I’ve had a Pedulla Thunderbass for over 10 years, and never cared for the stock gold hardware. A while back I swapped out the tuners on one of my other basses for some ultra-lights. I now had a “free” set of black tuners on hand, so all I needed to complete the “package” was a black bridge.
However, the stock Pedulla bridge in black is virtually non-existent. Of course, there are other black 19mm bridges on the market, but most are smaller front-to-back than the Pedulla. This was a concern, because when I removed the original bridge, the shade of the wood underneath was different, due to differences in long-term light exposure:
The only bridge I could find that perfectly fit the bill was a Babicz FCH (Full Contact Hardware) Original Series. It is discontinued, and there were only maybe a half-dozen available anywhere, so I snagged one from Reverb for the princely sum of $213.
Before turning the bass over to my local tech, I noticed the Phillips screws that came with the FCH were insanely long, like 30-50% longer than the Pedulla screws. When I picked up the bass, some of the screw heads were buggered up pretty bad, I expect because the tech was worried about drilling the pilot holes too deep (i.e. out the other side!) and had a hard time getting the screws sunk that last distance. I also noticed that for one string, the ball end had not dropped into the hole. It was visibly hanging out the end of the bridge like a goofy snaggletooth.
When I tried to remove the strings to install new ones, they were stuck in the ball holes. Like, seriously stuck. I had to use a pair of heavy-duty, automotive-shop grade needle nose pliers to grab the ball ends and pull them out. Being that tight, the only way the ball ends had dropped into the holes (except for the “snaggletooth” one) was from being forced / pulled in via the string tuning. Thinking something might be off with the strings, I tried another set - no difference.
Obviously, this was an untenable situation, especially with the “snaggletooth” end that wouldn’t press into the ball hole at all: If all the ball ends were exposed at the end of the bridge, ala Badass, I could have lived with that, but not with only one of them.
Fortunately, I have a Dremel, and happened to have an appropriate tip that I could grind out the holes enough for the ball ends to slip in easily. In the process, I managed to scuff the wood below the bridge a bit in one place, so I no longer have a pristine bass. I guess it could be argued that I should have taken appropriate precautions to prevent that, but it could also be argued that the work shouldn’t have been needed in the first place. Especially for what this thing cost.
In the end, I love the way the bass looks with the black hardware, but this bridge is a serious disappointment. Hopefully this issue has been resolved with Babicz’s current offerings.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
Ecclesia: Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide
Administrator, Official Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Official Heartfield Club #36
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Official Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners Club
Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
My Basses
However, the stock Pedulla bridge in black is virtually non-existent. Of course, there are other black 19mm bridges on the market, but most are smaller front-to-back than the Pedulla. This was a concern, because when I removed the original bridge, the shade of the wood underneath was different, due to differences in long-term light exposure:
The only bridge I could find that perfectly fit the bill was a Babicz FCH (Full Contact Hardware) Original Series. It is discontinued, and there were only maybe a half-dozen available anywhere, so I snagged one from Reverb for the princely sum of $213.
Before turning the bass over to my local tech, I noticed the Phillips screws that came with the FCH were insanely long, like 30-50% longer than the Pedulla screws. When I picked up the bass, some of the screw heads were buggered up pretty bad, I expect because the tech was worried about drilling the pilot holes too deep (i.e. out the other side!) and had a hard time getting the screws sunk that last distance. I also noticed that for one string, the ball end had not dropped into the hole. It was visibly hanging out the end of the bridge like a goofy snaggletooth.
When I tried to remove the strings to install new ones, they were stuck in the ball holes. Like, seriously stuck. I had to use a pair of heavy-duty, automotive-shop grade needle nose pliers to grab the ball ends and pull them out. Being that tight, the only way the ball ends had dropped into the holes (except for the “snaggletooth” one) was from being forced / pulled in via the string tuning. Thinking something might be off with the strings, I tried another set - no difference.
Obviously, this was an untenable situation, especially with the “snaggletooth” end that wouldn’t press into the ball hole at all: If all the ball ends were exposed at the end of the bridge, ala Badass, I could have lived with that, but not with only one of them.
Fortunately, I have a Dremel, and happened to have an appropriate tip that I could grind out the holes enough for the ball ends to slip in easily. In the process, I managed to scuff the wood below the bridge a bit in one place, so I no longer have a pristine bass. I guess it could be argued that I should have taken appropriate precautions to prevent that, but it could also be argued that the work shouldn’t have been needed in the first place. Especially for what this thing cost.
In the end, I love the way the bass looks with the black hardware, but this bridge is a serious disappointment. Hopefully this issue has been resolved with Babicz’s current offerings.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt
Ecclesia: Unique Arrangements of Hymns, P&W Standards, and Original Tunes
Make Your Own Cables: A How-To Guide
Administrator, Official Pedulla Club #45
Administrator, Official Heartfield Club #36
Administrator, Official Tobias Club #133
Administrator, Official Pre-Gibson Tobias Owners Club
Fretless Club #943
Big Cabs Club #23
My Rig: Stage and FOH Friendly
My Basses
