Raising the Bridge

[voleceq]

The strings on my bass are too close to the fretboard for my liking and I was wondering how to raise the bridge higher so I could eliminate this pesky annoyance. Thanks in advance.

[fretbuzz]

every bass maker has some "SPECS" that they use. but from my experience, raising the bridge is quite simple, the saddle will have some adjustment screws that can be turned, just to be safe, turn all the screws the same amount. i like to keep the strings as low to the fret board as possible without any open string rattle. also remember that there is a truss rod going thru the neck that has an adjustment. if your neck is not adjusted right it can be impossible to get a proper string hieght adjustment. my jazz bass was a little off and in order to get no open string fret rattle, i had to raise the bridge way too high. after the neck was tweeked, i was able to set the strings where i liked em. good luck

[Chasarms]

After you have raised the action (the bridge) on your bass, the intonation will be totally out of wack. It will sound aweful. You will also need to set the intonation. If you are completely unfamiliar with truss rod adjustment, action adjustment and intonation setting. I would recommend running some searches on this site. I also think this post should be in set up. Look there and you'll find a lot of information.

MY best recommendation would be to take it to a qualified tech. It'll be $40 well spent.

Chas

[voleceq]

Originally posted by Chasarms
After you have raised the action (the bridge) on your bass, the intonation will be totally out of wack. It will sound aweful. You will also need to set the intonation. If you are completely unfamiliar with truss rod adjustment, action adjustment and intonation setting. I would recommend running some searches on this site. I also think this post should be in set up. Look there and you'll find a lot of information.

MY best recommendation would be to take it to a qualified tech. It'll be $40 well spent.

Chas

Right now if I decide to do anything to the bridge it would be that because since I am a newbie to the bass I think I might kill myself if I screwed up my bass to where I couldn't practice . Anyways, thanks for the info guys.

[Lord Bishop]

Worry not, setting the Intonation is fairly simple, It just takes a little time, plug your tuner in and tune the bass, once the strings are tuned start with the E String, Fret the E string at the 12th fret and see if it's in tune, more than likely not, if you look behind the bridge you'll see adjustment screws. loosen the string and give the screw 1 - 1 1/2 in either direction, re tune the string and repeat fretting the string at the 12th fret. Be sure to pay attention to two things, 1) which way you turned the screw, 2) how far out of tune the fretted string was. now look to see if the adjustment you just made brought you closer to being in tune or further out of tune, if it brought you closer you're turning the screw in the right direction, repeat the loosen, adjust, retune, and tuning at the 12th fret, use 1/2 turns at this point and smaller turns as you zero in. If you're within 5 cents to being dead in tune and can't get any closer you've done a damn fine job. Now repeat the same procedure for the rest of the strings and Viola! you've done your own intonation.

Mike

If you have any questions feel free to Email me at PurgatoryLounge@hotmail.com