How do I keep my bridge saddles from moving?

[micguy]

If Europe is anything like the US, half the lawyers in the EU will own Strats or Strat-like objects. They might have a had time finding a judge without a conflict of interest.

Great for you. Leo had himself, and a gaggle of guitar players as advisors. And apparently a threaded rod order at the supplier. Leo had no formal electronic or post secondary training.

Leo didn’t need formal training - listening to his people gets you s lot of knowledge that you can use - a good machinist, if you let him or her know that you’re willing to learn, can teach you a lot about mechanical things.That’s all fine, and looked at with hindsight, he did a very good job - his design (the third iteration of it) exists today, with few modifications. There are a lot of competitor’s products that borrow heavily from his work (and none that borrow from Tutmarc). That says a lot.

My only beef is the myth that he got everything right the first time.

 

[2saddleslab]

You threaten those suckers to within an inch of their lives if they dare move at all. Threats & intimidation have worked for me.

 

[96tbird]

Leo didn’t need formal training - listening to his people gets you s lot of knowledge that you can use - a good machinist, if you let him or her know that you’re willing to learn, can teach you a lot about mechanical things.That’s all fine, and looked at with hindsight, he did a very good job - his design (the third iteration of it) exists today, with few modifications. There are a lot of competitor’s products that borrow heavily from his work (and none that borrow from Tutmarc). That says a lot.

My only beef is the myth that he got everything right the first time.

You obviously missed my exchange with the other dude who my post was addressing. My points were exactly on the lines of what your additional points are. The other guy I was answering was all on about how a professional engineer would design a Fender bridge, etc.

I’ll add that Leo couldn’t even regularly pay his employees and often closed the factory when sales didn’t generate enough cash. His dad would pitch in to cut bodies by hand on a bandsaw. He couldn’t pay a journeyman machinist. He hired people that he trained on the job. Just like any other assembly line. Unskilled labor that learned to perform tasks.

 

[micguy]

You threaten those suckers to within an inch of their lives if they dare move at all. Threats & intimidation have worked for me.
View attachment 7451149

Having the vertical and lateral tension from 2 strings means those are less likely to move than a 1 string saddle. If you use the bridge cables that are typical from that era, you get about 1.5 times the tension per string when compared to the strings I use, so overall you’ve got 3x the tensions. Yeah, I’d be surprised if those move much.

 

[Ohabanero]

For those who scoffed at my earlier electrical-tie suggestion. No more noticeable than a typical headstock tuner.

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Riis

Sweet! I’m checking now to see if hipshot makes an ultralight version of that clamp mod

 

[Zooberwerx]

Sweet! I’m checking now to see if hipshot makes an ultralight version of that clamp mod

Scrap Hipshot and StewMac....go Craftsman or Cobalt for the win. Also doubles as a high-mass mod.

Riis

 

[DanGouge]

So I asked about this, but then forgot to try the whole purple loctite or nail polish solutions... Check my action after a gig last week and once again, at least one of my saddles is in completely the wrong position. Gotta remember to do this for the next gig... If it doesn't work, I'm leaning towards the Babicz vintage style bridge in nickel as a nice compliment to my bass.

 

[Turnaround]

Lots of options here for fixing it, but I'll go the other way and suggest that replacing it isn't as hard or complicated as you might think, especially if you choose a bridge with the same screw holes. It's not a whole lot more work than putting on a new set of strings and a basic setup, and also pretty satisfying when finished because now the bass is custom in the way you wanted it. You can go with top loading, high mass, or other features of your choice that the stock bridge doesn't provide.

Be forewarned though that many replacement bridges have thicker baseplates and that necessitates adding a shim to the neck if you want your action low.

 

[DanGouge]

Be forewarned though that many replacement bridges have thicker baseplates and that necessitates adding a shim to the neck if you want your action low.

Good call... I can get my action where I want it on the bass in question with the saddles still having quite a bit of space above the base plate though, so in this case I'm not super concerned.

 

[DanGouge]

So there was a Gotoh 201B-4 for sale on FB Marketplace, so I picked that up and it seems to have cured a bunch of the issues that I was talking about in this thread. I like how the original bridge looks and everything, but the Gotoh makes the whole bass easier to play and it's just going to be reliable in holding the correct action and intonation.

 

[sissy kathy]

If you can find putple loctite, it’s more girgiving than blue, which is ideal for this purpose.

The issue with Fender bridge saddles is the pitch of the screw threads - 32 tthreads per inch is too steep to stay put. Metric bridges use .5 mm pitch (50.8 threads per inch$. Those don’t move.

One detail thst Leo….didn’t get quite right.

He got it right because replacement screws were readily available; metric screws not so much in the '50s, and even now, finding them can be hit or miss. Another reason we need to go metric. I already have, when are the rest of you going to wake up and quit using customary measurements. The coversion has to start somewhere: let it begin here.

 

[micguy]

He got it right because replacement screws were readily available; metric screws not so much in the '50s, and even now, finding them can be hit or miss. Another reason we need to go metric. I already have, when are the rest of you going to wake up and quit using customary measurements. The coversion has to start somewhere: let it begin here.

The conversion has not only started, but finished in certain places. Bicycles have been metric for many decades.