Moving bridges

lilvampboyx · #1 09-13-2005, 12:06 PM

Ive heard that jaco had his bridge farther back than a normal stock jazz bass would have...my question is what does it accomplish, does it help the string tension? or does it give it that really nice trebely*sp tone.

WillBuckingham · #2 09-13-2005, 09:49 PM

Well, it would throw the intonation off completely. On a fretless, this wouldn't really matter (though it would make fretlines useless), a fretted bass would need a longer neck though, to make up for the difference in sclae length.

**BurningSkies** · #3 09-13-2005, 11:12 PM

Don't believe everything you hear.

Especially about Jaco.

Ostinato · #4 09-14-2005, 08:51 AM

I heard that Jaco wore a live chicken around his neck when he recorded Heavy Weather. Something about the chicken making the strings more slippery.

lilvampboyx · #5 09-14-2005, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ostinato

I heard that Jaco wore a live chicken around his neck when he recorded Heavy Weather. Something about the chicken making the strings more slippery.

Ha ha he used chicken grease on his fingers to make it easier to play......

lilvampboyx · #6 09-14-2005, 09:22 AM

I know it throws off the intonation but would it throw it off to a point where it cant be reset..also would it help in any way?

Modern Growl · #7 09-14-2005, 09:34 AM

it would add more tension but I personally wouldn't do it.

if I were you, i wouldnt do it man.

lilvampboyx · #8 09-14-2005, 11:04 AM

I just looked at another thread and it said it would add tension but also it ass a bassier tone.....( I want a trebely tone) so sounds like this mod wont be for me

**BurningSkies** · #9 09-14-2005, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilvampboyx

I just looked at another thread and it said it would add tension but also it ass a bassier tone.....( I want a trebely tone) so sounds like this mod wont be for me

It will mess up your intonation.

End of story.

The amount of extra string tension is negligable...you need more distance to make a difference.

lilvampboyx · #10 10-03-2005, 02:21 PM

I found out that my bass was built somewhat badly, I guess they assumed that noone would notice the intonation.. i checked it and it was wayyy off i moved my bridge back a inch and now its perfectly in tune...catch is that i wont have as much of a great tone for my bridge pickup but its life....

Magneto · #11 10-04-2005, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilvampboyx

I found out that my bass was built somewhat badly, I guess they assumed that noone would notice the intonation.. i checked it and it was wayyy off i moved my bridge back a inch and now its perfectly in tune...catch is that i wont have as much of a great tone for my bridge pickup but its life....

Did you move the BRIDGE or just the SADDLES? Very rare for a bass to have its bridge location miscalculated.
If you moved a saddle, well that's supposed to happen sometimes when adjusting intonation for varying string types, but of course that's adjusted using a quality tuner.

Mag...

lilvampboyx · #12 10-05-2005, 01:07 PM

The whole bridge...the saddles wouldnt go far enough to intonate it so i moved the bridge and now its perfect

WillBuckingham · #13 10-05-2005, 01:49 PM

You wanna post some pictures?

Unchain · #14 10-05-2005, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lilvampboyx

The whole bridge...the saddles wouldnt go far enough to intonate it so i moved the bridge and now its perfect

What kind of bass, and are you sure you understand intonation? Pictures would be useful.

Hookus · #15 10-05-2005, 06:29 PM

How did you check your intonation? What you need to do before comparing the 12th fret harmonic and the freeted not is measure from the crown of the 12th fret to the inside edge of the nut. Then set your saddle for the G string the exact same distance, measuring to the crown of the saddle, then drop the D string saddle back by the diameter of the string, rinse and repeat for the rest. I would find it somewhat unbelaivable for the bridge location to be off, unless it was a poorly made HANDMADE body. Mass produced basses use CNC routed/drilled bodies, so if yours was off, every body style like yours would be off.

Once you have your saddles located that way, you can fine tune, but you should not have to move them much, in fact, most people may not really hear a difference by this point.

But hey, if it worked and you are happy, more power to ya! In that case, rock on.

lilvampboyx · #16 10-06-2005, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hookus

How did you check your intonation? What you need to do before comparing the 12th fret harmonic and the freeted not is measure from the crown of the 12th fret to the inside edge of the nut. Then set your saddle for the G string the exact same distance, measuring to the crown of the saddle, then drop the D string saddle back by the diameter of the string, rinse and repeat for the rest. I would find it somewhat unbelaivable for the bridge location to be off, unless it was a poorly made HANDMADE body. Mass produced basses use CNC routed/drilled bodies, so if yours was off, every body style like yours would be off.

Once you have your saddles located that way, you can fine tune, but you should not have to move them much, in fact, most people may not really hear a difference by this point.

But hey, if it worked and you are happy, more power to ya! In that case, rock on.

Ill take pictures once i get my new jazz pickup on it...i tuned it at the 12 fret harmonic and before i moved the bridge it wouldnt be right in tune it had to go farther back than the saddle would go. but the sound was fine...i just kept hearing people talk about intonation intonation so i wanted to see what it would be like if i had it finely tuned and I did it it does sound better past the 12th fret the rest I dont cant tell a differnce but i did loose a little of my bridge tone through my pick up because its now a little farther away from the bridge..but it doesnt bother me too much. and i have a standard style body for a jazz bass...Ill have pics soon hopefully

steveksux · #17 10-06-2005, 12:53 PM

Moving the bridge would do nothing significant for tension, tone, or anything else, cause you can't move it very far and still have enough adjustment left in the saddles to get the intonation right.

Randy

Hambone · #18 10-06-2005, 03:22 PM

Guys, you've missed something about the idea that Jaco moved his bridge back - he could have and NOT have it mess up his intonation.

Intonation wouldn't mean anything if there weren't frets to make the comparison to and Jaco didn't have any frets. So if he moved his bridge back 1" he would have created a 35" scale bass with only 18 or so fret positions! Think about it and you'll see what I mean. Of course, he couldn't have used his side markers but he could also have had them moved to the new positions.

I recently had this exact problem come up with a bass I'm building for a client. The bass began life as a personal instrument - a 34" scale fretless. The client is a freak for longer scales and pled with me to see what I could do to see if I could squeeze some more from the scale. Since I hadn't set the dots yet and I had a nice fretboard extension, I calculated that, indeed, I could mark the 12th fret at 17½" and then simply move the saddles further back than originally planned and I could get a 35" scale from the original neck location. It worked like a charm.

This scale idea gets very difficult to get a grasp on sometimes but I think I've come up with a fairly simple way to instantly recognize whether something like this will work or not - If all of the the alterations are done in the areas AFTER the 12th fret then the change won't work. If the alteration also involves changing the length from the nut to the 12th fret , then it will.

lilvampboyx · #19 10-07-2005, 09:34 AM

http://www.guitarsandeffects.com/images/ubass2.jpg

My bass looks almost indenical minus the pickups and the pickguard

steveksux · #20 10-07-2005, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hambone

Guys, you've missed something about the idea that Jaco moved his bridge back - he could have and NOT have it mess up his intonation.

Intonation wouldn't mean anything if there weren't frets to make the comparison to and Jaco didn't have any frets. So if he moved his bridge back 1" he would have created a 35" scale bass with only 18 or so fret positions! .

Yes, you are right. Damn you.

All the talk about frets later on I sort of forgot the thread started with Jaco and a fretless. That would have been pretty weird playing, cause he knocked out the frets, so he'd have the 34" scale fretlines and dots on his now 35ish scale bass. Good way to train you not to look at your fingers and rely on your ears. You look at your fretboard, you die!

Randy