Changing your bridge?..does this realy make any diffrence

[patrikmarky]

I've just put a new bridge on my fernades Gravity deluxe ...there wasn't much wrong with the one fitted.
( being black hardware it's was a bit bland )I've rediscovered some love for the old girl and thought I'd change her look with a bit of chrome , wasn't a particularly expensive bridge when I bought it didn't fit the fender copy I have ...it's made a huge diffrence to the sound and the action is the best it's ever been...
So does a "high mass bridge "...make a diffrence ..the atk bass bridge is huge and that has a monster sound ...

[White Cloud]

[quote name='patrikmarky' timestamp='1422209957' post='2669892']
So does a "high mass bridge "...make a diffrence
[/quote]
Yes.

[Dan Dare]

Think it depends on the instrument. I find a high mass bridge gives clearer noting especially at low frequencies but can rob an instrument of warmth and 'bloom'.

[HowieBass]

You won't have increased the weight of the bass much at all so adding mass in itself doesn't really explain any change in tone (if more mass meant a great sound then we'd all be clamouring for heavy basses). What might be at play is rigidity (though the BBOT affairs on a couple of my basses seem pretty strong and rigid... ), also the stability of the saddles, how the strings break over the saddles and how the strings anchor at the bridge. What's improved with the action, were the saddles bottomed out on the other bridge? Where rigidity really comes into play is at the other end of the string... one thing I learned from a bass clinic YouTube video featuring Roger Sadowsky and Mike Tobias was that the headstock can act as a 'heatsink' and the more rigid the neck to headstock transition, the better - by heatsink they mean something that absorbs string vibration (which is bad - you want as much vibration to stay in the string as possible, reflecting back from both the nut and the bridge). They also confirmed my understanding that the neck rigidity and fingerboard material probably account for most of the difference in tone between basses. The main thing with your new bridge is that YOU think it sounds better, which in the end is all that matters!

[Wooks79]

It all depends what bridge you are going from and to...

My old SG bass was like a brand new totally different, far better bass once it had a hipshot bridge on, but that's cos the three point bridges that come as standard are appalling!

[Telebass]

No-one has EVER found a BBOT type bridge (worthy of being called a bridge) in any way deficient in strength. So long as the bridge is firmly attached, that's all you need. The ONLY mod I could ever see being useful to that is screw runners to help sideslip a bit.
Bridge changing (with the possible exception of the awful Gibson 3-point) is a waste of time and money.

Tuners, that's the same, really. Even Squier tuners are well up to the job. However, tuners are where I waste MY money...

Edited January 25, 2015 by Telebass

[stingrayPete1977]

And on the other hand I've had a total failure of a BBOT where the saddle collapsed mid song and cheap tuners that wont hold the strings in tune, I have never kept a BBOT on my basses purely for ease of adjustment regardless of the tone it may or may not improve.

[Lozz196]

[quote name='Dan Dare' timestamp='1422211357' post='2669909']
Think it depends on the instrument. I find a high mass bridge gives clearer noting especially at low frequencies but can rob an instrument of warmth and 'bloom'.
[/quote]

That`s what I`ve found - and the reason why I`m not too keen on them on Precisions, to me they take away the Precisions main strengths.

[EssentialTension]

If there is a difference, it's not a difference that interests me.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1422212005' post='2669920']
... Roger Sadowsky and Mike Tobias ... They also confirmed my understanding that the neck rigidity and fingerboard material probably account for most of the difference in tone between basses. ...
[/quote]
I'd allow that a neck needs some rigidity, as does a bridge and even a nut, but are you (and they) really certain that most of the difference isn't down to the player, or the pickup, or the pickup placement, or fingers, or plectrum, or strings, or EQ, etc.?

Do several basses, lets say a Precision and a Jazz and a Stingray, all with maple neck & rosewood fingerboard really just sound alike due to the neck/fingerboard combination?

Edited January 25, 2015 by EssentialTension

[Truckstop]

I don't think bridges make much of a difference but machine heads certainly do!

Cheapo machine heads are not as effective at holding tune than higher quality ones. They'll be loose, hard to maintain properly, poorly fitting, weak and generally more deficient.

High quality machine heads are stiff when stopped in place but easy to turn. They'll be more precise, strong, made to higher tolerances and easier to maintain. They'll allow more precise tuning too. No play in the paddle at all!

Truckstop

[discreet]

[quote name='Telebass' timestamp='1422213513' post='2669943']
Bridge changing is a waste of time and money.
[/quote]

+1 As far as making a difference to 'tone' is concerned I'd agree with you, i.e. it makes no difference. In my humble opinion.
But if you want a new bridge because you like how it looks, or it fits better with your playing style, then fine.

[Dood]

Changing a bridge does make a difference and can be noted in the material used - even if it is one high mass bridge to another. Similarly, Guitarists change out trem blocks from cheap cast units to lumps of bell brass. The difference is clear as day yet the block itself isn't even anchoring the strings. In terms of whether or not it's a tonal improvement is completely up to the person trying the 'upgrade' out. I'd hazard a guess that even the heaviest of high mass bridges, made from the cheapest of materials is still going to sound the same if not worse than the starting point. Furthermore, choosing your bridge type and material may or may not alter the tone of your instrument in a way that you like. Some bridges can be brighter sounding, some help to add girth to the note. Some are £15 on ebay and you get what you pay for

[patrikmarky]

Ibanez make a big statement with this bridge ??

[tbonepete]

[quote name='patrikmarky' timestamp='1422219699' post='2670063']
Ibanez make a big statement with this bridge ??
[/quote]

I briefly had an ATK 305 in natural, and it was a monster amount of fun! They really made something special with that range, and it's a shame the sales didn't warrant keeping the models they've discontinued. Get one, and play it, you won't regret it! (IMHO, of course!)

[patrikmarky]

Yeah I had a 405 ...wish I'd never sold it ...now this is available in ash and if it's £650.00 to £700.00 I'd better get saving ...

[HowieBass]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1422215551' post='2669982']
I'd allow that a neck needs some rigidity, as does a bridge and even a nut, but are you (and they) really certain that most of the difference isn't down to the player, or the pickup, or the pickup placement, or fingers, or plectrum, or strings, or EQ, etc.?

Do several basses, lets say a Precision and a Jazz and a Stingray, all with maple neck & rosewood fingerboard really just sound alike due to the neck/fingerboard combination?
[/quote]

What I should have said, but obviously neglected to mention, is that with the same pickups and strings and playing style and EQ (lets say a handful of Precisions or a handful of Jazzes), those basses that have maple boards will all sound alike and those with rosewood boards will all sound alike and maple boards sound different to rosewood boards, with body woods being less of a contributing factor. I would expect the bridge to have rather less influence still. The least rigid part of a bass is the neck IMHO. Tobias and Sadowsky, who have made a few thousand basses between them, consider these instruments as almost like acoustics, claiming that if they sound good unamplified, they'll sound great when plugged in. I've never built a bass from scratch, so I can't speak from personal experience as do those two luthiers, though other BCers have made similar comments with instruments they've tried in a store, listening to the tone before plugging in. Here's the video I was referring to, which has featured on here before...

http://youtu.be/QzDxC98VNx8

[Telebass]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1422216282' post='2669999']


+1 As far as making a difference to 'tone' is concerned I'd agree with you, i.e. it makes no difference. In my humble opinion.
But if you want a new bridge because you like how it looks, or it fits better with your playing style, then fine.
[/quote]
Entirely agree on change for appearance.

[chris_b]

Alembic discovered that if you added mass to the head of a bass, in the form of a brass plate, sustain improved so why wouldn't extra mass on the bridge work equally well? A major aspect of making good cabs is how you control the resonating surfaces to eliminate as much unwanted vibration as possible, so why wouldn't you want to manage and improve the vibration generated to improve the sustain and tone on a bass?

People give Leo Fender mythical qualities with regard to designing guitars, especially basses, but when his team designed instruments they improved everything over time.

In the context of this topic it's interesting to see that after his stint at Fender he never put a low mass bridge on a bass again.

That's good enough for me.

[Telebass]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1422214459' post='2669961']
And on the other hand I've had a total failure of a BBOT where the saddle collapsed mid song and cheap tuners that wont hold the strings in tune, I have never kept a BBOT on my basses purely for ease of adjustment regardless of the tone it may or may not improve.
[/quote] Saddle failure is one thing, and probably unrelated to the fact that the rest of the bridge is a BBOT. I too had a 'saddle failure' once, in that the screw unwound itself, dropping the E string right down. Other than that (and that bridge is still the one I use every day), BBOTs have been as solid as you could possibly ask for. And I play soft, so the sideways problem doesn't really exist. And remember, Leo expected it to be played fairly gently - it was a selling point that it was essentially effortless to play a Precision Bass compared to a doghouse! And that's something I'm learning for myself now - never expected to say it, but I now know which is the superior instrument! And why!

Edited January 26, 2015 by Telebass

[Jazzjames]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAz5b-0GE_E

[sykilz]

Lik Lozz said a few posts back, I changed a Mex P bass from the BBOT original to a GOTOH hi mass, very chunky bridge, and there was a difference in tone / clarity of notes, even our drummer noticed without being told that there were any changes to the bass, BUT I didn't like the change, lost some warmth and deepness to the tone, so changed back!!!!

[Conan]

I swapped the bridges between my MIM Standard J (BBOT) and CIJ Geddy Lee J (Badass II) a while ago. I even swapped necks around at some point too.

Surprisingly. neither made much of a difference to my ears. I was a bit disappointed to be honest...

[Beedster]

Makes a difference on some basses and not on others. As has been said above it should be kept in mind that 'difference' does not always mean 'improvement'. Some bridges are an improvement simply because they allow better intonation, alignment or action, others because they link the surfaces better than the original perhaps allowing more sustain (or fewer energy losses), others because they actually do alter the tone. Either way, there's a whole lot of reasons why you'd change a bridge, but I've done it many times and I'd say that tonally there are often as many improvements going from a heavy and expensive bridge like a Badass II to a Fender BBOT as there are the opposite direction. A very good example for me is my 4003, on which the brass Hipshot version bridge to my mind takes something away from the Ric tone and sustain, despite facilitating far better intonation and string alignment.

I'm sure the answer to the OP's question is quite simple, you'll never know until you try a certain bridge on a certain bass.

[patrikmarky]

I changed it back to the original just for my own sanity , made the girlfriend listen to .she noticed a diffrence ...mind you the original that came of look nothing Special and it looks liked it had another retro fitted also......