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Retro Fit From Nashville to ABR-1

davieraydon

New member
Joined
Aug 25, 2002
Messages
369
The only (and most significant) change to my 2006 lefty lester standards is this component. Where do I get one that fits without drilling the guitar?
 

DANELECTRO

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
6,318
I converted my recently acquired 1966 335 from a Nashville bridge back to an ABR. Somebody had previously converted the guitar to a stoptail and in the process, replaced the original ABR with a chrome Nashville bridge (with bushed studs) and tailpiece. I hate the look of a Nashville bridge and chrome both. I thought about drilling out an ABR to fit the Nashville studs, but then I decided to do the job right and plug the holes and install 6-32 threaded studs for the ABR. I had never done such a mod before, but I'm skilled at woodworking and this looked like a job well within my abilities. Here is the guitar's bridge setup before any mods:

fretware008ayz4.jpg


The first step was to pull the bushings. Whoever did the stoptail conversion, I must give them credit, because the bushing holes were cleanly cut and perpendicular to the top of the guitar.

gibsones33566008ajy7.jpg


gibsones33566020aej6.jpg


I turned down the diameter on the end of a piece of maple dowel rod to be an exact fit in the old bushing holes. I pre-drilled holes in the dowels so that I could double check the alignment before gluing them in place.

gibsones33566022aza3.jpg


I then cut the plug to length and sanded the end of the dowel to match the contour of the body. I experimented with some stains I had, but what I found was the perfect match happened to be a simple red magic marker.

gibsones33566026abb9.jpg


The plugs were glued in and once they were dry, I tapped the threads and touched up the end of the dowels with lacquer.

gibsones33566028akh5.jpg


gibsones33566068abi7.jpg


The guitar now sports a proper ABR bridge and all nickel parts. The appearance is greatly improved over the chrome Nashville setup:

fretware008beforeyp1.jpg


gibsones33566aftersf7.jpg


If you don't want to tackle the job of plugging the bushing holes, you can still add an ABR by making a slight mod to the bridge itself. The post holes on a Nashville measure about .165" diameter. The holes on an ABR measure about .157". The hole spacing is the same. If you drill out the holes in the ABR to .165", the bridge should fit onto the Nashville studs.
 

JDPS150

Active member
Joined
Dec 30, 2001
Messages
1,386
Wow you did a great job!

Besides the look, is there any benefit to ABR?
 

Danny

Les Paul Forum Member, Formerly Musicinmysoul
Joined
Jun 10, 2006
Messages
1,875
Nope there aren't really. But this is a really great thread. If it were my forum I'd have it made into a sticky :p.
 

pandor

New member
Joined
Sep 23, 2004
Messages
20
Very impressive job you did :dude:
but isn't there a ABR-1 replacement bridge with the holes already drilled and correct space between the screws?just thought I've seen that at StewMac ...?not sure though....
IMO the saddle-screws ARE in the right direction...
 

Uncle Gary

Active member
Joined
Oct 15, 2006
Messages
2,431
NICE job. I am impressed. I know the Nashville bridge is supposed to be "better", but I've always favored the ABR-1, myself. Maybe it's because it's the bridge Gibson used back when I was a mere lad. To me, it just looks "right". I've done a few conversions, but yours is one of the neatest I've seen.
 

plaintop60

New member
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
2,210
IMHO the Nashville bridge is inferior to the ABR-1 bridge for the simple reason that the body of the bridge is not solid, it is hollowed out all the way through it's full height clear through to the bottom under each saddle. You should notice a significant improvement in tone with the ABR-1 compared to the Nashville. Every guitar that I have ever coverted back to an ABR-1 bridge has had a dramatic improvemnt in tone afterward.
 

kharrison

Active member
Joined
May 18, 2006
Messages
4,225
I've talked with RS, they are working on an ABR with bigger holes to fit the Nashville lugs. Keep checking their site.
 

Danny

Les Paul Forum Member, Formerly Musicinmysoul
Joined
Jun 10, 2006
Messages
1,875
Danelectro, how did you put the pole pieces into the maple drowels? You meantioned "tapping the threads", is that what you're talking about?

And how do you know how far to put the poles into the drowel?
 

tom wu

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2003
Messages
984
A forum member sometime ago told me that Stewmac carried one of those posts to retro the abr into a nashville opening. I bought it for my H80 and it works great.
 

badco33

Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2002
Messages
131
Last year I put a tone pros ABR on my Les Paul Standard and used the StewMac conversion posts. They worked great.

then

about a month ago I bought a gold tone pros ABR to do the same thing to my Les Paul Studio but when I went to the StewMac site I noticed they no longer carried the conversion posts and in an email to StewMac they advised they discontinued that part. I decided I would wait to go over to my buddies house to use his drill press and bore out the holes a little but I couldn't wait. I grabbed my Black and Decker batterey powered drill and the right sized bit and went to work. I removed the allen head screws from the tone pros so nothing would happen to them, held the bridge in my hand (probably should have used my vice but oh well) and bored out both holes. The bridge then fit right onto the orignal posts, I tightened the allen head screws and it was good to go. The whole process took less than a minute. It took me longer to find the right bit than to drill out the holes.

So, if you were looking for those conversion posts, don't bother, it's much easier / cheaper to just drill it out yourself. I spent $12 plus shipping on the con. posts for my standard and it took me less than a minute of work on my LP Studio
 

tom wu

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2003
Messages
984
Wow badco..never thunkadat! That's great. :applaude
I really need to get off the couch more..:wah
So.. Do you think I should do that same drilling procedure to a real 59 abr I want to put on my 06 standard?:couch
 

DANELECTRO

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
6,318
Danelectro, how did you put the pole pieces into the maple drowels? You meantioned "tapping the threads", is that what you're talking about?

And how do you know how far to put the poles into the drowel?

The stud height isn't real consistant on Gibson guitars from what I've seen, and I don't really think its that critical. Typically, the stud height is set so that it slightly below the top of the bridge when it is set for normal action height. When I assembled the studs in my 335, I set screwed them in such that they would end up being 1/16" below the top of the bridge.
gibsones33566068abi7.jpg


I tapped the threads into the maple dowels using a regular 6-32 machine tap. You can find taps at any good hardware store. The tap fits into a handle and is screwed into a pre-drilled hole by hand, cutting the threads as it enters. The size of the pre-drilled hole is critical for the threads to cut correctly. The tap drill size for 6-32 threads is a #36 drill (.1065").
abrstudinstallation4hg4.jpg


NEVER use a pair of pliers to install or remove studs. I don't know how the pros install studs, but here the method I use and it works very well. Below is an example of how to remove studs. Installation is the same process. First, you need two 6-32 hexnuts.
abrstudinstallation1gs0.jpg


Thread both nuts on to the stud and use two 5/16" wrenches to tighten them against each other. This locks them onto the stud and they won't slip when turned.
abrstudinstallation2pm6.jpg


You can now use a socket or nutdriver to remove or install the stud. When you have the stud set to the height you want, use the two wrenches to break the nuts loose from each other and remove them. The threads of the stud are not damaged in any way.
abrstudinstallation3iq6.jpg
 

Jeff_H

New member
Joined
Mar 26, 2005
Messages
135
A forum member sometime ago told me that Stewmac carried one of those posts to retro the abr into a nashville opening. I bought it for my H80 and it works great.

Yup. I used them on my Standard, and they worked just fine. I would have liked to have the correct size studs, but at the time I wasn't confident in my ability to do the work correctly and didn't want to pay to have it done. The conversion post's worked fine for me...and you can't tell once the thumbscrews are over the holes.
 

Danny

Les Paul Forum Member, Formerly Musicinmysoul
Joined
Jun 10, 2006
Messages
1,875
Danelectros way is great but I just don't want to mess up my guitar in a way it would a lot to fix! I'm thinking I'll just drill out an ABR-1.
 
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