aluminiun stop bar

[turtle]

Just curious about the aluminiun stop bars on the historics. Gibson sells them for $100 plus and I've seen them by other manufacturers for around 40-50. Is there a difference? Are gibsons machined and the aftermarket cast?

[FennRx]

the aftermarket ones are more than $40-50....at least the good ones. a pigtail is $129 and the DMC is $169. they are more vintage accurate in both shape and material. and some people claim they enhance the tone.

[turtle]

the aftermarket ones are more than $40-50....at least the good ones. a pigtail is $129 and the DMC is $169. they are more vintage accurate in both shape and material. and some people claim they enhance the tone.

Well like one on stew mac or some other sites they are def under 100. Accurate how??

[Robin Nahum]

My 2002 ES345 came stock with a nickel/zinc(?) stop bar.

 

As I played it more, I became dissatisfied with the tone. I was after more of an archtop sound a la Kenny Burrell - but with the versatility of a 345.

 

My tech (who knows a thing or two) suggested swapping in an aluminium tailpiece and that a Gotoh from StewMac would be fine. The Gibson version was not worth the extra $. The new tailpiece might have made a bit of difference to the tone - hard to tell - but it did save weight!

 

What made a noticeable difference was:

 

(1) replacing the 57 Classics with AlNiCo2 humbuckers from a winder who knows what he is doing. These pickups much better emulate the warmer, lower output of the early buckers, and then

 

(2) switching to flatwounds

 

RN