Angle of rear face of bridge relative to the top

[Steve Swan]

Doublebass luthiers have differing opinions on the angle of the rear face of the bridge relative to the top. Many use 90 degrees, some prefer to bisect the two angled faces of the bridge and some others put it somewhere in between. I've even seen a few with an angle of less than 90 degress, with the rear face of the bridge tilted down a little toward the tail. What approach do you prefer to use and why?

[Michael Eisenman]

With the bridge feet centered on the f-hole nicks, I start mine at 90 and then adjust as needed until the octave harmonic and its fingered note match at the octave-dot position. Doesn't take much adjustment, if any.

[forester]

rear of foot at nicks,bridge canted back 2-3 degrees to center the cap over the nicks.
*utilitarian aproach to student plys'
*holds up well and seems to have less of a tendency to warp forward.
*why: i have been instructed to do so...and it does make sense for instruments that get little or too much attention from the instrumentalist!also, increased longevity when they sit @ pitch for extended periods of time.
normal disclaimer:



my old and enduring carved flatback:
split nicks, vert.90 degrees

[Matthew Tucker]

a bridge blank is cut out flat on a special bandsaw at the factory, so the feet and edges are cut perpendicular to one surface anyway. It is much simpler for the luthier to identify that "flat" face, place that side down, trim the feet roughly to size on their own bandsaw and do all the shaping work on the other face. Then you mount the bridge with the "worked" side facing the player. this means the flat back of the bridge will end up perpendicular to the top, unless you tilted the bridge when fitting the feet for some reason. Can't think of a good reason though.

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by Michael Eisenman

With the bridge feet centered on the f-hole nicks, I start mine at 90 and then adjust as needed until the octave harmonic and its fingered note match at the octave-dot position. Doesn't take much adjustment, if any.

Octave dot?

[Michael Eisenman]

Originally Posted by Turnaround

Octave dot?

Yes, I admit to having two dots on the side of my fingerboard: one at third position and one at the octave. I've removed the rest, but these two come in handy. The octave is probably next to go.

[Eric Hochberg]

My luthier bisects the edge of the bridge and puts that line 90º to the edge of the C bout. I see many pictures of basses with the
underside of the bridge at 90º.

[Jake deVilliers]

I'm a little flexible on the 90 degree thing. Not all tops are really straight through that region so I take the overall posture into consideration. If I step back from the Bass Clamp and sight the bridge the correct stance is readily apparent.

I would prefer not to have the bridge too far forward as I'd have to leave the bridge a little fatter to strengthen it.

I start with the bridge centred on the f-nicks though.