on how much the guitar chugs.
To expand a bit more. I have recently acquired a USA BC Rich Gunslinger. At first, I noticed that the guitar was chugging less than the two other guitars I have: a Jackson DXMG (with a Jackson licensed Floyd Rose bridge) and another Jackson SL2Q MAH (with a Floyd Rose 1000 series). It is difficult to define 'chugging' in words, but this video (as well as all the video series from Ola Englund) demonstrates what I mean by 'chugging'. Chugging 'less' means that, whatever the root cause is (my theory is that the bridge has an influence), it feels that the sound is excessively palm mutted
At first I thought it could have been the pickup (Dimarzio X2N), so I swapped by a EMG81. The tone changed, of course, but not enough chug. Then I realised that the guitar was not properly setup (at all). I then took it to a guitar tech, where frets were polished, crowned, nut was shimmed etc. The setup was certainly done very well. Though I still notice that the BC Rich chugs less than the Jackson.
I am starting to thing that this might be due to the bridge. It has the original one, which appears to be good stuff (Made in Japan Takeuchi licensed Floyd Rose), although I have the impression that this bridge appears to be way too sensitive to palm muting i.e. in order not to mute it excessively, I have to place my picking hand quite far on the back of the bridge, towards the saddles, otherwise it mutes way too much. This difference (where I place my picking hand) is noticeable compared to the bridges of my two other Jackson guitars, which supports my theory that the lack of chug (which is kinda like muting the strings excessively) can be caused by how the bridge is designed.
I really like this guitar, though it still does not have the tone as I want it to be. So I was wondering if I can expect a noticeable difference in tone if I swap the bridge (by a Gotoh, Schaller or Floyd Rose). Has anyone done that, and noticed a clear difference in how much a guitar can chug?