Bad Ass bridge low action?

[HMZ]

I have a Gotoh bridge on my mim Fender Jazz and I had to file the E string saddle down a bit to achieve a low action setup. I am going to install a BAIII on my mia 2007 Fender jazz and wanted to know if this bridge and be adjusted for low action around 2/32.
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[Parabolic Box]

Nope. Bottoming out gets you about 1/8 on the 20th fret if it's pre-slotted.

Obviously you could always file it down.

[HMZ]

Why don't they make these bridges more adjustable so you can do a low action setup with out filing?

[Parabolic Box]

You'd have to ask LQ that.

[Jools4001]

Filing the bridge to get a low action is not the way to go.

You 'can' adjust the bridge to bring the action down, but think of it as fine tuning rather than the primary way to go.

The first thing you need to do is check that the relief is good on your neck by adjusting the trussrod. To check this, hold down the string at the first fret and the last and you should have a clearance about the thickness of a business card between the bottom of the string and the frets (or fingerboard if fretless) in the middle of this string length (around the 9th-10th fret on a 20 fret bass). If there is too much of a gap, tighten the trussrod, if too little loosen it. Do this about a quarter of a turn at a time and let it settle for a while before measuring again. If there was too much relief to start with this in itself will get a much lower action.

Next up, if the action is still too high rather than having all the bridge adjustment maxed out (or min'd out), set it so that there is still room to adjust either way. On a bolt on, you can unbolt the neck and use a shim of thin metal, plastic, wood or even cardboard under the set of screws nearest the bridge so that the neck is angled back from the body a little more. The bigger the shim the lower the action, and you should be able to play around with the shim thickness so that the action you want is pretty close.

If you've done all that, you can then set the bridge saddles to fine tune the action height, but most importantly ensure that the string heights from lowest to highest string follow the radius of the fingerboard.

If none of this makes sense take it to a tech

[HMZ]

Originally Posted by Jools4001

Filing the bridge to get a low action is not the way to go.

You 'can' adjust the bridge to bring the action down, but think of it as fine tuning rather than the primary way to go.

The first thing you need to do is check that the relief is good on your neck by adjusting the trussrod. To check this, hold down the string at the first fret and the last and you should have a clearance about the thickness of a business card between the bottom of the string and the frets (or fingerboard if fretless) in the middle of this string length (around the 9th-10th fret on a 20 fret bass). If there is too much of a gap, tighten the trussrod, if too little loosen it. Do this about a quarter of a turn at a time and let it settle for a while before measuring again. If there was too much relief to start with this in itself will get a much lower action.

Next up, if the action is still too high rather than having all the bridge adjustment maxed out (or min'd out), set it so that there is still room to adjust either way. On a bolt on, you can unbolt the neck and use a shim of thin metal, plastic, wood or even cardboard under the set of screws nearest the bridge so that the neck is angled back from the body a little more. The bigger the shim the lower the action, and you should be able to play around with the shim thickness so that the action you want is pretty close.

If you've done all that, you can then set the bridge saddles to fine tune the action height, but most importantly ensure that the string heights from lowest to highest string follow the radius of the fingerboard.

If none of this makes sense take it to a tech

Thanks for the advice. I have been doing my own setups and trussrod adjustments for years now so I know how it all works.
I think I would rather file the bridge saddle down then do a shim.
I don't like to use shims. I feel the connection between the neck and the body should have tight solid fit.

[lug]

I filed the saddles down on one bass (homemade) where the "V" groove was almost even with where the sides are cut away to meet the base. Worked fine. If you don't plan on reusing the bridg eon another bass, it's fine. New sadles are pretty much cost prohibitive, however.

[DavePlaysBass]

When I added a Gotoh 201 on my 50's P, I added a business card thickness shim in the back of the neck pocket. I have not noticed any detriment. In fact I have more sustain with the Gotoh than I had before without the shim.

[contakt321]

Like several other folks have posted, you don't need to file, you need to shim.

There is nothing that detracts from the sound and if you do a search on shims you will hear of people mentioning boutique basses with shims.

I have shimmed 3 of the bolt-on neck basses I have owned. It took them from being good playing basses to ultra low action smooth, buttery, easy to play basses.

Why do something to a part of your bass that CAN'T be reversed when there is a tried and true method that you can do yourself, for free, that will solve this problem easily.

Do a search on here, there a lot of threads that can help you.

[Widdershins]

Originally Posted by HMZ

I think I would rather file the bridge saddle down then do a shim. I don't like to use shims. I feel the connection between the neck and the body should have tight solid fit.

Originally Posted by contakt321

Like several other folks have posted, you don't need to file, you need to shim.

There is nothing that detracts from the sound and if you do a search on shims you will hear of people mentioning boutique basses with shims.

I have shimmed 3 of the bolt-on neck basses I have owned. It took them from being good playing basses to ultra low action smooth, buttery, easy to play basses.

Why do something to a part of your bass that CAN'T be reversed when there is a tried and true method that you can do yourself, for free, that will solve this problem easily.

+ 6.0221415 × 10²³

[HMZ]

Well received the BAIII bridge yesterday and installed it and it works great.
I didn't need to file anything. I had enough adjustment for a low action setup. I think I may try one on my mim Fender jazz. anyone interested in a used slightly modified Gotoh 2001?