Angle of strings on bridge, neck re-set, etc.

[bwitzel]

I wonder if anyone could give me some input on this situation:

A few years ago I had a neck re-set on my old english bass. It looks like the shop I brought it to pulled out the neck about 13/16's of an inch but didn't change the angle of the neck.

The bridge is taller than it was, probably by about the same as the neck was pulled out. The bridge is a little over 6 1/2 inches from the top in the tallest part of the bridge.

The top has a significant curve, probably about 2 inches in the highest point from the sides.

The saddle remained the same.

My question is, should I also raise the saddle to compensate for how much the neck was pulled out? After the job was done the bass became more "bassy" and dark, although it had somewhat of a more muted quality, as opposed to a bright, responsive sound that it had before.

[Eric Hochberg]

I'm not a luthier but would think that if you want to go back to the original string angle across the bridge, you will have to raise the saddle. That should take some string pressure off the top that is probably greater now than it was before.

Will that give you your old sound back? You can only try it and see. I had a raised saddle put on my bass, 2.5", and I didn't notice a change in sound.