Aria pro 2 zzb die cast bridge

[bigrumblefish]

Anyone know of a replacement bridge that will fit an Aria pro 2 ZZB, or where to get one, has this huge die-cast bridge that's sunken into the body, base to string is just shy of 20mm, which I don't think you'd get on most bridges. Its about 63mm x 80mm. Cheers.

[3below]

Hi, post picture of bridge and the route into bass body. Ideally with a ruler next to it. This may help gain some ideas. Good luck.

[Bloodaxe]

To my knowledge there are at least two bridge styles for these.

There's the mad-as-a-box-of-frogs ZZB Custom version:



And there's the more sensible die cast brass/pot metal variant as fitted to much of the 80's Aria range, which, just to make life even more difficult, comes in two flavours of string spacing. This is a narrow one:



What's wrong with yours?

EDIT... Just read your post in the Intro section & it's the height adjustment screws that are seized & shagged, yes? I can suggest a couple of options to sort this, but need to know if it's an alloy (chromed) bridge or a solid brass one.

Pete.

Edited November 4, 2012 by Bloodaxe

[bigrumblefish]

Its the second one, filthy as you can see. Also the string spacing is a bit wierd, got 15 then 17, then 16mm gaps. Guess i can play with them if you have a suggestion of how to sort the screws. Have wd40'd them,but the center is gone so alan key cant get a bite. Cheers.

[bigrumblefish]

Like the masasaboxoffrogs bridge, looks slightly industrial, rather than my cheap as you can make it(?) with pealing gold! To add to the list of problems with this bass, the neck has a bow to it, and one of the pickups doesn't work, but at least it is sort of playable, unlike my other aria which plays a hell of a lot better, but has its guts all hanging out cos i cant find the scratch plate :'(

Edited November 10, 2012 by bigrumblefish

[3below]

Rather than WD40 soak the saddles in penetrating oil for several days. You may be able to get an 'easy out' into the hex slots if you can get a smell enough one. Another approach might be to file flats onto the height adjusting screws. This will allow you to grip the screws with a suitable tool. Wait for further advice from Pete above.

Final options;
find a bridge with similar saddles and use saddle,
use barrel shape saddles (fender style) that will fit,
make new saddles from brass or stainless steel - not difficult

Hope it goes well.

[Fionn]

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1352542014' post='1864350']
Another approach might be to file flats onto the height adjusting screws. This will allow you to grip the screws with a suitable tool. [/quote]

As 3below said. That's what I would do.

Where the screw is visible below the saddle, grip the exposed screw with piers (parallel pliers are best as they wont slip so much) and twist it out. If it's heavily seized and either breaks or just wont budge, another option is to drill it out and tap a new thread in the hole. This will obviously take a slightly wider screw. The brass will behave the way you want it to. It's not a difficult metal to work.

[3below]

One other tactic that can help is to heat them up, the differential expansion can sometimes 'crack' the corrosion products that have seized them. If you have access to a drill press you could drill out the grub screws from the top and then file out carefully. By this time I would be making my own new ones - much easier.

[Bloodaxe]

It sounds a bit poorly!

The photo is a great help, as that blistered & peeling gold suggests that it's an aluminium alloy (pot-metal) bridge as opposed to the rather better brass ones.

On that basis I might be wary about heating it up... just in case. If it were brass, I'd hoy it into the oven at about 200C for 1/2 an hour & let it cool.

If you can get the saddles off, go with the penetrating oil/WD40 angle in an old tin. Leave them to soak for a few days. If you haven't got either of those you can make your own with 3-in-1 & turps.

It looks like the screws are wound right down, so hopefully there's a good amount of thread poking out of the bottom of the saddle. Grab that with a pair of wire cutters & gently turn the screw from left to right to free it & then (hopefully) it'll wind right out. Once you've got them out, they'll need replacing, try here:

http://www.modelfixings.co.uk/cup_point_grub_screws.htm

M2.5 x 10mm are what you need (MF-GS30S).

If it all fails, drop me a PM. There's a chap I know who was looking to provide new bridges & saddles for these a year or so back. If he's not up for it & you know any engineering types, I *think* I have a CAD drawing for them somewhere.

You say that one pickup is dead. Hopefully it's just a loose wire somewhere & a simple solder repair, but if it isn't that don't worry too much. Assuming they're the same pattern as mine (& those fitted to my TSB), they're not potted in epoxy. Unscrew the offender & lift it out. If you see a brass plate then it's dead easy to dismantle these & get them re-wound - if you find a sea of black epoxy, you're stuffed & transplant surgery is the only option. Aaron Armstrong of WD Music can provide a lookalike that plops straight in. Andy at Wizard Pickups might be able to do the same.

The neck *ought* to come back true with a truss rod adjustment - these necks are plain sawn, so can move around.

Pete.