Double Bass Put the bridge in a wrong place or?

[Danko]

Hi guys,

I have bought a bass with the neck at wrong angle. Not, the front-back angle, but when you look the bass from the front, the fingerboard is tilted to one side.

I don't have time and re$ource$ to visit a luthier to properly fix that. But, I want to make the bass playable for my next gig.

When I bought the bass, the bridge was set to one side of the bass (approx 2 cm to the right from the center of the bass).

Knowing that is not healthy for the belly, I've sanded the bridge top, and made new indentations for the strings. Now, the strings are sitting wrong on the bridge (A string is dead center, and G is on the far right end of the bridge), but atleast now I can put the bridge on the belly centered.

Is that better, or should I put it back the way it was (see my horrible drawing - attached)?

I don't mind loosing the bridge, but the belly has already started to unglue in the center, and I'd like to put less pressure on the belly.

Please don't scream at me for not fixing the bass properly. I will take it to the repair-shop eventually.

Thanks in advance for your replies!

Danko

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

If Ken Smith was still around, he would be screaming in horror now!

 

[Danko]

If Ken Smith was still around, he would be screaming in horror now!

Knew someone would. Hence two "no-screaming disclaimers".

Danko

 

[RevJPBass]

Seems to me I read somewhere about making the bridge tilted, so that it stood in the right place on the top of the bass but the top of the bridge was offset to accomodate the offcenter neck. I guess that involves shortening one of the legs.... Try the Chuck Traeger book?

 

[Danko]

Seems to me I read somewhere about making the bridge tilted, so that it stood in the right place on the top of the bass but the top of the bridge was offset to accomodate the offcenter neck. I guess that involves shortening one of the legs.... Try the Chuck Traeger book?

Thanks. That sounds interresting, BUT.... Once I get the bass fixed (fingerboard untilted), which I hope will be very soon (within two months), the tilted bridge won't be very useful to me. Then I'll need a new bridge, which I'm really hoping to avoid for now.

The original question stands: what's worse - wrong bridge position, or wrong string placement on the bridge?

Danko

 

[Jake deVilliers]

You did the right thing Danko.

Its more important to have the bridge foot on the bass bar than have the strings symmetrical on the bridge. There are several good-sounding basses playing around here with the same problem since the cost of correcting it outweighs the perceived sonic benefit.

In a perfect world, yes, in the real world, maybe.

 

[Danko]

You did the right thing Danko.

Its more important to have the bridge foot on the bass bar than have the strings symmetrical on the bridge. There are several good-sounding basses playing around here with the same problem since the cost of correcting it outweighs the perceived sonic benefit.

In a perfect world, yes, in the real world, maybe.

Thanks all!

BTW: During the weekend I played a bit around with the current bridge, and tried tilting it a bit. I sanded some of the G-string foot off, to tilt it. Also have put a piece of slightly tilted maple block under the E-string foot. I glued these extra pieces to the bridge's feet.

Then I've put another tilted piece of maple under the feet, and wow!

I was able to move the strings on the bridge top back toward the symetrical position. Still not quite symetrical, but much-much better. Almost there.

Now, I'm toying with the idea to buy a brand new bridge and give it to luthier to reproduce my current "Frankenstein bridge", but without any extra pieces of wood. I'm aware that I've lost some sound (I can also hear thumpier tone) because I have two "breaks" in the bridge right now. BUT, but... I'm still happy it worked.

Thanks again guys for your ideas. I may not need to have the neck adjusted. However, there are some cracks that need glueing. So, I still need to visit my luthier.

Take care,

Danko