Recommendation for Epiphone ES-175 rosewood bridge

[Johunsucker901]

Hello,

I’m planning to change out the ABR-1 style bridge on my Epiphone ES-175 premium to a rosewood or ebony bridge (preferably rosewood). Could anyone recommend me a bridge that would easily fit? I don’t want a situation where I buy a bridge and then I take it to my tech to find out that it won’t work. I saw one on Stewmac that was only $32 and I wonder if it would be an easy fit.

Thank you,
Jonathan

[sgosnell]

The only worry is the post spacing, if you're just replacing the saddle. If you buy a complete bridge, that won't matter. The type with a two-footed base is easy to use, just put it on and it should adjust to the top automatically. A solid base needs fitting to the guitar by sanding to fit. Try to find the post spacing of the bridge you want to buy, and match it to the spacing of the bridge you have, which should be 74mm. If you can find a saddle with that post spacing, you can just drop it on the base you have. Be aware that the bridge on the Epi ES-175 Premium is pinned, by having the posts extend through the bottom of the base into holes in the guitar top. You may need to move the bridge to get the intonation correct with a wooden saddle. This is easy enough to do by just unscrewing the posts until they no longer extend out the bottom of the base. This may make the posts extend through the top of the saddle. Some saddles don't have the holes go all the way through, so you may not be able to lower it enough. For those, you can drill the rest of the way through, or buy shorter replacement posts. Unfortunately, replacing a saddle is not always as straightforward as it should be, because bridges are sold with seemingly random post spacing. It's easier to replace the whole bridge assembly.

[Johunsucker901]

Thanks for the reply! I’m actually going to have a tech do it, I feel like I’d end up messing it up. I wonder if anyone on this board has the epi premium 175 and has replaced their bridge to the wood ones? I don’t mind replacing the whole bridge but it would be nice to find a drop-in saddle that fits.

[lammie200]

Also, if for some reason you don't replace the foot piece and the post spacings on the saddle don't match the ones of your ABR you can file the holes in the saddle to make it fit. I have done that so that I could keep the original foot piece. The key is to find a rosewood saddle piece with post holes that go all the way through. That is actually pretty common but I have see some rosewood bridges with holes that are only partial depth so filing them wider would be more difficult.

[StefanoGhirardo]

I've got an Epiphone 175 premium. I've replaced the bridge to a wodden one (this: Allparts Ebony Compensated Bridge and Base - Nickel | Gino Guitars) and did a bit of hack on it. The resulting tone was more mellow but too dull (I use Thomastik JS113). So I've swapped back happily the original bridge.

Ciao
Stefano

[sgosnell]

I replaced the TOM on my Epi 175, but it has been so long ago I don't remember the exact one I used. I have a bunch on hand. Anything with a 74mm post spacing will fit on the existing base.

[garybaldy]

I recently got this from China. Exactly 74mm post spacing. Don't know how accurate the intonation will be. About 11GBP
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[Johunsucker901]

Thanks everyone, I will take all this into account! I’m hearing a lot of people telling me that it’s not worth changing, so I think I’ll just keep the ABR-1 on there for now.

[whiskey02]

Fwiw, Wes Montgomery and Pat Metheny sound pretty Okay with an ABR-1.

[sgosnell]

Whether it's worth changing is entirely up to you. Tone and ease of playing are completely subjective, and it's entirely a personal decision. The tone with a wooden bridge with a two-footed base will be different, but only you can decide if it's better or worse. Making the change is very easy, just loosen the strings, remove the old bridge, slide the new one on, and tighten the strings. Just be careful with the posts extending into the top when you remove the old one, you probably will need to get the strings very loose. It takes longer to set the intonation than to change the bridge, and it's easy to put the old one back on if you don't like the wood. But again, it's a personal decision about your guitar. Have fun playing.

[Marinero]

And, if you replace it yourself, J,
Mark the edges of the old bridge with Scotch #2080 "Delicate Surface" tape before installing the new one. Your intonation should be very close if not perfect after the installation. Then, remove tape.
Marinero

[garybaldy]

I recently got this from China. Exactly 74mm post spacing. Don't know how accurate the intonation will be. About 11GBP
[

I take it this was a tumbleweed moment!!

[FredH]

I did the exact same thing with mine several years ago. Got a rosewood bridge from StewMac - and took it to my tech. It fit without any difficulties and made a big difference. Good ln luck