!Replacement Bridge for a Wishbass!

SG-Jazz · #1 10-28-2009, 01:46 AM

Can any of my fellow wishbass users recommend a nice replacement bridge for my wishbass? The bass is phenomenal. Its just the bridge that I need control of. THANKS

49sfine · #2 10-28-2009, 10:06 AM

SG-Jazz; Like others, I am having good luck fashioning my own bridge pieces from various hardwoods you can purchase easily on Ebay. I bought some Brazilian ebony in pen blank form which is cheap and small enough to be economical. You will need something to shape it with, which in my case is stationary bench top belt sander. I also use a small bandsaw to cut the pieces free from the pen blank. I use the old corian unit as my guide and template of sorts and make sure I end up with a bridge piece that is slighty too tall for my action preference. Then string up the bass and play to determine how much more to sand off the bottom or more deeply notch the top. By doing this you can also control how long the bridge is so it doesn't stick out past the strings like your current corian one. Using wood will result in a richer tone and a nicer aesthetic. Make sure you angle it up at the high string side to get intonation as close as possible. Due to your pickup to string-thru hole relationship, you don't have a lot of room to do very much else, IMO. Honestly, this should work just fine if you are up for the fabrication. You can see what I did on the walnut JB shown in my avatar.

Nice Peanut, by the way!

SG-Jazz · #3 10-28-2009, 11:33 AM

You are a wishbass legend, that walnut is awesome. thanks for the info. I guess these bridges cant be that bad, Ive heard alot of good stuff from all you experienced wish users. Thanks will try that out

49sfine · #4 10-28-2009, 11:50 AM

SG-Jazz; Well, thanks for those kind words. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that a stock Wishbass fingerboard is going to be flat or very close to flat. Thus, this type of 'floating' bridge works well under those conditions. The string pressure alone will keep it anchored in place, and I usually string up the outer 2 strings first for that reason and also because with the open headstock, doing those strings first just makes things easier. Also, try and get the bridge close to the string-thru holes - I shoot for an inch between the low E and the bridge itself. I swivel up from there and then reset as needed once all the strings are on and the intonation process is in-progress. For further ideas, you might PM 3StringPete or Thunderitter, they are always up to snuff on things like this and might have some actual experience with doing a bridge retrofit. The biggest issue for you is how much room you are actually left with considering Wish's mania for a 3-octave range on the JB, Fantasy and Peanut, as well as others. Thunderitter, for example, has been known to take the existing corian bridge pieces and paint them black to make them stand out less. This is another option which will make your bridge not "scream out at you" if you stay with the stock corian units.

I know that I want to put a more "normal" bridge on at least one of my Wishes. I have already purchased it in fact, thru Ebay. Not all of them are suited for such a mod though; due to spacing, aesthetics, or tone considerations. I certainly don't want to do more than one or two amoungest my herd. With a little tinkering, you can get decent to very good intonation with the floating bridge piece, you just have to be patient with the process. Hey, it's fun really!

MOD EDIT - REMOVED THE SALES PITCH

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