Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

New SG at home


Revolution Six

Recommended Posts

Hi,

Here is my new Gibson SG. Finish is Trans Black, this is a great SG.

 

Planned upgrades:

 

- 5 ply CreamTone pickguard

- Gibson ABR-1 bridge

- Knob pointers

 

Congratulations on getting an excellent guitar.

 

Personally, I don't understand why you'd want to replace a Nashville bridge with an ABR-1.

AFAIK the ABR-1 was designed and issued way back in the day when guitar strings came in only

one gauge: Heavy... talking' like 13s...

 

This was in the 1950s eh? Bending notes wasn't very common, and only a few players had innovated the technique of

replacing the B and E strings with lighter gauge banjo strings, and then moving each wound string up a notch, till you finally

threw away the heavy heavy low E string. Light gauge strings had not been commercially sold yet.

 

So the ABR-1 is fine if you use heavy strings. But when string manufacturers designed and developed sets of light gauge

strings, the ABR-1 bridge became obsolete. Not enough travel in the saddles. Players who installed light gauge strings

were not able to do the intonation correctly on an ABR-1. So Gibson eventually came up with the Nashville bridge.

This came later than the notorious "harmonica' bridge of the seventies (which was designed to deal with the intonation

issues revolving around use of lighter strings).

 

The Nashville bridge is a product of the eighties, designed to give modern players more travel in the saddles and to

give proper intonation with lighter strings. *shrugs

 

To each their own. I think the Nashville is much more desirable and useful. What do you think?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pardon my ignorance, but what's the difference? [confused]

 

The CreamTone pickguard is four-ply or five-ply, for a 'vintage' appearance.

 

The newer factory one is two-ply.

 

I personally cannot tell the difference until I get up very close to the guitar in question.

And if you do that when the player is on stage, and working at making music, it tends to get you smacked on your noggin'.

 

[crying][unsure]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now , ready to install .. [thumbup]

 

 

sg_sta61.jpg

To me the saddles look like you accidentally will install the bridge the wrong way. The screw heads of an ABR-1 have to be on the neck's side, otherwise you likely will run out of travel for intonation.

 

Just saying...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To me the saddles look like you accidentally will install the bridge the wrong way. The screw heads of an ABR-1 have to be on the neck's side, otherwise you likely will run out of travel for intonation.

 

Just saying...

 

The main issue really is that the E string will sit on top of the screw head if the screws are facing the tail piece.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...