Jazz Bass Vintage Bridge Replacements

[douglasbass]

Greetings,

I have a "Frankenfender" Jazz Bass with the stock Fender traditional (vintage) bridge with threaded saddles. Looking to upgrade to a higher quality bridge. But I want to keep the vintage look and dimension since I use a pickup cover sometimes for design reasons, and the bridge needs to fit under the traditional cover.

Suggestions welcome. Prefer lightweight bridges so is there something higher-grade that's not "high mass" / too heavy ? Thanks.

 

[Gluvhand]

Greetings,

I have a "Frankenfender" Jazz Bass with the stock Fender traditional (vintage) bridge with threaded saddles. Looking to upgrade to a higher quality bridge. But I want to keep the vintage look and dimension since I use a pickup cover sometimes for design reasons, and the bridge needs to fit under the traditional cover.

Suggestions welcome. Prefer lightweight bridges so is there something higher-grade that's not "high mass" / too heavy ? Thanks.

What don't you like about your bridge? IMO, nothing else will do the job "better" and won't necessarily be an upgrade, even visually, because it's under the cover.

 

[Lo-E]

What don't you like about your bridge?

Exactly my question. What indicates a lack of quality to you? A vintage style Fender bent plate does everything it needs to. There are sexier, cooler-looking bridges out there but I don't know that they're any better.

 

[ColdEye]

The bridge is probably the last thing I would ever touch unless there is something structurally wrong with it.

 

[StereoPlayer]

I prefer using the threaded Fender bridge.

 

[douglasbass]

Looking for a different tonal quality, not a visual upgrade, but perhaps any vintage-style threaded bridge won't do that.

 

[Swerve]

Wilkinson make a vintage style bridge that is just slightly beefier than the traditional Fender. And I mean slightly.

https://www.amazon.com/Wilkinson-Bridge-Saddles-4-String-Precision/dp/B0833483X8

Gotoh 201B-4. Thicker and higher mass with traditional looks.

https://www.amazon.com/Gotoh-201B-4-Bass-Bridge-Chrome/dp/B07H5PRMQX


I'm personally a fan of the classic Badass II. But it is definitely high mass and likely won't fit under a bridge cover but I've never tried. Bridge covers get in the way of palm muting so I never use them.

 

[buldog5151bass]

Back in 1983, I bought a 70s parts Fender bass. Like many of the period, it had a BadAss II bridge. About three years ago, I replaced it with a traditional bent plate bridge. Other than a slight reduction in weight, absolutely no difference in anything.

 

[douglasbass]

Thanks, I'll also take a look at the KTS titanium version, and also check out replacing the threaded saddles only, perhaps with brass ones.

 

[Killing Floor]

You can get a stock Fender plate that's not threaded.

 

[Lo-E]

Looking for a different tonal quality, not a visual upgrade, but perhaps any vintage-style threaded bridge won't do that.

Having changed out lots of parts over the years, I'll suggest that it's pretty doubtful you'll notice any change in tonal quality at all. It is fun to change parts out, though, so as long as you're having a good time I'm all for it.

 

[StereoPlayer]

I'm from the school of thought that, IMO, the bridge just secures the string, sets the intonation. It does nothing for tone.

 

[douglasbass]

Having changed out lots of parts over the years, I'll suggest that it's pretty doubtful you'll notice any change in tonal quality at all. It is fun to change parts out, though, so as long as you're having a good time I'm all for it.

Indeed, it is fun!

 

[douglasbass]

I'm from the school of thought that, IMO, the bridge just secures the string, sets the intonation. It does nothing for tone.

I may be too influenced by Tele guitar bridge talk. Bass of course is a different thing.

 

[Slater]

Looking for a different tonal quality, not a visual upgrade, but perhaps any vintage-style threaded bridge won't do that.

Change strings. Bridge swaps rarely make any noticeable tonal difference.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Indeed, it is fun!

I like putzing on my basses too.
My current stereo bass awaiting the custom PU's

 

[douglasbass]

I like putzing on my basses too.
My current stereo bass awaiting the custom PU's

View attachment 5067053

Unique! I dig the pickup placement. Is that walnut? Great tonewood.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Unique! I dig the pickup placement. Is that walnut? Great tonewood.

Yes, walnut. My sister bass to the bass link on the bottom of this post.
Thanks.

 

[Bloomfield]

There is also the Gotoh 203B-4. It is a bent brass plate that looks much like the original, but has the advantage of having grooves for the saddle-height setscrews to ride in which makes it more stable side-to-side. It's probably a little heavier than stock but not much by the looks of it.

JAPARTS : Gotoh Bass Bridges - 203B-4

 

[fhm555]

Greetings,

I have a "Frankenfender" Jazz Bass with the stock Fender traditional (vintage) bridge with threaded saddles. Looking to upgrade to a higher quality bridge. But I want to keep the vintage look and dimension since I use a pickup cover sometimes for design reasons, and the bridge needs to fit under the traditional cover.

Suggestions welcome. Prefer lightweight bridges so is there something higher-grade that's not "high mass" / too heavy ? Thanks.

If I really like a bass and there is a Babicz bridge for it I'd go for that, if a bass is good but not at the top of my list I'd get a Fender Pure Vintage bridge and replace the slotted height adjuster grub screws with stainless hex hardware.
But to the point, if you have a Fender threaded saddle bridge, it will take over a hundred bucks to get anything better, but you get more. I'm a strict amateur so I don't know any better way to describe the difference between a threaded saddle L plate bridge and a Babicz except that the Babicz makes my strings feel much tighter than does the L plate. I can play quite a bit faster with the Babicz than I can an L plate, but The L plate is much simpler to adjust so if that is something you'd prefer, the Fender bridge would be the way to go, at least for me.