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Double Bass Crazy Adjustable Bridge
- Thread starter Inky13
- Start date
Ever been playing DB in the curve of a grand piano when a piano string breaks? I have; more than once. The sound of that broken string whipping toward you is one you never forget.
Gretch, have you seen the clip of the guy taping his practice session when his tailgut failed and the tailpiece flew by his face before embedding itself in the drop ceiling?
No; but I had a similar thing happen to me when I was in high school. I was the nominal bass player for a band but did not have a bass. But I did have a Silvertone U1 guitar, and decided to convert that into a bass. At that time I knew nothing of fret positions and scale length for intonation, so I just pushed the bridge as far toward the butt of the bass as I could manage. I also did not know that if one is going to screw a bridge into a Masonite top, there should be something solid under that Masonite so the screw will have something to anchor into.
I had got the G string tuned and was real close on the D when the string tension ripped my homebrew bridge/tailpiece right out of the bass and the whole assemblage flew across my face, barely missing the tip of my nose.
Lesson learned.
I'd like to see that video you mention, though. Can you post a link?
That exact scenario happened on my first gig playing upright in the late 90s and I remember it like yesterday.
It sucked.
It sucked.
Weird bridges are cool and quite innovative. I love my Deuce Bridge. Jason Brown is a genius.
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Yes, I was there (virtually). It was originally Minor’s design. He’s a military-trained welder who cut a hole in your bass. Brown later stalked me on social media for some reason. Both those guys are pretty screwy.
The ones Minor made were really bad, too. I fitted one to someone's bass. It was skewed in a few directions and the screws for the feet would gall and weld themselves into the base, then inevitably snap off when you tried to remove them.
I remember venting to the Sheriff over that one in a private message on Facebook. What a mess.
To his credit, Jason Brown seems to have improved the design and build quality since then.
I remember venting to the Sheriff over that one in a private message on Facebook. What a mess.
To his credit, Jason Brown seems to have improved the design and build quality since then.
Gee, you'd never guess that by just looking at their bridge design and fabrication...
@KUNGfuSHERIFF and @Rebop , I appreciate hearing these details, they predate me in DB consciousness by quite some time.
I bought my Alcoa from our band's former bassist, with the Deuce bridge and some other custom Deuce parts, early in 2018, long after Minor did the functional rescue and hotrod work on it. I've heard a few vague stories from our bassist about that work, but not a lot.
I've had really no problems with it, going on 6 years now. I understand that this Alcoa is lucky to have survived, and yes, I'm still glad to have it.
The Deuce bridge has been extremely stable on this Alcoa. The offset foot has prevented a bridge flop at least once that I'm aware of, and the adjustable tension on the wing pickup has been very handy.
I bought my Alcoa from our band's former bassist, with the Deuce bridge and some other custom Deuce parts, early in 2018, long after Minor did the functional rescue and hotrod work on it. I've heard a few vague stories from our bassist about that work, but not a lot.
I've had really no problems with it, going on 6 years now. I understand that this Alcoa is lucky to have survived, and yes, I'm still glad to have it.
The Deuce bridge has been extremely stable on this Alcoa. The offset foot has prevented a bridge flop at least once that I'm aware of, and the adjustable tension on the wing pickup has been very handy.
Jason participated in the design process and he ultimately improved the design. The only thing different I had my luthier do when he installed mine is that he used a solid maple bridge blank for the top of the bridge instead of the plywood one that came with it; and I had him use some silver metallic wood stain on the feet and bridge blank to match the silver fireball on the bass. I had Jason leave the bridge the stock bare aluminum color and he put some type of clearcoat on it. I’m very happy with the results and it’s rockabilly gig-proof since it’s resistant to falling.
