Brand New Fender Jazz 75' RI - Big chunk of wood missing under bridge!!!

Modern Growl · #1 03-22-2007, 06:57 AM

Looking for advice here... what the heck should I do!?!?

Fender's goal in designing the 75' Reissue was to make it as true to spec as the original 75's. With that, I guess they decided it was nessecary to route a rectangular hole under the bridge where the ground makes contact with the bridge.
This hole is about 3/4in long, and 1/4 in wide, about 1/8th deep as well.

Alright, fine, no big deal right? Its covered, its under the bridge, its true to spec, right?

Well here's the deal. Its located mostly under the D string, and my D string always sounds dead! All other strings sound bright and punchy... the D string, always dead!
I at first thought it was the strings, but set after set, all of the D strings didn't have that bright punch. They were always 'thuddy'.
I thought there was a dead spot then in the neck, but I dismissed that because no matter where I played on the neck with the D string, open, or all the way up to the 14th fret, it was always dead and thuddy sounding.
So I determinded it must be that routed hole under the bridge fror the ground contact, making my D string's energy transfer 'deadened' due to the gaping hole locateded underneath the saddle.

What on earth should I do?

I was hoping to either myself, or send it out to someone to put a piece of Ash, carved to size, in there to fill in the hole.
Or perhaps go to HomeDepot and buy some liquid nail or some putty-like filler to help fill the hole and thus allow the D strings energy to transfer like the other strings.

Any suggestions!
I'm assuing all of the 75' RI's are like this as well FWIW.

tjclem · #2 03-22-2007, 07:41 AM

Interesting... A more substantial bridge? To spread the vibration over a larger area? BA 2 possibly?

Modern Growl · #3 03-22-2007, 07:48 AM

yeah, I thought about that but I tried a BAII and didn't like the tone at all!
I was hoping to fix the issue while using the stock bridge.

wilser · #4 03-22-2007, 07:52 AM

I doubt this has anything to do with that 'hole'. That is not there only on '75 reissues, but most (if not all) J and P basses from Fender, Warmoth and many others.

If it were because of that ground hole, this would have been discovered as a problem long ago and discontinued.

It may be the pickup magnets on that string are weak, could be bridge saddle problem, or other causes. The bridge's role is not to transfer the energy of the string to the body.

Modern Growl · #5 03-22-2007, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wilser

I doubt this has anything to do with that 'hole'. That is not there only on '75 reissues, but most (if not all) J and P basses from Fender, Warmoth and many others.

If it were because of that ground hole, this would have been discovered as a problem long ago and discontinued.

It may be the pickup magnets on that string are weak, could be bridge saddle problem, or other causes. The bridge's role is not to transfer the energy of the string to the body.

I should of mentioned, it can't be the pickups because the D strings does this (thuds) acoustically.

The instrument does have a Micro Tilt system on it... but I have not touched this ever.

Could this perhaps have this effect on the D string?

tjclem · #6 03-22-2007, 08:43 AM

When you put the BA 2 on that bass did the "d" string sound any different? Does it sound bad on all frets and open as well?

contakt321 · #7 03-22-2007, 09:38 AM

It could be the pickups - maybe the magents are too close to the D string and are restraining it's vibration?

throbgod13 · #8 03-22-2007, 11:54 AM

check the way that the nut's string grooves are cut..

ProfGumby · #9 03-26-2007, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Modern Growl

yeah, I thought about that but I tried a BAII and didn't like the tone at all!
I was hoping to fix the issue while using the stock bridge.

Without reading the rest of the thread....

The 50 dollar question is this,

Did the BAII resolve the dead d string?