bad ass bridges

[chiaran]

hi all. just wonddering I am going to change my bridge on my fender 4 string to a bad ass II bridge. should i go grooved or non grooved on the saddle?

[Mtnman]

I have 3 BAII's on my Fenders. When I bought the bridges, the grooved models weren't available so I cut them myself. I've been satisfied with the result, but if I were to buy one now, it would definately be grooved. There is a lot of layout work involved with doing it yourself and the potential for f'ing it up is pretty high.

Further, I'll say you should prepare to be flamed on this forum. The high mass bridge issue on this site is pretty polarized. From my point of view though, a Fender bass with the stock "bent metal" bridge makes the bass look incomplete.

[Andyman001]

I thought all BA's were non grooved when sold(new), and then grooved by the installer.

Just a (probably wrong) opinion from a random internet guy

[sxaxsx]

When I got my first BAII I was a teenager and didn't know much. I installed it on a MIM jazz bass and never did any grooving, just screwed it on (broke a screw in the bass too), strung it up and played it. Eventually the strings actually wore grooves into the saddles. Surprisingly this didn't cause tuning issue or string breakage.

Don't have that bass anymore but since then I bought a Highway One Jazz which came with a BAII with grooved saddles.
I don't see why you would buy a non grooved one, I don't' understand why they ever made them non grooved in the first place.

I agree with Mtnman, no reason to make yourself more work, or give yourself the chance of screwing something up. Get the grooved. Also like Mtnman already said, prepare yourself, there seems to be a lot of hate of BAII's on these forums, not sure why?? I have no problem with the ones I had, and plenty of players use them.

[Edward G.]

I like the factory grooved model, but it is substantially more. The benefit is more adaptable string spacing, especially if you move the bridge from one instrument or neck to another. You can buy the pre-slotted saddles alone for around $50/set. Overall, they save a lot of headaches and guesswork.

[KwinS]

I have 3 of the type that come with several grooves per saddle. I like them a LOT. They make it possible to experiment with string spacing at the bridge, too. I don't know if those are still available.

[vegas532]

Originally Posted by Edward G.

I like the factory grooved model, but it is substantially more. The benefit is more adaptable string spacing, especially if you move the bridge from one instrument or neck to another. You can buy the pre-slotted saddles alone for around $50/set. Overall, they save a lot of headaches and guesswork.

I personally got the ungrooved ones, but I couldn't agree with this post more! I got them because I was certain they'll remain on the basses that they went on but if you think you may switch it out on another instrument, pre-grooved is the way to go.