I've been using my Caprice and Cutlass a lot lately (like - all the time) and have failed to notice any shortcomings or drawbacks with the bridge(s). Is it just that you prefer the look of the old bridge?
Please undefined- I’m not bashing Ernie Ball or Music Man. I love my Ray and StingRays in general are great basses!
The Caprice bass I played at the local GC had a seriously poor setup. I loved the feel overall, killer neck profile, the whole thing just felt so dang...comfortable I guess is the best way to put it.
Tone was good but I had to mentally overlook a tremendous amount of fretbuzz, not just in one spot; but all 4 strings, practically all over the neck; and I wasn’t playing hard. Woefully inadequate neck relief. Its got heavy shopwear but its a “new” bass at a discounted price. ($1199).
When I got to looking at the setup what is immediately obvious is that they tried jacking up the saddles to the point that the adjuster screws are canted (instead of starting with a truss rod adjustment to address the neck relief).
While this is a poor setup issue & not a bridge issue, it brings me to look more critically at the bridge and it just seems to be not as solid as the older design. Again - this is just my opinion & I’m not railing against EBMM about this.
In reality its more a GC issue and the ineptitude of their in-house “luthier”.
Basses that I have that have really great bridges all seem to be big solid boat anchor bridges. IE my SR5 HH, my G&L L1505, my Carvin B4 (its got a Hipshot A type bridge)
Basses I have or had that were lackluster bridges were thin metal bent plate designs such as my Fender PJ. When I look at the new bridge design with its hollow saddles, thinner metal; this does not have the hallmark of quality that I’ve come to look for in a bass bridge.
If I were to buy the bass I’d end up taking it my tech and pick up a set of DR’s for it. Eventually the stock bridge woukd have to go just because it would bug me.
