Bridge and tailpiece question for '93-'98 Reissue owners

aldindubo · Nov 16, 2017

I got my guitar back from a set up and noticed that the underside of the ABR1 says Pat. No. with a number, however the underside of the tailpiece says Made In Germany.

I think the guitar tech has accidently swapped my bridge for an other one, because as far as I know, Historics in the '90ies used Schaller hardware and therefore it hould say Made In Germany. Also, as far as I know, Pat. No. hardware has been used in the '80ies and not in the '90ies.

For all '93 - '98 Reissue owners who know their bridge and tailpiece are the ones that originally came on the guitar: what is written on the underside of your hardware?

Big Al · Nov 18, 2017

AFAIK the abr1 bridges are not made in Germany and wouldn't have a made in Germany mark. Yours sounds right.

aldindubo · Nov 21, 2017

But how should the stock hardware on a 1993 Hisotric look like?

Should it say Gibson ABR-1? Should it be wired or non wired. and so on. Same story for the tailpiece.

It would really help if someone who own a fuly stock 1993 Historic could chime in.

Mars Hall · Nov 22, 2017

My 96 R7 had a wire ABR-1 and Zinc TP.

Big Al · Nov 23, 2017

Mars Hall said:
My 96 R7 had a wire ABR-1 and Zinc TP.

This.

aldindubo · Nov 23, 2017

Great! Thanks for the info. Im sure the guy has put on the wrong hardware on my guitar. How in the hell could my 1993have a PAT. no with a number wired ABR1, haha.

The only thing I remember is the ABR1 being a wired one and I have removed the wire because it rattled. I remember nothing else.

So, one thing has been cleared: I need to go back and look for a wired ABR-1 bridge which says Gibson Abr1 on the underside, right?

And I need to look for a zinc (not a lightweight alu) tailpiece.

aldindubo · Nov 29, 2017

I went back to the luthier and got the original ABR-1 one back.

I have done research lately on the type of ABR-1 and tailpiece that came on several low Serial number Historics and I can conclude the following.

On several fully stock and untouched low serial number 1993 Historics I found:

- a nickel wired ABR-1 bridge that says "ABR-1" on the bottom, without the mark after the 1 just the ABR-1's from the '60s;

- a nickel heavy tailpiece that says "Made In Germany" on the bottom;

- nickel push in bushing tuners that say "Gibson Deluxe" on the casing;

- two of those small orange caps that say "MP 203M 100V" on them;

- two '90s '57 Classic pickups with a small black sticker that say "Patent Applied For" on the bottom.

Dimitri92 · Nov 29, 2017

.. wow.. I mean, I know that luthier is human and stuff... but still. Giving you back your guitar with replaced hardware.. interesting guy..

aldindubo · Dec 4, 2017

He is a well known luthier in the Netherlands, so I dont think he did it on purpose.

Keefoman · Dec 5, 2017

Still, if he wants to be considered professional, he wouldn't return a guitar with different parts than it came in with. In this case, there are probably two guitars that left the shop with unoriginal, 'unwanted' parts.

Bridge and tailpiece question for '93-'98 Reissue owners

aldindubo

Member

Big Al

Well-known member

aldindubo

Member

Mars Hall

Active member

Big Al

Well-known member

aldindubo

Member

aldindubo

Member

Dimitri92

Member

aldindubo

Member

Keefoman

Active member