FOUR UNCLES ABR1 REPLICA BRIDGE-MOST ACCURATE IN THE WORLD
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- Опубліковано 29 вер 2024
- Two years in the making. A concerted reverse-engineering among the "Four Uncles" who made a group effort to 100% reproduce the vintage ABR1. If you have ever played an original you know these are an essential piece of tone gear that has not, until NOW been completely accurately reproduced. How many bridges have you seen proclaiming "vintage sound," when they don't even understand the materials and actual build methods that were used? You've never seen any other bridge with 50's design saddles in brass on any other bridges. Well you do NOW ;-) We used one of my guitars, which is quite bright and with my bright HD SS PAF bridge replica as an ideal test subject. The bridge is has on it now, is typical of every other bridge out there claiming to be a vintage bridge. Tall sharp saddles, the WRONG zinc alloy, no it will never collapse and because of that will never sound right either. Enjoy the presentation and excuse my fumbling fingers, but the Dupuytren's trips my fingers up always, sad to say. What you will notice in the video, is that the modern saddle is too brigth/harsh almost. Our replica bridge uses the correct zinc alloy, the correct brass alloys that we had to get mixed custom, because the old alloys don't match modern at all. The result is that the bright edge is much less, the sustain and big sound is suddenly now THERE. Notes in chords can be heard individually. But treble is not really lost, the sound is more cohesive and uniform; your pickups will "talk" instead sounding modern and missing something. Whats missing is a truly accurate ABR1 you can only get by buying an old one, and most of them are notched too deep, with notching in the wrong places and just too beat up to really use. I point out that the zinc castings were COPPER PLATED before nickel plated. This is hard to see on the vintrage ones because the copper almost looks more like old brass sometimes, or its just too aged and can be hard to see. The reason is that zinc DISSOLVES in nickel plating solution, because its an acid. Light copper plating protects the zinc while plating.
To order one of our bridges, contact me at sdpickups@comcast.net for USA orders only. If you are in Europe contact me at same email address and you will be directed who to contact there.
Enjoy!
Dave Stephens
Stephens Design Pickups on UA-cam
GREAT NEWS!!!! FOUR UNCLES IS MAKING BRIDGES AGAIN! THEY ARE ALSO MAKING THE THUMBWHEELS AND BRIDGE POSTS. THEY ARE ALSO LOOKING INTO MAKING REPLICAS OF THE TAILPIECES!
YOU CAN BUY THEM FROM HERE: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
Well, that's a bummer. I hope you can get them going again. I would like to get one someday.
holy crap good thing I got one! I just installed it last weekend.
I was in contact with Four Uncles Facebook side and I can get one there send from Belgium ? is that right ? ore is it the USA supply that's stop ? Im confused don't want to spend money if it's fake ? 😐
@@MrJensen58 The guys who actually MAKE them, the other 3 "Uncles" are all in Belgium. I did the reverse-engineering, but I don't personally sell them. Yes, Belgium is where they are made.
@@SDPickups Thanks Dave following your experiments and know-howe. I got two Gibsons a SG and a Cherry burst Lespaul that sound so much better now, the burst will be fitted with the four uncles bridge with brass studs and tumbwheel, im a happy owner of one now fantastisk Thanks
Wow, Dave! These look and sound fantastic! Ever since acquiring a vintage ABR over a year ago (after seeing your video series comparing them to modern ones) I’ve been searching for anything that came even remotely close to what the vintage bridge was giving me. Nothing really did. They all have the modern pointy saddles and sound “tinny” and metallic compared to the vintage ABR. I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on a couple of these in the near future so I can outfit some of my other Gibsons with them. Really appreciate all the effort you’ve put into producing this! It’s just one more piece of the puzzle that everyone else has conveniently ignored…
This was a long and hard project, two years and the money part went way over what we thought. I wasn't the money guy, too poor, so the other 3 funded the work and do the actual hand work to get each one right. Yeah, I don't get it. There are tons of old ABR1's floating around and nobody even looked at them very hard. "Vintage Tone!" Not even close, any of them. You don't have to be a genius to go through the thought processes to reproduce them, but you do have to be smart, and apparently there are no smart people in corporate halls. Just am glad to have been part of this historical work we did.
Any idea where i can get a couple
@@historiclp4577 Go to Facebook and look up "Four Uncles Restorations" There's a chat function on that page and you can order direct from there.
You F'd up buddy, the intonation screw heads are slightly more rounded than the vintage ancestor. I am just kidding, I have been playing for over 40 years and have pretty good ears. When other guys say they can't hear the difference, I can although subtle. Perhaps it is the YT digital compression, on my powered speakers on my computer but I feel this is also a very subtle difference. Not nearly as much as changing a pickup, amp or speaker. That said , not sure what you guys are charging but I imagine metallurgy and hand making a bridge will come at a premium. I wish I could hear the difference in the room because it sounds very much like a vintage Les Paul in either case with an ever so slight positive with your bridge. I guess it is like wine. The difference between a $5 and $20 bottle is a deep gulf but the difference between a $20 and $40 is much less obvious and the higher in price you go the less perceived improvement is noticed even by a connoisseur. I guess it depends on how much money you have to blow on adding 2% here and there to get 80% to a real burst with a modern guitar. Cheers to you for putting forth the effort and you sound like a decent player as well.
Last price I saw was $500 without shipping added. Its NOT 2%, its way more than that. Go look thru my PAF Universe videos and you can hear unplugged comparisons with my MINT vintage gold plated ABR1. I didn't get paid for the 2 years of reverse-engineering and metallurgical work, but they did give me a few for sending them email addresses of people who want them. For real world reviews go to Facebook and look for the Four Uncles Restorations page where guys who own real vintage "Bursts" who replaced their beat up originals that have notches so deep the saddles are almost cut in half, or notches in the wrong places etc. Having these on most of my Les Paul, they made a dramatic difference. Its not subtle at all and the reviews all agree. Like the originals they are hand made, hand plated, hand aged, hand cast. More than 6 hour for just one bridge. On my Elitist SG, it did something I can't even explain, especially in the vintage MANN amplifier. The solos have this amazing HOWL to them, thats not feedback or anything else but the bridge itself. The Elitists are all Brazilian fret boards, not Chinese, but made in Japan by GIBSON. They quit making them because they are higher quality than Gibson's own LP's. I own 7 of them before prices went up as people started realizing how great they are; but of course if you watched "The Les Paul That Isn't" four episodes series, I replace all the crap hardware, harness and of course the pickups, though those were rather good. I'm proud of my work on these bridges, two years of HELL to get them done right. The guys dealt with the molds and that was a nightmare too. One tiny thousandth of an inch in the wrong place and it all falls apart.
Now this is very interesting, I was just musing about bridges. Had some good experiences with Faber but might have to try one of these. How do you think they would compare? And I was wondering what your opinion was on the Faber locking bridge compared to the normal one. For me, it did seem to offer what was advertised, more sustain, dynamics and string separation.
The Faber is the only thing that comes close, but they are too bassy, and were never intended to be a replica. But they are on all my Les Pauls until now. I owned a handful of vintage ABR1's and ours are right in there with them, go watch Les Paul Universe #8 where I did acoustic comparison between vintage and our replica.
I’ve had a Faber fitted to my favourite Explorer and whilst it did increase sustain and bottom end, that wasn’t what I was necessarily looking for
@@steveburroughs7343 Yeah, I didnt like the bassy end of it but the high strings tone is very close to vintage bridges. The worst ones are the modern Gibson bridges, they are total junk probably made out of the country. The "Uncles" contacted me two years ago and had read my rants about NONE of the hardware companies had ever done any science based reverse-engineering, or seemed to have never even looked at vintage bridges. They asked if I would help and I say YES, and would not charge them anything if we could as a group, recreate the originals, which WE DID, but it took two years and piles of money to make it work. Some may not like these, because they are TRUE replicas, meaning they are NO WIRE bridges, so if you break a string the saddle will fall out. But once you are intonated you can use clear fingernail polish and put a tiny drop on either side of the saddles and they will stay in pretty well. We have several celebrities using these who own or have owned vintage Les Pauls who love our Four Uncles Restorations replica bridges, so they are proven by the most critical of vintage guitar owners.
What brand do you recommend for wraparound style bridge? Were they also made of brass in the old days?
I only have one guitar that uses wraparound bridges and it has a repro version. The best ones would be the vintage ones, they are less expensive than vintage ABR1 bridges.
This is a great day. Thank you Dave and thank you Four Uncles for deciding to tackle this for once and for all.
It was a hard two years. By the end of it we were all tired and glad it was over.
They cost $650 in Australia. My Les Paul Standard only cost me $1,200 new 32 years ago.
Your Les Paul probably costs alot more now. These bridges are all hand made, hand cast, hand nickel plated and hand aged. Theres a LOT of money it took to get the molds made and saddles and screws made as well. They never recovered their investment. It took 3 guys 6 hours or more to make only ONE. Time is money. The best in anything is always going to cost more. Anyway, you missed the boat, as of last week there will be no more 4 Uncles bridges, this is so sad, as there is no other bridges that even come close to the originals as ours DO. One of the Uncles is very ill, the other one moved to Spain, the only one left owns his own business that he has no time to try to make them himself; one person simply cannot do all that work.
Hello there Mr. Steven. I just had my four uncles bridge installed by my guitar luthier. Is it supposed to rattle or buzz at the beginning then settle down?
Remember that we copied everything about those bridges. They were all pretty sloppy, buzzy. They will settle down, but if you don't notch them professionally the notch itself will cause buzzing if the notch isn't back filed. What works best is get some clear nail polish and a tooth pick. Put a paper towel or some tape or paper under the entire bridge to protect the finish on your guitar. The saddles will wear in over time. Dip the toothpick into the nail polish and put a TINY drop against the side of each saddle where it meets the rail it sits on. This will lock down the saddle from buzzing. It can easily be undone. BE SURE TO INTONATE YOUR SADDLES FIRST. YOUR BRIDGE MUST BE SITTING ON BRASS THUMBWHEELS AND BRASS BRIDGES POSTS, IT DOESN'T WORK. Gibson has been using stainless steel bridge posts and regular steel thumbwheels for years, you can't tell what it is unless you use a magnet. If the magnet sticks to the thumbwheel, then your bridge post is steel. Get RID of those and replace with brass one from Philadelphia Luthiery. Cheap parts and your sustain will noticeably improve and harshness will drop.
IM WANTING TO SEND YOU A ELPIPHONE RI 59 LES PAUL STANDARD TO MAKE IT A REAL GUITAR,, I NEED TO START WITH THE TOP,
I don't off that service, sorry. It would take too long for me to do and would be very expensive for you.
now you just need to make a spacer to put under the bridge that will prevent it from collapsing.
Its a myth. I'm 74 and have only ever seen ONE that "collapsed" and it only slightly bent, and was fixed in two minutes straightening it in a vise. If you want one thats never going to collapse, that guarantees it will never sound like a vintage one. Its the specific SOFT zinc alloy that gives you much better sound without harshness and much better musicality. We identified the exact alloy by destroying a vintage one, and it did not match any modern zinc alloys. These are not being made anymore, two of the "Uncles" moved away and one man simply cannot do what three guys together did to make them in over 6 HOURS. Being that I did all the reverse-engineering work, I got several of them in payment for my work. Every guitar I put them in did truly magical things to the sound. My Japanese Elitist, always sounded great, but the 4U bridge gave it this fantastic HOWLING sustain to die for. There has never been an accurrate replica ABR1 ever made until these. The Faber is sort of close but too bassy. You simply do not get great tone by ignoring the physics of what the vintage hardware was made of. You do NOT TRY TO IMPROVE THEM because then you LOSE everything the old ones were. Its heartbreaking you can't buy these anymore. The mold still exists but the alloy knowledge will fade away, and pretty soon, anyone who has one of these could sell them for much more than we were selling them for.
well the early nylon saddles must really resonate better too right?
They are AWFUL. Nylon was only used on the Patent bridges. The Patent bridges aren't good sounding, nylon or not. I bought one and it was really dead sounding. Awful.
Hello Mr Steven's, I just purchased the four uncles bridge and it should be coming in tomorrow. My question is what type of brass thumbwheels and post should I get? There's brass, bell brass, and soft brass. Which brass do you recommend?
You're lucky, they haven't made any in awhile, but are going to in May. There are many more brass alloys than that. Just buy the 4 Uncles brass posts and wheels. They are the correct brass alloy. I know because I did all the metallurgy on vintage ABR1's, destroying a vintage one to get the real deal information.
Four Uncles makes the posts and thumbwheels now, get those. Or, get them from Philadelphia Luthiery, its the same brass, but the 4 Uncles ones look aged better.
Awesome! :)
I want to believe you Sir
Your bridge works too in an sg?
And what is the correct process?
The new bridge sitting in the old hardware?
Or
We have to fill with wood the halls and drill again
The target is the new posts to feet straight to the wood?
As the old ABR 1?
And if the body is only mahogany?
Sorry English is not my first
yes it works on an SG. If the SG is not a Gibson, the thumbwheels and bridge posts will be metric sizes. This can be a problem to find metric BRASS thumbwheels and bridge posts. Some metric posts are too thick to fit into the Four Uncles ABR1 mounting holes, so you will have to find a metric drill bit thats slightly larger than the holes in the bridge, to drill it out wide enough to fit over 4M posts.
You can order the ABR1 from Facebook here:
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
Mahogany is softer, so you might have to get a longer brass post in metric brass. That might not be possible to find, but you can buy threaded brass in a size longer and cut it down to use. You might have to find a guitar builder to do that.
The guitar is a Gibson SG faded 2008
Thank you
Demo begins with generic bridge @ 14:24
Four Uncles bridge @ 16:20
Dave, I want to buy this bridge, but I can't contact you by email, when I write you a email I get a report that the email was not delivered. Where can I order your beautiful bridge?
My email address is at the end of almost every video of mine, you might not be typing it in correctly. You can order directly from our Four Uncles Restorations page on Facebook. Just leave a message there.
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
@@SDPickups Dave yes, email is correct. Maybe problem because i write to you from Russian email? you can make delivery to Russia? And thank you very much for such a quick response.
@@alexanders5121 Putin is probably censoring your email. The war in Ukraine, nobody ships to Russia because of the genocide. I hope some day there is Democracy in Russia.
Looks awesome! Great work as always! I want one for a Les Paul project to go along with the set of NOS wire PAF's I purchased from you in 2015. Email sent!
These are really low production, I get about ten every couple months to sell, not mass produced and completely hand made. I can just put you on a list then you wait a long time. Not much I can do except be grateful they are being made at all.....
I read the comments on the buuers of this bridge??? Ppl are blownnn awayyyyy...im not easily sold but Dave never miss guided me and the. Reviews are positive
Can we still buy those Sir ?
YES. They are making some in May, if you want one, best to contact them NOW to get in line. Leave a message on their Facebook page:
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
@@SDPickups Thank you very much Sir !
would they be willing to sell the saddle pieces separately ? if so do you know the size of the adjusting screw ,that would be main issue I will try and find the size and thread on my bridge but that would be a cool option ,my guitar is a 69 National Lp and I love the bridge saddles not so much made of tethlon it seems answered my own question by reading other comments and will concider it thanks for all your hard work and intense experiments its a ground breaker !!!
Yes we sell saddle sets of 6 that include the screws.
Why are the E A and D saddles reversed?
Probably for intonation string length. Depends on your guitar.
They’re not all swapped.
Dave, first of all, fantastic work. They look amazing. Thank you for all of the hard work you and your guys put into this. It’s hard to believe that no one has ever taken on this project.
2nd- Do you not ship to Canada?? Your post says US only. You can’t leave your friendly neighbors of the North out of this deal! I mean we’re already left out in the cold…
We need good tone too 🤝
Jer Hendricks
AND CANADA
the hi point firearms uses zmac for their pistol slides no joke! its awesome that you guys did all this work in pursuit of the all mighty tone!
Zamak is 8 different alloys, not 1. We destroyed a vintage ABR1 to get the actual chemical content, and it didn't match any of those 8 exactly. So, we had ours custom mixed by an 80 year old man who worked in that industry, who knew a few secrets that will probably die with him. But the ABR1 is a zinc alloy and brass alloys for the saddles, which we also analyzed and duplicated. It took us two years and four times the money they estimated. Those little bridges are very complex little monsters ;-)
@SDPickups each alloy has a range for each compound. So, none of them would match exactly when using a single standard.
Kinda thinking there wouldn't be a way to verify wether your compound is the correct one based on the variances between each bridge. Production might have changed each day from processing the compounds. Too much copper? Lower it to 2.7....
Cost?
its around 500usd ive heard
$450 NOS finish, $475 relic. Shipping not includedl
Theres more of a swell and body in the notes with the 4 uncles bridge..it has burst, boiency, that boinggggg sound espesially when bending a note...
You know i know what im talking about lived this stuff intensely for the last 3 years..i should say obsessively the 4 uncles bridge gives the notes body and bounce immediatly i heard it..
Originals in position 2 & 4 from the top, replacement saddle on #2 far left
"Replacement saddles" are OURs, you can only buy them from us. We also mixed the brass alloy for our saddles because modern brass didn't match vintage brass. Vintage saddles don't all look alike because they're. not, we copied the basic physical design, wider tops, lower angle, every tiny detail must be right and ours are.
You "MAKE" the point Dave, and give us all the time to ponder the possibilities. None of these nuances can be captured in a few words, and if someone wantes a fast easy answer, they are missing the plot of how the best vintage sounds on old recordings were made. Thank you for taking the time to divulge these secrets. Many of which are lost to today's players.
The average guitar player knows nothing about any of these things. They think any modern Les Paul, even going back to the early 70's, will give you the sounds of Clapton on the "Beano" album, when nothing could be further from the truth. They will pay huge prices for a Collector's Choice Les Paul because it might have a beautiful TOP, without even playing it. These guitars lack every single thing the vintage ones had. But most of generic guitar players are using big pedal boards and modern amplifiers with 6 levels of gain and foot switches, so the sound of their guitar is lost in distortion and effects, so it doen't really matter what guitar they're using, its all going to sound like effects, not the guitar. They think some amplifier is the key, when its not. Its only the Les Paul purists who want to know as much as they can about the real deal vintage Les Pauls. But, unfortunately there's alot of bad information on the LP forums and guys selling parts claiming "vintage tone," which they really don't know much about and their sales spiels are pure hype. I've been researching everything IN and ON vintage Les Pauls, and the pickups for over 20 years now. In my video series "The Les Paul That Isn't," I bought vintage Les Paul hardware, vintage pots and caps and compare them to modern equivalents, pretty much that all fail to deliver what the old parts and materials do. The only information I didn't get into were the woods, the auto carving top machine, the real neck joints that aren't being done anymore, etc. etc. The vintage ABR1 has always fascinated, after I bought a vintage one and it DID make my LP sound old and hands down beat every bridge from every company out there. I was lucky to be asked to use my skills to bring the old bridges back, and we DID. It wasn't easy, it was massively expensive, and they can only be made by hand, using the old methods and custom mixed alloys, because there are no modern alloys that match.
@@SDPickups its kind of a joke that Gibson isn't the company making the most vintage sounding and playing Les Paul's. What a loss of market share. Play authentic crap...
@@shovington67 Its really sad is what it is. The best Les Pauls are being made by Heritage in Kalamazoo. They are the REAL builders who stayed behind when the company moved to Nasheville. Next best choice would be any of the Japanese companies making them.
I love passionate people and your work is awesome ! Thanks from Quebec ! will contact you shortly !
Where can we find or get these pickups payed here, and also that bridge?
The guys who were building the bridges split up and moved away. One person can't possibly make these anymore. There was more than 6 hours it took to make just ONE. The mold still exists, but they also did their own plating. I don't think we'll be seeing them again anytime time soon, if ever. SUCKS. The pickups I'm not building anymore until I finish all the old orders, it may take a year or more to do that. Probably after that I'll just build different sets and it will be first come first sold. For now I'm only selling my absolute best vintage wire sets, until that wire runs out. This isn't an easy business, I MAKE 95% of all the parts myself, and thats the secret of their tones, because everything is PAF accurrate and nobody sells anything close to it.
@@SDPickups
Thank you so much for replying back,
I’m so looking to get one of your pickup sets. If you have an order that some one didn’t want tanymore please let me know I’ll be right into it…even tho that would be difficult to happen, I guess is worth saying it you just never know.
@@OtonielCastillo-gk8ji If you are subscribed you'll get a notice that I have another vintage wire set available, but they are also my most expensive and rare.
@@SDPickups
Ima subscribe to your channel right now, cause I’m very interested, and also you do great material here in UA-cam, so thankful and appreciate the time you take to do these videos.
Thank you Mr. Stephens..
I am selling the vintage wire sets pretty often now, they are very expensive, watch my videos on the Belden wire sets. I announce them on UA-cam when I have a set ready to go.
look at the saddle's adjustment post on the left and right. See the thickness of the the left is thinner than the one on the right. You'd likely want to measure and not eye
ball. My prescription is off.
Not sure what you are talking about. These are hand made, hand casted. Vintage bridges were hand made, not precision machined and are quite sloppy. Saddles in the originals are each different in several ways. We did NOT try to "improve" anything and we do not mass produce them, all are hand made, except the adjuster screws, of course, are made on screw making machines and have a higher tolerance level.
Alright 👍😊 are you doing the posts and thumb wheels as well ??
No, go to Philadelphia Luthiery for that. these will also fit metric posts too.
@@SDPickups it would be amazing if you made a package that came with the thumb screws, posts, tail, and bridge…
Mine arrives on Monday, to go on an R9 with correct loom and Monty’s PAFs. I can’t wait.
We're starting to get reviews now, and everyone is blown away how these change their guitars. Noticeable increase in sustain and tones....
@@SDPickups I’ll feed back when mine is fitted next week
@@SDPickups I’ve had mine fitted to my CC#5 (which has had all your other recommended upgrades) and has Monty’s PAFs. I also have a few other R9s I can compare it to. Unplugged quality is more “solid” with an almost acoustic-like zing on the top end, with much more ring. Plugged in: more of the same. Sustain for days. Has hollowed out the neck pup for a more flute-y tone. Bridge pickup has more bite. Overall it’s a lot more articulate. I love it and am really surprised by the difference. Even my cynical luthier was blown away. The only problem is, now I have to do my others.
GREAT DEMO! Definitely a noticeable difference. You're absolutely right about about having all the right stuff. I have the same Faber bridge as you and notice a loss of "harmonics?" I guess that would be the proper term. But as you told me it all depends on the guitar too.
The Faber was the best at the time, still is a great one that tames down the harsh Gibson bridges etc. etc. Most of my LP's still have Fabers on them, but putting a 4 Uncles on them really opens something else up that none of the bridges can do except vintage orginals, and its so hard to find old ones in useable condition anymore.
@@SDPickups is there a website for 4 uncles?
I've emailed you to be put on the waiting list for the four uncles abr-1 but I've received no response.
A quick search of emails doesn't turn up any Jason Short?
Great work! This is the news that I've been waiting for!
if you want a bridge with vintage components then buy an 80's greco. All the problems people are trying to fix on gibson guitars are easily fixed if you don't mind losing the gibson logo on the headstock. The Japanese have been making superior gibson models for 60 years.
YES. Though the Greco harnesses are likely awful but easy to make vintage correct, especially now with the Jupiter Condenser Bee replicas available. Years ago I was looking for affordable true Les Paul guitars that weren't Chinese garbage, or even GIBSON garbage. I bought one of the Epiphone JAPANESE Elltists and WOW! BRAZILIAN FRET BOARDS ON ALL OF THEM! Long tenon neck joints, real abalone fret markers, full real maple thick caps, bone nuts, real ABR1 bridges, etc. etc. Very HIGH quality. I now have 7 of them, one being Elitist SG. BUT, I swapped out all the hardware, machined many of the parts myself because they are all metric hardware and there are no metric brass thumbwheels or posts. Still, some dont know about them, they used to be $500 and are now up around $2000. Japanese Les Pauls are far far far better than anything Gibson makes. The old Grecos are well worth acquiring, AGREED.
@@SDPickupsI'm sure the harness is a mess. luckily for me I was playing a strat long before a les paul. it taught me to never touch a tone knob.
@@jimbeam-ru1my Are you aware that Clapton and Jimmy Page constantly rode the tone control? If you watch Les Paul heroes, they all did and still do. On Strat, most of those guys used the volume control to back off the treble, a slight turn back on the volume pot diminishes treble. Vince Gill demonstrated that in a UA-cam video awhile back on Strat and Telecasters.
Hi, Dave! What would you do to fit a Four Uncles ABR-1 on a LP std that has the bushing mounted ABR-1? Plug the holes and redrill for post screws? Use the Faber inserts?
Unfortunately you have to plug remove the anchors, plug with hard wood and drill for 6-32 posts. I have an Amos Flying V I have to do that to myself. Not looking forward to that, ugh....
@@SDPickups
You said they don’t make these bridges no more? I was so ready to get my self one.
tasty bits there Dave. I ordered one just now in the Facebook chat. Do I go on the list or do they have one in stock.
You have to ask them, they are doing the actual manufacturing, I did the reverse engineering work. I only take email addresses for USA sales, but they fulfill the orders from their location.
Dang...are u still making SD pickups for sale?
Yes of course. But the wait time is long so am not getting many orders. To stay alive I build Collector Sets now and then and offer them for sale with quick delivery times.
HOW MUCH ARE YOU CHARGING FOR THESE??
They are $475 plus FEDEX shipping. These are hand cast one at a time, not mass produced. The alloys in them were custom mixed to match the exact alloys we found by destroying one of my vintage ABR1's. It takes over six hours of hand work to make them in house. This is the only actual replica being made, they are not made in China or America with all the wrong materials and wrong engineering specs, wrong saddles etc. etc. Production is only about 30 in a full month, as well. You can order direct from our Facebook page and there is a wait time.
Four Uncles Restorations is here, you just message them from there, also please mention if you are from the USA: facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
@@davestephens8033 thank you for your response I have a vintage v100 LP . it is a solid mahogany body watch is very close to the early Gibson's and I am trying to get it as close to the Vintage sound as possible. They said the 1959 Gibson had a sound that was very unique. The guy doing the interview talk like it was somewhat of a mystery as to why. now I think I know why. Wood tone will only get you so far, if you don't have the right minerals translating the right vibrations then you simply aren't not going to get there.
You will be hearing from me at some point it will be a while but instead of buying this garbage on the market I want what is basically the real thing.
Solid mahogany was only used in the Les Paul Customs. All the others were solid maple caps on top of mahogany. Thats for the PAF equipped LP's only. The earliest LP's with P90's did use solid mahogany, so thats a completely different thing. Some of those later ones, though, did have maple caps, but I think those are probably rare. I just got a Santucci LP Special delivered last week, but don't have much time to outfit it with pickups and harness yet, maybe over Xmas. Will do a video of that when its done. I have quite a long wait time for pickups, like two years or more unless. you go for the Collector Sets, but those are very expensive, but with a much shorter delivery time. Mahogany guitars are much much warmer sounding than the maple/mahogany guitars too.
I can hardly wait, I hope it stays at mid-February😊 I am really grateful to you for doing this. you can search forever to find a good abr 1 replica and still don’t have one. I'm thrilled with the look already, I can hardly wait to have it on my les paul.
If you are in Europe You have to go on Facebook and find the Four Uncles Restorations page and request to get in line. In the USA you need to email me and request a notification for the list. My email address is that the end of all my most recent videos. These are not mass produced and the line for them is at least 100 long to date. Good luck!
How much do these go for? $$$ Can someone share info please.
$475 +shipping. The price is for the time to make them completely by hand casting and hand milling work. It takes at least 6 hours or more, plus the plating work as well. So, they're really not for the mass market, mostly just the Les Paul purists who want the most authentic vintage LP tones that can be had.
That has the tone of Jimmy Page & Paul Kossoff WOW! Dave, Job Well Done!
Except I can't play like those guys at all. I am looking for someone like that to do demos, and I can pay or give monetary credit. they must have vintage Marshalls, and a Les Paul thats not stock harness and crap hardware, Everything matters and a bad guitar can make good pickups sound bad.
Hi Dave, I really appreciate your work and these videos. Great information. Question: What is the deal with nylon saddles in ABR-1 bridges. Is that a legit Burst feature? I find it in searches - Faber makes them - but I've never heard it mentioned in the Burst sources I follow.
Nylon saddles came along in '65 if I remember right. They did that because their pickups were getting really harsh. I bought a vintage one with nylon saddles and OMG, it made the guitar sound like it was dead. Supposedly Bonamassa uses nylon in the top 3 strings, well, ok whatever. I ended up replacing them with vintage saddles I scored later on. These days with the Three Uncles Restorations, I use those on the old castings for great effect. Also in '65 I believe they used a much harder Zamak alloy and have ever since then. It just amazes me how dumb these modern pretend replica hardware parts are completely wrong and ignored literally everything about the vintage originals, BUT they tell YOU, they are accurate and have "vintage tone." NO.....they don't.
@@SDPickups Thanks Dave.
@@SDPickups Dave, what is the wait time for one of your Four Uncles ABR-1s? I'm using a Faber now, which was a big improvement, but would like to step up to something special. J
Can i have one or two of these please? Im trying to find where to buy, but cant.I dont have facebook..as thats the closest i came to getting in touch with Four uncles
Gibson used nylon saddles and nuts around '58 - '59 to my sure knowledge. I borrowed a '59 es335 which had these.
What's the typical wait on these FU BRIDGES? Can you kindly put me on that list if you may?
It depends on when the other 3 "Uncles" are in building mode. We don't mass produce these, they are hand made like the originals were, and they make about 30 a month when they are busy. You can order them from here, and leave them a message :
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
Those bridges are far more melodical than Gibson. I bought one and it took the blanket off. Now granted I did change the thumbwheels to actual brass. So change thumbwheels first and see? I changed both at same time and it’s a very good sound. Louder. Warmer.
That the tone I been chasing a long,long,long Time. Dave, thank you so much for all you do. Thank you
You are welcome!
Hi Dave. What amp setup are you using in this video? The tone is so authentic to 50's Les Pauls I have heard that it is mind bending! Thank you for sharing!!
The secret is very simple. The main amp I do my demos on is a vintage 1978 Garnet "Stencil" amp under the name MANN. Garnets are somewhat similar to Fender circuits. It has a solid state rectifier, two 6L6's and 12AX7 preamp and reverb tubes. Very simple circuit. NO GAIN CHANNELS, NO MASTER. The simpler a tube amp is, the better they sound. All these modern tube amps are weighted down with to much circuitry, too much gain. Gimmicks. Tone killing gimmicks. All I do is turn it all the way up, everything except the bass, treble and mids all the way up, volume all the way up. This is how the old amps were and why the tone was so great, plus PAF's and craftsman built Les Pauls that Gibson has never recaptured. Most of my Les Pauls are Epiphone Elitists, that have had all hardware replaced, competely rewired. They are as good as some $4K Gibsons. All my Les Pauls, including my replica had done to them the same thing I show in the four part "The Les Paul That Isn't." But that series was done before we recreated the ABR1 100% totally accurrate "Four Uncles Resorations" ABR1 replica, which also screams vintage tone and SUSTAIN, thats only seen in Part Four I posted couple months ago. I plug the head into a Chinese Celestion Greenback, 25 watts, so the speaker is getting pushed hard. I have two Greenbacks plugged in, but I put a blanket over the second one, because its too loud, so the second speaker soaks up some of the 35 watts. I use a 15 foot guitar cord, and nothing else. No pedals, no EQ on the board, a Royer ribbon mic next to an SM57. I record on Logic Pro X, and sync the video. I've tried other high wattage speakers, but they all sound dead to my ears. Low wattage Greenbacks are just IT. Its what Clapton's Beano amp had in it, legendary tone.
@@SDPickups
I would argue that your modified Epi Elitists sound as good as $250,000.00 original 50's Les Pauls. One of my Favorites is Bernie Marsden's "Beast." I am sure you have heard that guitar before. In this video, your guitar sounds just like it in my opinion. I would really like a set of your pickups and one of your new bridges. I sent you an email to get on "the list." I didn't see the bridge on your website yet. I know there is a wait, but I am will to wait for it because it's worth it.
So if it’s a true clone of original, it will also be prone to sag… or is it bolstered somehow?
Why would we try to "improve" on the originals? The goal was to copy vintage 100% accurrately, and thats why ours SOUND like originals. You want a bridge that won't sag, you're already using one, and its why it won't sound like vintage originals. All the modern bridges are using the wrong materials, so they don't sag, and they sound too modern and ice picky compared to originals. The only vintage bridges I've personally seen that sagged were used for years with Black Diamond 13 gauge strings, that were all we could buy back in the 60's, there were no slinky strings until about 1970 when Ernie Ball made 8 gauge strings that all of us used, plus Jimmy Page. Some like Bloomfield and Kossoff preferred the ultra heavy strings. A sagged bridge takes about 5 minutes or less to fix. I show that in one of my PAF Universe episodes recently, very eays fix.
@@SDPickups Top wrapping the strings on the tailpiece can help reduce pressure on the bridge and slow or stop the bridge sagging. I'll have to check out you "sagged bridge fix" video..!
@@MickH60 Yup, I have a 1975 and 1980 LP std, and both Nashville bridges sagged bc I slammed the tailpieces for 40 yrs. I've replaced both with Nashvilles -1 Gibson, 1 Faber- and top-wrapped both. Also, if you use a TP6 the string angle to the bridge is the same as top-wrapping.
Wow
Hi emailed your 2 times are these available?
Being that they are hand made and not mass produced, there are very few being made. I have been flooded with emails and have tried to put everyone on a waiting list. There are some coming in several weeks. Email me again and will do my best to put you on the list. The list is already so long, the ones coming are pretty much already spoken for. Thanks.
I’m first in line. Sign me up
Line is getting long fast. I've only got ten coming for the USA market....
definitely sounds smoother and less harsh than the generic one! just curious, what kind of strings do you use?
DR Pure Blues Pure Nickel 10 gauge.
@@SDPickups thanks
Gibson makes model after model sopposedly vintage at high price yet not made the same at all. You might as well buy a Heritage guitar. I have two of those and they are pretty good.
If you are looking at getting decent saddies without going for vintage correct, I have found Graph Tech Tusq saddles to be good and you can get them to fit any bridge. They have a good shape with no sharp edge and nice even tone.
People are completely misunderstanding this. ITS NOT THE SADDLES. You can put vintage saddles on modern ABR1's (if they will even FIT), and you are NOT going to get the exact sound of a vintage ABR1. You can't isolate the casting from the saddles. BOTH HAVE TO BE RIGHT. The correct exact physical copy of every part and the MATERIALS. Zamak is NOT A SINGLE ALLOY NAME. Zamak has at least 8 versions to choose from. In the analysis I did of the zinc casting there was no exact duplicate modern alloy match in modern Zamak alloy content. This is why we had our zinc mixed to match the vintage casting we destroy to discover exactly what was used. The vintage sound of original ABR1's does not come from the saddles, it does not come from the zinc casting. It comes from the actual entire physical geometric design of every single part, AND the brass alloys and the zinc alloys. It took us a full two years to identify avery bit of all of that, and our costs quadrupled over the estimates. You can't really understand this unless you actually play a vintage bridge, THEN you know whats missing in all the bridges being made now, except for OURS.
@@SDPickups I understand the issues and what you are doing. I've watched a few of your videos and they are entertaining as well.
I don't these guitar manufacturers ever really cared that much to be honest. I think some of these effective designs came about by accident. Metal combinations etc coming together to make an accidentally great guitar. it's common on other instruments as well. Even with digital synthesizers believe it or not. The first mass produced digital synthesizer was the Yamaha DX7. There was a DX7 II etc. However, the first one had low bit depth and quite a dirty output which they "improved" and hence the first one remained the best by accident of having a great character of sound.
Once it was realized that these old instruments had a magic to them, Gibson should have correctly recreated them, at least or their top cost "vintage" instruments, otherwise it's a scam.
It's not just Gibson either but you have all these pickup companies claiming to recreate PAFs. Using Gibson's original winders for example, as if that's going to achieve it when the materials are different anyway. It's all marketing nonsense.
@@ryanstark2350 DEFINITELY!!! An antique winding machine has literally no effect on guitar pickup tone. There's an incredible amount of total BS ultra-hype marketing going on out there. Its just disgusting. I don't advertise, I don't make any claims, other than I did over 20 years of true science based reverse engineering, using real vintage PAF's and their materials to find out where their "voice" comes from. It IS knowable, but your average "winder" guy is nothing more than a pickup ASSEMBLER of ready made incorrect KIT pickup PARTS. They have no knowledge of pickup DESIGN, nor the materials, they think pickups are stupid simple and thats the level they work at. They don't want to know more than that and they just want easy answers for instant Lego quality quality. I did all the work to completely understand every bit of the materials, the design, the many many deviations that happened to PAF's in the short years they were made, there were many unintentional changes due to modernization of magnet wire, steel, magnet and more. The ONLY claim is that I DID ALL that work. On my channel, I have many vintage PAF's being demonstrated up against my nearest models, and YOU decide how close I got and CAN get. What I do is NOT easy, does NOT come in a KIT. My last video is a prime example and involved two vintage PAF's, a zebra and double black 1959 set. Its not possible to 100% nail these old pickups, because everything they were made of doesn't exist in the same form in OUR time. As for the "magic winding machine," there are two of them in existence, BOTH are owned by Seymour Duncan, who makes NO claims for the actual Gibson owned Leesona 102 machines he has. One is only used for parts, the other actively winds humbucker coils. Stay away from hand winders for PAF sound, Gibson never ever hand wound any guitar pickups, and hand winding destroys any chance of any buckers sounding close to old PAF's. Someone makes a lot of claims that sound too good to be true, WALK AWAY. Kit humbuckers all sound the same, they are pre-designed tone that has zero to do with old PAF's.
@@ryanstark2350 Its a scam. Yes, they were accidental combinations of what was available back then. Seth Lover had NO IDEA what steel alloys he used in PAF's and P90's (both used same materials), he just grabbed what Gibson had in their materials bins. Gibson "improved" the ABR1's and THAT sound was instantly lost. McCarty came along and made plywood guitars, the steel parts lost their musicality becase of steel making advancements. Gibson really had no idea why their guitars lost their magic and they don't understand any of it. All their Les Pauls are just thoughtless clones that don't sound like anything original vintage guitars, yet they charge disgusting high prices that don't sound anywhere as great as the originals. Quality of sound doesn't seem to be in their thought processes and there seems to be no one there with an actual brain.
Man you take forever to get to the point. 🤷
Yep. If I go fast people don't retain anything and then ask me questions that were answered in the video.....plus I'm old... "Senior Rights" LOL.....
He is really passionate about this subject and wants us to get it so we don't forget, good sales-Man.
...
You're doing the work that Gibson Historic should have, and very well could have done, if they only cared enough. Bravo, SD.
Corporations don't care. Workers collect their paychecks and go home. Management sells "pretty guitars." Quick made guitars for quick money. Authenticity completely lacking. I don't think they truly know their own history.
This is great news!
Will these be offered in different finishes? Nickel, Chrome, Aged?
Will these fit 4mm import posts?
Will the saddles be available for purchase separately?
Also, what are the costs?
Right now they are offered in relic, NOS new plate, $475 relic, and $450 NOS. Saddles remain plated, no raw brass. Saddle sets are about $155 for 6 with screws in NOS plate and $165 relic. We can only do 30 a month.
@@SDPickups Will you offer them precut? $155 precut I'd be all over that!
@@kasimirokaz3775 You don't actually need to notch them. I'm using them unotched. The high strings might buzz a tiny bit but then they settle down into their own stable spot. Even on the originals, they said notching is optional. The one in the video is not notched at all.
@@kasimirokaz3775 No, because all guitars don't have the same exact pole spacing so that the strings will sit directly over the pole screws. Most of the bridges may not need to be notched, but it varies, as the saddles are not all identical. Some will settle in after a few days of playing and the buzz/sitar sound will go away.
@@SDPickups interesting.
I looked and read almost everything you shared about Gibson Les Paul .... Great job! I would like to order my bridge from you For my 2006 Les Paul Standard.Please,share more info about delivering time and price.GOD TO BLESS YOU!
Thanks reading and watching the things I share. Go to Facebook and search on "Four Uncles Restorations" and you'll see our bridge there, and a chat box to request you be put in a waiting line. The price is $475 + shipping. We are not mass producing these, and the cost is high because of the 6 or more hours it takes to hand cast and hand mill these bridges. Nobody else is making anything close to these, and we sell guys who own vintage Les Pauls with very beaten up bridges with badly notched saddles. They pretty much sell themselves and we have several celebrity players using them now, because they know vintage bridges and how they sound. So they are only making about 30 in a full month, and the waiting line is very long, so it will be awhile before you hear from them. God Bless you back ;-)
G string on the bottom one, I have cruddy eyesight so all I can see are the thickness of the screws unless I use a glass.?
I don't understand your question?
Hi Dave, I've got the 59 bridge but there are no saddles.
Could you reccomend me any repros saddle brand that is close to the vintage one?
We make the only repro saddles that are correct design and correct material. Go here on Facebook and request to order a full set of saddles with the screws:
facebook.com/Four-Uncles-Restorations-110097431387755
Give me the buying link
You need to send me an email so I can put you on a wait list.
Hi!! Does the saddles will/could fit a vintage Abr-1 wired?
Yes, of course. The saddles with screws will fit any vintage ABR1.
I do need to point out that putting our saddles on a Patent casting, may not work. At some point they increased the hardness of the zinc alloy because of the rare collpasing problems, which I personally have never ever seen happen. Harder alloy is going to be brighter, and just changing saddles won't give you the sound we're getting, if Patent castings are harder material.
Sounds really good. How about a video comparing the four uncles bridge to the Faber, and a new Gibson abr-1, like comes on the historic Les Pauls.
I've been using the Fabers for years, love them but they are too bassy on the low strings. They are not replicas though, and never meant to be. The Gibson Historic ABR1 is actually the worst ABR1's I've tried, even the cheap bridges on Epiphones are better than those. Might have been a good idea to use one though, it would have made the comparison way more dramatic. Many of the ARB1's out there are actually Gibson Hsitoric bridges wired, thats what StewMac sells, and you can even read "Gibson ABR!" on the bottom where they machined it OFF the bottom, but not quite completely, LOL.
@@SDPickups what do you think about replacing brass saddles on the low strings for titanium saddles on faber bridge for getting a brighter tone? I know is not vintage correct but maybe it could help a little bit...
do you ship in the Philippines? I will order parts from you hope I get a reply! thanks!
Yes we ship them all over the world. To purchase please go to our link on Facebook and leave a message for the guys:
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
I hope this will fits ur “ expensive doesnt mean good” category ///
Like my pickups, in this case, expensive means great. Nobody has made these right in all these years. All of them are using zinc alloy that is too hard, and saddles copied from the Patent bridges. Each bridge has five hours of work in it. No mass production. Limited production, max 30 in a month. Be glad someone had the guts to do this project, I signed up as advisor and reverse-engineering expert, but didn't have the money to put in. I tried to convince several bridge sellers to do the work to make true replicas, and would have helped them for free, but they didn't care, and their bridges are made overseas anyway. They are not for everyone, and the ones who appreciate what we did will buy them, several celebrities you would know have bought them already, and one tested them before we hit the "go" button. Thanks.
Paul makes the best replicas on the market the old saying is you get what you pay and his quality is the best he cares about reproducing them 100% accurate there's not many that can say the same. Thanks for everything you do Paul and here's to another great product.
@@SDPickups guess I'll be getting one when the opportunity comes then😉 international shipping these days are a wreck
@@jerryyeaaah15 Jerry, these are built in the EU, so shipping for you is affordable. Go to Facebook, find "Four Uncles Restorations" Page and like the page and leave a post and/or a PM that you want to buy one, and they will take care of you there. I'm the contact for the American market.
Awesome job! Awesome videos!
I’m from the EU too, i don’t have facebook, is there another way to contact them? Thx!
Please get a looper. It makes interesting long playing easier to pull off. I'd love to hear you using one! (Really, no kidding ;-)
Ummmmm, I just don't like those things, they remind me of Disco ;-) I'll think about it if I can find one cheap to try out....thanks
Restoration sounds bit more tight, together, snappy and nice brightness but not in harsh way, than the "generic" =)
Don't forget its brand new, first time in a guitar. They go through a break-in process and warm up over time and get smoother over time. I've had the first prototype in my Replica LP for months now, just perfect.
Its fugking priced at 600 bucks and or not SOLD ANYWHERE
Also its funny cause paul reed smith figured all this out
PRS is the biggest bag of wind out there, his hype is well known. He made a Stratocaster and said its not a Stratocaster, now he's making Telecasters and claiming they're not Telecasters. He also claimed he had "vintage wire" reproduced, something thats impossible to do, because vintage wire is made of copper thats not pure copper thats full of contaminants. The insulation recipes are organic and not possible to reproduce in our times because benzene is outlawed and those recipes will never be reproduced. The dielectric rating of vintage wire can't be copied. No they are NOT $600, they are $475 and not mass produced. They are sold on Facebook direct from the 3 Uncles that do the casting, plating and some machining, and are mostly hand made and take over 6 hours to make a single bridge. Buy them here, facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
but remember they can only make 30 of these in a month and some months they take off because its hard work and the guys do not make a living making bridges. We made these because nobody out there ever tried to do this, and all the commercial bridges are nothing like the originals.
@@SDPickups dang Paul is probably one of the most smartest guys in the guitar building world still and you cant even bring yourself to compliment him? all i hear is no humility and "im better" and your angry rant on strats and teles lol nobody from prs said its not a strat, thats all the dumb influencers, its a vintage strat lol designed by and for a strat player, they wanted john mayer playing their guitars
the tele is less like a tele, its more like when Paul designed the DC3, more of PAULS design for a modern strat but this time a tele, but WHO CARES RIGHT? theyre just insanely good playing guitars
and look bruh, what i meant was paul uses for the 594 bridge, brass posts, brass saddles, aluminium abr1, aluminium tail piece, brass posts again, he goddam knew how vintage ones are made and made it better, paul knows gibson doesnt care, and that they now use all steel lol, just those guitars are pure artfully made and pure quality. dont lead yourself to sounding like a gibby snob!
change of topic, ibanez is cool too, any good guitars are good. ill surely have to show my dad your bridges tho!
@@CocoKoi321 PRS is PT Barnum. Anything he says is hype and disinformation. He talks like a used car salesman. Gibson sued him for stealing their double cut design, I think Gibson lost the case but PRS has a long history of circus style promotion. Yes he did claim his Stratocaster was not a Stratocaster. I have zero respect for people selling "magical" stories about what they sell, and there are a LOT of them in the music industry. His Teles are Teles. He changes a few things and those guitars are just rip offs. But everybody does that, and he is no different than Chinese knock offs that change small things to avoid being sued. I'm no Gibby snob, that company lies about everything, their guitars are nothing like vintage ones and so many things wrong with them like the plastic finishes, inaccurate building, and tons of hype without any truth. BTW there is NO ALUMINUM IN VINTAGE ABR1'S. If he is using aluminum in his bridges, thats pretty darn funny ;-) but no surprise, LOL. Yeah tell your Dad about the Four Uncles ABR1. You can get them here:
facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071770557105
PRS are so thin sounding you might as well get a chibson
@@eliotartigue6705 YEP. He's not very smart. PRS started making their own pickups, and OMG they can cut glass they are so shrill. Clearly doesn't know what he's doing.