Badass II / Gothoh 201 bridge weight question.

pbassist · #1 11-02-2008, 05:49 PM

Hi,

I'm thinking about upgrading my MIM p-bass bridge in order to fix a neckdive issue (I already installed ultralites and they helped but didn't solved the issue at all). I also have some dead spots on the fingerboard and the bridge saddles are not much stable (they move when I play hard).

I have seen these two bridges, and I doubtful about which to choose. I prefer the aesthetic of the gotoh one, but seems that the BAII has a higher weight (but it's much almost the double expensive).

My question is ¿Do you know the weigth of each one of these bridges? Even with the issues above, my pbass sounds superb (it's the pasive 2002 model with MIA pickups, not the current active one with MIM pickups), so I want to keep it.

Thank you (and please excuse my horrible English)!

fretlessman71 · #2 11-02-2008, 05:57 PM

I have a semi-faulty scale, but my BadAss II weighs in at about 7oz. still in the packaging.

I don't think this is the way you want to deal with it. If you love your tone, don't mess with the bridge, and spend your money on a leather strap with suede on the inside... the friction will help prevent the neck dive.

pbassist · #3 11-02-2008, 06:05 PM

Thanks for the reply,

Yes I love the tone of the bass... seems that I was lucky and I got a light but well resonating body... It evens sound pretty good unplugged.

The issue is that the bass is unplayable now. After an hour of so my shoulder starts to hurt and i have to take care all the time of the neck not going down. I already have a Levi's leather strap but it does not solves the issue, so I will need to upgrade the bridge... I also don't like the saddles moving and hopefully it will alleviate the dead spots issue as well.

()smoke() · #4 11-02-2008, 07:47 PM

gotoh 201 weighs 5.75 oz...

pm me

pbassist · #5 11-03-2008, 05:51 PM

Ok, so we have:

Gotoh 201 5.75oz
Badass II 7oz

Can somebody confirm the BAII weight? fretlessman71 told that his scale was in semifaulty state, and the BA bridge seems to be a lot bigger than the Gotoh one.

Also, does somebody know if there are fender retrofits with higher weight than these two?

Thanks.

bigthemat · #6 11-03-2008, 06:42 PM

the BA II is deff heavier. I took the preinstalled one on the marcus miller fender I bought a while ago. I didn't care for where the strings were filed and I couldn't adjust it that well. I like the gotoh much better.

But will 2 oz really make that big of a difference when it comes to neck dive?

Datsgor · #7 11-03-2008, 11:46 PM

I just weighed them both...
Gotoh 201=6.4 Oz.
BA II = 8.0 Oz.

fretlessman71 · #8 11-03-2008, 11:52 PM

Maybe a better solution is to change the location of the strap button. I've seen people back out a screw on their bolt-on neck, and use a washer to hold their strap down against it when they put it back in. Changing that angle might make a big difference...

rollcall · #9 11-03-2008, 11:54 PM

hipshot ultralight tuners will fix it

fretlessman71 · #10 11-03-2008, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rollcall

hipshot ultralight tuners will fix it

Not reading the whole post won't, though.

pbassist · #11 11-04-2008, 05:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigthemat

the BA II is deff heavier. I took the preinstalled one on the marcus miller fender I bought a while ago. I didn't care for where the strings were filed and I couldn't adjust it that well. I like the gotoh much better.

But will 2 oz really make that big of a difference when it comes to neck dive?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Datsgor

I just weighed them both...
Gotoh 201=6.4 Oz.
BA II = 8.0 Oz.

Thanks, I think that just 1-2oz is not enough difference to choose the BAII over the Gotoh. Anyway I'm doubtful about how much the Gotoh one will help, after installing the ultralites the bass now stands parallel to the floor, and I would need the bass to stand at least at 20 degrees (but I really like to stand at 30-40 degrees).

Quote:

Originally Posted by fretlessman71

Maybe a better solution is to change the location of the strap button. I've seen people back out a screw on their bolt-on neck, and use a washer to hold their strap down against it when they put it back in. Changing that angle might make a big difference...

Rigth, but the issue is that moving the strap button to that location would make the fingerboard to be far away of my hand... I'm not sure if this would be a solution.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rollcall

hipshot ultralight tuners will fix it

I already installed them, helped a bit (before installing the neck was going to the floor all the time and now it stands parallel), but did not solved the issue at all.

So I will go for the Gotoh one, it looks better, it's half the price of the BAII and I don't have to groove the saddles. anyway does somebody know of a higher mass fender retrofit?

Thanks to everybody.

MatticusMania · #12 11-04-2008, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbassist

Thanks, I think that just 1-2oz is not enough difference to choose the BAII over the Gotoh. Anyway I'm doubtful about how much the Gotoh one will help, after installing the ultralites the bass now stands parallel to the floor, and I would need the bass to stand at least at 20 degrees (but I really like to stand at 30-40 degrees).

Rigth, but the issue is that moving the strap button to that location would make the fingerboard to be far away of my hand... I'm not sure if this would be a solution.

I already installed them, helped a bit (before installing the neck was going to the floor all the time and now it stands parallel), but did not solved the issue at all.

So I will go for the Gotoh one, it looks better, it's half the price of the BAII and I don't have to groove the saddles. anyway does somebody know of a higher mass fender retrofit?

Thanks to everybody.

I recently installed the Gotoh 201 bridge on my Squier P/J combo bass, it did help compensate slightly for the light wood body. Plus it sounds killer.

pbassist · #13 11-05-2008, 06:06 PM

Yes, I'm going for the Gotoh, I will post a message here once I install it. I will have to shim the neck, but that should not be an issue...

Looking for bridges, I also saw a hipshot vintage and an ABM retrofits, does somebody how much they weight (I'm going for the gotoh, but maybe this information could be interesting for somebody).

By last I tried to play today my old Yamaha TRB5P and... I didn't liked it... since I got the Fender is resting in it case, seems that my ears prefer the vintage sound than the modern Yamaha one (that it's a great bass, no dead spots at all, neck trough, p/j pu's + piezo, 5A flame maple wings (not thin veneers)..). I'm thinking on selling it or trading for another bass or amp, if somebody is interested can send a me pm

.

Thanks.

therex · #14 11-05-2008, 06:15 PM

dont buy the the BAII if you want to keep your punchyness.

Orpheus55 · #15 11-08-2008, 11:13 AM

The Hipshot vintage bent plate bridge is very good, retains the sustain, and is a quick-string change bridge as well. Even better, the saddles are smaller in width than the Gotoh, which can inhibit low action; you may not need to shim with the Hipshot. It feels comparable in weight to the stock bridge, maybe a little heavier to my hand.

pbassist · #16 11-09-2008, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orpheus55

The Hipshot vintage bent plate bridge is very good, retains the sustain, and is a quick-string change bridge as well. Even better, the saddles are smaller in width than the Gotoh, which can inhibit low action; you may not need to shim with the Hipshot. It feels comparable in weight to the stock bridge, maybe a little heavier to my hand.

Well, currently the E saddle is right on the neck plate, so whatever I do I think that I will have to do some shimming. The Hipshot looks great anyway, I like the way to load strings, Does somebody knows how does it compares to the Gotoh one in weight?

Thanks.