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Hello,my name is Randall.I've been playing rock and blues for 40+ yrs.,but I love flirting with jazzing up my solos.I just got a Gibson ES-175 Custom(as a gift,believe it or not)from my keyboard player.I once re-strung a cheap copy of this style guitar,and got the tailpiece all out whack by taking all the strings off at once.I would appreciate any advice or tips on restringing my Gibson.I've always played Les Pauls or Strats,and to me, handling the ES-175 is like picking up a fragile piece of crystal or a new-born baby.All replies would be welcome.Thank You
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05-15-2012 02:41 PM
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mmh, you don't want to take off all strings at the same time or our bridge will fall off. I typically remove two strings (starting with the heavy ones for probably no good reason), put the new ones one, remove the next two strings etc. Not that hard :-)
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Hi there,
It's not the tailpiece that went out of whack, it was the floating bridge. If you remove all of the strings at once, it has nothing to anchor it down and it will slide off. All you need to do is replace the strings 1 or 2 at a time, and the bridge will stay put.
If you ever want to remove all of the strings to polish or oil the fingerboard, just put some painters tape on the two "feet" to hold the bridge in place while doing so.
Enjoy your 175. Mine is a '57 and they are not really that fragile!
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The tailpiece all out whack? Don't you mean the bridge? The bridges of archtops are just held in place by string pressure, so if you remove al strings at once, the bridge falls off the guitar. Change one string at a time, and you'll be safe. Archtops usually sound better - or at least more jazzy - with not too light strings (.011 or heavier). If your guitar has a wood bridge it is most likely compensated for a wound G string - it won't play in tune with a plain G.
Originally Posted by Randooley
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Wow,thanks everyone.Great information.The bridge appears to be a tune-o-matic style with the posts in a wood base.I never would have imagined it would fall off.I use 11's on all my guitars so that's a given.Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.Hey,this is fun!Again,thank you all very much.
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An Es 175 as a gift? What a lucky guy !
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Your tune-o-matic bridge isn't a floating bridge. (edit: per below, incorrect. Please disregard.) Given your background on guitar, I'm sure you already know this. Since you have a fixed bridge how did you screw up the tailpiece exactly? Should just be a hunk of metal. Is the hinge where it connects having problems?
Also.. you might try going to .012's just to see the difference. You may like the result.Last edited by Spook410; 05-15-2012 at 07:12 PM.
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Yes,i feel very lucky to have this guitar.It was given to me by an ol' friend I've been playing with for over 30 yrs.The bridge I screwed up was on a cheap copy of an arch top elec.That's why I wanted advice on the Gibson.I plug this thing straight into a "65 Fender Twin Reverb RI and it's the sweetest tone Ive ever heard.
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The tune o matic piece on a 175 sits on a wood base which is held on the top by string tension. Originally Posted by Spook410
It's a floater.
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Thanks. Should have known this. Fixed it. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
Last edited by Spook410; 05-15-2012 at 07:16 PM.
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Give us pics!
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here you go
Last edited by Randooley; 12-14-2017 at 12:19 PM.
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this is so beautiful!
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Man, what a beautiful box! Glad you got the bridge issue sorted out. Yeah, I usually change the strings one at a time or gently tape down the bridge when I'm wanting to do cleaning/maintenance.
Enjoy it!
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Yeah,I've had a lot of quality guitars,but I'm humbled by this axe,especially when I try to play it!
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Very pretty!
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I don't have acces to your picks. Originally Posted by Lucille89Hall
Only see adds..
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just reposted those 175 pics
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Oh, I can clearly see from the pics that you need the guitar professionally set up so that that bridge doesn't fall off, so just send it to me and I'll take care of it and maybe send it back
LOL! just kidding! Looks fantastic. P
lay it in good health and, as others have mentioned, just don't take all the strings off at once.
If I need to condition the fretboard, I leave the two E strings on, which is usually enough pressure to keep the bridge in place, and gives me open access to the board. Also, I don't remember if the 175 tailpiece is susceptible to dropping onto the top with no strings attached, but I would have a cushion under there just in case.
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Randooley,
The ES-175 and Fender Twin Reverb is an EXCELLENT combination, by the way. Many of us, here, have used that combination at some point or another through the years. It's a match made in guitar heaven.
The 175 sounds like the proverbial million bucks through a Twin. You just cannot go wrong--unless you strain your back loading the amp into the van on the way back home from the gig.
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Freudian slip here? Originally Posted by Fusionshred
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No. The "P" got left behind. LOL! Originally Posted by lawson-stone
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Good to see you about, Randooley.
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An ES-175 and Twin Reverb is a dream rig, for sure. Congratulations, and play 'em in good health!
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For the "floating" bridge, no matter how careful you are, it will get loose at some point.
Myself, I am just accustomed to removing & replacing it as needed, for changing strings or cleaning the top.
But here's what I want to warn you on, the bridge base is carved to fit one way! And you may not easily detect which way *is* correct. The tuneamatic top part is easy to see which way to fit, but that can get reversed on the base so you need to keep track of this.
The guitar top is not 100% symmetrical, so the fit may help you figure out if you have it 180 degrees out of position.
And usually the bass side of the bridge base has a slight bit more mass than the treble end.
So study the thing as it sits, see if it looks correct as you recieved (it may have been backwards already!) and using your best judgment for which way it belongs, make a little mark on the underside so you can always tell which way it is supposed to sit.
I take just a small sharp tip and make one single mark on the underside to indicate which end is the bass side of the base.
The tuneamatic part will fit on that base whether you have the base correct or backwards, but there may be a height difference since often the base is not symmetrical, and of course your thumbwheel heights are likely to be set differently.
Short version of this story is "the floating bridge base can easily get installed backwards, make a mark on the bottom so you remember which way it goes" because eventually you will be faced with putting it back in place.
John
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