tilted bridge

alanbarnosky · #1 07-23-2007, 10:19 PM

I bought a bass 4 months ago from a professional jazz and classical player. It was his first bass, a CCB, but has a real nice setup. One thing I noticed is the bridge is tilted. It's not like its leaning towards the neck or towards the tailpiece; in that direction it is straight (like it should be). But the right bridge foot is positioned slightly lower than the left.

In other words, the left foot is in line with the indentation in the f-hole, but the right foot is a little bit lower than that indentation. Any thoughts on this? Is this ever done for some reason? Or should I move the bridge back into position? It may have got nocked out of position while in the bag, but I'm not sure.

Thanks for all your help,
Alan

anon_6j591b0 · #2 07-24-2007, 12:14 AM

You see this on mostly EBGs where the string length ends up longer on the E & A strings to make the intonation of the open strings the same as that of the stopped note at the twelfth fret. A lot of it depends on the particular strings. On an upright it's not usually as big a deal but if the stopped A on the E string is in the same place horizontally as the stopped D on the A string I wouldn't touch it. Can you call the guy and ask him?

**Matthew Tucker** · #3 07-24-2007, 01:34 AM

Not only is it not usually a big deal, but it's actually no deal at all, for as there are no frets, bridge compensation is unnecessary.

It has simply been knocked out of position and if you prefer you may carefully put it back.

anon_6j591b0 · #4 07-24-2007, 03:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

Not only is it not usually a big deal, but it's actually no deal at all, for as there are no frets, bridge compensation is unnecessary.

It has simply been knocked out of position and if you prefer you may carefully put it back.

Yeah, the bridge very probably got knocked out of place.
On the slim chance this bass has marker dots then it would in fact matter if you wanted to be able to rely on them as accurate guides. I responded initially thinking of the problems I had when out of necessity I had to use a mixed set of heavy orchestra and solo strings. Granted that's not a common enough occurrence to seriously worry about though.

alanbarnosky · #5 07-24-2007, 08:45 AM

Wow, thanks for the quick replys! I'll go ahead and put it back. Even if its not a big deal, It still looks kind of funky, and I'd rather have it straight.

Thanks again for your help,
Alan