First bridge fitting

[jimslice]

I, me, jim am going to install my first bridge all on my own; because I cannot afford the local luthier's fee & I would like to do this myself so I can get it perfect. I know this is a BIG BIG ASK but.....can someone give me some tips, tell me what equipment I will need & what pitfalls to be aware of.

At present all i know is this:
use the old bridge to get the arch correct.
use sandpaper to get the feet curves right.
keep the flat edge of the bridge at 90 degrees to the body.

Please help guys & girls as I have an audition in 2 weeks with a touring band & need to have my bass set up!!!

[kurt ratering]

if the old bridge arch is comfortable and works well with the f.b. then sure, use it.
foot fitting is done with a sharp knife (not a pocket knife) and sharp scrapers, not sandpaper. if you have an audition with a group you plan to tour with in a few weeks, you should really eat the price and have it done by your local luthier. its pricey because its worth it. poorly fit bridges can damage the top of the bass, then where are you?

[Bob Gollihur]

Originally Posted by jimslice

I, me, jim am going to install my first bridge all on my own; because I cannot afford the local luthier's fee & I would like to do this myself so I can get it perfect. I know this is a BIG BIG ASK but.....can someone give me some tips, tell me what equipment I will need & what pitfalls to be aware of.

At present all i know is this:
use the old bridge to get the arch correct.
use sandpaper to get the feet curves right.
keep the flat edge of the bridge at 90 degrees to the body.

Please help guys & girls as I have an audition in 2 weeks with a touring band & need to have my bass set up!!!

I've written a two page treatise on installing bridges and would be happy to email it to you or anyone else who wants the info. It's not brain surgery, just takes a little patience. Email me privately with your email address and I'll send it as a PDF attachment. thanks, Bob

[bonaventura]

I've fitted two bridges in the past year. Each time it was very time consuming, even after I thought it was done, waiting and watching and listening for weeks just to get them right. The feet gotta fit like you can't even push a thin piece of paper under them.

If I can respond to your inquiry: yes, use the old bridge to get the arch right for bowing, but do that only after the feet are fitted perfectly. (If I remember correctly, Bob G's sheet puts cutting the arch before doing the feet, which I'm sure he doesn't mean literally, or did you, Bob?)

There are some good threads here on TB, you should do a search and read up. Some very savvy and experienced luthiers have chimed in occasionally. It's not rocket science, but like they say, it's easy to take wood off but you can't put it back on...

I read the chapters on this in Chuck Traeger's book, and it was super helpful. Especially with how to mark the bridge blank and proceed through the whole process. Sandpaper is not precise enough for the feet. Get yourself some real luthiers tools, a sharp flat knife for scraping, etc.

But the real tip was from Bob Branstetter, who described the use of lipstick. That has been what made it possible for me to make my bridges fit perfectly. Learn how to use lipstick.

Take your time about it! It's not going to be done in a day if you are careful.

[Heifetzbass]

Originally Posted by bonaventura

But the real tip was from Bob Branstetter, who described the use of lipstick. That has been what made it possible for me to make my bridges fit perfectly. Learn how to use lipstick.

What he means is... you mark the spot on the bass where the feet will sit. Test the bridge feet for high spots where the lipstick colors the bridge blank. Carve off those spots very carefully. When the whole foot is colored, stop. I use a very sharp chisel, knife, and finally a scraper that is a little convex.

I also try to match the top curve of the bridge to the curvature of the fingerboard. If you have a Romberg bevel you may not need to completely match that drop off. Just eyeball and feel. Remember milimeters of adjustment a little at a time.

PDub can advise you about what shades work best... he can accesorize much better than I can...

Hope that helps.
BG

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by Heifetzbass

PDub can advise you about what shades work best... he can accesorize much better than I can...

Paul can even help you determine if your DB is a 'Spring' or an 'Autumn'.

[bonaventura]

Originally Posted by Heifetzbass

What he means is... you mark the spot on the bass where the feet will sit. Test the bridge feet for high spots where the lipstick colors the bridge blank. Carve off those spots very carefully. When the whole foot is colored, stop. I use a very sharp chisel, knife, and finally a scraper that is a little convex.

I also try to match the top curve of the bridge to the curvature of the fingerboard. If you have a Romberg bevel you may not need to completely match that drop off. Just eyeball and feel. Remember milimeters of adjustment a little at a time.

PDub can advise you about what shades work best... he can accesorize much better than I can...

Hope that helps.
BG

Yeah, and I had to do all that about a hundred times for each bridge, just scraping the smallest amount of wood (only where the lipstick sticks to the foot) each time.

I don't really have a color preference, but a med-high quality lipstick that will come off the top of the bass easily is important.

When you buy it at the drug store, you can tell 'em your a bassist who is going to use it to fit a bridge. You'll get some good looks then!

[Jake deVilliers]

Be sure to smell the lipstick before you buy it.

I neglected to do that with the last bunch, just bought by price, and now when I'm fitting a bridge my workroom reeks of cheap stinky perfume!

[gbaker]

Jim,

I may catch some purist’s wrath for this but some of us (anyway me) have not developed luthier skills and tools to do operations such as precision carving and scraping and need to use different, less traditional, methods. It is great to know the preferred methods and I thank those who present them, but sometime we have to cheat to get acceptable results with the skills we have. Remember we are working on our own instruments and only have to please ourselves. I recently replaced my bridge and learned a few things along the way, so for what it is worth:

Layout- I wanted to lower the strings so with a straight-edge slightly shorter than the string scale I projected the points for each string to mark the bridge. Use a shim at the end of the fingerboard to set and project the height. I found I projected lower than the fingerboard precision allowed (the g string buzzed). But I intended to install bridge adjusters anyway. I am not inclined to start fingerboard planning.

Feet - After marking from the old bridge and sawing, I used 120 grit adhesive-backed sandpaper to shape the feet to the top. I used a 2"x3" or so piece under each side. The sticky back prevented movement of the paper and possible damage to the top finish. It did not remove any finish on MY lacquered bass when I removed the sandpaper. You must decide if this is good idea for your finish. Take care not to rock the bridge while dragging it back and forth and watch the sanding dust pattern to assure the width of the foot is contacting. The fit is fine. Really.

Mass - At first I didn't address the bulk (mass) of the bridge and it sounded muted. So I trimmed the bridge top width. This I was not so sure about but I reduced the width to show about 1/2" rather than 1" width outside the strings - looks good. Holding the bridge in a wood vise I used a palm sander to reduced the thickness cross section to the spects shown at the bottom of this link: http://www.musictrader.com/string4m.html This article is well worth reading.

I reduced the mass a little more by beveling the edges, A luthier would carve this too but after a few tests with the old bridge, I gave up the knife and used a wheel-guided 45 degree bevel bit in a table-mounted router, running out the end-of-cuts. The 45s improved the visual too. Do not round the edges - except maybe the top. I decided not to try to carve-enlarge the interior holes.

Adjusters - After getting a good fit I installed adjusting wheels in the bridge. Don't attempt without a drill press. You can buy a bridge with ALUMINUM adjusters already installed if you want.

Over several days of playing and breaking in new strings, I adjusted the string height to low and buzz-free.

Results may vary, good luck.

Back to my foxhole . . .

[zeytoun]

Not to hijack the thread, but since you mentioned adjusters....

I've read in a couple places that one should install adjusters after already setting up the bridge, and never buy a bridge with adjusters already installed. The reasoning had something to do with being able to keep the bridge perfectly perpendicular while setting up.

Is this legit? How big of a factor is this?

[gbaker]

Originally Posted by zeytoun

Not to hijack the thread, but since you mentioned adjusters....

I've read in a couple places that one should install adjusters after already setting up the bridge, and never buy a bridge with adjusters already installed. The reasoning had something to do with being able to keep the bridge perfectly perpendicular while setting up.

Is this legit? How big of a factor is this?

Fitting is harder with the adjusters installed. I wanted to assure the foot contact was still good after I installed the adjusters so I revisited the sandpaper method. It is a lot more difficult to control three bridge sections joined with pins rather than the one-piece bridge. It is generally unwieldy and the feet are prone to rotate. It is possible to do, just more difficult and time consuming. It might be worthwhile to temporarily glue a stick across the feet to keep them aligned with each other during the fitting. Also the adjusters might have to be temporarily removed to accurately scribe the old bridge profile to the new (while allowing for the adjuster wheel height).

[fdeck]

This old thread is worth noting:

bridge fitting

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by fdeck

This old thread is worth noting:

bridge fitting

Especially the part about Rockwell's retro encabulator !!

[bonaventura]

Originally Posted by gbaker

Fitting is harder with the adjusters installed. I wanted to assure the foot contact was still good after I installed the adjusters so I revisited the sandpaper method. It is a lot more difficult to control three bridge sections joined with pins rather than the one-piece bridge. It is generally unwieldy and the feet are prone to rotate. It is possible to do, just more difficult and time consuming. It might be worthwhile to temporarily glue a stick across the feet ...

Really appreciate what you and gbaker have said here, but the sandpaper method of fitting bridge feet sounds like a nightmare to me. It may work, if you really compensate for all of its risks, but why go that route at all? Is it really easier than using a vice to hold a bridge blank (without adjusters) while you slowly remove wood with a scraper or knife? The risk that you'll botch the bridge blank and have to start over seems greater than the time or money "saved"... Adjusters would seem to be better added on after the feet fit 100%. Just my $.02.

[forester]

the sandpaper method is practical,especially if ones' knife skills are not developed. i have found that if you use adhesive backed paper it is good practice to apply it to your pants leg a couple of times to pick up enough lint so isn't too sticky. the other choice is to just use friction tape on non-adhesive paper. you can get good results and the fundmentals are not hard to grasp once you are into it. do enough of them this way and you will know when your 3 pulls away to having it seated.

normal disclaimer ofcourse: