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which nickel ABR 1 will fit on the nashville studs?

jcsifu

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Jul 23, 2011
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152
Also, the Nashville bridge that Gibson uses now is a Chinese-made PingWorks Nashville, which seems to not be up to the quality of the original Nashville bridge that Gibson used to use, which is made by Schaller. The Schaller Nashville is made in Germany and by most accounts is a better bridge than the Ping one. Having said that, I prefer the ABR-style bridge, despite what some think are its drawbacks (the wire, less range of adjustment).

Al

Ok, gotcha..thanks guys. I put an aluminum wrap around tail on for the same reason. Maybe now I should look into what I can do in the bridge dept. I have to say that I wouldn't mind trying an ABR with the high 3 saddles as nylon like Joe Bonamassa did on one of his Pauls. Just to see what it would do, ya know, something new and different to have to adapt to.
 

jcsifu

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Jul 23, 2011
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152
The Faber bridge model that fits the Nashville studs is the ABRN. This fit perfectly on the studs of my sons Faded SG and allowed for screwing the TP all the way down.

http://www.cvgshop.com/p115/ABRN-Bridge/product_info.html

Yeah this works, thanks for the lead. Think I'll order this today. I also like the fact that it has no wire, so the saddles can be changed easy to the 3 nylon deal I now am set on trying. :salude
 

Mars Hall

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Nov 26, 2008
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Yeah this works, thanks for the lead. Think I'll order this today. I also like the fact that it has no wire, so the saddles can be changed easy to the 3 nylon deal I now am set on trying. :salude

I wouldn't count on changing the saddles on the Faber ABRN bridge. The way bridge body is designed, makes it more difficult to get the saddle screws dislodged from their seat. Something else to consider, in order for the manufacturer to have enough room between the Nashville posts, they had to make the saddles narrower than on a standard ABR1.

IMHO, I wouldn't consider nylon saddles to be a tone upgrade, more of a deficit.
 

jcsifu

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152
I wouldn't count on changing the saddles on the Faber ABRN bridge. The way bridge body is designed, makes it more difficult to get the saddle screws dislodged from their seat. Something else to consider, in order for the manufacturer to have enough room between the Nashville posts, they had to make the saddles narrower than on a standard ABR1.

IMHO, I wouldn't consider nylon saddles to be a tone upgrade, more of a deficit.

Well...bummer all around then. The nylon is suppose to give a...and I do hate using these done to death terms...."fatter tone to the higher strings". Anyway, sounds like a moot point based on your info. I guess I could sand down the saddle width if I was that motivated, but I do these things for fun and that doesn't sound like fun. Thanks for the save. :salude I can't seem to leave well enough alone and always have to mess with stuff in an attempt to get it "better" even though I already like it...I must have a defect. :wah
 

Mars Hall

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Well...bummer all around then. The nylon is suppose to give a...and I do hate using these done to death terms...."fatter tone to the higher strings".

You could try contacting Faber, maybe they would make one for you, with the nylon saddles.
 

jcsifu

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Jul 23, 2011
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152
You could try contacting Faber, maybe they would make one for you, with the nylon saddles.


Hmmm. Maybe I'll call them and see. What I did do is order the ABR nylon saddles to put on a LP clone I have had since 1980ish. It's a pretty close copy. When those come in I'll at least get to see what's what with any tone difference. If I like it, I'll try for the Faber deal.
 

RnB

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Nov 9, 2004
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So this might be something that is common knowledge to many except me, but I'll ask anyway. Is it a material difference between a Nashville and a ABR1 or a distance to the body with the tailpeice issue that makes the tone better?

I believe the Nashville's body is hollow...?

You could also get a new Gibson ABR-1 bridge (wired or wireless) & ream it out to fit your Nashville posts & then replace the saddles w/ the Nylon type. I did it to my 335, but eventually went the Faber route w/ the BSWKIT/Bridge conversion...Faber makes great stuff!
 

jcsifu

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Jul 23, 2011
Messages
152
I believe the Nashville's body is hollow...?

You could also get a new Gibson ABR-1 bridge (wired or wireless) & ream it out to fit your Nashville posts & then replace the saddles w/ the Nylon type. I did it to my 335, but eventually went the Faber route w/ the BSWKIT/Bridge conversion...Faber makes great stuff!

Say what?? It's frickin hollow? That cant be a good idea. Is there any way to confirm that or are you sure? If that's true then I think I would prefer to go the conversion route even if I can't replace the saddles with the nylon deal.

I wrote Faber some questions but they haven't sent info to me yet.
 
L

loufed52

Guest
A few years ago I weighed new Gibson ABR and Nashville bridges.
The ABR was 50 grams and the Nashville was 55 grams.
I don't know if the Nashville is hollow anywhere, but it did appear to be a different alloy.
I don't think that the Nashville design is inherently inferior, it's more a matter of quality and coupling to the body.
Some of the Nashville bushings and studs have a tremendous amount of play in them, and that can't be good for vibration transfer.
The Faber conversion kit is the way to go if the modification is not an issue- haven't tried the Callaham, no opinion there.
A properly installed Faber conversion should be at least as good as a standard ABR, if not better, with bigger studs and more positive seating.
 

Bluespower

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Feb 26, 2003
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I picked up a pair of "conversion studs" (converts Nashville to ABR threads and lock in) from John Browns guitar shop along with a tone pros AVR from ebay..
It works like a dream, using existing nashville bushings. I wanted more clearance from the stop tail and nickel vintage look. The tone also improved.

I believe that the original Shaller Nashville bridge was made of better material than the current model on Gibsons
 

BobV

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Jan 11, 2009
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I've noticed that the Nashville bridge on an '11 LP Studio 60's Tribute is different than the one on an '09 LP Standard Traditional. The bridge on the Studio has different markings and slightly larger holes for the studs. Not huge like an Epiphone but still bigger than the Trad. Either they're using different hardware now on all the GibsonUSA models, or they're using different hardware now on the Studio (wouldn't surprise me in order for them to meet the one-third price point).
 

jcsifu

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Jul 23, 2011
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I picked up a pair of "conversion studs" (converts Nashville to ABR threads and lock in) from John Browns guitar shop along with a tone pros AVR from ebay..
It works like a dream, using existing nashville bushings. I wanted more clearance from the stop tail and nickel vintage look. The tone also improved.

I believe that the original Shaller Nashville bridge was made of better material than the current model on Gibsons


So what is the difference in tone you have found? Is it sustain or tone or both?
 

Bluespower

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Feb 26, 2003
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The Studio 60's tribute sounded great out of the box. So, all this just gives it a bit more sustain, a bit more harmonic overtones, the guitar is now more musical and less thud like.

For the record,
I also installed a nickel plated aluminum feather weight Stop Tailpiece from allparts. This goes nicely with the nickel tone pros AVR-n. I have more tail piece angle options and longer travel adjustments with the AVR and I love the appearance of both of these parts.

Also I'm changing out the peachy plastic with regular cream. These changes, for me, have put the frosting on the cake. I purchased the tone pros AVR for 45 new, the stop tail for 35 new, and the plastic parts for about 38. (Fralin covers, Gibson guard, and generic switch ring) new. I'm keeping the stock parts so I can reassemble the guitar if ever decide to sell it. Which I can't imagine at this point.

I love the 60's tribute playability and the tone. It's a nice backup for my R9 (which is a stellar instrument). It will never replace the R9 but it's a lot of fun to pick it up at a gig and hear those P90s get crunchy. Actually it's hard to put it down. And it weighs in under 7 pounds now.
 
Last edited:

jcsifu

Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
152
The Studio 60's tribute sounded great out of the box. So, all this just gives it a bit more sustain, a bit more harmonic overtones, the guitar is now more musical and less thud like.

For the record,
I also installed a nickel plated aluminum feather weight Stop Tailpiece from allparts. This goes nicely with the nickel tone pros AVR-n. I have more tail piece angle options and longer travel adjustments with the AVR and I love the appearance of both of these parts.

Also I'm changing out the peachy plastic with regular cream. These changes, for me, have put the frosting on the cake. I purchased the tone pros AVR for 45 new, the stop tail for 35 new, and the plastic parts for about 38. (Fralin covers, Gibson guard, and generic switch ring) new. I'm keeping the stock parts so I can reassemble the guitar if ever decide to sell it. Which I can't imagine at this point.

I love the 60's tribute playability and the tone. It's a nice backup for my R9 (which is a stellar instrument). It will never replace the R9 but it's a lot of fun to pick it up at a gig and hear those P90s get crunchy. Actually it's hard to put it down. And it weighs in under 7 pounds now.

Sounds like a keeper for sure! Got any pics to put up?
 

Bluespower

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Feb 26, 2003
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anybody? who makes a direct drop in ABR1 bridge to replace my Nashville bridge ?
 

metropolis

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Sep 14, 2018
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This is a 10+ year old thread so people may not be looking in it anymore (I'm just nosey).

Yes, Faber do one I've used recently. It wasn't the greatest fit (a little tight on the posts) but works fine.
 

El Gringo

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Apr 8, 2015
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I got my conversion bushings from Philadelphia Luthier and used them with a stock Gibson ABR-1 and it works perfectly .
 

metropolis

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Sep 14, 2018
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I should as, as El Gringo reminded me, I've also done a post conversion with Faber parts too - it involved a bit of drilling so not for everyone (or every guitar) but turned out nicely.
 
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