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Bridge vs intonation

Luc-lo

Luc-lo

Sep 23, 2021
22
3
#1
Hello, after reading about the yamaha bass, I bought a new yamaha BB434. I had it adjusted by a luthier and he told me that I had bought a lemon, because it had several faults for a new bass. Among other things he had to shim the bolt-on neck to adjust the intonation. According to him the bridge is not in the right place and he had to push the adjustment at the end of the bridge (see photo). My bass sounds good anyway. My question is, according to you, is there a problem with the adjustment being completely at the end of the bridge? Thanks in advance for the reply and sorry for my english :)
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#2
If it intonates correctly that way and the saddles being almost all the way forward doesn’t bother you then, all’s good. It might not hurt to measure from the fretboard side of the nut to the bridge and see where 34” ( I’m guessing that’s the scale length?) hits.

Also, a neck shim is for the string height, not the intonation unless the strings are so high they go very sharp when you fret.
 
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#3
Luc-lo said:
Hello, after reading about the yamaha bass, I bought a new yamaha BB434. I had it adjusted by a luthier and he told me that I had bought a lemon, because it had several faults for a new bass. Among other things he had to shim the bolt-on neck to adjust the intonation. According to him the bridge is not in the right place and he had to push the adjustment at the end of the bridge (see photo). My bass sounds good anyway. My question is, according to you, is there a problem with the adjustment being completely at the end of the bridge? Thanks in advance for the reply and sorry for my english :) View attachment 4415461
Click to expand...

BS on both counts. How do you shim a neck to compensate for intonation?!? Looking at the G & D saddles, your bridge is positioned correctly.

Do you have to string-thru-body or can you string-thru-bridge? Hard to tell by the pics.

Riis
 
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#8
Luc-lo said:
Yes, i have have to string-thru-body, but I have the option of putting the strings directly on the bridge like most bass.
Click to expand...

Why do you have to string-thru-body? If you have the option to string-thru the back of the bridge and can do so without goofing-up something else, I recommend you do so. Re-set your witness points! I've run across a couple of issues with thru-body string installs where the string "departs" from the backside of the saddle.

Excuse me for asking but do you have the necessary tuner and skill-set to do your own set-ups? As others have mentioned, if the bass plays in tune up 'n down the fingerboard and you're satisified, leave it alone.

Riis
 
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#10
Hi gang,

Thank you for your comments. No, I have no knowledge of adjusting the bass except for the truss rod which I modify as needed. When I had my bass adjusted, I asked stringed instrument maker to leave the strings as Yamaha had configured. Thru-body strings give better sustain according to Yamaha. I played with my bass at the end of last week and I find it to sound very nice. If I decide to put the strings directly on the bridge, I will have to readjust the intonation and I'm not familiar with that. For now I leave the adjustment as it is since the sound is good with good sustain. My bass is a 34 inch long scale, but if I measure the length I end up with a length of 35 3/8 inches. I do not know if it's normal? I do not know if anyone has a Yamaha BB434 bass to compare with mine? And those who have bass from another brand what is your length on your according to the method I used? (view the photo)
upload_2021-9-28_17-43-7.jpeg
 
#11
Tune the bass first. If you have a very accurate tuner, then the 12th fret of each string should be the desired pitch (E, A, D, G) etc. If it is sharp or flat a little, it is probably fine, although I would fix it. If it is very sharp or flat, then it needs to be adjusted accordingly. Don’t play too hard when you are testing the intonation. That can give an inaccurate reading sometimes.

I was told by a Korg sales rep long ago that cheaper digital guitar tuners only get so close to pitch since the manufacturers want the tuner to be easy to use. Perhaps this was just a sales pitch though…see what I did there.

Bass intonation issues are way more forgiving than guitar intonation issues luckily.

I am not a guitar or bass builder, but methinks that the scale length is the distance from the nut to the middle saddles where the string sits rather than the end of the bridge.
 
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#12
Scale length is determined by measuring from the nut (fretboard edge) to the peak of the 12th fret, then double it (x 2).
Intonation is adjusted, with a tuner, by playing the harmonic at the 12th fret, which will be true, and comparing it to the fretted note at the 12th fret. If the Fretted note is sharper than the harmonic then the string is too short, if it is flatter, then the string is too long. Adjust the bridge position accordingly by the screw holding the bridge piece in place.
 
#13
Luc-lo said:
Hi gang,

Thank you for your comments. No, I have no knowledge of adjusting the bass except for the truss rod which I modify as needed. When I had my bass adjusted, I asked stringed instrument maker to leave the strings as Yamaha had configured. Thru-body strings give better sustain according to Yamaha. I played with my bass at the end of last week and I find it to sound very nice. If I decide to put the strings directly on the bridge, I will have to readjust the intonation and I'm not familiar with that. For now I leave the adjustment as it is since the sound is good with good sustain. My bass is a 34 inch long scale, but if I measure the length I end up with a length of 35 3/8 inches. I do not know if it's normal? I do not know if anyone has a Yamaha BB434 bass to compare with mine? And those who have bass from another brand what is your length on your according to the method I used? (view the photo)
View attachment 4420268
Click to expand...


As someone else stated, the scale length should be measured from the fretboard side of the nut to where the strings break over the bridge saddles, essentially the center of those type of saddles. That number should nominally be twice the distance of the fretboard side of the nut to the twelfth fret. The actual measured distance will probably be fractionally longer to adjust the intonation correctly.
 
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#14
My bass is ok at open strings and at the 12th fret. It's E, A, D, G open strings, 12th fret and harmonics too. I think the stringed instrument maker did a good job despite the manufacturing flaws. I didn't mention it, but it was also necessary to replace the foams under the split coil pickups during the adjustment because the pickups were moving abnormally.
 
#16
Hi Luc-lo, your original question was is there a problem with your bridge.
No, it's fine. plenty of basses end up with the bridge pieces near the edge, it's ok.
Sometimes it's just the string brand that do this, they're not all equal.
Don't worry, play on your Yamaha and have fun.
 
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#18
Luc-lo said:
If I decide to put the strings directly on the bridge, I will have to readjust the intonation and I'm not familiar with that.
Click to expand...
No, you should not need to adjust the intonation if you use the (exact) same type of strings*. The strings only care about the distance from the nut the saddle.

* Changing string types often requires some intonation adjustment.
 
#19
OK I understand. Currently I have Dunlops Marcus Miller 45-105 stainless steel super bright. So if I want to put 45-105 Nickel Wounds I wouldn't need to touch the intonation since it's the same gauge of strings.
 

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