355 Bridge/saddles

[Ridgeback]

Greetings everyone from a new Gibson Forum member and a new first-time Gibson owner (otherwise various Strats and currently a '75 Thinline Tele).

 

I recently purchased a walnut ES 355 TD varitone stereo. I love the feel and general playability of the guitar. Of course it's not quite as bright as the Strats but it's actually kinda similar in tone to the Thinline which perhaps is no surprise as this duel-humbucker guitar was Fender's answer to the 335 from what I gather. The 355 is definitey sweeter.

 

Anyway, the original bridge which says, "Gibson PAT. NO. 2,740,313" underneath, has plastic saddles that trouble me in a couple of ways. First, each saddle moves quite a bit in every direction (head to body, f-hole to f-hole) within the bridge. The head to body travel varies from about .8 to 1.5 mm depending on the saddle. The f-hole to f-hole travel varies from probably .2 to.5 mm. When you pick hard or strum hard you can see and hear them move a bit. Obviously this is not good and also makes staying in tune difficult as a result. Second, the sustain of the guitar is not as great as I think that it could/should be (at least I'm hoping).

 

To the questions:

 

1) can I get replacement metal saddles or a replacement bridge/saddles? Is it basically the Stew Mac "ABR-1" tune-o-matic? Can I get an actual Gibson brand replacement? Better yet, can I get a pre-aged Gibson bridge so it won't stick out like a sore thumb with all the other beautifully patinated parts?

 

2) Will the metal saddles indeed help with sustain?

 

Thanks everyone,

Scott

[Ridgeback]

OK, with a bit more research I discovered that I can indeed buy a Gibson ABR-1 bridge assembly or TonePro. Thoughts on one over the other?

 

So the question remains, will this fit my 355? If so, can I get a pre-aged ABR-1 bridge? Will metal saddles increase sustain over the plastic saddles?

[lpdeluxe]

Buy the Gibson, and keep it original.

[rd_artist]

What he said.............. and post some pics!!!!!

[Ridgeback]

So can I assume that the ABR-1 bridge will fit the 355? Also, I can definitely respect the whole "keep it Gibson" vibe with the new bridge. Any word on the metal saddles helping with sustain? It seems as though it should.

 

I'd be glad to post some pics. Is there an FAQ on how to post photos?

[bobv]

There are lots of posts on this forum about the differences between the ABR-1 and Nashville bridges (okay, some of them are mine) but let's assume you have an ABR-1 with nylon saddles. You could get a Gibson ABR-1 bridge with metal saddles, or quite frankly if you're going to stay Gibson then just get a set of replacement saddles. They might stay without rattling, they may not.

 

To cut to the chase, I would recommend that you send a picture of your bridge to Brian at Marquis Distributing - they are one of the dealers linked from the Tone Pros site. He will make sure you get something that fits - and they do pre-aged hardware treatment which sounds like something that would interest you. They will answer your questions and then you can decide.

 

The Tone Pros saddles won't rattle the way the old Gibsons do, and nylon saddles fell out of favor either for durability or sound reasons. Also they'll have greater compensation range if you need it for intonation. Not to mention the whole set-screw thing.

[Ridgeback]

Thanks Bob,

 

I'll contact Brian.