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Let the Battle for the Best Bridge Begin!

Which bridge do you prefer for solid performance on a standard P bass?

  • Leo Quan Badass II

  • All Parts Omega High Mass

  • Fender High Mass

  • Babicz Full Contact FCH-4

  • KTS Titanium

  • Hipshot A or B style

  • Other - suggest in comment

Results are only viewable after voting.
#42
GIBrat51 said:
So, do you still make them? Everything I can find about them is several years old...:eyebrow:
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I do not. A fellow TB member contacted me last August about reintroducing the bridge along with his new Bass guitar line. January first was the projected launch date. (Web site is still not up) Mid March and he was ignoring emails, while having time to post on TB, and receiving negative feedback on his profile. I called him out on a public thread, he showed his true colors, and we parted ways. You might contact him if you're genuinely interested. He claims to have had some Brass/Aluminum demos manufactured.
 
#46
Check out the KSM Foundation Bridge. It will work for P and J basses.
KSM Bridge.jpg
 
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#49
GIBrat51 said:
Ah, well... c'est la vie. Frankly, that doesn't sound like someone I want to do business with, anyway... thanks.
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I'm not particularly happy to have to respond to this at all, but I am unfairy being smeared here. In the interest of fairness, you can read the so-called "call out" thread here and decide for yourself:

Hammersmith? Anybody bought one?

If he's putting his design up as a "best bridge to use" suggestion, then he may as well suggest a unicorn, because it would be a magical thing if you ever got your hands on one - he's made sure of that, with everyone who has tried doing business with him.

/thread derail


As for the thread topic, it really comes down to preference. I've tried every bridge listed in the poll and there are positives and negatives to all - you just have to choose what works best for you, or does the most within the budget you have.

If you think about the thousands and thousands of recordings that have been made with the simple bent plate design, then any deviation from that is a matter of preference in terms of tone, function and visual style. Chasing that tone in your head should go more towards strings, pickups and technique, whereas the bridge is something that just needs to do its job well. There are different ways to do that job, and in my case I lean towards something with brass saddles with a lighter weight base plate. It shouldn't be fussy to use. I have a pony in this race so I will refrain from commenting on specifics of the bridges listed, but you would have good success with any of them (as long as you're not buying a cheap knockoff).
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#52
Doner Designs said:
I'm a big fan of Babicz. Black is my favorite color, but I have been using gold and chrome for my personals because the black hardware really shows the scratches.
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Yeah, a scratch resistant black is something I'm struggling with also. Different materials accept paint in different ways, so it also messes up your machining tolerances if the chrome or brass are finished with a certain thickness of coating, and the black is thicker because it's paint rather than plating. I quite like the look of black hardware.
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#54
The spacing of the 4-string bass bridge with slotted saddles is .750 which we find works well for many customers P and J basses. We do sell an unslotted version as well to be able to achieve different spacing.
What spacing are you guys seeing with your P vs J basses? Typically we see the same stock bridge on both basses.
 
#55
buttrock21 said:
The spacing of the 4-string bass bridge with slotted saddles is .750 which we find works well for many customers P and J basses. We do sell an unslotted version as well to be able to achieve different spacing.
What spacing are you guys seeing with your P vs J basses? Typically we see the same stock bridge on both basses.
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Sure you do. That doesn't make them correct spacing; just take a look at any Fender J bass with a stock bent plate bridge to see how the bridge, while it works, could use wider spacing.
 
#56
The back 3 screws line up to most traditional Fender style bridges, and the outside 2 are off-set forward to the others to be able to drill into fresh wood, and also to accommodate for other bridges where the holes don't line up. You can mount the bridge just using the 3 center screws if you don't want to drill fresh holes on yours.
 
#57
recently I changed to a high-mass bridge on my Yamaha RBX
I nicked the one from my Cort Action to put on there
afterwards, I kind of regretted it, because the bridge is a little high
if I want lower action, I'll have to shim the neck
the sustain gained was almost unnoticed, around 1 second longer than with the plain old bent metal bridge

I don't think that's the typical experience though, because the BAII on my old JP-90 seemed to give sustain for days

in reality, I think those mono saddles are the best

2138.jpg
 

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