High-Mass Bridges- Loved or Hated?

[SharpCat]

Many people don't take in consideration that high mass bridges are considerably thicker than bent metal plates and after an "upgrade" to a hm bridge you need to do a neck shim because you can't lower the string action to the previous position anymore.

I haven't experienced that but I'm sure it's true in some cases. The bridges I've actually tried, bent plates tend to be 2mm thick, and the base part of the HM bridge is usually 3-3.5mm. (Hipshots of varying types and Gotoh 201B.) In all my trials, the HM saddle was able to lower enough to match the bent plate saddle height. Guess I've been lucky.

 

[58kites]

I haven't experienced that but I'm sure it's true in some cases. The bridges I've actually tried, bent plates tend to be 2mm thick, and the base part of the HM bridge is usually 3-3.5mm. (Hipshots of varying types and Gotoh 201B.) In all my trials, the HM saddle was able to lower enough to match the bent plate saddle height. Guess I've been lucky.

I had two basses that I put Hipshot Type A bridges on and both needed neck shims to allow for proper string height.
Eventually, I took the shims out and they both got bent plate Wilkinsons with those nice brass saddles.

 

[winston]

I don't really care about mass/weight as a feature, other than helping balance/lighten up a bass.

I like bridges that:
- don't have adjustment screws gouging my palm
- can lower strings flat down to the neck
- keep saddles from moving side to side, and
- do quick string release

I just got two Hipshot B bridges - one aluminum, the other brass. I put the aluminum one on a passive Ibanez P/J that had a BadAss II. I like the Hipshot better for setup. It's less than half the weight of the BadAss (bringing bass to right around 8#) and overall seems a little more open tonally. I also have a Gotoh 201 I will try on something, but with the thicker base and saddles I can see needing a shim in some cases.

In almost 40 years of playing no one has ever told me my bass didn't have enough sustain. Though I have heard "Please play note lengths as written" as well as "The note has a beginning AND an end."
No piece of gear is going to help with that! And sustain can be counteractive on music recorded on upright bass. Or any of the classic foam-muted flatwound tracks by James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, etc.

 

[SharpCat]

I don't really care about mass/weight as a feature, other than helping balance/lighten up a bass.

I like bridges that:
- don't have adjustment screws gouging my palm
- can lower strings flat down to the neck
- keep saddles from moving side to side, and
- do quick string release

I just got two Hipshot B bridges - one aluminum, the other brass. I put the aluminum one on a passive Ibanez P/J that had a BadAss II. I like the Hipshot better for setup. It's less than half the weight of the BadAss (bringing bass to right around 8#) and overall seems a little more open tonally. I also have a Gotoh 201 I will try on something, but with the thicker base and saddles I can see needing a shim in some cases.

In almost 40 years of playing no one has ever told me my bass didn't have enough sustain. Though I have heard "Please play note lengths as written" as well as "The note has a beginning AND an end."
No piece of gear is going to help with that! And sustain can be counteractive on music recorded on upright bass. Or any of the classic foam-muted flatwound tracks by James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, etc.

Seems like a good list of bridge requirements.

Did you compare the aluminum and brass Hipshots on the same bass by chance? I would love to have a second opinion of the differences. For me, Gotoh 201 and brass B sounded the same, with the aluminum B sounding darker. Letting through more lows maybe? At the time I attributed it to the Aluminum not passing highs.

I think it's easier to deal with excessive sustain than to try extending it. IMHO if you can't hit a happy medium, I would err on the side of more sustain than less.

 

[lalo_garcia-maynez]

Both bridges light steel and heavy brass have advantages and disadvantages BUT some of the greatest basses in history have used brass bridges :
Alembic
Tobias
Ken Smith
Spector
Pedulla
Status
Fodera
Warwick
Modulus
Ritter
Elrick
Kenneth Lawrence

just to name a few … I doubt all these luthiers were all wrong !

The 2tek bridges are amazing too but it’s a difficult installation.
I installed one in a Molloon P bass and the bass went from great to incredible!
However it’s hard to improve on the tone of an early 60’s jazz bass . So they both work great ! It’s worth noting that brass bridges are more common on neckthrough body bridges and lighter bridges more common on bolt-on basses .
Fbasses And usa made MTDs use lighter steel bridges for example .

 

[totalnoob]

I don't really care about mass/weight as a feature, other than helping balance/lighten up a bass.

I like bridges that:
- don't have adjustment screws gouging my palm
- can lower strings flat down to the neck
- keep saddles from moving side to side, and
- do quick string release

I just got two Hipshot B bridges - one aluminum, the other brass. I put the aluminum one on a passive Ibanez P/J that had a BadAss II. I like the Hipshot better for setup. It's less than half the weight of the BadAss (bringing bass to right around 8#) and overall seems a little more open tonally. I also have a Gotoh 201 I will try on something, but with the thicker base and saddles I can see needing a shim in some cases.

In almost 40 years of playing no one has ever told me my bass didn't have enough sustain.

This is very reasonable indeed. Care for the features the bridge has, not the material. In practice, the metallic alloy the bridge is made of doesn't make any difference to sustain or tone. I still maintain that zinc-based alloys are a bad choice for anything you want to last, but they will have just as much sustain as brass or steel bridges. No difference there.

 

[bootstrap]

"upgradez"

 

[Geri O]

While I like the high-mass bridge that's on my bass, I'm way more interested in the bass that's sitting under it.

In spite of folks' love or hate of the various bridges either way, that really is what's important.

 

[fhm555]

I've never noticed any real sustain change with an aftermarket bridge. Plus I used Peavey for a while and all of mine had big machined or cast bridges. When I started Fender my first keeper had a factory installed locking top load bridge made by Schaller, along with F branded Schaller machine heads. It's still my favorite bass.
I went down an MIM J rabbit hole for a while and really liked the Babicz bridge. What I liked most was it was set and forget. As long as you use the same kind of strings you shouldn't need to adjust anything. It also made my strings feel stiffer which I think is due to the break over the saddle being knife edgish, Narrow enough to give me pause at first out of concern over breaking strings. It's really slim compared to the big break radius on the stock bridge, but knock wood, I've had zero string breakage. Between that and being able to swap strings with no adjustment issues, which was not the case with the stock bridge it replaced.
That said, the Fender Pure Vintage bridge is the best choice if you just want a bridge that will hold its setting without needing string pressure to do so. It's a much better built bridge regarding thread fit and finish. I did replace the saddle height screws with Allen head sockets so I could just leave the wrench in the screw while I messed with it. Slotted screws may be period correct but there are better alternatives.
I've also got a couple of J basses that came from Fender with the BA bridge and they are also decent bridges, but of the three replacements I tried on my MIM basses, I liked the Babicz best.