Michael Manring's Bridge?

ok can someone please enlighten me as to what is so special ($2500 special) about this bridge?

 

The bridge can be calibrated to change tunings.

 

how does it change the tunings?? on the pic i only see 2 levers

 

it changes tunings in pairs of strings, between 2 positions each, if i am not wrong.

 

Because nobody else makes one, so they can. Simple as that. There are a fair number of parts to make that take a bit of time, but the main reason is simply because they can. Nothing wrong with that either, technically.

 

no, i wasnt having a go at the price of the bridge. i was wondering what purpose the bridge serves that makes it so special (with regards to tuning)? i mean, i thought thats what tuning keys were for

 

So, when you factor in the tuning keys, you have even MORE tunings to flip to on the fly.



Check out this one and see how it can be used.

 

thanks for that. certainly not something i would ever be able to use but Manring seems to have put it to quite good use, even if i didnt really appreciate that piece he played in the vid.

 

You should design your own and sell it for cheaper. I am sure that they wouldn't be all that hard to make.

lowsound

 

That's definitely not true at all. I can bust out a normal brass bridge- including the saddles- in about 30 minutes on a mill, but there are so many other parts in this that it takes a LOT more time. Things like the cams take a while to set up to cut accurately. I'm not going to say how long it took me to make, but it was a while.

There are a few things I would change (and did, but haven't tried out yet), but to say that it's easy to make OR design and ensure functionality (smooth and accurate) AND durability is completely incorrect.

I don't see any reason to sell one. I'm not out to make money at this at the moment as there really isn't a market for it, and if I really wanted it to be worth my time I'd CNC everything. But, I live about 3 miles from Zon and like the guys a lot, and don't have any desire to compete with them, especially since I use their basses!

Normal bridges, though, I'd make those.

 

Sure, but if I made it on a manual mill again it would still cost you more than your basses did!

 

how far do they change the pitch. i know a hpshot d-tuner can change from a semitone to a tone and a half.

 

Same here. Of all the primarily fretless paying bassists around, there are none I would rather hear than Manring. He has it all...chops, a good sense of melody, an unique and innovative sound...he's great!

 

I haven't tested the limits, but easily the range of the Hipshot tuners on the top of the bass, if not more. If you set it up correctly you get three different tunings, high-medium-low. I can go from a high Bb to a low G with room to spare ...

 

actually, the bridge is flexible. The lever switch between three different settings, and you can set each string individually. Setting one could be the "home" setting, while setting two drops the two top strings a whole step while setting three drops all strings two steps ... or you could set one of the settings to drop only one of the strings, or all of the strings, or three of the strings, etc.

 

Hey guy's,

Because I've missed this thread, I started one myself about this bridge. If you like, I've placed a ('rare' I think) detailed picture here ...

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376546

I WANT one to ..... but you all here did give me a bad feeling about that ... thanks for frustrating me!

But at least; the story about this bridge is clear! Thanks for help!

 

I think Steinberger made a similar bridge in the 80s. I saw a completely detunable Steinberger Design bridge retrofitted on an older Yamaha BB model at GC a year ago, and it had a level that would detune the entire bass. It detuned it out of tune and I did not know how to adjust it so I couldn't tell you if it was a good idea or not.