Reseating bass bridge

Not really, except that depending on how far you move it, you may be revealing the old screw holes and/or an imprint in the finish from the old position, or non-faded paint under the old position, etc. - cosmetics that may or may not bother you.

Before committing to moving the bridge though - have you gone through the rest of the setup to make sure nothing strange is going on? How are you checking intonation? Is this the original bridge, in the original position - or has someone modified the bass in some way?

 

So the saddles are as close to the bridge pickup as they will go and the intonation is still flat?

 

I've only ever had this happen on a cheaper Epiphone guitar. I've certainly never heard of this on a G&L. Have you tried multiple sets of strings just to make sure?

 

Yep, I’d change strings first.

 

Highly unlikely G&L would make such a sloppy mistake, far more likely to be bad strings and/or a bad intonation method.
Do not move the bridge.

Use new strings and use a precise intonation method, 'matching 12th fret to 2nd harmonic by ear' is NOT precise and is prone to error in several ways.
Use a cable tuner (NOT a headstock clip-on tuner) and set intonation by checking open note and several frets along the neck up to the highest played fret.

How you can check bridge placement: The saddles never need to go further forward than 'scale length' from the edge of the nut. So if the saddle centres can reach this point (they should be able to) the bridge is fine.

If you are running out of screw length just use longer screws.

 

Care to elaborate on what errors would occur?

 

Can you get a long ruler and measure the exact distance from the fretboard-face of the nut to the middle of the furthest forward saddle, right along the string path? That would give us a pretty clear indication of if this is something weird with your strings and/or your intonation technique or setup, or the bridge is actually in the wrong place (which I also would not expect on an apparently unmolested instrument, but you never know).

 

Not a bad idea.

*What's your procedure for checking intonation?

*Do you / did you set your witness points?

Riis

 

The "witness point" is the spot at which your string contacts the bridge or nut.

Bass strings are really thick and stiff. When you install a new string, you're bending it over that break point, and the string doesn't naturally want to bend cleanly - it wants to just develop a lazy curve.

"Setting" the witness point is really just forcing the string into a clean bend at the point where it contacts the saddle and the nut. Doing so lets the string settle into a nice straight path, instead of having a gentle curve at each end. Those gentle curves can really mess with the string's mechanics otherwise.

Doing so is really simple - get the string on, get it up close to being in tune, and press down hard with your fingers right in front of and behind the saddle. You're trying to introduce a kink right where the string touches the saddle.

Strings will gradually settle over time if you don't do this, which can be problematic if you're trying to do a setup and adjust intonation - since both the action and intonation will change as the string settles. Setting the point as you install the string will give you good mechanics right from the start and will reduce the "drift" as the string settles.

 

@dwizum covered witness points so we're good. I would also check my 12th fret harmonic vs 12th fretted and set the intonation accordingly. It's not perfect but it's a good starting point. An alternative is to tune with the 12th harmonic then check the 7th and 17th fretted.

Riis

 

Once in awhile you'll get a string that allows you to get the open string and fretted 12th to agree but the 12th fret harmonic will be off. It happens. This is why some will not use the harmonic.
You will find that if that bridge is the same design as the USA version you won't be able to move it easily, because there's a big metal foot on the bottom which fits into a slot in the body.