Four Uncles ABR-1 bridge just in and...

[Wizard1183]

Some days ago a friend came to visit me who has a beautiful Burst replica (it has a very C shaped type 58 neck). The guitar has really nice woods and is equipped with a set of Wizz PAFs... All the right things in the right places (glues, finish, etc...). Speaking of bridge, initially his guitar had a Gibson Historic but he wasn't satisfied with the sound. He therefore decided to take an FU given the great feedback he was able to read on-line. Well, you won't believe it but when installing the FU he complained of a "wrong" sound. He didn't have buzz or anything like that he just didn't like how he sounded. He hadn't touched anything other than the bridge and so that had to be it. Together we installed an old wired Gibson ABR-1 patent number, the one with the foundry brand, with a set of new "block style" soft brass saddles taken from an Ebay shop. I can't describe his face to you at the first chord!

 

[Jimi's LP]

Some days ago a friend came to visit me who has a beautiful Burst replica (it has a very C shaped type 58 neck). The guitar has really nice woods and is equipped with a set of Wizz PAFs... All the right things in the right places (glues, finish, etc...). Speaking of bridge, initially his guitar had a Gibson Historic but he wasn't satisfied with the sound. He therefore decided to take an FU given the great feedback he was able to read on-line. Well, you won't believe it but when installing the FU he complained of a "wrong" sound. He didn't have buzz or anything like that he just didn't like how he sounded. He hadn't touched anything other than the bridge and so that had to be it. Together we installed an old wired Gibson ABR-1 patent number, the one with the foundry brand, with a set of new "block style" soft brass saddles taken from an Ebay shop. I can't describe his face to you at the first chord!

Everyone has their own taste and tone sound in their head. I can see why some people like the FU and some don't. I had a Callaham bridge on my 1998 R9 and It was my first upgrade then I tried the Faber abrh and now the FU. The Callaham was bright the Faber was bassier and a little dark and the FU is in between the two. They all sound great to me but I like the FU better than the other two. It's giving me the tone right now that I'm enjoying. I have a early 60s abr-1 with the wire. Maybe next time I'll remove the saddles on FU and put them on my vintage bridge and see how that sounds.

 

[drewbarries]

No worries!

I just got a 2024 Murphy Lab 59 & decided to keep the new ABR1 that they deigned instead of using the 4 uncles bridge. I think products like Royal Mount & 4 Uncles bridges are best for the older R9s and historical. The 2024 Gibsons are spot on!


Good luck with the rattling!

Is the Murphy Lab doing something different now and when did they start? I have a Murphy Lab Brazilian 2023 and have been interested in the FU since learning about it.

 

[Wizard1183]

Is the Murphy Lab doing something different now and when did they start? I have a Murphy Lab Brazilian 2023 and have been interested in the FU since learning about it.

I’d say Gibson is not better than FU bridge. I found on my TH59 it was significantly better than Gibsons granted 2015 vs today? Gibson is full of shit. Ppl can say mines the best on a 2024, 2025? It’s not. ML is no better than a regular custom shop by any means. Now 2019+ they changed pots so MAYBE it be be a hair better. But a Les paul is a Les paul regardless of yr. You have the latest and greatest best? I’ll call bs. Cause your ears are different from everyone else’s. There’s really nothing Gibson can do to make it sound any better. Nothing literally. Even if they switch to limited old growth mahogany? It’d still sound the same within the realm of things. It’s all fictitious bs that guitar players say.

 

[drewbarries]

I’d say Gibson is not better than FU bridge. I found on my TH59 it was significantly better than Gibsons granted 2015 vs today? Gibson is full of shit. Ppl can say mines the best on a 2024, 2025? It’s not. ML is no better than a regular custom shop by any means. Now 2019+ they changed pots so MAYBE it be be a hair better. But a Les paul is a Les paul regardless of yr. You have the latest and greatest best? I’ll call bs. Cause your ears are different from everyone else’s. There’s really nothing Gibson can do to make it sound any better. Nothing literally. Even if they switch to limited old growth mahogany? It’d still sound the same within the realm of things. It’s all fictitious bs that guitar players say

That’s not my experience, I’ve owned dozens of LPs through the years and the 3 MLBs I’ve played were all better than anything else I’ve personally played. There’s something I love about the neck carve and the lighter weights but there’s also something I suppose unknown that contributes to their greatness, but it’s unmistakably present and without question. I did not want to like them, in fact had a nasty predisposition towards hating them but after playing 3 of them, I’m a believer.

 

[Jimi's LP]

I’d say Gibson is not better than FU bridge. I found on my TH59 it was significantly better than Gibsons granted 2015 vs today? Gibson is full of shit. Ppl can say mines the best on a 2024, 2025? It’s not. ML is no better than a regular custom shop by any means. Now 2019+ they changed pots so MAYBE it be be a hair better. But a Les paul is a Les paul regardless of yr. You have the latest and greatest best? I’ll call bs. Cause your ears are different from everyone else’s. There’s really nothing Gibson can do to make it sound any better. Nothing literally. Even if they switch to limited old growth mahogany? It’d still sound the same within the realm of things. It’s all fictitious bs that guitar players say.

I agree with you in a lot of things you said. I own 12 electric guitars and 3 of them for some reason are all Gibson LPs from the 90s only. Not that I have prefer them years but they're the ones I fell in love with their monster flame tops specially my R9. I haven't played any other years of LPs ever since because I feel that I don't need to. I do believe upgrading hardware and wiring does make a big difference in tone. The only difference in my LPs is the feel and sound but not by much. My 98 R9 feels much better in my hands than my 95 classic premium plus and 97 standard. But at the end of the day like you said a Les paul is a Les paul regardless.

 

[Pat_Clarence]

I’ve not tried ANYTHING else except for vintage correct thumbwheels and the FU bridge.

I think the best part, is that Cooper flatly told me that it may not make a difference in sound for me, yet it did slightly, whereas the posts I've seen by Dave Stephens on Facebook and others claims that the Four Uncles bridge will upgrade the sound of our guitars for vintage accuracy or whatever that means. I even did one of the tone tests Dave did himself by dropping the vintage pieces on the table and comparing them, the Four Uncles still sounded different to my old ones and so did the Cooper. All the bridges had a different sound. From a quality perspective though because the Cooper is CNC and Four Uncles bridge is sand cast (which the originals were die cast), we expected the Cooper to be more precise, and it is. I still feel, there are too many outside factors to effectively conclude that it is the bridge though, could it be the posts? Could it be the thumbwheels? What about my amplifier? The speakers and the capacitors?

I’ll say this: while the sound tone whatever is significantly better than a stock historic? It’s NOT more vintage. It’s just better tone. And I did nothing to the amp. The settings stayed exactly the same and the the strings were exactly the same between stock bridge and FU. Not changed to new strings. It was louder in volume through the amp. Not huge but it’s louder clearer and better tone. I know, it’s hard to describe? But just note that if you’re running stock gear and you change to correct thumbwheels and bridge? You SHALL hear a difference.

The Four Uncles bridges are high pressure diecast, as were the originals. Don't know where you got that info...

 

[Pat_Clarence]

As I told you in my other answer, the FU bridge is made of sand casting so I believe that the "buzz" is caused by surfaces that are not perfectly flat which cause the saddles to vibrate. Zamack is a soft material so the saddles will stabilize with the pressure of the strings. This should not be normal, especially on about 500 USD of bridge.

The Four Uncles bridges are high pressure diecast, as were the originals. Don't know where you got that info...

 

[Wizard1183]

The Four Uncles bridges are high pressure diecast, as were the originals. Don't know where you got that info...

Ok, you quoted me and someone else. I didn’t say all that about Cooper…

The first paragraph and last are my comments. The middle is not what I said

 

[drewbarries]

I received and installed my aged Four Uncles bridge along with a set of Royal Mount thumb wheels and posts.

For starters I installed the bridge with the stock posts and wheels as a base case and what I’m hearing is as close to the Segeborn video as my ears can hear.

I have not yet swapped the posts and wheels but in comparing the Royal Mount to the Philadelphia luthier, I can say there’s some notable differences.

The Royal Mounts are in fact slightly magnetic as advertised and also the tone they make just jingling them in my hand sounds different, they have a little more solid low end chime than the Philadelphia luthier set, I realize that’s subjective and arguably silly and maybe has no correlation to better but FWIW, just what I noticed.

I’ll eventually get around to installing them and will leave my thoughts.

 

[ReWind James]

I’d say Gibson is not better than FU bridge. I found on my TH59 it was significantly better than Gibsons granted 2015 vs today? Gibson is full of shit. Ppl can say mines the best on a 2024, 2025? It’s not. ML is no better than a regular custom shop by any means. Now 2019+ they changed pots so MAYBE it be be a hair better. But a Les paul is a Les paul regardless of yr. You have the latest and greatest best? I’ll call bs. Cause your ears are different from everyone else’s. There’s really nothing Gibson can do to make it sound any better. Nothing literally. Even if they switch to limited old growth mahogany? It’d still sound the same within the realm of things. It’s all fictitious bs that guitar players say.

The newer Gibson Custom bridges, on some Murphy Lab guitars, have the radius ground down near the post holes to make them a little narrower looking and not so blocky.

My understanding is that they are the same bridge casting / material. They just get a little extra love on the grinding belt before plating.

I thought they were also doing this on the tailpieces, but the one in the photos above (not mine) appears to be the standard / old one.


Not that any of that will change anything other than looks.



Here's the regular bridge body, for comparison:

 

[Jimi's LP]

I received and installed my aged Four Uncles bridge along with a set of Royal Mount thumb wheels and posts.

For starters I installed the bridge with the stock posts and wheels as a base case and what I’m hearing is as close to the Segeborn video as my ears can hear.

I have not yet swapped the posts and wheels but in comparing the Royal Mount to the Philadelphia luthier, I can say there’s some notable differences.

The Royal Mounts are in fact slightly magnetic as advertised and also the tone they make just jingling them in my hand sounds different, they have a little more solid low end chime than the Philadelphia luthier set, I realize that’s subjective and arguably silly and maybe has no correlation to better but FWIW, just what I noticed.

I’ll eventually get around to installing them and will leave my thoughts.

I've been experimenting with the FU bridge and different thumb wheels on my 98 R9. The original hardware in my 98 R9 wasn't worth AF. So I purchased different bridges and hardware like Callaham, Faber, and four uncles. The Callahan was bright and the Faber was dark but good and the Four Uncles was in between the both but the best of both worlds. I've used the stock Gibson hardware, Callaham, Faber, ABM, and now the Royal Mounts. I have not use the FU thumb wheels yet but the Royal Mounts thumb wheels and posts are amazing. Let me just say it gave the same tone and sound of what I've been searching for years from the great bands of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Yes, they are that amazing with the FU bridge.

 

[drewbarries]

I've been experimenting with the FU bridge and different thumb wheels on my 98 R9. The original hardware in my 98 R9 wasn't worth AF. So I purchased different bridges and hardware like Callaham, Faber, and for uncles. The Callahan was bright and the Faber was dark but good and the Four Uncles was in between the both but the best of both worlds. I've used the stock Gibson hardware, Callaham, Faber, ABM, and now the Royal Mounts. I have not use the FU thumb wheels yet but the Royal Mounts thumb wheels and posts are amazing. Let me just say it gave the same tone and sound of what I've been searching for years from the great bands of the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s. Yes, they are that amazing with the FU bridge.

Good to hear, I need to get around to installing them… next string change.

 

[hopkinwfg]

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat improved tone, really, my Murphy Lab sounds a lot better with this bridge ! Clear and warm tone on all strings, notes are richer fatter fuller.

View attachment 16069

Mmmm mind to ask of you ever notch those saddle? Congrats on ya new bridge !!

 

[jimi O'Connor]

Gotta tell you that over the years, we did a lot of bridges and saddles tests: they all have their differences and worked good but I choose to keep the Gibson ABR-1 on Pearly. When I got The Murphy Lab at the end of march 2021, That was it ! the tone that I was seeking buying Historics since 1994 ! And then I went with the Four Uncles ABR-1 replica, and was not that surprise to hear the A/B test between them two bridges: huge fuller clarity and definition with the Four Uncles. I am very happy with the choice I made.

So your four uncle's bridge made the tone clearer?

 

[Wizard1183]

So your four uncle's bridge made the tone clearer?

Probably means a bit more articulate and difference in tone. You CAN hear a difference. Is it better? Subjective. I found it was better than Gibsons factory. However these days with the change to Gibsons ABR-1, I don’t know how much of a difference?