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Tuneomatic Bridge Help

Ok I scored a used es'335 clone (at least I thought it was a score when I paid up) and when I got home and plugged in I heard buzzing. I raised the bridge, taped the nut, taped the saddles, gave the truss rod half a turn, buzz is still there. I cant figure out if it's the frets or bridge that's buzzing. The previous own rsn really heavy gauge strings do my guess is that the bridge and bone nut are destroyed causing multiple buzz points! Is this making sense? I'm not sure if I should start filing the frets yet.

1) I'm thinking of dropping in a genuine Gibdon abr1 bridge but these do not come with the threaded lugs that are inserted into the guitars body. Are there aftermarket ones I could buy? Or is it impossible to fit a gibson bridge onto a clone?

2) Any recommendations for aftermarket tuneomatic bridge? I dont like the graphtech as the treble is reduced. Has anyone tried Gotoh or something like that? I want tone and sustain.

3) Nut - bone or brass? Any brands in particular?

Going nuts.

GEAR:
  • Tokai SG-50s
  • Marshall AVT150H Half Stack
  • Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

I can only fully recommend the Schaller one, which is pricy but about as perfect as a TOM bridge could be - you can even set the string spacing on it. I've seen reviews by Les Paul guys saying how its improved their Gibson so I guess it must be better than the ABR.

I put one on my Modern Player Jazzmaster (that came with a Epi-style TOM instead of a proper JM bridge) and it fit just fine on the knock-off stock lugs so I imagine the ABR would be the same. It did come with some of its own though.

GEAR:
  • Electro-Harmonix Double Muff
  • MXR Ten Band EQ M108S
  • Korg DT-10 Digital Pedal Tuner

Thanks for the information! Now at least I kmow where to look. 😊

GEAR:
  • Tokai SG-50s
  • Marshall AVT150H Half Stack
  • Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

Tonepros are pretty good upgrades from a stock Gibson , I think they're aluminum... theres a company called callaham that does all steel ones for a bright and ultra clear tone... though vintage correct was I think aluminum with chromed brass saddles or in the 60s nylon saddles at one point. I personally have had a number of schaller equipped axes and while the functionality of their bridges and tuners is always a cut above the extra fiddly parts and materials chosen for their bridges generally sound inferior when I change them out for tonepros. Great tuning pegs though. Ymmv

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

Thanks for the references. I checked Schaller's site and they seem to have the right metric bridge for me Tokai. But I wasnt too sure if I wanted to learn how to file the saddles since they are supplied without grooves ... might screw up an expensive bridge.

What's the advantage of using an aluminium bridge? Are they brighter/ more treble coming through/ greater note definition compared to zinc alloy ones? And are you saying that Callahan makes the brightest sounding one?

My ES-335 clone is kinda muddy and boomy sounding, and I want to try to get more clarity, mids and high frequencies out of it. I've seen videos of Gibson 335s with 57 classic PAFs, and want to get closer to that tone.

Another thing I've learned was to adjust the pickup heights, and also to turn up the vol/ tone pots of the bridge pickup, and fill in the amount of neck vol/ tone I need. Brightened the sound a lot for me.

I guess after the bridge, I will need those Gibson 57 PAFs to see any large improvements...

GEAR:
  • Tokai SG-50s
  • Marshall AVT150H Half Stack
  • Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty

Oh I forget to mention that I mostly play my guitars clean with only a small amount of overdrive when needed. It's my first semi hollow.

GEAR:
  • Tokai SG-50s
  • Marshall AVT150H Half Stack
  • Epiphone Les Paul Custom Black Beauty