Anyone have an ABR Bridge OR Lollar Imperials in a Heritage?

[jamison162]

Just curious if anyone has ever spec's or retrofitted an ABR bridge on an H-150 or similar.  If so, what manufacturer and where did you find it; also how do you like it over the stock bridge.  Without getting into all the debate.....I have my reasons for asking.

 

Secondly, has anyone ever tried the Lollar Imperials??  Can we get a tone report, camparison?

 

Thanks

[Kazwell]

I am seriously looking into a set of Lollar Imperials. I may just go for the neck pu's for now.  I know on Harmony-central they recieved a perfect 10 out more than a few reviews. Interesting you mentioned these pickups as I rarely see the Imperials mentioned around here. For what it is worth, when I mentioned to one of the tone snobs up at Eddie's Guitars I had Seth Lovers on my H-150, the dude, don't recall his name, said "The Lovers' are alright, but I prefer the Lollar humbuckers."

There is also a review on Harmony Central where there was someone who had Seth Lovers and said that although he liked them, the Lollar Imperials were the next step up.

Hope this helps. It always seems like a gamble when ordering PU's. I guess for me, the mystery is what draws me into just going for it. Although, I am being somewhat cautious by getting only one PU. If I like it well enough, I may just go for the bridge PU as well.

[111518]

Jamison 162:

Since every Heritage that I know about, except the archtops with floating bridges, has been equipped either with the schaller roller bridge or some other "nashville" type tune-o-matic type that used threaded bushings(some people call them inserts --the things that are set into the body to receive the threads of of the posts,) it would be a pretty major operation to pull the inserts, plug/refinish/blend those holes and refit the simple threaded posts directly into the wood that the ABR uses.  It's sort of a catch 22 --you would be going back to the bridge type used on the 50's Les Pauls, so in that sense more "original," BUT you would have to modify a Heritage pretty extensively to do it, so in that sense your guitar would be less original.  I've seen this done to restore valuable old gibsons modified with later bridges, but it aint cheap, and if it isn't done right it shouts: "look at me."  It seems like I once saw an add for posts that would screw into nashville type bushings and allow you to mount an ABR, but I haven't seen anything like this lately --I think the center to center dimensions were a little different and this kind of "adapter" just didn't work and hasn't stayed on the market.

 

I've never seen a Heritage ordered with a true ABR, though I expect they may be out there.  I think most people agree the nashville type has real advantages --the bridge itself is more solid and less likely to collapse over time,the threads on the posts are more substantial and if they do corrode they can be changed without marring the lacquer, the individual bridge pieces don't fall out when you loose the retaining wire --just a mechanically superior arrangement ...though of course the ABR does have its own advocates. 

 

--most of this is written from old experience, though I did some recent investigation when I thought I might want to swap the bridges from one of my guitars to another ....but my problem was that the epiphone guitar that had a bigsby --that I thought might work better with the schaller roller-- was fitted with an ABR --so I would have had to drill for the inserts, and I couldn't have used the ABR from the epi to replace the schaller roller on my H550, so i let the project die.  Others might be more 'up' on what's available and on what the "tone masters" are saying about the relative coolness/tonefulness of the two types. 

 

I've been trying to figure out if there is a readily available nashville bridge that comes with posts that can simply be screwed into the bushings/inserts already installed for the Schaller roller, or whether those bushings have to be extracted.  You'd think the schaller nashville would work, but I can't find a spec drawing that confirms the same thread, same post to post dimension, etc.  Anyone know?  The roller bridge, as much as I think schaller is quality stuff, just doesn't look right on a big hollowbody like the 550, so I think I'll eventually swap it out if I can run into a bridge that will work.  For the epi, I guess all i can do is get some graphtec bridge pieces for the abr. 

 

Hope this helps.

 

www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_Tune-o-matic_bridges/1/ABR-1_Tune-o-matic_Bridges_and_Parts/Specs.html#details

/www.stewmac.com/shop/Bridges,_tailpieces/Electric_guitar,_Tune-o-matic_bridges/1/Nashville_Tune-o-matic_Bridges_and_Parts/Specs.html#details

[111518]

As seems often the case, responding made me curious to catch up about current discussion, and in digging around I found this thread from the gear page.  There's a link within the thread to the adapters that I thought I had seen, and also disagreement about the merits and ease of replacement of the two bridge types.  (pretty much the same arguments about the relative merits of ABR and Nashville I remember from 25 years ago!) 

 

As always, hope this helps ... it still leaves me with questions about interchangeability.  Maybe I'll write stew mac, and if I get a substantive response, I'll post it. 

 

www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=274389

[Jim W]

We installed a Gi***n ABR-1 on on my wife's H-157 pretty easily. If I recally correctly, all we did was ever so slightly elongate (slot) the holes in the ABR-1 with a small round file by about .010 each.

 

[jamison162]

One of the reasons I asked is that I though I had read about an ABR bridge that would fit on Nashville posts?  I also know of guys drilling out the smaller mounting holes on the ABR to fit the Nashville.  If I were to get an ABR it would definitely be the Tone Pros AVRII.  In fact, I may do it if i can get it to fit and still lock.  There's a reason top custom builders like Collings and Grosh are using the Tone Pros hardware.

 

Grosh uses the TP Nasheville Bridge:

http://www.groshguitars.com/images/faded-amber_set3.jpg[/img]

 

Collings uses the AVRII:

http://www.collingsguitars.com/images/Electrics/CL_sb_hardware_LG.jpg[/img]

http://www.collingsguitars.com/images/Electrics/CL_tsb_topdetail_LG.jpg[/img]

[Jim W]

We didn't drill out the holes, I felt that would introduce to much movement in the direction between the pickups and the tailpiece. by just slightly elongating them, there is no movement allowed; the side to side is only opened up enough to allow the bridge to fit down over the posts. You could probably "bend" the threaded posts enough to force the bridge down, but (IMHO) the resulting binding would preclude easy height adjustment.

[jamison162]

Oh, and definitely give us a report on those Imperials Kazwell!!!

[111518]

Here's what I heard back from Stew Mac.  As I read the tone pros page, this means their TP6 bridge and posts (which I think begins life as a schaller) would also mount into the bushings for the roller bridge. 

 

> COMMENT:

> I have a heritage H550 with the schaller roller bridge. Do any of the tune-o-matic bridges that you sell, or that you know of that are available on the market, allow the option of leaving the inserts in place and simply screwing in new posts and mounting a new bridge. the dimensions of the inserts on the stew mac nashville and the schallers seem identical, but its not clear if the threads are the same and if the spacing allows interchangeability. What about Schallers own nashville?

> Thanks.

 

Thank you for contacting us. You could install the Nashville posts and bridge (www.stewmac.com/shopby/item/4502) into the existing Schaller bushings.

Feel free to contact me if you have any more questions.

 

Best regards,

 

Mike McGovern

Stewart MacDonald

1-800-848-2273

www.stewmac.

[RockingCPA]

Just curious if anyone has ever spec's or retrofitted an ABR bridge on an H-150 or similar.  If so, what manufacturer and where did you find it; also how do you like it over the stock bridge.  Without getting into all the debate.....I have my reasons for asking.

 

Secondly, has anyone ever tried the Lollar Imperials??  Can we get a tone report, camparison?

 

Thanks

 

Hi Guys,

 

I'm a new Heritage H-150 owner and have a little info I received from a reliable source (a Tonepros rep/buddy) about retrofitting ABR-1 style bridges on a guitar that came with a Nashville.  I also have a LPR9 (the best guitar I've ever owned), and a LP Standard Premium Plus.  The Standard is a very dark sounding guitar and I tried changing the P/U's to Seymour Duncan '59s, which they said were the closest they make to the Burstbucker 1's & 2's that come in the LPR9, but it's still too bassy sounding.  My buddy that is a Tonepros rep and guitar tech (currently with the Cult and formerly with Eddie Money, Metallica, etc), suggested retrofitting the ABR-1 on the Standard and that should give it some more "cut".  He referred me to Brown's Guitar Factory to buy posts to mount an ABR-1 on Nashville inserts, so there's no modifications needed on the guitar.  I just ordered them tonight, so I don't have any feedback on how well they work, but here's a link:  http://www.brownsguitarfactory.com/  Click on the online store link and go to the 5th page. 

 

I'm going to put the Tonepros Nashville bridge and stoptail from the Standard on my H-150.  The H-150 is a better guitar than the Gibson Standard Plus, but not quite as good as the LPR9  I bought it to having something closer to the LPR9 that I wasn't afraid to gig with. BTW, I also pulled the Grovers and replaced them with the Tonepros Kluson keys.  It took me about 10 minutes and the guitar is staying in tune better, and I prefer the vintage look of the Tonepros Kluson's over the chrome Grovers.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Bob

[jamison162]

Awesome!!

[Kuz]

Do answer your question, I have the bridge but I will have the imperials in another new Heritage in about, what 4-6months (can't help myself, ordered another- so I might have to sell another brand guitar )