Yeah, when I was first started fooling around with swapping the bridge, it looked as though the protruded portion of the Pinnacle thumbwheels being on the underside would come very close to hitting the body. However, once I put the ABRN bridge on with the altered 8-32 thumbwheels, it became apparent that I would've had enough room to use the Pinnacles. By that time I had already had a few thumbwheel holes enlarged, so I stuck with them. Also, while I gave the locking Faber bridge a try, for whatever reason my guitar just lost a little something, mostly just a slight loss in sustain. Everything looked good and tight and felt solid but, once I put the ABRN on, it resolved that issue. I'll have to try the locking bridge again at some point in time.
I do have the feeling that some guitarists will evenutally run into some issues with the 8-32 posts, though, for I'm not aware of any other guitar maker that uses them. On the other hand, I would think that the larger post size would also add some strength to the system, so perhaps that might be a good thing? Regarding the 8-32 thumbwheels, I had a longtime machinist friend enlarge the holes free of charge but, if push comes to shove, with the 8-32 thread count that matches the 6-32, it's a relatively easy job for any pro machinist to enlarge it to an 8-32. It's a bit of a hassle for sure, but doable.
Thanks for the kind comment on the burst finish! I just had to grab it when it popped up for sale a couple of weeks ago, and I'm loving this guitar! The bonus is that it's a pretty sweet-sounding instrument, too!
Regarding the quality aspects of the Faber ABRN vs the Heritage bridge, at first glance I think I have to favor the Faber. It just looks a little more polished and refined. But, the Heritage bridge is clearly a faithful design of an ABR-1. While I don't know what kind of alloy it's built from, I instantly noticed that it's heavier than the existing Pinnacle bridge. I'm thinking that it's probably a zinc/aluminum mix of some kind, but I wouldn't know. The string saddle slots will also need some attention since they're only slotted for the placement of the string and not to the actual gauge of the string. Since I only took the time to see if the Heritage bridge fit okay, at the moment I'm not able to provide any kind of a tone comparison between the two. All in all, though, it seems that the Heritage bridge will certainly do an adequate job!
One thing that you'll notice is that the Heritage bridge will slip over the 8-32 posts quite easily with just a tiny bit of play. Conversely, since the Faber ABRN has a hole diameter size of 4.2mm, which just happens to be the same nominal diameter of the 8-32 posts according to my digital calipers, you'll find that the Faber bridge will feel just a bit tighter upon slipping it over the posts. I certainly didn't have to force it down, by any means, and while it did align perfectly, it will be just a tiny bit tighter. I personally like it that way simply because it seems to make the system a little more solid. But, as they say, YMMV.
And oh......one more note......when I first installed the ABRN bridge, I noticed that the posts were actually turning just a bit while putting the thumbwheels on, so I took two thumbwheels to tighten the posts down so that they'd bottom out into the post hole. This brought the posts down on each side by about 1/8", so while it may not be necessary to do this, the posts won't sit quite as high as they previously did. On the other hand, I just felt that it couldn't hurt to make as much contact with the post and body as much as possible, so that's what I did.
The G-pickguard was just a part that I had on hand from owning Les Pauls previously, so I decided to see if it would fit. I found that the screw hole near the neck pickup was about 1/16" off, so I just filed a bit of an extension of that hole to fit the existing hole in the body. If you zoom into the photo, it is visible, but not enough for me to worry about it. I also found that the mounting bracket was as a slight angle, too, so I just put a felt washer along the binding side so that the mount wouldn't dent the body. If I ever do another one, though, I think I'll try to find a pickguard with no holes so that I can drill my own. If I'm not mistaken, I think WD has them.
Anyway, I hope that helps, and thanks for asking!