I just picked this bass up earlier today, I knew the bridge was bent but it was selling for a good price anyway so decided to get it. After reading some posts on the Vantage Basses Club, in particular those valuable and informative ones posted by Baa(thanks! You the man) regarding the bridge and how and what replacement to get, I was going to go for it, even ordered a $19 bridge on Amazon that according to reviews by a buyer was a perfect fit. Sure there are better bridges, but wanted to test the bass first to see if it was worth investing in good replacement parts. I bought the bridge without having picked up the bass yet.
When I saw the bass, sure enough, the bridge was taco'd, even worse, the A String looked like it was precariously attached, a slight bump on the road perhaps and it could potentially fly off the bridge rather dangerously so I Immediately loosened the tension on that string.
The bass sounded good but with the bent bridge, the action on the A and D string was pretty much unplayable high. I expected this, the awesome seller was forthcoming about the condition and sent me pictures of what to expect.
The bridge swap out was simple. As recommended by Baa, I used the old saddles and screws (as they were the right kind of height for the bass and are even numbered on the bottom of each saddle so you can identify which is which when you put them on the new bridge. Also used the the three previous adjustment bridge screws as they actually fit on this cheap bridge. Didn't take me long at all but had some adjustments such as string height and intonation to make to get it right. Have to say, the bridge was a perfect fit, no issues whatsoever.
With the new bridge, action is just right, medium scale bass, pretty light, and the sound was amazing, it had the lows but was capable of almost crystal clear definition. It wasn't noisy as I was expecting it to be, pretty quiet actually, and from my limited time with it so far, a great little bass, I'm very impressed. I'll test it some more, perhaps change the strings , but all is good, I'm very happy I read some of the reviews and advice on the bass here on TB before I bought it, I was ready for the work I needed to do (really not very much work, quick and easy change out ).
Totally spot on, thanks Vantage bass folks.
When I saw the bass, sure enough, the bridge was taco'd, even worse, the A String looked like it was precariously attached, a slight bump on the road perhaps and it could potentially fly off the bridge rather dangerously so I Immediately loosened the tension on that string.
The bass sounded good but with the bent bridge, the action on the A and D string was pretty much unplayable high. I expected this, the awesome seller was forthcoming about the condition and sent me pictures of what to expect.
The bridge swap out was simple. As recommended by Baa, I used the old saddles and screws (as they were the right kind of height for the bass and are even numbered on the bottom of each saddle so you can identify which is which when you put them on the new bridge. Also used the the three previous adjustment bridge screws as they actually fit on this cheap bridge. Didn't take me long at all but had some adjustments such as string height and intonation to make to get it right. Have to say, the bridge was a perfect fit, no issues whatsoever.
With the new bridge, action is just right, medium scale bass, pretty light, and the sound was amazing, it had the lows but was capable of almost crystal clear definition. It wasn't noisy as I was expecting it to be, pretty quiet actually, and from my limited time with it so far, a great little bass, I'm very impressed. I'll test it some more, perhaps change the strings , but all is good, I'm very happy I read some of the reviews and advice on the bass here on TB before I bought it, I was ready for the work I needed to do (really not very much work, quick and easy change out ).
Totally spot on, thanks Vantage bass folks.
