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Gibson ES-330L bridge question

A

adamrobertt

New member
Joined
Apr 24, 2019
Messages
3
Hey all, my girlfriend has a very nice ES-330L, one of the more recent Custom Shop reissues. It's a great guitar and she loves it, but she's having problems getting the bridge fully intonated. I read online that this bridge is an ABR-1, which has less travel for the saddles, and that a Nashville style bridge might work better. I have a couple of questions about this though -

1) ABR-1s are supposed to be screwed directly into the body, but on her guitar it's screwed into metal posts/bushings. Is this because the bridge has been swapped out, or is it just because they have to do this on hollow bodied guitars?

2) If it is an ABR-1, is there a drop in replacement Nashville style bridge or will modification be necessary? Thanks.
 
musekatcher

musekatcher

New member
Joined
Apr 15, 2018
Messages
135
adamrobertt said:
Hey all, my girlfriend has a very nice ES-330L, one of the more recent Custom Shop reissues. It's a great guitar and she loves it, but she's having problems getting the bridge fully intonated. I read online that this bridge is an ABR-1, which has less travel for the saddles, and that a Nashville style bridge might work better. I have a couple of questions about this though -

1) ABR-1s are supposed to be screwed directly into the body, but on her guitar it's screwed into metal posts/bushings. Is this because the bridge has been swapped out, or is it just because they have to do this on hollow bodied guitars?

2) If it is an ABR-1, is there a drop in replacement Nashville style bridge or will modification be necessary? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sounds original and correct. Yes, there are some replacements with more travel, and with rollers too. But, I'd be concerned if you need more travel - that indicates something else is wrong. Sure its an authentic Gibson? Wrong scale length or mislocated bridges occur on copies.
 
F

fenderbender

Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2006
Messages
98
The 330L, being hollow, doesn't have bridge bushings. OP, are you sure you are not seeing the stock double thumbwheels and mistaking them for bushings?

The intonation problem is weird, have you tried new strings?

I have one, it's a great guitar!
 
Z

zombiwoof

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
3,565
On some strings you can reverse the saddle to get more travel to intonate.
Al
 
CAGinLA

CAGinLA

Active member
Joined
Jan 4, 2016
Messages
489
adamrobertt said:
Hey all, my girlfriend has a very nice ES-330L, one of the more recent Custom Shop reissues. It's a great guitar and she loves it, but she's having problems getting the bridge fully intonated. I read online that this bridge is an ABR-1, which has less travel for the saddles, and that a Nashville style bridge might work better. I have a couple of questions about this though -

1) ABR-1s are supposed to be screwed directly into the body, but on her guitar it's screwed into metal posts/bushings. Is this because the bridge has been swapped out, or is it just because they have to do this on hollow bodied guitars?

2) If it is an ABR-1, is there a drop in replacement Nashville style bridge or will modification be necessary? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Most, if not all ES-330s have ABR bridges with the thin posts that are screwed directly into the body (as opposed to Nashville posts, which have wide bases at the bottom of the posts, mounted into the body).

There are conversion bridges for Nashville > ABR, but I don't know about ABR > Nashville (not a very popular conversion, I imagine).

I'd take the guitar to a luthier to see if something can be done with the saddles first, before going for a bridge swap.
 
B

bobore

New member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
192
My ES-330L is a 2010. The stock set up, as mentioned, uses double thumb wheels - with the lower thumbwheel providing stability for the post where it attaches to the body.
 
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