Ibanez bridge conundrum

[simon_says]

I bought an Ibanez SR1500 second hand about 10 years ago and, as it is my only bass, I have been more than happy with it.  I believe it dates from around the early 90s and was quite good in its time.  I have always wondered why the strings are not aligned down the center of the pole pieces on the pickups (see picture).  The rectangular bridge with 90 degree corners (which looks as though it is correct from looking at original marketing flyers) sits in a slightly larger routed hole with rounded corners.  Should I replace the bridge so that the strings are centered on the pickups, will it improve the sound and where could I get a new bridge from?

Any thoughts appreciated.  Many thanks

[Doctor J]

The bridge is the correct Accucast B IV bridge. It’s possible the route is to allow for the previous Omni-adjust model they used on the SRs and the route is as they were transitioning from one to the other but it’s no biggie either way. You will not notice a difference in sound if you try to realign it. It’s fine as it is, it really is. Here is an example of both.

[Doctor J]

The gap, for reference

[Maude]

It'll make no discernable difference to the sound, purely visual. 

Looking at the J pickup, the E and G string are both off centre of the pole pieces towards the centre line of the bass, so to centre them in the pole pieces would mean changing to a wider string spacing, which could then possibly give you problems with the strings being to close to the edge of the fretboard. 

Best left alone. 

[Dad3353]

Put a piece of black electrician's tape along the pick-up; you won't see the 'mis-alignment' then. 

[acidbass]

A huge bug bear of mine, personally. Surely if the strings aren't aligned perfectly, this makes a difference in how they vibrate in the magnetic field - e.g. a string directly over a pole piece will vibrate differently than a string centred between two pole pieces due to different magnetic properties applying in each example. I've always admired Sadowsky for their consistency in alignment

[LeftyJ]

14 hours ago, Doctor J said:

The bridge is the correct Accucast B IV bridge. It’s possible the route is to allow for the previous Omni-adjust model they used on the SRs and the route is as they were transitioning from one to the other but it’s no biggie either way. You will not notice a difference in sound if you try to realign it. It’s fine as it is, it really is. Here is an example of both.

The Omni-Adjust (Gotoh 206) is actually narrower than the Accu-cast B IV, so it's unlikely the routing was made for that bridge.

The Omni-Adjust was my favourite bridge Ibanez ever used, with everything adjustable and firmly locking into place. I had one on my 1987 SR800LE. 

[Dad3353]

4 hours ago, acidbass said:

... if the strings aren't aligned perfectly, this makes a difference in how they vibrate in the magnetic field...

This is undoubtedly true, but whether the 'difference' is better or not is debatable. What counts from a sonic perspective, in my view, is what the instrument sounds like. If it sounds good, then that's fine, I'd say. I can understand the visual aspect, although that's not something I suffer from. Pick-ups don't need visible pole-pieces at all, so buying pick-ups with covers, or even with 'bar' magnets, would solve that issue, if issue there is.
Just sayin'; we're all different. ('Better or not' is equally debatable ...)

[hooky_lowdown]

I'd be more concerned with the crack in the wood down the middle of the body! 🤔

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

This is undoubtedly true, but whether the 'difference' is better or not is debatable. What counts from a sonic perspective, in my view, is what the instrument sounds like. If it sounds good, then that's fine, I'd say. I can understand the visual aspect, although that's not something I suffer from. Pick-ups don't need visible pole-pieces at all, so buying pick-ups with covers, or even with 'bar' magnets, would solve that issue, if issue there is.
Just sayin'; we're all different. ('Better or not' is equally debatable ...)

Exactly this. Think about all those boutique "scatter-wound" pickups which are prized for their sound, whereas evenly wound pickups from an engineering PoV ought to be better.

[simon_says]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I guess the issue is more aesthetic than sonic so Dad's black tape solution is probably the best. Once you have seen the offset it isn't possible to un-see it though! 

As always, I was looking for equipment related reasons as to why my bass playing from string to string is a little uneven in amplitude so clutching at the bridge straw seemed a good idea. What can I blame next??? 

Cheers