A Creative Solution to the Gibson Adjustable Bridge Conversion Dilemma

Many 60's Gibson flat-top owners will at some time consider converting their original adjustable bridge to a drop-in saddle version, but doing so usually means some kind of less-than-ideal cosmetic modification.
In this short video Folkway's Mark Stutman describes a conversion option that leaves the original guitar looking like its factory original self, but sounding like a drop-in-saddle converted version.

[johnnystrat]

Since my last comment about a year ago, I now have a 1965 Gibson B-45-12 and a 1967 Epi FT 45 Cortez, both came with adj. saddles, and both sound so much better now that they've been converted to solid fixed saddles. The Cortez in particular has a lovely warm vintage tone.

[HayesTech]

Update to my earlier post: I made my own Brazilian rosewood insert and tightly fit it to my bridge. Then routed that insert for a standard sized Gibson saddle. But since I fit the insert tightly, I didn't need to glue it in. This way I can take it back to it's stock configuration, if I ever need to sell it (which will never happen..lol).
So now it's has the look and sound of a standard bridge and saddle, but it's not permanently altered.

[johnnystrat]

Good solution and video. I have a 1965 Epiphone FT85 (12 string) with an adjustable saddle which sounds great and which I wouldn't dare convert. The saddle on my 1970 Gibson J50 has been converted and that sounds great as well. I still have the adj. saddle and screws so there is the temptation to change back to the original set-up, just for comparison's sake. The big mystery is why on earth anybody at Gibson thought that plastic bridges were a good idea!

[scottreeves]

Nice. I did that on an early 50's J-45 in 1972. The bridge plate was not as monstrous as that one's original, and I kept the ceramic saddle. It was a killer guitar. I wasn't allowed close to the microphone when I played rhythm.

[russellpowell]

Mark
I’m always on the lookout for your latest video
Thinking outside the box on this one worked out really well. That plywood bridge plate and plastic bridge, had to go.
I have a 64 Epiphone Texan with the ceramic adjustable saddle that sounds so good I decided to leave it.
I did swap the adjustable saddle to a bone one on my wife’s J45- big improvement
Keep up the videos

[golds]

I have a 63 southern jumbo with the fabled plastic bridge, which is adjustable and would never touch it for all the money in the world unless it breaks. It sounds beautiful.

[gdavisafrica]

Thanks for the video. I did something similar with my 59 J50. The bridge plate was 3/16" solid maple. Had to leave it in place but the increase in tone, volume and sustain, were quite noticeable.

[jordangibson]

I did something similar with a Harmony H1266 by adding a rosewood floor to the saddle slot, but I just created an ivory saddle to fill it and did away with the screws for cosmetics.

[martinsundland]

A great job as always - both on the guitar and your pesentation.

[joemcgraw]

Very Nice !!! You found a Great way to fix these types of terrible designed bridges and it looks untouched, It would be nice to do a before and after sound clip because now the guitar will sound like it should have years ago

[PaisleyPatchouli]

I'm 100% in favor of doing anything necessary to resurrect these 60s B25s. They can be really great sounding and playing vintage 60s Gibsons, for very reasonable pricing. I've owned several over the years, including one of the 12 strings that had a trapeze bridge and 2" saddle, and which was quite bold sounding for a 00 size 12 string!
I wish you had strung this one up for a demo of how it sounded after the conversion!
Otherwise great vid and good info about the replacement saddles.

[robertdievendorf]

A wonderfully imaginative solution. Hopefully no one down the line tries to adjust the faux adjustable saddle! I still don’t understand why Gibson brought back the adjustable saddle for their retro 60’s J-50 series. I know its period correct, but still bad engineering. Glad to see your video - I’ve missed them.

[HayesTech]

Wish I could find someone close to me that would do that to my 65 Texan

[Joebenedettmusic]

I thought the point would be to have a drop in saddle and if you wanted to go back to the original adjustable you could gluing in that insert messed that up

[pallecla]

And the Hosco saddle is actually quite cheap 🙂

[pascalgalipeau]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I recently bought this exact same made in Japan bridge for a 1966 J-50 I recently purchase. It had an original rosewood saddle. You could hear it sounded nice but was kind of dull. Now, with this bone nut, the sound has improved big time. The only thing we did not change is the bridge plate. It seems a bit tricky to get out without opening the guitar from the back. Any tips on that? Cheers!

[BillBrown]

Great job. Did you use only glue for the new bridge or use screws too to secure it to the top?

[HarryNicNicholas]

i have a 66 J45 that had the bridge replaced with a fixed (not gibson, not my idea) and i also have a 69 epi texan with an adjustable - they sound different but i can't say one sounds better, this bridge thing is mythology i think - why would gibson make adjustable bridges (however redundant they become once you've got them just right) if it was going to make an inferior sounding guitar?
the only thing i wonder about is the material, ceramic looks nice, rosewood seems more appropriate and ebony looks good too.
i like how you've compromised there, i like the look of adjustable bridges and it doesn't seem to affect the sound of my twins, but people do moan...

[RockStarOscarStern]

The adjustable bridge makes them useful.

[GuitarQuackery]

Are the two inlays on the replacement bridge also just for show, or did you put the nuts & bolts there?