Minneapolis, US. A shop had one hanging on the wall. I wanted to buy a Gibson Les Paul Jr DC, and bought the Embassy instead as I found it much more to my liking, and for far less money.
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NBD: Epiphone Embassy Pro
- Thread starter BassDaddy77
- Start date
Could you post a pic, as to help us see what a "proper" bridge mounting location should look like? Every picture of an Embassy Pro I've seen looks like mine did, in that the bridge was mounted too close to the pickup to allow for good intonation.
It may not be easy to see unless you view a picture at the right angle, but as you can see on the one I returned, the claw tailpiece is installed way higher up closer to the bridge. That's the problem; because the claw tailpiece is installed higher up, it's closer to the bridge which means you're going to be sharp on intonation unless you put the saddles further back than they can go. See attached of my bad one, and compare that to stock photos or the one in the video on the previous page.
Attachments
I'm not sure how useful this will be, but here's a couple photos of my Embassy Pro:
As I noted before, the E string saddle is all the way back, and the A string almost all the way. The D and G have reasonable room to move. I did hesitate a bit before buying, but the bass did (and still does) intonate correctly and the price was low enough to take the risk. The pickups on these things are great, worth most of the cost imo.
As I noted before, the E string saddle is all the way back, and the A string almost all the way. The D and G have reasonable room to move. I did hesitate a bit before buying, but the bass did (and still does) intonate correctly and the price was low enough to take the risk. The pickups on these things are great, worth most of the cost imo.
Interesting, as both of those basses look to have the bridge in the same exact location. I recall checking my intonation with the stock strings right out of the box and it was darn close to perfect (aside from a wee bit sharp on the low E). The saddles were all back as far as they could go towards the tailpiece.
But, after switching out the factory strings for some TI Jazz flats, I couldn't do anything about the severity of "sharpness" across all 4 strings- the worst being the low E (which was nearly a semi-tone sharp at the point). Perhaps stringing the Embassy with flats exacerbates the problem?
But, after switching out the factory strings for some TI Jazz flats, I couldn't do anything about the severity of "sharpness" across all 4 strings- the worst being the low E (which was nearly a semi-tone sharp at the point). Perhaps stringing the Embassy with flats exacerbates the problem?
Boy are you spot on on that. Mine has the same issue and I am looking for ways to correct it. Now if they had a saddle that was made so it overhung backward a bit it would allow the intonation to be set correctly. My E string is back all the way and it's close but still not on and the rest of the strings don't have much leeway at all. The bridge could easily have been 1/4" forward of its present position. If you look how its mounted it would require some serious modifications to the bass to change it. A Hipshot is longer and might cover the holes from the claw and bridge. It also has inserts that could take up for the change in style easily. I have a friend that has a machine shop and I am thinking about asking if he could make me 4 stainless steel saddles shaped in a L with the section the string sits on sitting on the L. Will post something here if I find an easy solution.
I had several issues on mine but intonation wasn't one. I love it and play it a lot. Got lucky, I guess.
My biggest peeve was those damned sharp screw heads! Otherwise it's a pretty elegant and useful bass!
I found a web site selling bridges that are a bit wider. They are advertised as allowing better intonation settings. I sent a note asking for some more information. These may be the answer to the intonation issue with ones that the bridge is set a bit too far forward.
I love the cream color,it's actually very similar to my 46 year old Rick 4000's faded white.
It's a great bass, the pickups sound fantastic.
I got mine 2 years ago from Sweetwater, so, no intonation issues, and the overall quality is much better than i expected for the price.
Mine was one of the first ones delivered..I ordered it in advance from Sweetwater.
My Peterson strobe puts the intonation dead on in this position.
My Peterson strobe puts the intonation dead on in this position.
Do you have a link? Just got one today and the E saddle is all the way back and needs to go further. I'm entertaining ideas of either sending it back or modifying it. I don't think the Hipshot lines up with the posts or has any extra travel, maybe if someone has the Hipshot they can correct me. Also I don't think the Hipshot chrome is a match and I would like to maintain that look.
I would like to keep the same look of the stock setup and because mine is black, I am looking into possibly moving the post holes and the inserts back a full space and trying that and filling in the old holes. The bridge should still cover the old holes. It is a $300 bass, got it on clearance and may be worth the effort.
Pretty much intonated in the picture except the E needs to go back about 1/8" - 3/16". IME
Oh yeah, and the tuners got to go!
First thing I would try is flipping the E string saddle around to get another 1/8" or so of adjustment. Depending on the saddle it might be necessary to file a bit of fall off from the witness point. If it works you're done and it's free.
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