Double Bass Adjustable Bridge / Wood

[gypsydjango]

Question A:
Does a two piece bridge (with the two height screw adjusters) 'kill' the acoustic sound a little on the D/B as opposed to a one piece bridge?
Question B: Apart from the traditional Maple Bridge has anyone tried other woods for a bridge? Results?

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Hey Mike, if you use the 'Search' function you'll find quite a few informative threads on these subjects.

 

[Cody Sisk]

Question A:
Does a two piece bridge (with the two height screw adjusters) 'kill' the acoustic sound a little on the D/B as opposed to a one piece bridge?
Question B: Apart from the traditional Maple Bridge has anyone tried other woods for a bridge? Results?

Yes, do a search if you want some good info, but if you want a quick answer on adjusters, most of us here say that it won't make a difference. In fact, adjusters might improve your sound a bit..

 

[Phil Rowan]

ISB mag did a comparison report b/t aluminum, brass and wood adjusters and solid, non-adjuster bridges a few issues back.

 

[Cody Sisk]

ISB mag did a comparison report b/t aluminum, brass and wood adjusters and solid, non-adjuster bridges a few issues back.

I've read the same article, it was quite informative but it was also tested on one bass if I remember correctly. I would doubt that those results would be absolute for any bass.

 

[james condino]

If you search around here, you can find threads on bridges made of maple, carbon fiber, aluminum, and plexiglass just to name a few materials, as well as many different shapes, profiles, and designs. They all have different characteristics and respond differently on individual basses.

I'm a constant "tinkerer", always mucking about with the technology and parts on my bass, trying new things, hacking up old things, and, yes, even building my own bass. Sometimes it works great; sometimes it works better keeping me warm for a few minutes while it is burning up in the woodstove. In the long run, and in my heart, I fully understand and accept that I would get a lot more gigs and have WAYYYYYY better chops if I spent all of that time practicing more and was just content to play my old beat up Kay....

j.

 

[Square Bear]

bridge adjusters are preferred by most players i know. i had a bass without adjusters before. at that time i was convinced that adjusters would decrease the sound, so i never put adjusters on. i was in sacramento CA then, and the weather is a lot more constant so you can get away with not having adjusters. i bought another bass that had adjusters, and now live in new england. not having adjusters is not really an option here. if they are installed properly and are good adjusters, i think they may have a negligible effect on the sound, but i probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. with adjusters, i have the ability to keep my action consistent no matter what the weather is doing, and that convenience far outweighs any negative effect.

 

[gypsydjango]

Thanks everybody for your input. Much appreciated.

Mike

 

[Andrew McGregor]

I'm sure adjusters alter the sound slightly... but it's neither worse nor better, just slightly different, provided they are installed properly (which is hard). The difference made by having the string height exactly right is way, way more important, and totally outweighs the adjusters direct contribution to the sound.