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Situation with ABR-1 Bridge on 2019 Les Paul

Johng

New member
Joined
Oct 25, 2019
Messages
8
Hello,

I recently bought a new 2019 Gibson Les Paul Standard 50's and when I got home I realized the saddles where not correct and the guitar will not intonate well. I took the guitar back to the store and the tech changed the bridge with a new ABR-1 bridge. A few days later I realized the new bridge has a wire on top of the saddles screws. When I checked with other Les Paul Standard 50's I saw that the guitar comes stock with the non-wire ABR-1 bridge. I now know there are 2 types of ABR-1 bridges. One with a wire/retainer and one with no wire. The wire helps to keep the saddles in place if a string breaks. My only concern or question is.. is there any difference between this 2 ABR bridges except the wire?.. should I go back to the store and ask them to put the correct ABR-1 bridge in the guitar?. I mean it's not like the guitar is bad or anything. It sounds great and the intonation is perfect. Should I go through the hustle of getting the non-wire ABR bridge or is the same thing with the wire one?.

Thanks to all for the help!

bridge.jpg
 
Last edited:

Arnold M.

Active member
Joined
Mar 29, 2018
Messages
296
Hello,

I recently bought a new 2019 Gibson Les Paul Standard 50's and when I got home I realized the saddles where not correct and the guitar will not intonate well. I took the guitar back to the store and the tech changed the bridge with a new ABR-1 bridge. A few days later I realized the new bridge has a wire on top of the saddles screws. When I checked with other Les Paul Standard 50's I saw that the guitar comes stock with the non-wire ABR-1 bridge. I now know there are 2 types of ABR-1 bridges. One with a wire/retainer and one with no wire. The wire helps to keep the saddles in place if a string breaks. My only concern or question is.. is there any difference between this 2 ABR bridges except the wire?.. should I go back to the store and ask them to put the correct ABR-1 bridge in the guitar?. I mean it's not like the guitar is bad or anything. It sounds great and the intonation is perfect. Should I go through the hustle of getting the non-wire ABR bridge or is the same thing with the wire one?.

Thanks to all for the help!

how were the saddles not correct ?? please elaborate .. why would the tech not simply switch direction of the saddles and set correct intonation ? ... it's not too hard ... why would he replace the entire bridge assembly with an (incorrect for your guitar) bridge ? .. something is missing from this story .. it makes no sense .
 

Johng

New member
Joined
Oct 25, 2019
Messages
8
how were the saddles not correct ?? please elaborate .. why would the tech not simply switch direction of the saddles and set correct intonation ? ... it's not too hard ... why would he replace the entire bridge assembly with an (incorrect for your guitar) bridge ? .. something is missing from this story .. it makes no sense .


how were the saddles not correct?
The string wasn't aligned in the middle of the saddle so if you reverse the saddle to get better intonation the string would not be correctly aligned in the middle of the saddle and would be closer to the other srting.

why would he replace the entire bridge?
Almos all the saddles had the same problem and he decided to change the whole bridge.

why would he replaced it with an incorrect bridge?
I don't know. It still an ABR-1 bridge.. it's just not the non-wire ABR bridge that the guitar came with
 
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