Moving the bridge feet vs. soundpost adjustment - same basic mechanism?

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Before I get flamed, I'm in the "Your honor, I'm just a bass player/caveman. Luthiery is voodoo, and I leave it to the pros" camp. That said, I have a very nice office ply bass which I use to teach on, play rehearsals with, and loan to visiting players to the school. I usually don't mess with it much. Recently, however, I decided to use it as a guinea pig to try a new set of Evah Pirazzi weichs. I noticed after putting them on that the sound was a lot more ambient than the spiro weichs that the venerable Maestro Goldsby had left on the bass this summer, and at first chalked it up to the difference in sound in the strings.

Just today, however, I finally put the Evah E on and noticed after tuning it up that the bridge feet had crept forward quite a bit to the point that the feet were no longer centered with the F hole notches, but were entirely on the neck side of them - this is no surprise, as the bridge feet on this bass turn when i turn the adjuster wheels, and I have to crank them back when I'm done. Anyway, to make a long story short, I (carefully) whacked the feet back into place with a paperback, made sure the angle was right, and brought the tension back up. Voila! There was the focused sound and punch I had been missing with the Evahs, but without the annoying whine of the spiros. Gone also was the irritating "ambient halo" around each note which was obscuring the initial perception of pitch.

It makes perfect sense on the fact of it: by moving the bridge back a bit, it brought the pressure from the bridge foot closer to the soundpost, which resulted in a tighter fit and a tighter sound. My question is, would small adjustements of this kind (a few mm or so) be a decent "player's alternative" to a soundpost resetting when there's no immediate access to a Lluthier to be had? Or is this likely do do harm to the bass? Enquiring cavemen want to know.

[Jake deVilliers]

The problem is that when you move the bridge you also:

- change the string length
- change the afterlengths
- change the tailpiece resonance
- change the relationship with the sound post

So its impossible to say which altered relationship caused the happy outcome.

That said, I'm glad your bass is back!

[Matthew Tucker]

But in my opinion yes, you can try that adjustment without much harm, and if it achieves what you want, you can always get a luthier to readjust the soundpost to the new distance but with the bridge in pole position again. A good idea to detune a bit before moving the bridge around. And watch the varnish.

You can do a number of things to see what your bass likes. If you want to see if your bass likes less tension, tune it down a semitone or a full tone. If it responds well, less tension might be something to aim for. If you think it likes more tension, tune it up a step. If it responds better, then you know your bass probably likes greater tension. If it chokes, then go the other way. (don't tune it up more than a semitone or two though)

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

If you want to see if your bass likes less tension, tune it down a semitone or a full tone. If it responds well, less tension might be something to aim for. If you think it likes more tension, tune it up a step. If it responds better, then you know your bass probably likes greater tension. If it chokes, then go the other way. (don't tune it up more than a semitone or two though)

I'm not that familiar with this "tuning" procedure you discuss, is this something I need to take my bass to a luthier for? Does it have any other uses or is it just to check out the tonal changes?

[Matthew Tucker]

Oh sorry for the confusion, my silly typing error, I meant "afinación", or in case there are any Macedonians here, подесување

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

Does it have any other uses or is it just to check out the tonal changes?

Just that and only that. And be very, very careful when you do that so that you don't injure yourself.

More specifically, tune it up a step but no more than a semi tone or two.

[William Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

...Enquiring cavemen want to know.

I guess we'll have to start calling you "Chris, the curious caveman" Blindingly bright light out here, isn't it?

[chop_1992]

Chris, I tuned your bass before I left Louisville on July 12th. I don't know why you had to go and start messing around with things.

[chop_1992]

But i am glad you got it sounding where you like it . . .

[Uncletoad]

Regardless of the original question I wanted to point out that Pirastro does a nice job making those strings a set and when I put the full set of regular EP on instead of a mix and match they sounded particularly good. Not enough for me to want to go with them really but enough to notice the string balance and how my bass really liked it. Wouldn't surprise me if they got it right twice with the lower tension weich set.

Send them to me when John gets back and has you put his spiros back on. I wanna try them on the Queen.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

...I wanted to point out that Pirastro does a nice job making those strings a set...

Indeed, they do!

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

Wouldn't surprise me if they got it right twice with the lower tension weich set.

They most surely did!

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

Send them to me when John gets back and has you put his spiros back on. I wanna try them on the Queen.

You got it. If John likes them and wants to use them, then I'll just send John.

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

You got it. If John likes them and wants to use them, then I'll just send John.

Works for me. I'll put him to work.

[William Hoffman]

Originally Posted by William Hoffman

I guess we'll have to start calling you "Chris, the curious caveman" Blindingly bright light out here, isn't it?

funny, my wife said i am a caveman. she thinks i spend too much time in the woodshed, sometimes with the shades drawn...