Jazz bass bridge vs pole spacing

[fhm555]

Hey folks, a recent thread about bridges caught my interest and i've got some questions about the string spacing on a jazz bass. Could y'all school me on the above please?

I have a basic understanding that for best results you want the strings to align with pup poles, but i've got some gaps i's like to fill in.

First, when you alter your spacing at the bridge by (i think) 1 mm, what if anything, needs to be done at the nut?

Second, if you had a bridge with symterical saddles and each side was precut to allow for a certain spacing so you could just flip the saddles to accomodate either spacing, would that be something worth having?

Last of all, would a blade style pup do the job properly with the factory bridge spacing?

Thanks in advance for any and all.

 

[walterw]

in order:

--no change at the nut

--i've had an idea in the back of my head for the same thing, a fender-type saddle with single grooves top and bottom, spaced such that it could be flipped over or turned around to create the 20mm spacing all the way across. (in manufacturing, multiple special saddles for different strings means increased costs; if one part could be made to serve in all 4 spots it would be a win.)

--blade pickups render the whole question moot. (hell, it's a subtle thing in the first place, plenty of folks don't hear a difference and don't care. as long as the string is somewhere over the two poles it'll be mostly OK.) still, the secondary function of the wider spacing on a fender bridgeplate is to cause the outer strings to press inward, holding all 4 saddles together to prevent drift and rattle.

 

[MarkoYYZ]

The flippable saddles to switch between 19mm and 20mm spacing is brilliant. These saddles could be sold as aftermarket retrofits for Fender bent-plate style bridges. They'd have to be numbered on the side of the saddle so they are used in the correct sequence, or to be inner/outer, but it's completely doable.
.

 

[walterw]

They'd have to be numbered on the side of the saddle so they are used in the correct sequence, or to be inner/outer

my idea is that you could make them with the spacing for the two inner strings on one side and for the two outer strings on the other side, so that between turning them around and flipping them over you could have one part number for the saddle that served for all 4 strings.

that, or we could go the totally opposite way, and just make ungrooved brass saddles like teles use so the player could cut his own notches.

 

[JustForSport]

my idea is that you could make them with the spacing for the two inner strings on one side and for the two outer strings on the other side, so that between turning them around and flipping them over you could have one part number for the saddle that served for all 4 strings.

That would be the most simple, my idea, too.

still, the secondary function of the wider spacing on a fender bridgeplate is to cause the outer strings to press inward, holding all 4 saddles together to prevent drift and rattle.

If the holes in the back plate were made for 18mm spacing, both 19mm and 20mm saddles would pull together. Or just make a plate like others do, with alignment grooves (too expensive to make for the customers spending their money on the product?)- cheapness and inconsideration of the customer should end somewhere.

 

[JustForSport]

that, or we could go the totally opposite way, and just make ungrooved brass saddles like teles use so the player could cut his own notches.

Hey, that's even cheaper yet! Might as well make the customer drill the anchor holes as well...

 

[walterw]

If the holes in the back plate were made for 18mm spacing, both 19mm and 20mm saddles would pull together.

i like that idea!

19mm is usually good for P bass pickups. (i'll admit i did go to the trouble of slightly repositioning my P pickups so that the strings perfectly threaded the magnet gaps with 20mm spacing. my older american standard bridge relies on the same outer pressure principle to hold the saddles together as the vintage threaded-rod.)

 

[Turnaround]

I dunno. I have suspicions about having the string pulling a bit sideways on the saddle. Seems to me it puts more of the down pressure on one height screw than the other...hmmm.. Not so sure about that. Maybe fine though.

I turned new saddles for the 201 Bridge on my Jazz to provide 20mm spacing. Also elongated the string mount holes so I could line up the ball end with the saddle groove. It works because the saddle set screws ride in little channels in the base plate. Now, assuming you had just such a grooved base plate and elongated mounting holes for the string ball, you could use a multi-grooved saddle that you could flip or rotate to change string spacing. Imagine that the intonation screw had two points of entry into the saddle, at right angles to each other. Four spacings per saddle would be easily achievable.

 

[fhm555]

Thanks so much for all the replies.

 

[walterw]

I turned new saddles for the 201 Bridge on my Jazz to provide 20mm spacing.

pics or no custom saddles!

you could use a multi-grooved saddle that you could flip or rotate to change string spacing. Imagine that the intonation screw had two points of entry into the saddle, at right angles to each other. Four spacings per saddle would be easily achievable.

i don't think you'd even need the two intonation screw entries!

assuming a bridge that was symmetrical, with the intonation screws on one side of center for the G and D and on the other side for the A and E, all you need is one round barrel saddle, with the "inner" spacing on one side and the "outer" spacing on the other.

i haven't tried to draw it yet, but in my mind's eye it would be a normal 19mm long saddle, but with one notch set at 10mm from one end and another on the other side set at 11mm from that same end.

you'd be able to take 4 of the same saddle and arrange them with the inner spacing top side on the inner two strings (one turned around to make things symmetrical) and the outer two flipped over and then also flipped around symmetrically to provide the wider spacing for the outside strings.

 

[fhm555]

pics or no custom saddles!

i don't think you'd even need the two intonation screw entries!

assuming a bridge that was symmetrical, with the intonation screws on one side of center for the G and D and on the other side for the A and E, all you need is one round barrel saddle, with the "inner" spacing on one side and the "outer" spacing on the other.

i haven't tried to draw it yet, but in my mind's eye it would be a normal 19mm long saddle, but with one notch set at 10mm from one end and another on the other side set at 11mm from that same end.

you'd be able to take 4 of the same saddle and arrange them with the inner spacing top side on the inner two strings (one turned around to make things symmetrical) and the outer two flipped over and then also flipped around symmetrically to provide the wider spacing for the outside strings.

 

[Turnaround]

pics or no custom saddles!

Here's the bridge with my new saddles which aligned the strings over the pup poles (the alignment doesn't look quite right in the photo because of the camera angle). This is before I elongated the string mounting holes to allow the strings a more straight-through path.