[Gary in Boston]

Hey there,

This has to do with my 1957 Les Paul Jr.

I bought the guitar in 1972 or so. When I got it it had the Gibson wrap over bridge with the raised pieces to help intonate plus in the case was the old smooth wrap over ( but very heavy) Anyway the guitar would not intonate and me being a novice ( on a good day) said to myself, Hmmmm Gibson's improved wrap over doesn't work which obviously replaced the old smooth one so that won't work either.

I went out and bought a Leo Quan bad ass bridge to cure the problem. The LQ worked for intonation and that's the way the guitar has been for the last 30+ years.

The other day I was thinking maybe I will go back and use the old raised improved Gibson again and see if it was me or the guitar. I took off the Leo Quan and put on the improved Gibson. Well don't you know the B&E were sharp by 20% and the G by almost 30% I was flumixed. I sat there looking at the guitar when I noticed, almost like it was the first time, that the bridge posts were not equal in distance from the neck. in fact they were about 3/8 different. I said to myself, maybe the original bridge was fine? Maybe Gibson knew what they were doing? Maybe 30 years of wondering can end.... today.

I put on the old smooth wrap over bar bridge w/o any adjustments and you know what? The low E side was dead on and the high E side was off by 7% which was 3-4 turns on the little grub screw and then that was dead on.

The guitar was way more alive ta boot.

The guitar is perfectly in tune all over the neck. The new (old) bridge is the picture of simplicity and function not to mention no parts on it grab the sleeve of my shirt either.

The only thing weird is the smooth wrap over is very heavy, almost like it is made of brass and plated nickel.

A true story...................

Gary