That could be true but at this point only conjecture. The SPT, ST, STB Super Tuneable (sp?) Bridge was used on quite a few models during that period including the TAs and the PEs. RS may be a manufacturer's initials as although Matsumoku designed many of their signature components they did not manufacture all of them.
The idea with the SPT was to eliminate the intonation issues associated with the ABR-1 style bridge found on most Gibsons (At least that is what I was told by an Aria Pro II rep when I bought my first PE-R80 and I'm inclined to believe it).
A standard ABR-1 allows string guages from 09 to 11 easily but intonating lighter or heavier gauge stings was iffy at best. It depended largely on exactly where the bridge was set in the body in relation to the nut. I've worked on many with ABR-1 bridges and it was always a junk shoot with non-standard gauge strings. I hated the invention of "Skinny Top - Heavy Bottom" strings.
The SPT on the other hand has a very long throw for the saddles making more string gauges possible with correct intonation. For instance many moons ago I originally ran 08s on my PE-R80 and the intonation was dead on. The additional mass of the SPT also improved sustain.
StewMac sold a bridge in the late 90s that was a direct drop-in for most ABR-1 bridges that had longer saddle throws on them for lighter/heavier gauge stings. I installed quite a few back then. Matter of fact I just finished setting up a guitar with an ABR-1 style bridge and couldn't quite get the low E and G perfectly intonated.
There is NO WAY POSSIBLE a Gibson ES-335 could come close to your Titanic Artist TA-100!!!!!! No way in H-E-double-toothpics.
Standard ABR-1 (Both are strung with 09 gauge strings) You'll notice the saddles on the ABR-1 are all towards the very back of the bridge where the saddles on the PE-R80 SPT are not.
Attachment:
bodyfront.jpg [ 226.35 KiB | Viewed 339 times ]
SPT
Attachment:
AriaPro-PE-R80_bridge.jpg [ 61.09 KiB | Viewed 339 times ]