Gibson ES-175 Bridges - ABR-1 vs Rosewood vs Graphtech Resomax (Video Test)

[caue amaral]

Hello!
My first post here……sorry for my very basic English.? I've been following the forum for some time and I really enjoy reading about everyone's musical experiences! I made a video trying to compare the bridges on my es175...it's an amateur recording, with some problems, but hopefully it's possible to get an idea of ??the differences! Thank you all!

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[ruger9]

Here's an older thread about it, maybe you can find some good info there

resomax bridges by graphtech

[Jx30510]

I happen to have a good experience with the Resomax, and tried it extensively on all my guitars, Ibanez AS50 (Gibson Es339 style semi hollow), Eastman T I 64 (Es330 Style thinline hollowbody), Epiphone ES175, and Martin Taylor Virtuoso (Full hollow Jazzbox with floating pickup).

I have tried it on all these instruments, swapping between the Abr metal bridge , wooden bridge (except the Ibanez Semi for the latter er) and the Resomax.

The Resomax that I have is the one with the black Graphtech savers, and chrome like base.

I can say two things, and am pretty sure of what I'm saying

The Resomax is a very very light bridge, almost as light (I wonder if not lighter, I should weigh it) as the rosewood one. Lighter than the Ebony one I have.

This lightness enhances the acoustic power of all the guitars I've put it on. Even the semi hollow Ibanez that, with it's wooden block structure, is more on the electric side.
The more "hollowish" the guitare, the greater the effect
The Martin Taylor gained double of it's original acoustic power compared to when I put the ABR. It's pretty similar too the rosewood bridge, maybe a little more.

The second thing I can say for sure is that the Resomax cuts high mid frequecies (does that exist? I don't know but that's how I describe it)
In my language that means that the sound is duller, the attack of the notes is softer, and the overall harmonic content is less interesting.

For me the Resomax makes the guitar louder, but it deadens the overall high frequecies.

It is an interesting concept, it also has an effect on playability, with a smoother attack, and kind of a slacky slinky feel.

It can be nice on a very bright or harsh guitar.

To conclude, I've always finished taking it off my guitars after a certain time, because I feel it just kills the liveliness of the guitar, even if it's louder at best.

I suspect that the roundish contact of the string savers with the strings, compared to the pointy edgy ones on classic bridges (metal, or wood) may be responsible for damping the attack and sound on the Resomax.

A good idea may be to try to mold them with a Dremel to be edgy to see if there's a difference?

[caue amaral]

I agree with you...it enhances the acoustic power and I feel it gives more dynamics to the sound...it has a similar tone to wooden bridges, with some advantages! I think it depends on the sound you want at the moment...sometimes I prefer resomax, other times the original!

[Fred Archtop]

Very didactive video. I am more into rosewood myself. Just swapped my TOM bridge for a full rosewood on my 175CC.

Thanks for sharing.

Best.

[guavajelly]

Thank you for that. As expected the rosewood bridge is also my favorite. I did put one into my humble Ibanez AG75 a couple of years ago and was rewarded with a poor man's GB. ;-) I changed a pickup later which didn't have as much impact as changing the bridge.
The graphtec also has a nice tone to it – would be my second favorite.

[Little Jay]

Great video! Especially acoustically the difference is huge! I am a rosewood lover ;-)

The TOM on my ES-330 DIY project sounded too bright to my taste and I swapped the sadles for nylon. Sounds pretty rosewoody too!

[Cunamara]

The video was a really nice demonstration of the tonal differences between the three types of saddles. I also liked that there was no unnecessary conversation, just straight to the point. Hearing both the acoustic and electric sound was helpful.

The GraphTech people address exactly what you're talking about in their literature. They note that their saddle material does not resonate as strongly around 2 kHz compared to metal saddles. Personally, that sounds spiky to me so losing it is an improvement, at least for jazz. However, if you play with distortion losing that resonance may result in a muddy sound. As it was already mentioned, I find the GraphTech saddles to sound more like a wood saddle which is a sound I tend to really like. I use these on my Teles and Strat. I don't use TOMs on archtops because of what I hear as a spiky tone.

[Marty Grass]

I have a ES-345 with nylon saddles. I had thought when Gibson did that decades ago it was likely for cost containment. What I can say is that it seems to make the sound a little "thunkier" with less sustain and high frequencies. I do enjoy the sound. I have another one with steel saddles for a more traditional sound.