High-Mass Bridges- Loved or Hated?

[crucislancer]

In my completely unprofessional opinion, I don’t really see much benefit from the high-mass bridge. I do believe there is increased sustain, but at the same time I don’t think that sustain is enough to justify the added cost and weight to a bass.

Having said that, I have used high-mass bridges in the past, and my 3 current basses all have high-mass bridges (two BAII and one Fender), but they all came with the bridges and don’t see the need to replace them. They function as they should, and all three have fantastic tone, but that’s the sum of their parts.

I had a Jazz bass that had a BAII for a decade, the bass had fantastic tone, good weight, and it was my go-to bass for that decade. At one point I decided to replace the BAII with a vintage Fender bridge with threaded saddles. I didn’t notice much difference, other than a bit of weight savings.

 

[bigtone23]

I like certain high mass bridges-mostly for function and then for the appearance. The Schaller 3D4 rollers allow me to get the strings perfectly aligned with the poles or fingerboard edges. Tonally, I only think I'm hearing a little more fundamental with a high mass.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Increased adjustability is a demonstrable benefit of many bridges. Any other benefits that are often brought up are shenanigans, IMO. A threaded saddle bent plate is all you need.

This, right here. The only reason I really like Hipshot A bridges is just how adjustable they are; otherwise bent-metal + tube-o-metal saddle does the job just fine.

 

[elgecko]

High mass bridges. People either love them or hate them...or think they're okay.

 

[Badwater]

I don't love them or hate them. It's not a deal breaker nor would I go out of my way to get one put on.
I much prefer a string through because of the break angle over the saddles.

 

[joebar]

I have two USA fender P standards with the factory high mass bridge and a USA tony Franklin fretless with the old bent plate bridge. All of them sound the same but the TF does have an amazing presence and articulation

 

[GIBrat51]

This Alembic Epic is the only bass I have with a "High-mass" bridge - assuming it has the big brass block under the bridge that Alembics are supposed to have - and frankly? I'm not a big fan of sustain anyway, but, gotta tell ya, this bass doesn't have a whole lot of it. That Kramer 450B lumie? Aside from where it holds the strings ball ends, it's bridge is essentially just a bent-plate, Fender style bridge. And the sustain on this bass? Truly, epically obnoxious. Piano-with-sustain-pedal-depressed kind of sustain. I'm not going to tell you what kind of bridge to put on your bass. It's your bass; please yourself. But, personally? Trying to get more sustain by changing the bridge is the last reason I'd change it for - even if did work. And, from the very mixed results I'm reading all the time here on TB, I have serious doubts that it does...

 

[zortation]

Sustain vs Resonance

That's the story. A high mass bridge that offers more sustain transfers less energy to the body of the instrument. That means that such a system will not gain as much character from the resonance of the instrument's body. Now it's a question of whether there is a enough of a difference to either the sustain or resonance that you would notice or care about either way.

I always suspected this was the case, thanks for the info!

 

[dxb]

I like the Fender high mass bridges, but one drawback is that due to the combined thickness of the saddles and the baseplate, the action can't be lowered as much as with a standard bridge. If the action still needs to go lower all you can do at that point is shim the neck.

 

[Cip IESAN]

I have a '90s Fender Jazz Bass (all stock hardware etc.) and a 2004 Ibanez RDGR Roadgear 500 with a huge high mass bridge. There IS a big difference in sustain, i feel it with both basses unplugged - I chose the unplugged way because of the active electronics on the Ibanez.

 

[tvbop]

Placebo effect after spending the money etc. There're snake oil, end of.
Played original Fender bridges all my life...perfect intonation, great sustain...in fact I would go to say too much sustain at times.

 

[JTE]

Neither hate nor love,just find them pointless in most applications. I managed a guitar store from 1977 until 1988. That was through the rise and peak of the high mass, brass, etc. craze. I put a lot of BA-II on basses and worked on more, including a few unfortunate Precisions with BA-I stuck into them.

In no case did the new bridge (or brass nut) make any changes that couldn't be as easily attributed to the instrument having a proper and complete setup.

The original BA bridge was designed to solve some very real problems with Gibson basses. It made a noticeable improvement on those basses so people figured it would also improve Fenders. So people started slapping them on Fenders, found they didn't fit so the body got routed to fit it. Because of that Quann saw a market for a similar bridge to drop fit on Fenders, hence the BA-II. But a proper set up and a drop of glue on some height adjustment screws did the same thing putting a BA-II and getting it set up correctly did

But folks still believe it makes a difference, same as they think string-through body makes any real difference. So manufacturers offer these options and hype them.

 

[bassdude51]

There's been quite a few threads about high mass vs bent plate. Conclusion? There is no conclusion. Some think a high mass make an excellent difference, others think that both bridges sound the same. Some think that the bent plate sounds better.

I have never seen anyone's mind or opinion changed from expressions concerning the 2 kinds of bass bridges. I mean to say those who like high mass stay believers and those who like bent plate stay believers.

One thing is for certain, high mass bridges WILL MAKE YOUR BASS HEAVIER! Perhaps even 6 oz heavier. In this day and age of bass weight, 6 oz can mean the difference between "sold" and "not sold" when trying to sell a bass guitar.

(IME, there is no sonic difference with high mass vs bent plate. A bent plate with thread saddles allows for perfect string set up. The #1 factor in bass sound are the strings and not the bridge. IMHO.)

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Just relaying to you what they said:
According to the Ernie Ball Music Man people, the switch from steel to aluminum bridge on the Stingray Special reduced high end.
I don't think they used the word "sizzle", but they were talking about how they intended the Special's extreme settings to be less extreme than before.

My own thought is that if there is any difference I would go with more wood = lighter.

 

[DCCat]

I've put Hipshot A-Type or B-Type bridges on almost all of my basses, not because they're high-mass or low-mass but because I like their designs. Most especially, I like the quick loading feature; dropping the string into a slot rather than stringing it through the bridge is a win for me. I also like their adjustability features, including for string spacing (though with the B-Type, it's just because I used threaded saddles). The Hipshot Vintage bridge also enables quick loading but is essentially a slightly dressed-up bent-plate model, and I may try one of those someday. I have opted for the brass versions in all cases, so they are pretty high mass, but that's mostly just incidental. In only one case did it really matter, in order to help cure some neck dive (an A-Type, which is heavier, in combination with some Hipshot Ultralite tuners).

 

[J-Mags]

I like them because I like them. Shortly after I install one, I find myself having a sesh where I rock out harder than I ever have in the past on that specific instrument. I can't articulate any specific advantage, maybe feel, but I like em. They certainly don't sound worse and they possibly do sound better.

Also having the extra weight at the bridge makes most basses balance better, and paradoxically, feel lighter on your shoulder. I have an Omega on one bass, and a Kickass on another. The red bass, in particular, weighed about 7 1/4 lbs, and a Kickass bridge and some import Ultralights changed it from a weird-feeling bass that you could play into an actual player.

 

[Grinderman]

Not for me.

Not once did I ever think in nearly 40 years, with 6 different Fender/FSO basses with standard or vintage type bent steel plate Fender bridges, did I ever think, 'damn I don't have enough sustain from this bass, I need to get a high-mass bridge.'

 

[koho]

I know this is an old thread but I just did an A&B string through, three hole screw High Mass Leo Quan badass III and a fender three hole screw deluxe bridge on my 2008 Fender Jazz Bass ( which also is three hole screw). and yes a Genuine Fender American Deluxe Bass Bridge '2004-'2010s part # 005-8396-000 fits perfect without any drilling or modification at all and it brought out more of a vintage sound and more bottom low ends but killed the mid highs a tad. the Leo Quan brought out more mid highs and killed some lows but couldn't hear any sustain differences at all from both except the lows and highs. I decided to stick with the fender deluxe bridge because the Leo Quan III High mass would only let me get so low in string action and the fender deluxe let me go as low as I wanted. after setting up bass it plays like butter with a beautiful vintage warm yet crunchy and punchy sound when I dug in for that classic fender jazz bass sound I've been searching for and after a few tweaks through a Kelley 2 knob compressor into my Tech 21 Dug Pinnick...this bass rocks and almost sounds like a smooth almost rickenbacker bass jazz sound. I use the Curt mangan 45-105 nickel strings and this bass ROCKS better then it did before..all I gotta say is wow man !!

 

[Gilmourisgod]

I jumped on the "Hi-Mass" bandwagon in the early 80's with a Badass II I originally intended to put on my Ric 4001, because...... Geddy. Luckily i chickened out, but its still on my Warmouth fretless Frankenjazz, and it's a good solid bridge. Anybody expecting Tone Magic is going to be disappointed, but the weight can be used to help offset a little neck dive. When the Badass I came out it was a real upgrade from the less adjustable.stock bridges of the day, now most modern bridges are fully adjustable. They always yack about Sustain, but really, who's doing long ambient pedal notes on bass? Some of them look pretty cool, maybe reason enough to get one.

 

[J-Mags]

I jumped on the "Hi-Mass" bandwagon in the early 80's with a Badass II I originally intended to put on my Ric 4001, because...... Geddy. Luckily i chickened out, but its still on my Warmouth fretless Frankenjazz, and it's a good solid bridge. Anybody expecting Tone Magic is going to be disappointed, but the weight can be used to help offset a little neck dive. When the Badass I came out it was a real upgrade from the less adjustable.stock bridges of the day, now most modern bridges are fully adjustable. They always yack about Sustain, but really, who's doing long ambient pedal notes on bass? Some of them look pretty cool, maybe reason enough to get one.

Exactly. Either you like them or you don't. There's not gonna be a fantastic sonic difference. There's a feel difference, but unless you're trying to balance a neck heavy instrument, that's not night and day. To me. they feel a little quicker and more stable, but not glaringly so.

I'll probably continue to put them on all my mid-grade Fenderoids because they're fun, they look cool and I like them.