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Making your own bass bridge?
- Thread starter maartenz
- Start date
It's not difficult, but you need the right tools and a different mindset for doing machine work. Forget about doing anything but finishing work or maybe drilling holes by hand. You need metalworking tools that allow for solid fixturing (such as a milling machine) in order to remove large amounts of material safely and effectively.
Asad
Here's an old thread. A lot of pics missing but you might want to read thru it.
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267858
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267858
I think the website is onlinemetals.com and yeah, you need access to a mill. Or you could do one out of wood. I believe there is a tutorial.
here you go: http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=337912 Its been a while and its improved a bit since, I should update the thread one of these days. yep, one of these days.
Very nice. I had pretty much the same thing in mind for the bridge on the headless I'm working on right now.
I decided to save myself a little bit of machining work though and just bought a cheap ebay les paul style bass bridge, and am going to just make some new saddles for it, since it's going to have a flat fretboard ant this one's radiused.
Won't look quite as pretty, but sometimes a good clean mod of a $20 part can save a fair bit of work.
Your strings seem to make a pretty sharp angle on the way out of the retainer. it might be nice if you cut a nice curve for the string to sit in. Or is it just the picture fooling me?
im midway through a project of building a tremolo unit for one of my basses, technically not a bridge but close....mind you as ugly as it is now, it is just a prototype, fully functional, and doesnt require any permanent modification to the instrument at all
there was a small cavity under the existing bridge where i machined up a small plate, drilled and tapped 4 holes and used the existing holes for stringing through body to pass the 4 bolts through, i used 5mm stainless steel for all the plating, at the moment it can only get just over a semitone of shifting the way its setup but im going to redesign the shaft, even though i just made it all up as i went along...trial and error...
im also going to make a brass bridge the same as the original one that came on that ibanez....lucky for me i work in a machine shop and none of this cost me a cent
there was a small cavity under the existing bridge where i machined up a small plate, drilled and tapped 4 holes and used the existing holes for stringing through body to pass the 4 bolts through, i used 5mm stainless steel for all the plating, at the moment it can only get just over a semitone of shifting the way its setup but im going to redesign the shaft, even though i just made it all up as i went along...trial and error...
im also going to make a brass bridge the same as the original one that came on that ibanez....lucky for me i work in a machine shop and none of this cost me a cent
im midway through a project of building a tremolo unit for one of my basses, technically not a bridge but close....mind you as ugly as it is now, it is just a prototype, fully functional, and doesnt require any permanent modification to the instrument at all
there was a small cavity under the existing bridge where i machined up a small plate, drilled and tapped 4 holes and used the existing holes for stringing through body to pass the 4 bolts through, i used 5mm stainless steel for all the plating, at the moment it can only get just over a semitone of shifting the way its setup but im going to redesign the shaft, even though i just made it all up as i went along...trial and error...
im also going to make a brass bridge the same as the original one that came on that ibanez....lucky for me i work in a machine shop and none of this cost me a cent
does the drag on the saddles give you any trouble with it not returning properly?
There is a thread about it in the how to section. The bridge plate is wooden with brass saddles, and looks relatively simple if you have access to a milling machine. I'm thinking of making my own bridge. Everything but the saddle's grub screws will be wood.
As it is relevant to this topic and doesn't really need a whole new thread about it, would anyone think that wooden saddles is a bad idea?
I was going to give a fabulous ascii diagram of my bridge, but it didnt work. Basically, flip a pbass bridge around, have the strings rolling over the end of the bass, and that should give you a vague idea of what it should look like.
As it is relevant to this topic and doesn't really need a whole new thread about it, would anyone think that wooden saddles is a bad idea?
I was going to give a fabulous ascii diagram of my bridge, but it didnt work. Basically, flip a pbass bridge around, have the strings rolling over the end of the bass, and that should give you a vague idea of what it should look like.
SDB Guitars
Commercial User
Here's one I knocked together on Sunday... using ABM style saddles.
The basic progress - I left out the part about bandsawing it all to rough shape after gluing, then sanding the heck out of it, and applying the wax.
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The basic progress - I left out the part about bandsawing it all to rough shape after gluing, then sanding the heck out of it, and applying the wax.
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So wait, you cut the dividers, then glued them in place?
or you cut the slots and glued the "tail piece" on?
We need to chat, I think I'm gonna attempt to do one...
Oh yeah, whats the wax for?
There are some wicked ways to make bridges!
I was hoping that the brass was millable(word?) with a router with special metal bits or something.
I could try a wood one though
I was hoping that the brass was millable(word?) with a router with special metal bits or something.
I could try a wood one though
SDB Guitars
Commercial User
I had a scrap of fingerboard wood I used for the base... I then used a square to draw lines on the piece to dictate the string spacing and saddle travel.
I cut pieces the width I would need for my desired spacing (which is 18mm, in this case... the wooden spacers are 6mm wide, plus the 12mm gap for the saddle), glued them up (using the saddles as spacers as I clamped and glued, actually), then glued the end pieces on.
I then glued the back on, and bandsawed the entire thing to the desired thickness, shaped it on a belt sander, etc.
Drilled and countersunk holes for the ball ends...
To protect the wood, and to make it look better
What do you use for intonation adjustment?
...and where did you get those saddles?
that would be perfect for the project i am working on. would it be possible to order one for my project? if yes, could you pm me on the details?
SDB Guitars
Commercial User
Those are generic ABM style saddles... you can buy them a few different places, like guitarpartsdepot.com - Invalid Link Removed
It intonates by sliding forward or backward, and it is held in place by a set screw. You can also adjust string height (the saddles move vertically in the metal bridge piece).
