MIMF

Working on my first electric design - a Les Paul inspired guitar. Reading up on bridges and tailpieces, and a lot of people think that the ABR type of bridge mount (where the post/screws go directly into the wood as opposed to the Nashville type where there are two metal stud inserts pressed into the body that the posts screw into) have better tone than the Nashville type. If you are building a new guitar, is there any reason not to just screw the Nashville posts directly into the wood like an ABR post, rather than press in the studs and screw the posts into the studs?

The threads you make in the wood will probably wear out. A little bit of lubrication of the threaded inserts makes for easy adjustment of the wheels.

I have only used the Nashville style but I can see why some people might feel that they were a tone suck - the posts are a little loose in the the studs and the bridge itself is a little loose the way it sits on top of the post. Another advantage of the ABR would be that you can string it up in white, then remove the posts to do the finish (once you've pressed the Nashville inserts in they are pretty much there to stay and they do have a flange that sticks up above the top). The Nashville design seems to have more options including roller bridge (I've used them on 335's with Bigsbys) and they seem to have more travel for the intonation screws. I've also been using the ones that have locking setscrews for the posts - I think that removes some of the wobble. All of that said, if there is a tone bonus for the ABR I doubt that my ears can hear it.

One other thing to remember, its probably much easier to go from the ABR to a Nashville than the other way around.