New Gibson - bridge not perpendicular with the body?

[mohawk15]

Hi there, I bought Gibson LP Standard 50's. However, there's one thing that concerns me and I've never seen it on the previous LPs I owned.

The stopbar part of the bridge seems kinda... crooked, when I look at it. It doesnt look completely perpendicular to the top of the guitar. The bass side of the stopbar is slightly farther away from the pickups and neck than the treble side.

The other part (one with the saddles etc, ABR-1 bridge) is slanted, but it's completely normal. However, the other part somehow bugs me.

Is it normal on gibsons and I shouldnt care about it?

 

Thanks for help.

[Twang Gang]

The piece you are referring to is known as the "Stop Bar".  The bridge has always been slanted a little on Les Pauls with the treble strings a little closer to the pickup.  But the Stop Bar is usually straight across and looking at the pictures of the 50s LP Standard on this sight the stop bars seem to be straight.  So yours is a little weird, but I don't think it would effect the playability or the tone so probably no problem.  The string only vibrates between the nut and the bridge so how far back the stop bar is from there shouldn't matter too much.  If you have tuning or intonation problems you should probably take it back to the dealer you bought it from and discuss it, but I don't think it should matter in terms of the guitars performance.

Also measure the distance between the posts that the stop bar is attached to and the pick up and see if they are the same distance.  It could be (although this would be really weird) that if you loosen the strings and reposition the stop bar it will be straight.  But if the posts are not the same distance from the pick up the bar will always be crooked.

If you could post a picture of the guitar body (use a hosting site like Imgr) so we could see it, that might help.

Edited October 18, 2021 by Twang Gang

[SteveFord]

It kind of sounds like you're worrying about nothing from your description.

Now if your frets fall out our your binding pops off that's cause for genuine concern.

[rickc]

I lived with a crooked bridge pickup for about 34 years on my black LPC.  It was just very slightly off parallel with the bridge pickup.  When I modded and put cream rings on, it was just too obvious so a quick fix with toothpicks and repositioned holes and all is now well.  I've very surprised to read of a stop bar being wrong as I understood the bigger holes were drilled in a jig to ensure perfect locations.  The stop bar should be straight, perpendicular to the strings.  This would bug me if it was my guitar.

[merciful-evans]

I have seen guitars (and one Gibson 339)  with the neck not perpendicular to the body. Then the strings are slewed of to one side resulting in uneven reveal each side of the e strings. That should be the only concern IMO. 

If the stopbar is angled, it shouldn't make any difference.