Brass saddles on chrome bridge?

[Stinsok]

Revival of an old thread. I swapped the brass saddles from a Wilkinson bridge to this cheap bridge that came on this bass. No reason why and no noticeable change in tone. I just happened to notice they were the same size and thought "why not?"

 

[iiipopes]

I have a bass with a chromed plate and brass saddles. I cannot discern any difference in intonation, tone, nor sustain with the brass saddles compared to regular steel. Visually, it makes a nice contrast and transition since the body is black and I have it strung currently with LaBella black tapes.

 

[micguy]

First of all, odds approach certainty that under the chrome on of your existing saddles lurks a heart of brass. They get chrome plated because we humans tend to like order and clean shiny things better than dull looking old yellow/gold/greenish stuff that begs to be dismantled and cleaned on occasion. I've stripped several sets of nickel plated MIM saddles and they were all brass under the plating. And nickle by the way is step 2 in triple chrome plating, with brass being the first step if the item being plated is not already brass to start with.

Chrome is the last step in plating, and it's a very tiny layer of chrome - just enough to seal the nickel under it from the air. Copper (not brass) is the first step, nickel is next (sometimes the last step), and chrome (if you want it really shiny) is last. Fender bridges are steel (stamped) under all of that, the early (Badass) high mass bridges (and some of the current ones) are zinc - if it's cast, it's zinc. If your bridge is machined (most Hipshot bridges), then it's brass or aluminum under the plating.

Most (but not all) saddles are brass - the standard round saddles, with one notch machined in them for the string are are from brass because it's so easy to machine - a screw machine can make those things all day at a very fast clip. The old Fender threaded saddles are steel, with chrome or nickel plating on top. And of course, you can find titanium ones (no plating) and the Tusq (graphite impregnated) ones.

 

[2saddleslab]

Since we're showing off our brass..........

 

[96tbird]

How does the pickup "pick up" the flux when the brass saddles, or any other metal, are so far away from the pickup?

@Killing Floor ia having you on. LOL

 

[fhm555]

i tried stripped stock saddles, bought brass saddles, and replaced the stock MIM bridge with a Fender Pure Vintage bridge. I prefer the threaded saddles as they keep the strings where you put them in relation to the saddle and pickup poles, and can be used to make minor adjustments to spacing, but the real plus for me is much like the slim contact point(s) on the Babicz saddles, my strings feel more solid over the bridge than they when using a one size fits all U channel round saddle. If the Fender had socket heads for saddle height adjustment it would be perfect out of the bag. If you are good with slotted screws more power, but I’m always worried I’m going to slip out of that slot and go tip first into my paint. Don’t ask me why I fear this.