jezzaboy Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 I have bought a P bass body from Northwest guitars. It`s got a natural finish and looks nice (in the pictures anyway) and has been routed but I need to drill and fit the bridge, there is a hole for the earth wire but thats it. It`s going to have a standard Fender neck on it and a nice Gotoh BBOT 5 screw hole bridge but whats the best way to make sure the bridge is in the right place? Ta! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stereoplayer Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 (edited) Some will describe this better than me, but... Assuming it is a fretted neck, the distance from the nut to the 12th fret should be equally the distance of the 12th fret to the bridge saddles. The saddles should be in a position(the mid way of travel) so they can be adjusted either towards or backwards, for intonation adjustments. Use string( the E and G) from the machine heads to the bridge to line up the position of the strings. Take your time and carefully think this out. Possibly YouTube has a video? Edited February 27, 2021 by stereoplayer 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si600 Posted February 27, 2021 Share Posted February 27, 2021 Look on my project pink torpedo thread, @Andyjr1515 and @SpondonBassed detail it on there somewhere. You'll have to wade through a fair few random posts to find it though 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 I can't see that the strings will ever intonate at less than double the distance from nut to 12th fret, so why not start with that as the furthest adjustment position? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 24 minutes ago, MoonBassAlpha said: I can't see that the strings will ever intonate at less than double the distance from nut to 12th fret, so why not start with that as the furthest adjustment position? ? Closest adjustment position? Maybe 1/4 v 3/4 or 1/3 v 2/3... Cosmetic apperance may come in to it a little. Fore and Aft. between pickup and end of body, aligning with a control knob etc. Earth wire hole may help in comparing pics n plans of the web with bodys with bridge pilot holes 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulThePlug Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 (edited) Sure some one with a P can do some ruler layup pics from the 12th... to give you a better idea. Couple of pics of my Ibby GSR200 with BBOT style bridge... may help Nut to 12th... 12th to Bridge... Edited February 28, 2021 by PaulThePlug 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aidan63 Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 StewMac website has a calculator for placing the bridge in the right place 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andyjr1515 Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 (edited) Having just fitted the bridge to the Wal save, it's fresh in my mind. There are two things that have to be right - the left /right position and the forwards/backwards position For the left /right, my preferred method it to temporarily fit the top and bottom strings, tightened enough for them to be straight and then position the bridge so the strings are equidistant from the fretboard sides and/or in line with (or at least symmetrical to) the pickup poles: Then, for the forward/backward you need to position it with enough saddle movement available to intonate the strings. For this, I do the following: - I check how much adjustment the bridge has (they vary!) from the furthest usable forward position of the saddles to the furthest usable rearward position of the saddles. Ideally, this is at least 5mm. - Generally, the top G intonates at around 1mm longer than scale length and the bottom E (or B on a 5 string) 4 or 5mm longer than scale length. It will NEVER be shorter than scale length - So I wind the G saddle fully forward - I then position the bridge with the G saddle at exactly scale-length, make sure it's square to the centre-line (and double check the above alignment) and mark the screw positions - I then know that all of the other saddles are capable of being adjusted to positions longer than that scale length by up to 5mm and that therefore all strings will be capable of being intonated correctly. - Edited February 28, 2021 by Andyjr1515 2 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MoonBassAlpha Posted February 28, 2021 Share Posted February 28, 2021 Thanks Andy, this a much more eloquent version of what I was trying to get at. As long as the anchor point doesn't leave the string's silks in the nut slots, you're golden! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.thumb.jpg.bf36c6e93eefff39d4b0a452c85a7b15.jpg)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.