DB bridge - adjustable pros & cons?

[fatback]

Hi all,

given that a new DB will need a bridge, is there any plus in getting an adjustable one?

The rockabilly boys seem to like them.

Any disadvantage?


Getting there... getting there...


Thanks again for your patience lads and lassies

[thisnameistaken]

I think they're especially useful for beginners, so you can experiment a bit and see what sort of action you like and how it affects the sound.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone say anything bad about adjustable bridges but I suppose the argument would be that the bridge doesn't conduct the string vibration to the body as well.

[bassace]

It's generally understood that they are particularly useful in US where there are quite noticeable climate variations. If you are lucky enough to get your string height right first time over here you'll never need one. This will come from experience and IMO plus or minus 2 mm should not make too much of a difference. If you are a relative first timer and you have the opportunity of an adjuster go for it and play about. Remember there are other ways of altering string height by small increments. You may find that an unencumbered bridge will give a purer sound.

[fatback]

Thanks, again.

Looks like on balance a good idea for a beginner with a cheap bass and likely to start experimenting with strings.

[endorka]

I must confess that my experience of bridge adjusters differs to that of the previous posters.

It is the overwhelming concensus that rather than impeding sound vibrations from the strings to the body of the instrument, aluminium bridge adjusters actually enhance it, as metal tends to conduct sound better than wood.

Even though we don't have the extremes of temperature in the UK as the US, I have noticed the string height of my bass changing over time. Bridge adjusters allow you to compensate for this.

If you play different styles of music, the adjusters can change the string height to suit in a matter of minutes. High action for orchestra, lowish for amplified jazz or big band, medium to high for unamplfied jazz, for example.

They are useful for those learning the instrument, in the sense that you will spend a lifetime learning the instrument :-)

Jennifer

[fatback]

[quote name='endorka' post='872195' date='Jun 19 2010, 09:42 PM']I must confess that my experience of bridge adjusters differs to that of the previous posters.

It is the overwhelming concensus that rather than impeding sound vibrations from the strings to the body of the instrument, aluminium bridge adjusters actually enhance it, as metal tends to conduct sound better than wood.


Jennifer[/quote]

Thanks Jennifer. Your view very much confirmed in this:

[url="http://www.bassplayer.com/article/bridge-adjusters/Oct-04/856"]http://www.bassplayer.com/article/bridge-a...ters/Oct-04/856[/url]

Hell's bells, it's like every detail of a DB I look at turns into a subject all by itself. Lifetime is right

[fatback]

Also found this acoustic comparison.

[url="http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/english/dbb/dbb.htm"]http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/english/dbb/dbb.htm[/url]


Seems to show that they do change the sound (not necessarily detrimentally) but precisely how depends on what the adjuster is made of.

Not that subtle differences in tone will make a blind bit of difference when I start thumping and sqwawking

Edited June 20, 2010 by fatback

[fatback]

While on the subject of choosing and changing strings, is it advisable not to use low tension strings for learning?

[Dorian]

Having an adjustable bridge also enables you to us the Fishman Full Circle pickup, which replaces one of the bridge adjusters and in my experience is the best and most natural sounding pickup for DB.

[fatback]

[quote name='Dorian' post='873262' date='Jun 21 2010, 09:31 AM']Having an adjustable bridge also enables you to us the Fishman Full Circle pickup, which replaces one of the bridge adjusters and in my experience is the best and most natural sounding pickup for DB.[/quote]

Thanks for the tip, Dorian.

Shopping list building up nicely

[Owen]

[quote name='Dorian' post='873262' date='Jun 21 2010, 09:31 AM']Having an adjustable bridge also enables you to us the Fishman Full Circle pickup, which replaces one of the bridge adjusters and in my experience is the best and most natural sounding pickup for DB.[/quote]

As long as your adjuster has the same thread as the Full Circle. There are two sizes of Full Circle thread. Just so you know.

[fatback]

[quote name='owen' post='873565' date='Jun 21 2010, 03:33 PM']As long as your adjuster has the same thread as the Full Circle. There are two sizes of Full Circle thread. Just so you know.[/quote]


Thanks Owen So much to consider.

How on earth did peeps do this before the net and the likes of BC? Ask your tutor and hope for the best, i suppose.

[Bilbo]

[quote name='fatback' post='873593' date='Jun 21 2010, 04:10 PM']Thanks Owen So much to consider.

How on earth did peeps do this before the net and the likes of BC? Ask your tutor and hope for the best, i suppose.[/quote]

We f***ed up, merrily.

If you were lucky enough to live in a place where you had access to older and more experienced players who had made their mistakes and were willing to let you learn from them, you were lucky. My own development as a musician has been delayed time and time again by the fact that I couldn't find gear to try, couldn't find a teacher within 60 miles, couldn't get to venues because transport is not available (I spent the first 5 years as a jazz fan having to leave everything early to catch ther last bus/train home), couldn't buy any jazz records because no shops sold them near where I grew up - I was always scrabbling around for scraps..... where I grew up, Music was pretty much for the middle classes (I still think it fundamentally is).

Now we have the internet, so much more is available to those who aren't in the centre of London, or able to attend colleges to study ELECTRIC BASS

[fatback]

[quote name='Bilbo' post='873626' date='Jun 21 2010, 04:48 PM']We f***ed up, merrily.

Icouldn't find gear to try, couldn't find a teacher within 60 miles, couldn't get to venues because transport is not available

, couldn't buy any jazz records because no shops sold them[/quote]

Sounds like where I live

Although the scenery is probably worth it

[Bilbo]

Where in Ireland are you? My wife has family in Co. Limerick.

[fatback]

Other end of the country - Donegal. Ulster, but in the Republic.

Staggeringly beautiful county, but big. Two hours + to drive end to end. A fair bit of traditional music but an hour's drive from where I am to anything else, and over atrocious roads too.

You could count the jazzers on one hand. Not too many originals bands of any kind. Lots of covers and functions bands, but only a handful of venues.

For my originals band I go to Dublin, although I live in hopes of finding something a wee bit more convenient in addition.

The good news is, I may have found a DB teacher only an hour away, although he isn't back in action until September and even then mightn't have a regular slot. Still, a teacher, that's the main thing. No way am I taking on the Double Beast without one.

Edited June 22, 2010 by fatback

[PaulKing]

All in all, I've found adjusters a useful concession.
I suppose I'd rather they weren't there really, but when you swap strings or try a different style of play (eg slap) you do want to be able to tweak string height.
So for a newbie setting out on the journey, or a perennial tweaker with bad GAS like me, adjusters pay off time and again.

They can cause problems ... go too high and your bridge becomes unstable. They can increase feedback. But these shouldn't really be an issue if handled properly. I've had no issues with adjusters, ever.

Jennifer is right I'm sure ... though i suspect the effects she's talking about really affect a carved bass with steel strings most.