Innards of the bridge, showing the piezo and the saddle.
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I've been bitten by the bug.
- Thread starter Flamingo21
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- bass building luthiery
Innards of the bridge, showing the piezo and the saddle.
It looks like the block may be attached to the “trapeze” by two nuts, one of which is visible in this photo. If so, you may be able to remove those nuts, remove the metal block, and replace it with a new one that is suited to your strings. That could be as simple as a rectangular piece of wood with six holes drilled through it, two for the trapeze and one for each string.
Yes, it looks that way, doesn't it? But the nuts, if that's what they are, won't come off easily. I tried, but I didn't try too hard for fear of breaking the whole thing.
But now that I think about it again, if I do break it, it's hardly the end of the world. I mean it's a €12 tailpiece that presently I have no use for!
I'll apply some force in the morning. (It's late evening here now.) Thanks for thinking along.
Lying awake in the middle of the night, I realized that to be cheap it must have been made by simple means. Therefore @Max Bogosity must be right! So I got up at 3AM and sure enough:
Suddenly the "tailpiece matter" has become much simpler! Thanks again.
And then I unclamped the bridge
... and realized that I can make the same sandwich again, without the piezo channel but with six holes, for the tailpiece. This will give (ahem) Visual Unity.
... and realized that I can make the same sandwich again, without the piezo channel but with six holes, for the tailpiece. This will give (ahem) Visual Unity.
In order to obtain a table sander, I just roped my hand sander to the workbench.
(Don't tell me It's Not Safe To Do That, as I already know.)
Then I had to take a deep breath, because on a small piece of wood this thing works quickly, and you can ruin your work quickly. I'd practiced on a scrap piece first.
Turned out reasonably well. I'll fine tune by hand.
(Don't tell me It's Not Safe To Do That, as I already know.)
Then I had to take a deep breath, because on a small piece of wood this thing works quickly, and you can ruin your work quickly. I'd practiced on a scrap piece first.
Turned out reasonably well. I'll fine tune by hand.
All these goings-on with a Bridge Sandwich, a Tailpiece Sandwich, and an improvised table sander, I consider to be preliminaries for when I grow up and allow myself to build necks and bodies.
Drilling six holes in the tailpiece sandwich...
I did get tear-out at the largest hole. I searched the ground for the torn-out piece of wood so I could glue it back in, but I couldn't find it. Well, then that side will be at the tail end, so the thick string knots will mask the damage.
And then it all fit. Say cheese!
Now I only have to give the bridge two feet to stand on, and then I can string up and make music.
I did get tear-out at the largest hole. I searched the ground for the torn-out piece of wood so I could glue it back in, but I couldn't find it. Well, then that side will be at the tail end, so the thick string knots will mask the damage.
And then it all fit. Say cheese!
Now I only have to give the bridge two feet to stand on, and then I can string up and make music.
Any one of numerous wood filler or epoxy products could be used to fill the tear out if you were so inclined.
I'll keep that in mind in case I find it bugs me.
Right now, it doesn't.
Right now, it doesn't.
...... and then I ran into my next problem. Obviously, if those thick strings won't fit into a normal tailpiece, they won't fit into normal tuners. Never thought of that. 
You can't solve it by tying a knot in the string, as you would with a guitar string. It simply will not hold, I tried that. So now I either need to file these tuners out, or source ukebass tuners and hope the posts match my filed-wide postholes.
In order to take the last photo of the previous post, I tied the strings to the headstock with clothespegs. Except the G string, which can be strung up normally.
Then came the much needed good news: after I hooked everything up, I pulled each string taut with my left hand, hooking my left pinky behind the headstock, and with my right hand plucked the string. The bass sent strong, happy, deep bass sounds to my amp! So my scratch built bridge, with polystyrene saddle and the piezo sandwiched in, works flawlessly.
I was hoping to bring the bass to band rehearsal tomorrow.
You can't solve it by tying a knot in the string, as you would with a guitar string. It simply will not hold, I tried that. So now I either need to file these tuners out, or source ukebass tuners and hope the posts match my filed-wide postholes.
In order to take the last photo of the previous post, I tied the strings to the headstock with clothespegs. Except the G string, which can be strung up normally.
Then came the much needed good news: after I hooked everything up, I pulled each string taut with my left hand, hooking my left pinky behind the headstock, and with my right hand plucked the string. The bass sent strong, happy, deep bass sounds to my amp! So my scratch built bridge, with polystyrene saddle and the piezo sandwiched in, works flawlessly.
I was hoping to bring the bass to band rehearsal tomorrow.
I'm trying to file the tuners. Can you see the difference? The D already fits in. Except I can't use this one for the D as it is the wrong orientation so I'll keep filing until the A fits in.
Looks like I survived a crisis.
Not perfectly straight lines here, but close. I feel good about that.
One of my new files did not survive. Oh well.
Not perfectly straight lines here, but close. I feel good about that.
One of my new files did not survive. Oh well.
Starting to look like a bass! 
I haven't played a lot of those rubber stringed basses, does the string spacing at the nut need to be so far inboard from the edges?
I haven't played a lot of those rubber stringed basses, does the string spacing at the nut need to be so far inboard from the edges?
No. That could be user preference.Starting to look like a bass!
I haven't played a lot of those rubber stringed basses, does the string spacing at the nut need to be so far inboard from the edges?
I'm trying to upload a sound file, but both my phone and my tablet only record in a format TB doesn't recognize. Now I'm clueless. 
