NBD/bridge question

[daan]

(Quick version: What's you guys' favorite F-style bridge for a non-professional guy like me? I don't want to catch my hand on the 2" long screws sticking out of this thing and would like actual intonation ability preferrably without paying as much as a whole Squier bass...)



I just picked this up (70's Hondo II Jazz copy) I know you guys on here are probably going "Yuk" since y'all have real basses, but there's no way I can afford a 'real" Jbass (this one was $79!) and this actually felt nicer than the Squiers they had at the same store. Obviously it didn't sound as nice, but it's a 3-piece ash looking body (instead of the plywood that the "real brand" ones I was comparing it to) and a neck that's easily the nicest shaped bass neck I've had my hands around (other than the real Gibson that cost more than my car did but that's another story...) I've had the terrible plywood Hondos in the past (my 1st real electric was an LP copy) but this thing felt absolutely perfect in my hands, and sounded ...interesting with the humbucker-looking pups. One of them didn't work but who knows if it was the pup itself or the 30 year old wiring but for the price, I'm not complaining.
Anyway the bridge is a 2-barrel one and sometime in the past somebody replaced half of the screws in it with random wood screws, plus I've got "mod-itis" so if you guys were to replace a bridge on something, what would you choose? They have a used chrome 4-barrel bridge at the same store supposedly off a Squier for about the same $ as the new Fender copy ones at guitar-fetish. They also have some weird thing they told me was a "bad-ass copy". I've never replaced a bass bridge, and I'd really like to do it once (and hopefully not spend a huge amount). Considering the bridge on my "real" bass (70's Hofner) is a piece of wood with fret wire holding the strings up  ) and I think it plays/sounds fine, I probably don't need to be so picky about this, right?
The store guy said I should find someone who's upgrading a Squier and get his cast-off parts, but of course I couldn't find anything like that locally. Got any spare parts you wanna sell?
More pix:

no plywood here!

most of the natural ash J's I've seen had maple necks, which I just don't care for. The neck on this thing is HUGE, wide nut and really full back contour. I love it! Girth=good!

interesting route poking out of the pup ring-maybe I could slip actual J pups in there. Weird bridge, too. There must have been the ash tray cover over this at some point. Do the screws just come out, nothing is coming out the back?

the usual belt rash but nothing that goes into the actual wood. Nice aged color, too.
I've been sitting here playing this for the last couple hours and only "came up for air" to post this here, no matter what I'm happy with my new toy.

Thanks for letting me schmutz up your awesome forum, I really like coming here but I don't usually have anything to post (some might say I still don't... )

[Dave W]

The bass looks nice, nothing to be ashamed of. We don't all have expensive basses here.

My favorite Fender replacement bridge is the Gotoh 201, which you can get from Warmoth. Or try an Allparts dealer who sells at a discount from list. It's a drop-in replacement, i.e it has the standard five-hole Fender pattern.

A "bad ass copy" would be something like the Leo Quan Badass II bridge. Some people love 'em. I definitely don't.

I do have a stock bridge from a Mexi Fender I used to own, I had replaced it with a Gotoh 201. It's not a very good bridge IMO, but it's better than what you have. PM me if you want it.

[Nocturnal]

Another vote for the Gotoh 201 bridge. I've had a couple over the years and liked them a lot. I have copies of the 201's on two of my basses now and they work just as well.

[godofthunder]

 Thats a cool bass! I love 70's japan import stuff. Cheap, expensive I love 'em all LOL. I like Badass bridges myself but if oyu ar looking for a more vintage type bridge the goth or a 70's style Fender bridge from Allparts will do just fine.

[Pilgrim]

If you don't replace the bridge, you can get set screws to match the threads of those screws holding up the saddles.  They've got to be replacements for the original set screws.

Edit: I also think the Gotoh 201 would be a good alternative.

[Iome]

I'd go for a Wilkinson F. style bridge, they've got brass saddles and are cheap. They're not as massive as other after market bridges, but i can't hear the difference...maybe iv'e got prosciutto crudo stuffed ears.....

[maxschrek]

I agree with Iome, the Wilkinson is the way to go...inexpensive and highly functional plus it'll look "right"
I had a fretless version of this exact bass about 30 years ago...best fretless I ever owned. Wish I still had it!

T

[daan]

So with all the votes on here I guess I'll be looking for a 201 when the budget allows... in a year or so
Well I just spent the last couple hours fooling around with this bass (I was actually a little late to work because of it  ) The neck is just perfect. It is a little bowed so I might tweak the truss rod and changing the bridge will help too but it's all good. I sprayed a bunch of contact cleaner into the rat nest of wiring (something was changed at some point, and everything is rusty) and all of a sudden the neck (middle? Whatever the front pup is called on here) started working again. Everything is scratchy so I will probably change stuff (the cheezy white plastic control plate and the broken pup switch's gotta go) but its fine for now. Whoever had this before me either sweated like a pig or played in the rain a lot because every (mismatched) screw on here is rusty. The frets/fretboard look OK though. Oh yeah, the pickups. This thing doesn't do "clean" very well but it makes some insane awesome snarly growl thru my little amp, I absolutely love the way it sounds for that kind of sound. It doesn't seem that microphonic (my fake EB2 is so bad you could use it to play a harp thru it, not in a good way) Anyway other than all the buzzing it does (and I was afraid I'd break the screws in the bridge raising it) it sounds and plays juuuust fine. I still want to make it a little nicer but that may just be my mod-itis talking.
Oh yeah I was poking around looking for parts and found this
http://www.ecrater.com/p/13274407/prewired-jazz-bass-control-plate
THe pics make it look OK (other than the mini pots) and it's all of $12 (nearly the same price as just the plate from guitar fetish) but it ships straight from China. I figure it's even money that I'd get a cheap crummy control plate with parts I'd end up replacing, or they'd just steal my identity and never ship something.

[exiledarchangel]

Another happy GOTOH 201 copy owner here, bought mine from ebay 2-3 years ago, I think it was about 20€ or something. I don't really like fender bridges, they seem flimsy to me, even if they just work ok. OCD knocking at my door, I know.

I'd say go buy a metal control plate and install CTS or ALPHA pots on it, those no-name-mini-pots are total crap. The pickups looks like they are humbuckers, so there's no real need for shielding them.

edit: found one Gotoh copy here http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Heavy-Duty-Bass-Bridge-2-1-4-CHROME-/330716708087?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item4d00407cf7

and I think that's the Wilkinson bridge http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wilkinson-Lic-WBBC-Bass-Bridge-Brass-Saddle-Chrome-DHR10223-/250915532728?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item3a6bbb2fb8

[jumbodbassman]

Gotoh 201 is great bridge.  It is a higher profile thatn a standard fender...

[daan]

Sorry about the crummy cell phone pics, I gotta start bringing my "real" camera with me places.
so I finally had some time to futz with this (and partly just had too much fun playing it to take it apart)
I was wondering what the hole next to the bridge was, it looks like someone used a screwdriver to make the hole for the ground wire. Also the pup routes are pretty clean (the hole itself, there's tons of ...I don't know what, but I gotta clean it out pronto. I thought it might be buffing stuff, but there's none in the control cavity or the front pup hole.) There was a hole above the bridge pup hole. I thought maybe a Jazz-style pup route got enlarged to put these humbuckers in, but they both look too clean to be anything other than stock. The hole I saw was because the black plate around the pup wasn't cut big enough to cover the route hole.

I got a real J style control plate (OK it's from another copy, but it's better than what I had) you can see how much bigger that is than what mine came with (plus it's actually made of metal and has better components.

You can see how dark the finish got over the last 30 years. It's nice ash-looking wood, the grain looks really nice(too bad most of it's under the guard plate) I'm having a hard time not sanding it all down (there's like 80 million scratches and dings on here) and just Tru-Oiling the whole thing, but I know if I do that it'll be a loooong time before it's all back in one piece again. Plus I kind of like the orangy color it's darkened to.

Oh yeah, it's definitely not the same shape as a "real" Jazz, here's a Fender guardplate sitting on top of it.

(Ask at the store for used parts enough, and they'll let you pick thru them. Or ask me not to come back...) The neck is totally squared off on the end, and since I've never had a "real" Jazz, I didn't know those were rounded. Not like I want to make mine just like a real one, there are tons of those around. Mine is different, I think it sounds cool and I just plan on making it better than it was, not a more exact copy of a bass that there are thousands of them around. Besides if I was gonna change it more, I'd be buying new parts for it, not rooting around in people's spares bins...

[nofi]

get the wilkinson. i have one that's replacing a fender bridge and to my ears it makes a difference. plus they are all over ebay for 15 bucks new.

[Dave W]

Dan, that may be a factory ground wire hole. Whether or not it is, no idea why there's no ground wire there now or why it's filled. Not sure those are the original pickups, although I've seen at least one other Hondo II J with what look like the same pickups.

If it were mine, I'd leave the finish as is. Nice  patina.

[lowend1]

Personally, I'm a fan of the vintage style "threaded rod" bridge for Fenders. They're cheap, they work great and look like they belong. I've never used the 201, but I've always been a little put off by the aesthetics of it - especially on a bass that has the old school thing happening.

[Dave W]

Guys, I sent him my MIM Fender bridge, he's got that covered for now.

Take a look at his latest post and see if you can figure out that extra hole and whether those are original pickups.