On most Banjo & Guitar bridges the bridge is very slightly angled towards the bass side (compensation). Does this apply to the D/B? or should the bridge be at right angles to the top?
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Double Bass Bridge Angle
- Thread starter gypsydjango
- Start date
Hi Andrew
Thanks for the reply. Why does frets make the difference?--As the notes on the bass are the same as the bottom four strings of the guitar.
Thanks for the reply. Why does frets make the difference?--As the notes on the bass are the same as the bottom four strings of the guitar.
String core stretch. The larger the core of the string, the more it will stretch as it is fretted or stopped, and the sharper it will go. On a double bass, this is dealt with subconsciously by where the finger stops the string. On a fretted electric bass, this has to be compensated for by the offset of the bridge saddle, and even sometimes (as on my custom fanned fret P-style bass) at the nut end as well. All guitars should have some sort of compensation as well: the angled saddle on a steel-string acoustic, or the adjustible saddles on most electrics. The core stretch is not so different from string-to-string on classical guitars, which traditionally are fretted on the "rule of 17" instead of 2^(n/12) mathematical placement, so some compensation is already built into the method of fretting and bridge placement.
While practicing arco today and looking in a mirror, I realized that my bridge actually is angled slightly down on the E string side. I'm not sure how long it's been that way. My last string change was over a year ago, and I guess it could have been offset then. Also I did have a RevSolo pickup installed a few months back, and they had to saw on the bridge a bit to make the pup fit... Is this angle a problem or not anything to worry about? I haven't noticed any issues with it, just noticed the angle today.
