It works, and it possibly saved a bunch of mis-drilled bodies from the scrap heap. I have no problem with it, it was a simple and perfectly functional solution. And the factory installed bridge cover hid the bridge anyway. Not really an inelegant solution at all.
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Fender intonation question!........
- Thread starter BigBud
- Start date
It works, and it possibly saved a bunch of mis-drilled bodies from the scrap heap. I have no problem with it, it was a simple and perfectly functional solution. And the factory installed bridge cover hid the bridge anyway. Not really an inelegant solution at all.
I still say it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Did they lose the blueprints?
Is it possible that heavier strings came into being back then?
Maybe the bridge was moved back to allow intonating a heavier E string,
or heavier lower pitched strings.
Just guessing.
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Maybe the bridge was moved back to allow intonating a heavier E string,
or heavier lower pitched strings.
Just guessing.
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Hmm. Taking a yardstick, the inside edge of the nut to the crown of the 12th fret is, of course, 17 inches, 1/2 of the 34 inch scale, and therefore the 34 inch scale should be from the inside edge of the nut to the middle of the saddle, then compensate from there. Is the adjustment screw long enough to check the scale measurement, before we do anything else?
AGAIN
They used steel drilling jigs placed over the cut body and it locks in the pocket. Always have.
Leo perfected assembly line instruments and it just doesn't happen. Unless the workers CAN STRETCH STEEL JIGS
But it did happen. There's plenty of Fender basses from that period out there with the bridges located such that a longer G string intonation was required.
Turnaround
Commercial User
It wasn't a matter of trying to correct for an error in manufacture. From 1969 through part of 1973 the long G intonation screw was a regular production item. I haven't actually measured, but I have heard it was because Fender moved the bridge a bit further back in those years to allow more intonation room for the E string. Consequently they had to lengthen the G string screw in order to intonate it properly.
I didn't mean to imply that it was an error that "did happen", just that the inclusion of the extended screw "did happen".
Sorry for any confusion.
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Turnaround
Commercial User
Right - I thought I knew what you meant, but I wanted to be sure that someone didn't misinterpret. That's how myths get started. BTW, does anyone know for FACT that Fender did move the bridge a little further back from 1969 to 1972? Next time I see a bass from that era I will measure.
I wonder if this could be related to the introduction of the fretless P in the late 60s? I have a '71 fretless but I've had different necks and bridges on it since I bought it (in 71) and I'm pretty sure it did not come with the long G screw. I do have an old bridge with a long screw, but I think this may date to when I had a fretted neck on the 71 body. It's a hardware store screw, definitely not factory.
Would be interesting to see if the difference between the two bridge placements is the same as (or proportional to) the difference between the position of the dots on the side of the neck. On the fretless neck, the dots line up with where the fret would be, on fretted necks they are centered between frets.
I thought moving the bridge was in conjunction with or related to moving the bridge pickup. No? Of course, as usual, I'm probably wrong.
The position of the fingerboard side dots wouldn't effect the bridge position as long as it's the same scale.
I was really just asking a question, but since you mentioned it, didn't the P-Bass get the long screw, too.
I just did a quick Google search and couldn't find anything about the Pbass bridge being moved.
Edit: I guess we are both wrong. http://books.google.com/books?id=rC2X0BiF2ZMC&pg=PA1999-IA17&lpg=PA1999-IA17&dq=p bass bridge moved&source=bl&ots=eafb9dDXf1&sig=sNAo_5K97Rb6byPklE1Ut2r57lE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j4f_U6GmKcaRNsXQgeAI&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=p bass bridge moved&f=false
Check years 1970 and 1972/73.
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I just did a quick Google search and couldn't find anything about the Pbass bridge being moved.
Edit: I guess we are both wrong. http://books.google.com/books?id=rC2X0BiF2ZMC&pg=PA1999-IA17&lpg=PA1999-IA17&dq=p bass bridge moved&source=bl&ots=eafb9dDXf1&sig=sNAo_5K97Rb6byPklE1Ut2r57lE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=j4f_U6GmKcaRNsXQgeAI&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=p bass bridge moved&f=false
Check years 1970 and 1972/73.
That link doesn't mention anything about bridge relocation at all but I've had 2 P basses from that era, a '72 and a '73 with the long intonation screw and bridge set closer to the end of the body. I've also seen several others.
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That's why I said that I guess we were both wrong. They also said that the long screw came before the pickup move. Who knows?
Perhaps the bodies weren't mis-drilled after all, maybe it was deliberate. Someone mentioned it could have been to make more room for E string intonation by moving the bridge back a bit.
I don't think the longer intonation screw and the pickup position change were related in any way so it wouldn't matter which came first. I don't know who knows but it'd be interesting to find out.
