YeboBass Posted February 16 Posted February 16 Hi all It's been a while since I've played my bass, and I recently took it out of storage to get playing again. I picked up that something internally in the electronical side was not earthed (the bridge... might be relevant to the below) - which I fixed by soldering. I then spent some time adding some copper shielding (which I had always wanted to do, and the guitar was open anyway). I then decided to change the strings to, in my mind, "get everything sounding as good as it would get". While changing the strings I picked up that there was a bit of a forward bow, so I adjusted the truss rod accordingly. I then started with the string heights and length... and only then picked up that the bridge has a slight lift (around 1mm) at the back. I have no idea how long it has been like this, however because of this I have to put the new E string height down onto the absolute lowest height. The E string seems very sensitive to tuning, and the saddle for the E string also had to be pulled a lot further back the other strings to get the intonation correct. All that said... The bass is currently sounding great - but I don't want this to develop into a longer-term problem. From what I've read online I can glue it back down (using some clamps). This will then also improve the string height range (so I can drop them slightly closer to the fret board), and the saddle would then move forward a bit. My questions are basically: 1. Am I overthinking this, and I should just leave it (as I have no idea how long it has been like this)? 2. If I should rather repair, what glue should I use? Some pics attached below. I'll really appreciate guidance from someone with more repair experience than me. Quote
lemmywinks Posted February 16 Posted February 16 Just get a new bridge, you'll be able to find a replacement on AliExpress. What's string spacing does yours have? 1 Quote
Beedster Posted February 16 Posted February 16 Crikey, the bridge plate is bent AND pulling out the bass side screw, and it's likely to get worse. To prevent this sort of thing most bridges have three or more screws behind the saddles (your have two, Fender usually have five), so I'd suggest getting a Fender style BBOT and drilling the three - possibly five depending on how the two outside holes on the Fender bridge line up with the two screw holes in question - extra holes required 👍 2 Quote
Beedster Posted February 16 Posted February 16 Had a funny sense of Rickenbacker when I read the thread title 2 Quote
snorkie635 Posted February 16 Posted February 16 22 minutes ago, Beedster said: Had a funny sense of Rickenbacker when I read the thread title That's exactly what I thought as well! Quote
snorkie635 Posted February 16 Posted February 16 23 minutes ago, Beedster said: Crikey, the bridge plate is bent AND pulling out the bass side screw, and it's likely to get worse. To prevent this sort of thing most bridges have three or more screws behind the saddles (your have two, Fender usually have five), so I'd suggest getting a Fender style BBOT and drilling the three - possibly five depending on how the two outside holes on the Fender bridge line up with the two screw holes in question - extra holes required 👍 Plus one here. Quote
itu Posted February 16 Posted February 16 1) Glue will not help. Period. 2) @lemmywinks said it already. 3) When choosing a new bridge, consider a top-loader, like this one: https://www.thomann.co.uk/gotoh_404sj_c_bass_bridge.htm If you want to do trials with different string sets or use sometimes flats/grounds/RW/SSRW, it is far easier to make changes. 1 Quote
YeboBass Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 (edited) Hi all Thanks for all the feedback - I'm reassured that I made the right call to reach out and didn't just leave it. I'll start to look to see what I can replace it with. The string spacing is 20mm, not the seemingly standard 19mm. The other dimensions are also a bit "unusual" as far as I can tell... 850mm x 550mm (x 15mm) I guess the hole spacing is not going to be possible to line up (so I'll need to find something roughly the same size and be sure that I can potentially cover the existing holes with the new bridge). The strings are around 15mm from the body of the body. Is there anything in particular that I need to look for in a replacement? I've seemingly found the existing part at 4 String Top loading Bass Guitar Bridge BB012 – Northwest Guitars - but this seems to have a design flaw that I need to avoid. Edited February 16 by YeboBass Quote
YeboBass Posted February 16 Author Posted February 16 Update - I've decided that I'll just get the matching part that I've found and then modify it to have a few additional screw(s) to hold it in place at the back. Thanks for all the help Quote
itu Posted Sunday at 21:42 Posted Sunday at 21:42 Have to say that your bass has to be enormous! Bridge width 850 mm = 85 cm! Again, using a similar bridge wouldn't be my choice. Some glue and cocktail sticks would fill old holes... as the saddles are tuned so far back, it might be feasible to set the bridge backwards, in case you really want to use a similar unit. And then a better bridge could be in order. Quote
lemmywinks Posted Sunday at 21:58 Posted Sunday at 21:58 You can buy heavy duty bridges on AliExpress for a reasonable price: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004594501983.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002623534069.html Quote
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