Les Paul bridge question

I bought a used Les Paul Studio. I'm not sure if the Tune-O-Matic bridge is installed correctly, I saw pictures of Les Pauls having in mounted the other way round. The string height is what I like to optimize, but being experienced with Fender guitars I'm not too familiar with what's the best here.

Here are some close-up photos of guitar and bridge: http://de.photos.yahoo.com/gitarren_mann

Is there any instruction website for Les Paul type guitars I should visit?

It is fitted correctly. Earlier ABR-1 type bridges were fitted with screws facing the pickups but Nashville bridges (such as on your guitar) have the screws facing the tailpiece.

How to setup your guitar is on the Gibson site here: http://www.gibson.com/magazines/amplifier/1997/10/ tipfile.html

Hope that helps

I just checked mine: The strings can never touch the screws, they would in fact rather touch the body of the bridge.

So I might leave it as it is, just setting up a little lower string height.
I was not too sure, because other repliers assumed it was mounted backwards.

IMHO, an acute break angle over the saddle of a Nashville, ABR-1 or even a
TP6 (anything remotely tune-o-matic'ish) to the stop piece will give you little return in sustain over a moderate break angle. Moreover, if the break angle is overly steep, the string will be weakened by the radical bend along a very small portion of the string...Of course, if you have a roller bridge this problem is not an issue. Many of the Fender style saddles are rounded to allow for a steeper break angle into the body without overly stressing the string on a singular point (of course, then you need a string tree on the headstock to provide a decent break angle over the nut)...anyway, you can get away with as little as 5 degrees with no buzzing in the saddle or nut slots, but most are set-up with about a 12 degree break at either end...more than 20 degrees and you can start making money by predicting where the string will break...if you have a steeper break angle, your saddle slots should be very clean, well shaped, smooth and rounded over.
Anyway...just my .02 worth.

Thanks you all for your kind advice.

Didn't quite understand. The saddles will be backwards when I flip the bridge? This means the previous owner has flipped both the saddles and the bridge? I can't imagine that because he didn't seem to be experienced that much that he might customize his instrument at all.

So you think I should flip the bridge and tuned the guitar completely, and only in case of bad intonation I should flip all the saddles?

Not sure about that but the bridge is wider so your string will connect with the body of the bridge rather than the screws. I like to raise my tailpiece anyway to give about a 17 degree break angle over the saddles. I know some like to screw the tailpiece all the way down as it's supposed to give more sustain. Each to their own.

Number 43,259 is pretty good.

If I understand my physics, I'm with you. The steeper the angle, the greater the down force and the better the sustain. That's how I setup all of my tailpieces.
I think that there's lots of "voodoo" involved. People experiment and decide they found some magic, like wrapping strings around the tailpiece. I'll stick with physics.