The Last Bass Outpost
Gear Discussion Forums => Gibson Basses => Topic started by: FrankieTbird on February 21, 2010, 10:11:35 PM
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I finally put a new bridge on the old Embassy. What do youse guys think?
The old:
(http://acehighaudio.com/pics/NewD/EpiEmbassy101.jpg)
and the new:
(http://acehighaudio.com/pics/NewD/EpiEmbassy102.jpg)
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Much better!
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Really nice! The classic look of the wunderbar Embassy!
I wonder how many Embassys we have between us, all of us on the Outpost? If I got the info right, only about 500 USA Embassys were ever made. Some are smashed, of course. But the number here on the Post? Stand up, Embassy owners. Proud! Let's leave the closet behind us!!!
Frankie's first, I'll go next with two Embassys. I know Uwe's got at least one, and Gweimer had one? Right?
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I know one was sold from a poster to Dolf of The Datsuns. I was middle man.
Beautiful bass! I keep drooling over the one in the Entwistle book.
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Yes. Three point + string holder = cluttered affair
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Much better............
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Looks great!
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i like it much better than the old ... which is exactly (what you had) ... what i presently have on my Epi EBO.
'but you only thought that i knew what you knew' sorta!
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Esthetic perfection... 8)
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If I got the info right, only about 500 USA Embassys were ever made
More like 227 were shipped according to the shipping totals book:
SB 232- 149 from 61-70
SB232ch- 78 for the same years
...rarer'n hens' teeth
Great job on bridge swap.
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I guess this won't be popular but I'm gonna have to go with I like the original much better.
The three point plus tail piece is, as UWE put it so eloquently, a "cluttered affair".
Appears the bridge pieces are all at the maximum back of the bridge chassis. Does it actually intonate perfectly with the three point? Looks like lots of needless metal hangin' out down there.
I'm a fan of Scott's retro replacement bridge...old but new ;-)
I have two Embassy's currently.
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You misunderstood! :mrgreen: The three point arrangement was the - altered - original, he put it back to two point.
So we're all in agreement that it was a change for the good.
I like the look of a three point generally, but not with a stringholder. It looks best with a string-thru arrangement though.
And I have Scott's legendary Dasson Lab Bridge on menawhile five of my basses, four sixties TBirds and one Embassy.
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If I've counted right, we're up to six Embassies. Now, we all know (Slow whisper, everybody's looking around: "Do we?")
that there must be more than four Embassy owners here on the Outpost.
So. I think it's time, as I pointed out earlier on, that we make that move. That necessary move. Out of the closet. Look the world in the eye, and proudly speaks up: Yes, I am also the happy owner of that magnificient bass. The Embassy!
Come on, don't be shy! Tell it like it is, as Freddy Fender once told us to.
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Am I understanding correctly that we are celebrating a distinct reduction in chrome as a result of this modification!?
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When reducing the chrome via pitching a 3 point, all is well.
I like it, but I too wonder about the intonation.
When I get mine - AND I WILL - I will throw one of Scott's improved Tbird bridges on it. And a set of Rotosound Spacers, or whatever they call them now.
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So, for someone not fluent in Gibson....
1) What is the new two-piece bridge called?
2) Does the saddle assembly mount to the original bridge posts?
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So, for someone not fluent in Gibson....
1) What is the new two-piece bridge called?
2) Does the saddle assembly mount to the original bridge posts?
The bridge I used is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CHROME-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-FITS-SG-GIBSON-LES-PAUL-LP_W0QQitemZ330406897069QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar_Accessories?hash=item4cedc925ad (http://cgi.ebay.com/CHROME-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-FITS-SG-GIBSON-LES-PAUL-LP_W0QQitemZ330406897069QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar_Accessories?hash=item4cedc925ad)
I guess it's just called a Tune-O-Matic bass bridge. Not sure what the original application is. Anyone? Mounting it on the Embassy was not exactly straightforward. The stud spacing is almost perfect, but the mounting studs supplied with the bridge are metric thread. The original Epiphone inserts are of course SAE. Also, the inserts supplied with the bridge have a MUCH smaller diameter than the originals. What I ended up doing was pulling the original inserts out of the body. Then I took another old set of Gibson inserts I had and retapped them to the metric thread. Popped them in the body and mounted the new bridge. Works fine. Also, the string spacing of the Tune-O-Matic is about 3/16" wider overall than the old 3-point, which I think is a good thing. I think it worked out pretty well, and I didn't spend $200 for a Thunderbird repro. I'm happy.
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More like 227 were shipped according to the shipping totals book:
SB 232- 149 from 61-70
SB232ch- 78 for the same years
...rarer'n hens' teeth
Great job on bridge swap.
507 according to this page:
http://www.flyguitars.com/epiphone/bass/EmbassyShippingFigures.php (http://www.flyguitars.com/epiphone/bass/EmbassyShippingFigures.php)
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507 according to this page:
http://www.flyguitars.com/epiphone/bass/EmbassyShippingFigures.php
Thanks, I stand corrected...I had put a small embassy note in my gibson shipping totals book next to the sb 232 which now, obviously, was a reference for a friend of mine with some old epi solid body guitars. They did make an embassy guitar didn't they?
But, The gibson totals book does have 11 ebdl's shipped in 1970 which are not listed on the fly site. So if this is correct then there were actually 518.
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"Then I took another old set of Gibson inserts I had and retapped them to the metric thread."
Good boy. American civilization is not beyond recovery after all!
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Thanks, I stand corrected...I had put a small embassy note in my gibson shipping totals book next to the sb 232 which now, obviously, was a reference for a friend of mine with some old epi solid body guitars. They did make an embassy guitar didn't they?
The guitar is the Epi Crestwood.
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Thanks!
The bridge I used is this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/CHROME-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-FITS-SG-GIBSON-LES-PAUL-LP_W0QQitemZ330406897069QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar_Accessories?hash=item4cedc925ad (http://cgi.ebay.com/CHROME-BASS-GUITAR-BRIDGE-FITS-SG-GIBSON-LES-PAUL-LP_W0QQitemZ330406897069QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar_Accessories?hash=item4cedc925ad)
I guess it's just called a Tune-O-Matic bass bridge. Not sure what the original application is. Anyone? Mounting it on the Embassy was not exactly straightforward. The stud spacing is almost perfect, but the mounting studs supplied with the bridge are metric thread. The original Epiphone inserts are of course SAE. Also, the inserts supplied with the bridge have a MUCH smaller diameter than the originals. What I ended up doing was pulling the original inserts out of the body. Then I took another old set of Gibson inserts I had and retapped them to the metric thread. Popped them in the body and mounted the new bridge. Works fine. Also, the string spacing of the Tune-O-Matic is about 3/16" wider overall than the old 3-point, which I think is a good thing. I think it worked out pretty well, and I didn't spend $200 for a Thunderbird repro. I'm happy.