If an engineering definition of 'better' is achieving the required functionality and durability with the minimum of resources, complexity and cost, then the original bridge is 'better'.
Aesthetics is entirely subjective, but i'd want a fifty year old P to have a 50 year old P-bass type bridge.
As for the sound, as others have said it's marginal and different is not necessarily 'better', however we tend to perceive small changes in sound as improvements.