Fender intonation question!........

[mongo2]

Well, here's something, although nothing definitive.

That approx .5 inch matches what I've seen and I can see the re-tooling happening since the original tooling has been described as being very worn, but I'd be more curious about the reason behind the bridge location change during the retooling.

Not sure about it lasting to '83 though. My '75 P didn't have the long intonation screw and it looked stock nor did my '79 P have the long intonation screw but the '79 was refinished and who knows what happened during the refinish.

 

[iiipopes]

What concerns me is the lack of consideration for balance. Unless a person changes out the standard "vintage" style plate bridge for the Stew-Mac offset bridge, Invalid Link Removed , there is always going to be a balance between the bridge so far forward that the E string binds over the bridge, or so far back that the G string has insufficient break angle over the saddle and twangs.

 

[Stealth Fighter]

That approx .5 inch matches what I've seen and I can see the re-tooling happening since the original tooling has been described as being very worn, but I'd be more curious about the reason behind the bridge location change during the retooling.

Not sure about it lasting to '83 though. My '79 P didn't have the long intonation screw but it was refinished and who knows what happened during the refinish.

Based on my own experience in manufacturing where I am directly involved in designing some of the tooling, things don't always go as planned. Often these tools are one-off designs and you don't have the luxury of making prototypes or to test and correct the tooling before production begins. Additionally, it is often very costly to correct the mistakes and return the tool to the as designed state. When this happens, you look for the most cost effective solution to bring the finished product up to design intent. Someone mentioned that the bridge was moved to allow for better intonation of the E string. I can see where this might have been done without realizing that there would be a negative effect on the G string. The simple solution would have been to lengthen the G string screw. For those who want to dis Fender for this type of "mistake"/action, you obviously have never restructured a multimillion dollar assembly line.

 

[Turnaround]

That approx .5 inch matches what I've seen and I can see the re-tooling happening since the original tooling has been described as being very worn, but I'd be more curious about the reason behind the bridge location change during the retooling.

Not sure about it lasting to '83 though. My '75 P didn't have the long intonation screw and it looked stock nor did my '79 P have the long intonation screw but the '79 was refinished and who knows what happened during the refinish.

It's relatively easy to determine when the change started - obviously it couldn't have begun before re-tooling. It's harder to determine when it stopped. They would continue to use remaining parts after the change was made.

From what I have seen, the longer intonation screw appeared in 1969 and continued through part of 1974. Some 1973 models apparently had the shorter screw, so that is evidence of the transition period.

 

[bass_case]

As I said, my 71 P fretless did not have a long G screw when I bought it. 71 is right in the middle of the long screw period, so I can't help but wonder if the bridge movement was done to accomodate the requirements of both fretted and fretless necks. Just a theory.

This era also includes the intro of the Tele bass, another complication for production, I would think.

 

[mongo2]

As I said, my 71 P fretless did not have a long G screw when I bought it. 71 is right in the middle of the long screw period, so I can't help but wonder if the bridge movement was done to accomodate the requirements of both fretted and fretless necks. Just a theory.

This era also includes the intro of the Tele bass, another complication for production, I would think.

There's no difference in requirements for fretless and fretted necks as far as bridge placement since the necks are for the same scale.

Intonation on a fretless is accomplished by the player on the fly by listening as they play so precise bridge positioning isn't as critical as with a fretted instrument. In fact, if the bridge on a fretless is moved it simply changes the scale to which the player can adapt for proper intonation. On my son's fretless P bass I installed a stick bridge a couple of inches from the bridge plate and removed the OEM bridge saddles using the bridge baseplate as a tailpiece. After a couple of hours practice I had pretty much adapted to the change in scale.

The Telecaster Bass used a different bridge (two saddle bridge) and through body stringing.