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The infamous Badass Bridge

#61
Eric Perry said:
I'm with Riis. I have never been a fan of the BA, and think it's grossly overpriced for what it is. The Schaller roller bridge and the Hipshot A (my personal fav) are far more adjustable and look way cooler. I do not buy into the tonal arguments with bridges. I choose 'em based on adjustability and cool-factor.

Consider this, NO well respected and well known luthier uses a freakin' Badass bridge. They mostly all use Hipshot. My Conklins had the Hipshot A (except my old one, which had a Wilkinson), Nordstrand, Roscoe, Benavente, etc also use mainly the hipshot A. Tobias uses the Hipshot B, etc.
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A shaller roller bridge will run you about as much as a BA and used to cost more (before the recent BA price jumps) I love both bridges, bu the BA isn't really priced any higher than many other bridges that bring that much mass to the table (whether that does any good is another argument altogether :D)
 
#62
Guys, Lets not get scientific!!!!!!!! Remember a Bumble Bee isn't suppose to fly because the wings are too small for the mass of the body. The Badass II works just like a Bumble don't ask why it does. It may be more expensive, but that's also why people drive a Porche, Jaguar, Mercedes, Hummer, they can afford to buy one.
 
#64
I have had two Badass II bridges, and one Badass III bridge. Two were stock on my Fenders. One 2006 Limited Edition Jazz, and one 1999 Geddy Lee. I put the Badass III on my 2003 Jazz. I just didn't see what the big deal was. All the guitars jammed as well as the other. They all have their little differences that equate to variations in tone and feel. String types are different as is string size. All have different factory pickups, and the Geddy's pickup spacing is different. I can rock all the guitars, as well as the 59 P bass with thin bridge, the G&L L-2500, and the Frankenbass P/Jazzneck with old style bridge I built last week. It's all good. I took the Badass III off the 2003 Jazz and sold the bridge on ebay for triple what I paid. I didn't see any difference in the sound or sustain when changing back to the stock thin metal bridge, nor did I really care. There are so many other things that I feel attribute to tone that I thought the Badass was insignificant. I will leave the factory Badasses where they are though. Hi-mass or not hi-mass. At this point, it doesn't matter to me, but I'm still in the tone freak stage of my bass career. Might change my mind in a year.
 
#65
In fact if anyone is overthinking it, it's the aftermarket bridge crowd IMHO.

sting8.jpg


Anything much beyond this is overkill and trades off elegance and simplicity for improvements that are pretty marginal.
 
#67
A. How does this (other than the side story on the double pole pieces) fit into "Pickups & Electronics"? Unless it's hidden here to avoid having to read through all the previous threads over the years about both the BA and high-mass bridges in general?

B. No new ground in any of these discussion. Some people find problems (real or imagined) in the stock Fender-style bent plate bridge, some find problems (real or imagined) in the BA specifically, and others find 'em in high-mass bridges in general.

C. Only one really cogent post in this thread- Problem analysis instead of buying stuff just because it's supposed to be "better" with "better" being loosely defined. This is the key to anything that's a mod or a change (most of which, in my experience as a player and as one who took a lot of folks' money when they wanted their instruments modded are NOT "upgrades" at all). First, what specifically is lacking in the sound of YOUR bass? So a HM bridge gives you more sustain- do you really NEED more sustain? LISTEN to the particular chunk of wood and metal that is YOUR bass when YOU play it. LISTEN to how the BASS sounds, not how your amp and your electronics sound. Then if there's a real deficiency you hear, work to address that. For some people a BA really does improve an instrument. But I've put enough on other peoples' axes to know that in many cases it's just the new strings we put on after making the change that they attributed to the new bridge.

Me, I'm at the point where I buy an instrument that sounds good and hardware is just what comes on it. The most alive and vibrant solid-body instrument I own (and have ever heard) is my Fender Sting Signature. It's got about the "crappiest" bridge one could imagine on a professional instrument. Small bent frame plate with only two intonation screws. But it sounds great. But then so does my Fender VS '62 P (stock "vintage style" bridge, and my Lakland with it's big bridge. Ultimately it's the BASS, which is a sum of all its parts.

John
 
#72
officialjlox said:
Still not seeing any place that sells them preslotted, only replacement saddles, which would be stupid. i really don't want to have to take it somewhere to get it slotted.
Click to expand...

The Badass III is preslotted, but I'd have it slotted anyway. They are just kind of generic grooves.

badass-iii.jpg



It's not a big job having the slots put in.
 
#77
Nothing says ROCK like a BadAss II on a Fender, ugly or not. They definitely affect the tone of the bass. I only like them on Jazz Basses, though. For Precisions, I prefer the old bent steel bridge.

Tusec said:
sting8.jpg


Anything much beyond this is overkill and trades off elegance and simplicity for improvements that are pretty marginal.
Click to expand...
Anything beyond this is functional. Look how uneven the string spacing is. :scowl:
 
#78
According to my brilliant engineer that knows instruments inside and out - the high mass bridges take the wood out of the sound. If you have a good sounding body, replacing the bridge with a heavy one will kill the sound or at least take away the resonance.

Something to consider.
 
#79
bullshark said:
Well, for one thing, it's ugly as sin, especially on a Fender type bass.

Then it is rather expensive.

The good thing is that it will help prevent your bass from being stolen, the same as storing a Harley Davidson motorcycle under a tarp that says "Yamaha" ;).
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...imagines a thief almost taking and then returning a Fender because the bridge wasn't attractive enough for him....


:D
 
#80
JTE said:
instead of buying stuff just because it's supposed to be "better" with "better" being loosely defined. This is the key to anything that's a mod or a change (most of which, in my experience as a player and as one who took a lot of folks' money when they wanted their instruments modded are NOT "upgrades" at all). First, what specifically is lacking in the sound of YOUR bass? So a HM bridge gives you more sustain- do you really NEED more sustain?
Click to expand...

In my case, I have a Ricky with that floating bridge/tailpiece combo that makes adjusting the saddles impossible. So the upper register of my otherwise gorgeous instrument is a bit murky in the intonation area.

The tailpiece assembly is flaking, the foam mute is collapsed and the adjusting screws are gone, and the bridge saddles barely work as it is. I change strings 1 at a time on it because as long as I use the same gauge strings pretty consistently, it remains MOSTLY intonated correctly.

I would love to put a tailpiece that is designed to be adjustable on the Ricky. I also can kind of tell that guitars with the badass bridge on them (at least) are a little brighter.
 

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