Angle of the bridge

[ZMech]

Was looking at my bass (as you do), and a question occured to me that I'm hoping someone on here can answer. I understand that the bridge is slanted in relation to the frets because otherwise the intonation would be wrong, but why is this necessary? I'm guessing the reason is something to do with the string gauges, but I couldn't think the whole reason through.

[neepheid]

When you fret a note, you stretch the string slightly, making it sharp. That's why the saddles need to go back to compensate. It would seem that this effect is more pronounced for thicker strings.

[7string]

Well said

[thisnameistaken]

There's no science involved, it's God's will.

On the third day he created the bridge (the rest of the week was spent on floating trems) and he saw that it was slightly wonky.

Edited March 3, 2010 by thisnameistaken

[Musicman69]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='762434' date='Mar 3 2010, 12:10 AM']There's no science involved, it's God's will.

On the third day he created the bridge (the rest of the week was spent on floating trems) and he saw that it was slightly wonky.[/quote]

Class

[Marvin]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='762434' date='Mar 3 2010, 12:10 AM']There's no science involved, it's God's will.

On the third day he created the bridge (the rest of the week was spent on floating trems) and he saw that it was slightly wonky.[/quote]

[ZMech]

yeah that makes sense. cheers guys.

[Mr. Quiet]

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='762434' date='Mar 3 2010, 12:10 AM']There's no science involved, it's God's will.

On the third day he created the bridge (the rest of the week was spent on floating trems) and he saw that it was slightly wonky.[/quote]

Outstanding , well said.
Pity there weren't eight days, he could've done something about drummers and keyboard players!

[Telebass]

Leaving God out of this for the moment, on an instrument where the strings are pretty close to being the same gauge, the bridge can be straight - classical guitar, for example.
So gauges is the right answer. Another example is if you use contact-core strings. Again, the saddles can be almost lined up, because it's the thickness over the bridge that counts, not the gauge overall.