I have a couple of Danelectro basses: a reissue Longhorn with the old-style bridge (with the rosewood saddle), and a reissue "Dano 63" short-scale with the new-style bridge (adjustable metal saddles). The relative merits of these two bridges have been debated, but I prefer the old-style bridge. Aside from the looks (authentic), it sounds better, has a better break angle, and won't rattle.
I bought a replacement old-style bridge to install on the "63." This is not a drop-in replacement, but only one hole needs to be redrilled to make it work.
Dano bridges are attached to the body with ONE wood screw. The front of the bridge sits on top of two wood screws, which are for height adjustment. Those screws don't go through the holes in the front of the bridge plate; the holes are there so you can get the screwdriver in for adjustment. It's a very funky, low-tech design. (Also, the ground wire runs to the lower of these 2 screws.)
The new-style bridges have the 2 adjustment screws in front, as well as individually-adjustable saddles. (I guess you could call it a double-adjustable bridge.) (By the way, the saddle of the old-style bridges is adjustable – the saddle is attached to the base plate with a screw, from the underside, in a slot, so you can move the saddle front to back, a little, and angle it.)
The new-style bridge is about 5/16 longer than the old bridge. To maintain the correct scale length, don't move the two front adjustment screws. I dowelled the existing mounting hole, using an appropriately low-tech material (take-out chopstick, sanded to diameter -- a maple dowel would've created bad karma with the Masonite). I located the position of the new hole by placing the bridge atop the two adjustment screws. It will be about 1/8" forward of the original hole. Drilling into the top is alarmingly easy -- I don't know what wood is under the Masonite, but it is soft. Mark your drill bit so you don't come out the other side. Once the bridge was installed, the old hole was covered by the bridge.
Now I'm happy. Looks good, sounds better. Here's a before and after shot. You can see how much smaller the old-style bridge is; the two adjustment screws on the front were not moved.
I bought a replacement old-style bridge to install on the "63." This is not a drop-in replacement, but only one hole needs to be redrilled to make it work.
Dano bridges are attached to the body with ONE wood screw. The front of the bridge sits on top of two wood screws, which are for height adjustment. Those screws don't go through the holes in the front of the bridge plate; the holes are there so you can get the screwdriver in for adjustment. It's a very funky, low-tech design. (Also, the ground wire runs to the lower of these 2 screws.)
The new-style bridges have the 2 adjustment screws in front, as well as individually-adjustable saddles. (I guess you could call it a double-adjustable bridge.) (By the way, the saddle of the old-style bridges is adjustable – the saddle is attached to the base plate with a screw, from the underside, in a slot, so you can move the saddle front to back, a little, and angle it.)
The new-style bridge is about 5/16 longer than the old bridge. To maintain the correct scale length, don't move the two front adjustment screws. I dowelled the existing mounting hole, using an appropriately low-tech material (take-out chopstick, sanded to diameter -- a maple dowel would've created bad karma with the Masonite). I located the position of the new hole by placing the bridge atop the two adjustment screws. It will be about 1/8" forward of the original hole. Drilling into the top is alarmingly easy -- I don't know what wood is under the Masonite, but it is soft. Mark your drill bit so you don't come out the other side. Once the bridge was installed, the old hole was covered by the bridge.
Now I'm happy. Looks good, sounds better. Here's a before and after shot. You can see how much smaller the old-style bridge is; the two adjustment screws on the front were not moved.
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