Grabber Schmabber

[ilan]

For what?

Two year later I played a friend's bass at a gig (a well set up Fender P) and was like, what ARE those strings? They bend, they are soft... It was the first time I played roundwounds. Then my dad got me my first Rotosound Swing Bass 040 set when he came back from London. I just had no idea playing bass could be that easy.

[uwe]

You left the manly world of high-action flatwound stiffers? Ilana, I'm aghast!

I had my Road to Damascus experience too when I first played Rotosounds on an Ibanez 4001 knock-off (also about two years after I had started playing). It opened a new world. I first thought: "This new sound, it must be the Ibanez." Then I bought roundwounds for my Johnny Guitar J and all of the sudden realized that it began to sound like the Ibanez too. 

[ilan]

You left the manly world of high-action flatwound stiffers? Ilana, I'm aghast!

Well I have had 3 years of formal classical training on upright. And I'm on the fence about stringing one of the P's with a LaBella Jamerson set (052-110).

[Alanko]

052-110 sounds brutal! I bought a used Jazz a few years back with those on. The bridge plate itself was pulling forwards under the tension.

[uwe]

The Fender bridge in all its royal beauty. Utilitarian is the only apt description. 

[Alanko]

Utilitaristisch! Not like one of those superior Gibson bridges that scatters saddles and components everywhere when you remove the strings.

[morrow]

I thought the Fender bridge was genius . You take a steel plate , put a bend in it , drill some holes , add nuts , springs and bolts . I still like them over most high mass bridges , but then I like the Dano popsicle stick bridge .

[uwe]

Utilitaristisch! Not like one of those superior Gibson bridges that scatters saddles and components everywhere when you remove the strings.

I'll give you "utilaristisch", did you stumble on a German dictionary in your kilt?

Holy Immaculate Three Point, forgiveth him for his loose tongue ...

[ilan]

I thought the Fender bridge was genius . You take a steel plate , put a bend in it , drill some holes , add nuts , springs and bolts . I still like them over most high mass bridges , but then I like the Dano popsicle stick bridge .

They do sound better than any other bridge on a Fender. I encourage every Geddy Lee Jazz Bass owner to replace the BAII with a bent plate bridge and get the low frequencies back.

Leo never meant for his bridges to be seen, he hid all bass and guitar bridges under chrome ashtrays. In the Tele he didn't even bother to put a plastic cover on the bridge pickup.

[Pilgrim]

They do sound better than any other bridge on a Fender. I encourage every Geddy Lee Jazz Bass owner to replace the BAII with a bent plate bridge and get the low frequencies back.

Leo never meant for his bridges to be seen, he hid all bass and guitar bridges under chrome ashtrays. In the Tele he didn't even bother to put a plastic cover on the bridge pickup.

I agree all around.  IMO the bent metal bridge is a model of effective minimalist design and it works very well.  Adding threaded saddles to one provides flexible string spacing as well.

[gearHed289]

They do sound better than any other bridge on a Fender. I encourage every Geddy Lee Jazz Bass owner to replace the BAII with a bent plate bridge and get the low frequencies back.

Dave mentioned something about this a few months back, so I bought a Kluson bridge on eBay. I still haven't gotten around to trying it. I'll get to it before summer and try to record some A/B samples.

[ilan]

I convinced two of my friends, both pro players, to un-mod their Geddys with a standard bridge, I think they are very happy with the result. It's my other mission in the bass world (second only to shunting every .0038 capacitor on a pre-'85 Ric).

[slinkp]

Does this mean there's going to be a trend toward "low mass" bridges?

I can see it now in the marketing campaigns ... soon everybody will know that low bridge mass means "more sustain"...
because literally everything you can possibly buy to do to a guitar gives you "more sustain"

And somehow this will be true of low mass bridges and high mass bridges at the same time!

[morrow]

To me "more sustain" means more palm muting or even a possible sponge .
And I'm very fussy about note length .

[ilan]

To me "more sustain" means more palm muting or even a possible sponge .
And I'm very fussy about note length .

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