Double Bass Bridge shape

[El Spearo]

Hi fellas,

I just bought a new bridge for my bass (cheap laminate) and I'm about to shape it. My question is, should i follow the shape of the original bridge, or follow the shape of the fingerboard?

thanks,

Cesar

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Just to avoid doing things in the wrong order:
First shape the bridge feet to the top (this needs some time to do it properly), then shape the top of the bridge.

You should shape the top of the bridge to have a proper action height at the end of the fingerboard. Better start a bit too high and get down by half a millimeter until you like it. If you want to bow now or later, you want a similar bowing angle (before your bow hits the next string) for each (inner) string.
I would start with 8-9-10-11 mm from G to E and get down, probably more on the higher strings than the lower ones. If you use gut strings you would like to start even higher than that.

If you have no idea how to properly fit the bridge feet to the top let a bass luthier do the job. (I hope you got a bridge that fits your bass in height and bridge feet distance or you need a new one. Better let the luthier decide and do the job.)

 

[El Spearo]

Yeah, I was going to start by shaping the feet 1st. I play pizz 95% of the time (mainly salsa and cuban son) but I like to bow every now and then just for fun. It's an adjustable bridge, so I thought I would shape to the lowest action I would want and use the adjusters if I need to raise it.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

With an adjustable bridge it is even more difficult to shape the bridge feet to the top. Luthiers usually prefer to shape a solid bridge to the top first and install adjusters afterwards. It's still a lot of work (without the proper experience) to shape the bridge feet to the top for a solid bridge. I would hate to do this to a bridge with adjusters.
But with a plywood top loosely fitted bridge feet won't damage the top, just compromise the sound. Maybe that's OK for you.

And to come back to your original question: since the lower strings need more space between the string and the fingerboard, don't follow the fingerboard curvature, since that would give you equal space under each string. I guess following the bridge (but better use the string fingerboard distance at the end of the fingerboard as described before) would be the way to go.

 

[El Spearo]

With an adjustable bridge it is even more difficult to shape the bridge feet to the top. Luthiers usually prefer to shape a solid bridge to the top first and install adjusters afterwards. It's still a lot of work (without the proper experience) to shape the bridge feet to the top for a solid bridge. I would hate to do this to a bridge with adjusters.
But with a plywood top loosely fitted bridge feet won't damage the top, just compromise the sound. Maybe that's OK for you.

And to come back to your original question: since the lower strings need more space between the string and the fingerboard, don't follow the fingerboard curvature, since that would give you equal space under each string. I guess following the bridge (but better use the string fingerboard distance at the end of the fingerboard as described before) would be the way to go.

Thanks mate, I really appreciate your replies. I'm starting to shape it tomorrow morning