Bridges : badasses, kickasses and hi-masses

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, Misdee said:

You putting sustain into the bass is not the same thing as the bass having natural  sustain . If it had sustain you wouldn't need to put sustain into it with whatever technique. You could, by the same token,  add sustain with a compressor, but that would not change the fundamental sound of whatever bass.

And, for the reasons I have already stated,  taking the frets out of a bass will most likely  diminish the sustain of fretted notes. Your perception  may differ from that, but such judgements are highly subjective. Steel frets are likely to  enable a note to resonate longer  in a more linear fashion than when the note is trapped between wood and finger. That's a big  part of the sound of a fretless . Yes there are various things you can do to compensate on a fretless - vibrato, compression, coated fingerboard et al- but all things being equal in general terms, a fretted example should sustain more. But we've already decided that sustain isn't that important anyway. My fretless has an acrylic-coated board, but I haven't really noticed a profound increase in sustain over non-coated fingerboards, it has to be said. , 

I am equally confident that bridges can a very significant influence on the sound of a bass, some bridges and some basses more than others. I could give my own anecdotal evidence, but it would be a lengthy process . I have had more basses than I can count over the last 40 years or so.  I used to hate the BBOT but I have come to learn its' value in terms of the classic Fender tone. It's a shame it isn't just a little bit more ergonomic and  mechanically stable. That's all I am saying, really🙂.

I agree with a lot of that, but not re fretless and sustain, all my FLs sustain way better than my fretted even without vibrato, which as you rightly say should perhaps not be in the equation really?
 

Anyone got any data re frets versus wood in the context of sustain and tone? 

[kwmlondon]

52 minutes ago, Misdee said:

You putting sustain into the bass is not the same thing as the bass having natural  sustain . If it had sustain you wouldn't need to put sustain into it with whatever technique. You could, by the same token,  add sustain with a compressor, but that would not change the fundamental sound of whatever bass.

And, for the reasons I have already stated,  taking the frets out of a bass will most likely  diminish the sustain of fretted notes. Your perception  may differ from that, but such judgements are highly subjective. Steel frets are likely to  enable a note to resonate longer  in a more linear fashion than when the note is trapped between wood and finger. That's a big  part of the sound of a fretless . Yes there are various things you can do to compensate on a fretless - vibrato, compression, coated fingerboard et al- but all things being equal in general terms, a fretted example should sustain more. But we've already decided that sustain isn't that important anyway. My fretless has an acrylic-coated board, but I haven't really noticed a profound increase in sustain over non-coated fingerboards, it has to be said. , 

I am equally confident that bridges can a very significant influence on the sound of a bass, some bridges and some basses more than others. I could give my own anecdotal evidence, but it would be a lengthy process . I have had more basses than I can count over the last 40 years or so.  I used to hate the BBOT but I have come to learn its' value in terms of the classic Fender tone. It's a shame it isn't just a little bit more ergonomic and  mechanically stable. That's all I am saying, really🙂.

Well, exactly. I've found a couple of USA professional bridges that have got grooves cut in for the saddles and recessed grub screws but they're over twice the price of the hi mass ones and that seems to be just down to rarity. I'm changing my bridge purely for stability and ergonomics. 

[JohnDaBass]

On 26/10/2020 at 15:35, kwmlondon said:

Well, exactly. I've found a couple of USA professional bridges that have got grooves cut in for the saddles and recessed grub screws but they're over twice the price of the hi mass ones and that seems to be just down to rarity. I'm changing my bridge purely for stability and ergonomics. 

I took a USA pro bridge off my 1992 USA Fender P Deluxe and replaced with a BadAss 3 Thro body bridge. It looked great ( it's the one on the right in my avatar) but I could not discern any difference in sustain or tone.

I then used the Fender Pro bridge on my YOB '52 P Bitsa. It's simplicity & aesthetic sits really well on the bass. The thickness of the material used in this bridge is more than 3mm so it much thicker than the standard BOBT which allows for the grooves in the base for the grub screws to maintain alignment. The thro body stringing compensates for the three mounting screws and the string saddles have grooves for perfect string spacing. All in all great simple design that works and looks the part. 

Edited October 28, 2020 by JohnDaBass
spelling

[kwmlondon]

9 minutes ago, JohnDaBass said:

I took a USA pro bridge off my 1992 USA Fender P Deluxe and replaced with a BadAss 3 Thro body bridge. It looked great ( it's the one on the right in my avatar) but I could not discern any difference in sustain or tone.

I then used the Fender Pro bridge on my YOB '52 P Bitsa. It's simplicity & aesthetic sits really well on the bass. The thickness of the material used in this bridge is more than 3mm so it much thicker than the standard BOBT which allows for the grooves in the base for the grub screws to maintain alignment. The thro body stringing compensates for the three mounting screws and the string saddles have grooves for perfect string spacing. All in all great simple design that works and looks the part. 

Yeah, it's a very good design, that bridge - simple and high-quality. Really annoyed that the only ones I've seen are about £70! Nice bass, btw.

[Steve Browning]

21 hours ago, kwmlondon said:

Yeah, it's a very good design, that bridge - simple and high-quality. Really annoyed that the only ones I've seen are about £70! Nice bass, btw.

Similar to the Gotoh 203 bridge (28 quid) that I routinely swapped with my bbot bridges on basses. I have my single roundwound strung Precision equipped with a Fender Hi-mass and that made it louder and more 'lively' but the Gotoh is fine. I bought the Fender on here because it was a good price (s/h).