| Cutting the wings off the bridge
Below is a couple of pictures of my bridge so you can see what I mean by the wings. I guess it wouldn't be good for jazzers that use a revolution type pickup. But, if you use the type that goes under the foot of the bridge or has the 4 individual pickups drilled in under each string, I would still recommend cutting off the wings as the volume is so much greater and pitch is so much more accurate.
By accuracy of pitch I mean exactly that. You can actually hear each indiviual note in a fast passage of notes instead of the rumble of moving furniture. When I first cut them off I played a few passages then came sownstairs to get a coffee. My wife said, "Hey, what did you do? I can hear every note."
I do many, many bass/classical music demos in the school system here in London, Ontario (I substitute teach to supplement my music addiction) and the big show piece before I let the kids play is Czardis by V. Monti (This is a very idiomatic piece on the bass BTW if anyone is looking for a showstopper. It can also be done as a duet with violin and each takes a turn playing the various passages. The last D major part can be done on the high harmonics if youchange a few notes.) Anyway, in the opening passage where the notes are D E F E D E F... I play them on the D-string just above the octave harmonic (VII position?). So, the first time I played this after cutting them off, every note popped right out instead of being a mushy slur of notes.
(I tried to attach a couple of photos but the files were too large to upload and I've got to go, so I'll try to srink them down later) If you sraw a line from the thinnest cross-section of bridge to the highest outer tip you'll get an idea of what I cut off. | 
