Revolutionary bass guitar bridge - what do you think?

[Metal_Maniac]

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Interesting. I still think the witness point area is pretty large and undefined as well as differently sized for each string gauge because there is no defined edge. That witness point will get larger with wear over time also. A big hurdle you'll have is that it can't be easily retrofitted or swapped. Surface mount bridges are pretty easy to upgrade or change out. This requires extensive modifications.
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Good luck!

Good points. yes, in newer versions I improved the witness point. It can be a lot smaller and more defined. Yes, it will wear of course.
And yes, that's a big disadvantage of this design; it cannot be as easily retrofitted as other bridges.

 

[Metal_Maniac]

From your web site:
"For the Dutch guitar brand Aristides Instruments I designed a revolutionary bass guitar bridge.
.....
Extensive studies on the preferred bass guitar sound of players, the usage of the bass guitar bridge and the desired visual aesthetics were performed. "

The details of the bridge bring up more questions than they answer.

Was the prototype you made used on an Aristides bass? Do you have pictures or recordings of the bridge in use? Was this at their request or did you do it on spec? Are there any licensing issues with Aristides?

What extensive studies did you do exactly? Did you do original research or did you use secondary sources?

In what way is this bridge "revolutionary" as you say in the title of this thread, other than how it looks? What does it do, functionally, better than other designs?

The drawing you provided makes it look like it would be difficult to set a functional witness point on strings passing through the bridge, with the metal protruding beyond the contact point of the string underneath. Has this been an issue in your testing of the prototype?

Yes, of course this description is only very brief. It gives a summary of the work I did.
I recorded multiple bass guitar sounds playing the same note and then performed a "blind test" with multiple bass players to find out their preferred bass guitar sound.
I also recorded the sound of the prototype (on the Aristides bass guitar) and compared it with the original sound sample. There were only very minor difference in the sound spectrum.
All the pictures on the website are of this prototype.

It is aesthetically very different from most existing bass bridges. No screws are visible, in contrary to all existing bridges. Aesthetics is of course always a matter of taste ;-)
The action can be set way higher due to the "through body" design; it has a very large setting range.

Yes, the witness point has been an issue in the prototype. I already designed a fix for this ;-)

 

[generalduncan]

As long as it contains all the little saddles, screws and bolts that allows the player adjust his instrument in every way, it will work. Otherwise, there are Monorails, Hipshots, Gotohs... Bass players usually put function and result over aesthetics.

 

[Bassbeater]

Good points. yes, in newer versions I improved the witness point. It can be a lot smaller and more defined. Yes, it will wear of course.
And yes, that's a big disadvantage of this design; it cannot be as easily retrofitted as other bridges.

As a side note, when you intonate the bass the torpedoes will be staggered in placement. It would be more interesting to me as a "magic box" which had witness point blades that moved on tracks inside. This way all the torpedoes would line up vertically. I initially thought this was what you had going on. I could foresee problems accessing adjustment screws with something like that though.
I'd like to see your other bridge designs if you want to post them.

 

[lz4005]

The action can be set way higher due to the "through body" design; it has a very large setting range.

Yes, the witness point has been an issue in the prototype. I already designed a fix for this ;-)

You say it allows "way higher" action as if this is something people are looking for in bass setup. Do you believe that to be true?

At least you admit there's a problem in the function of the prototype design caused by trying to make it look pretty. Have you made and tested the 2nd version with the witness point issue resolved?

Also, in terms of hiding screws, that was part of the design of all Fender instruments from 1949 on and has been rejected by the vast majority of players. There is a deep history of people removing and discarding Fender bridge covers.

 

[96tbird]

I just see a whole lot of stress points on the working parts that will cause future problems and decrease longevity. Meanwhile, the old Fender bridge on my ‘61 jazz continues to perform flawlessly: it’s elegance is in it’s functionality and simplicity.

 

[Zooberwerx]

It sorta puts me in mind of the Bunker micrometer bridge tuner assembly (...can be used for conventional or headless basses). The entire assembly is held aloft by two rear-adjustable cap screws which rest on a rear-mounted aluminum base plate.

Riis

 

[mesaplayer83]

string-through designs tend to both sound better and give better sustain.

Not in my experience...

 

[ELynx]

For "hiding nuts and bolts" - sounds like a job for ashtray cover to me. Especially on basses that had them in some design iteration or another.
And from "mechanical innovation" - see Babicz. They actually thought of something new with rotating saddle thingy. If that had string spacing I need I would pay for that. For this - nah.
Reminds me of an old joke running in Russsia. "While rotting capitalists invented humbucker size of a single, Soviet engineers invented single size and weight of humbucker".

 

[Metal_Maniac]

I'd like to see your other bridge designs if you want to post them.

Sure I'll post em later

 

[Metal_Maniac]

Also, in terms of hiding screws, that was part of the design of all Fender instruments from 1949 on and has been rejected by the vast majority of players. There is a deep history of people removing and discarding Fender bridge covers.

This huge cap may not have been the most elegant solution I guess.

 

[Metal_Maniac]

I just see a whole lot of stress points on the working parts that will cause future problems and decrease lingevity. Meanwhile, the old Fender bridge on my ‘61 jazz continues to perform flawlessly: it’s elegance is in it’s functionality and simplicity.

The prototype has been working since 2010 now. So far I did not discover any deformation or anything. Of course there is some wear at the witness points. The material I used for the prototype is aluminium. I will probably be using stainless steel for new versions, which should decrease wear drastically.

 

[Metal_Maniac]

At least you admit there's a problem in the function of the prototype design caused by trying to make it look pretty. Have you made and tested the 2nd version with the witness point issue resolved?

Yes it is a prototype and a new design. For this reason of course there can be minor deficiencies which are to be resolved in further iterations. This is of course very normal in any development process.
So far I have not made new prototypes. I am working on them though ;-)

 

[two fingers]

I love new and different.

I might be the exception rather than the rule in the bass community.

 

[Metal_Maniac]

I love new and different.

I might be the exception rather than the rule in the bass community.

Hehe yeah, that's the feeling I'm getting as well ;-)

 

[JACink]

Maybe if it was Tort colored...

 

[Metal_Maniac]

Maybe if it was Tort colored...

Yeah or woodprint. That seems to work well for some folks as well ;-)

 

[Bassbeater]

I'd like them if they were shaped like skulls or middle fingers, these look kind of like steely dans.

 

[Metal_Maniac]

I'd like them if they were shaped like skulls or middle fingers, these look kind of like steely dans.

That's not a bad idea actually. It should be possible!

 

[lz4005]

This huge cap may not have been the most elegant solution I guess.

It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Players, on the whole, don't care if they can see the adjustment screws.

For guitar there are bridges that do innovate in terms of keeping the screws below the surface so the saddles are smooth for more comfortable palm muting, but still easily accessible from the top. That's a functional improvement.

You're still making the common design student error of sacrificing function for form.