Double Bass Do all pro's use an adjustable bridge?

[Steve Freides]

Just a curious if all professionals, e.g., symphony orchestra players, Broadway musicians, etc., use an adjustable bridge? And if not, do they have a different bridge for summer/winter, or do they just make do with the changing action?

Thanks in advance.

-S-

 

[Rebop]

All of the above.

 

[JoeyNaeger]

There are some who insist that bridge adjustors detract from the sound. Most people however either don't notice a difference or think they help the sound. Either way, I think bridge adjustors solve more problems than they create.

 

[chris1125]

I remember an isb magazine article written about a study done on the effect of sound with no adjudters and adjudters made of wood, metal, and that synthetic plastic material. I don't completely remember but there was a clear result and I believe most people in the blind study favored the synthetic material, don't qoute me but if your an isb member you could probobly find it in 2008 or 2009.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

All of the jazzers and at least 90% of the orchestra guys I know have them on, made of various different things. I wouldn't be without them by choice, ever.

 

[PaulCannon]

They tend to darken the instrument's sound to varying degrees. For that reason, some soloists will avoid them.

Most orchestral players I know have them. At this point it's rare to come across a professional-quality orchestral instrument that doesn't already have them installed.

 

[timobee4]

I found the perfect height for my strings long time ago where both arco an pizz feels comfortable so I never adjust them ! But I think they look nice! I also have many bridges and 2 nuts to accommodate gut strings, Some DB player love adjusters some dont! I have made an interesting observation once regarding this issue! Some of my friends NEVER play arco style so they happy to have a set action low, medium or high, what ever, but I also noticed that adjuster is very common amongst those guys swapping between bass guitar and double bass, they love their action to be really low but must lift the action when they briefly spending a little time on a little bow practice or change strings to guts. Also some pickups are mounted inside adjusters! In all an all to me I prefer with for the looks only but not too fussed! One thing to mention though about the adjusters, brass adjusters look great but hate them, aluminium adjusters are the best in every way after I have spent experimenting in the studio studying sound wave decay and the rest to come to a final conclusion!

 

[drurb]

I found the perfect height for my strings long time ago where both arco an pizz feels comfortable so I never adjust them !

That's one of the most important features about adjusters, IMO-- that you can use them to find the "perfect height." Even if you never move them, you'd have to be extremely lucky to find that sweet spot with a fixed setup. I rarely change my string height. As the seasons change, I do adjust them by a 1/4 to a 1/2 turn (equally on each side, of course!). There's no doubt that that the change can be felt. Sometimes just a 1/4 turn makes a difference in response and feel that's much larger than I'd ever have expected from such a small movement of the adjuster. It's not just string height that's changing, but break angle over the bridge, tension on the carved top, etc. I think one would be hard pressed to measure the meager change in string height.

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] to the study done on the acoustic effects of adjusters.

 

[iiipopes]

When I am amplified, I prefer the tone of a Full Circle through an Fdeck, so for me adjusters it is, even though I don't really adjust anything now that it is set, as that affects the tonality of the Full Circle. And as for non-amplified gigs, since it's just a CCB, I'm not going to be changing just for the sake of changing.

 

[Stev187]

It's not just string height that's changing, but break angle over the bridge, tension on the carved top, etc.

This is very well put. There's a lot more going on than just changing string height.

--Steve

 

[fdeck]

A good indication of the prevalence of adjusters is the basses in shops -- new and used. When I was bass-shopping, almost every bass being sold had adjusters.

 

[superman]

I have found that adjusters do hurt the sound of a bass more so if you are useing a pick up,,I did compair with a bridge with and one with out adjusters,,with a Realist and Underwood pick up,,while you couldnt tell much difference acousticaly I can tell a big difference with the amplified sound ,I use guts and go for the big dark round sound,,not the growl ,,so this might not apply in all cases,,just my slant on it,,I would think someone could do a compair useing 2 bridges and Radar,or Pro tools,,that would show exactly if theres a difference,

 

[George700DL]

I found the perfect height for my strings long time ago where both arco an pizz feels comfortable so I never adjust them !

Same here. I installed my aluminum adjusters specifically to get more volume and sustain. It was a success, and I never actually adjust them. I have about 1/4" of the threads visible.

Chuck Traeger claims in his book that they add flexibility to the bridge and increase the volume, and that is certainly what happened with my bass.

George

 

[Mark_T]

Maybe my bass moves more than other peoples', but I usually have to make seasonal adjustment to keep the ideal string height. Finding the right height for you is only part of the problem.

 

[drurb]

...I would think someone could do a compair useing 2 bridges and Radar,or Pro tools,,that would show exactly if theres a difference,

Interesting-- I'm not sure similar results would obtain across different basses. Also, it seems that the variables would be difficult to control and assess. For example, I wonder how much of the difference you heard resulted from the fact that you had two different bridges as opposed to the differences resulting from having adjusters vs. not having them.