Hi-mass Bridge

[boyet]

Idunno if there's already a thread about this...but is it really a myth that a hi-mass bridge can drastically improve the bass' overall tone (as well as the sustain and clarity)?

[Steveaux]

[jmercer91]

i can't think of any reason why a hi mass bridge wouldn't help. you'd have to ab the same bass with different bridges to prove or disprove.

[mntngrown]

The inventor of the electric bass thought so when he founded his last company.

[meatwad]

I couldn't tell a drastic difference when I swapped the stock bridge off my old '71 Jazz with one of those late 70's Fender-branded heavy brass bridges, an N.O.S. score I acquired from a local music store going out of business several years ago. People have been installing the Leo Quan BadAss bridge for years for some reason, and I personally dig the way Wilkinson-made Tobias bridges, and the old Ibanez Accu-Cast bridges feel.

[Paul262]

I'm keeping an eye on that Bad Ass II bridge... It looks amazing, but is it worth the money...
hmmmm....

[thatbasskid597]

I have a BadAssII on my Squier VM Jazz. Over the stock bridge, I noticed loads more attack, sustain, and clarity. Totally worth it in my book.

[LaklandBass]

Ive done a couple bridge swaps so heres my two cents.
Ill use my Yamaha RBX170 as the example. It came with a crappy little bridge so I added a Gotoh-201 and noticed alot of improvement with sustain and some noticable tone difference as well.
Basically from my experiences I believe that the only noticable difference is between ANY garbage bridge and ANY good bridge. There isnt a tonal improvement between hipshot, badass, gotoh etc etc etc.

[Tusec]

What matters is the bridge's rigidity, not its mass. The body supplies the mass. The mass of either a stock bridge or a hi-mass bridge is trivial compared to the body. Adding a few ounces of bridge doesn't matter when the body weighs seven pounds.

The bridge's job is to provide a rigid coupling between the string and the body. A vintage bridge and a hi-mass bridge do this equally well, so there's no reason for one to have more sustain than the other.

That's my take on it anyway.

In terms of experience, I found no difference when I replaced the BAII on my Jazz (PO had installed it) with a vintage bridge.

Someone needs to do an A/B test on this stuff!

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Originally Posted by Tusec

In terms of experience, I found no difference when I replaced the BAII on my Jazz (PO had installed it) with a vintage bridge.

I just did the same thing and the vintage bridge sounds better. Volume and sustain are similar, but the vintage bridge favors the low end and the BAII was brighter and much less musical. That's my experience.

[queevil]

Originally Posted by mntngrown

The inventor of the electric bass thought so when he founded his last company.

Are you talking about Leo Fender? If so he didn't invent the electric bass. Rickenbacker and a few others were around before then. However, he did put a bass on the market that was superior to any of the other offerings at the time and he marketed an amp that was made for the P bass. He was really a great instrument designer for someone that couldn't play. All he really knew was how to tune them. Man I love my J basses.

If you weren't talking about Leo Fender, well then, my bad.

[JustDavid]

Originally Posted by jmercer91

i can't think of any reason why a hi mass bridge wouldn't help.

I can.

Money you spend on it is no longer available to buy new pickups or strings.

[Meatrus]

No, it will not make a drastic difference in tone, will it make a slight difference? Most probably. Will it look better? Depends on your opinion, but a lot of people will say so. Would it be worth it as the finishing touch to a bass which already has everything else (pup strings electrics etc) IMO yes.

There are a couple of other reasons but they are all up for dispute (as is the tone), like increased sustain, better feel, and more adjustments (on some bridges) etc.

My reason for buying them (I have a Gotoh, BA2, and Hipshot A) isnt for a tone difference, but because I dont like the Fender bridges for several reasons. If you dont mind your current bridge, it may be a good idea to save the money, unless you love the looks of them, or are loaded .

[JustDavid]

I can definitely get behind the 'look' reason, Meatrus. There's a lot of subtle things that can keep you from becoming 'one' with the instrument, & fixing those is a good plan.

Mechanical differences (more adjustments) are also points I can get behind.