Diferences between an ebony bridge and a chrome bridge

degonzalez · Post by **degonzalez** » Wed Jan 14, 2009 8:59 am

What would be the prons and cons between a Metal or wood bridge
for a fretlless bass?

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 3:35 pm

The vast majority of solid body basses have metal bridges, these are strong, reliable, and the better ones afford adjustments in three dimensions. The sound quality is usually immediate and clear.

Wood bridges on the other hand, are seen less frequently, most often on acoustic or semi acoustic instruments. These wood bridges are rarely adjustable except for height (by shaving the piece supporting the string). The sound quality of a wood bridge is generally more mellow and woody depending on the type of wood used.

Bottom line:

Wood bridges are great with piezo P/Us for a more acoustic tone, either on a solid body, semi acoustic, or full acoustic.

Metal bridges better for most solid body basses where you may want versatile tone, adjustability, durability.

Metal bridges are not all the same. Less expensive ones often do not have the adjustability of more expensive units. Tone too may be better with quality bridges having greater mass and denser metal (mild steel vs. brass).

degonzalez · Post by **degonzalez** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 10:40 am

Thanks FretLessSince68 for the explanation.

I have a custom Fretless 4 string bass:
- Bartolini MMC Pickup
- John East BTB MMSR MusicMan® Preamp
- Ebony Fingerboard
- And a Ebony Bridge with ivory supports

It sounds great!!! with a smooth and mellow mwha!!!

The problem:
This is not a versatile bass, it sound great for jazz and ballads,
but not versatile for rock, it doesn't cut through.

Do you think that I should replace the bridge for a more versatile tone?
I don't want to loose the smooth and mellow mwha.

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Fri Jan 16, 2009 2:33 pm

I have the same problem with my favorite jazz bass, a Veillette 6str MK-II with a wood bridge and piezo P/U. The instrument does jazz superbly but is lacking in the punch dept.

The bass you describe sounds like a high quality instrument, I strongly advise against modifying a beautiful ebony and ivory bridge installation.

To solve this problem I purchased another fretless bass with metal bridge and magnetic P/Us, a Yamaha TRB-II6 in which I also install a John East pre-amp (highly reccomended).

Face it, you need another axe to do these other types of gigs. I hope you can afford more instruments. Selling your current axe to get one that is more versatile would be a mistake in my opinion, good instruments are hard to find and when you've got one, hold on to it.

You might consider a fretted to handle the rock and pop music. Nothing slaps like a fretted bass. I like to have a pair of fretless/fretted for each type of bass (4, 5, 6 strings) each pair having similar ergonomics such as scale length, string spacing, and body similarity if possible. This way my muscle memory for a particular piece of music is consistant for both. Meaning I can play a given tune on either bass without having to switch mental gears.

I would very much like to see a picture of your bass up here on FretlessBass.com . If you have a couple of pics available please post them for us to see.

degonzalez · Post by **degonzalez** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 8:54 am

Thanks again for the advice FretlessSince68.

I post a pic; the item number is 2053. Later I will post a better pic because this one is in a black background.

I have another fretless bass, a Fender Precission (PJ bart pickups) whith a badass bridge and a aguilar OBP2 preamp.

The idea was to play rock tunes with the custom bass (item 2053, it have a Metal Bass form)
And play smoother tunes with the Fender

regards,

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:29 pm

That's a beautiful bass!! Wonderful woodworking.

I see that it has a route for a neck pick-up but none is installed. If you are in contact with the instrument builder perhaps he could add a second magnetic pick-up giving the bass a more versatile and modern tone.

I still would not alter that very nice bridge.

degonzalez · Post by **degonzalez** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 8:38 am

With your advice definitely I will not change the bridge.

A neck pickup would be an interesting option!!!

What pickup do you recomend for the neck?
In the bridege I have a Bartolini MMC Musicman style(Deep voice)

FretLessSince68 · Post by **FretLessSince68** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:33 pm

The maker of your bass probably had one in mind when he cut the route. So I would attempt to contact that person for additional information and possibly see if he could do the work too.

If he/she is not available then I would go with a Bartolini that conforms to the route measument. If you have to do additional routing to get proper fitment your pick-up options are greater.

I like Bartolini humbuckers, but a single coil or staggered dual coil would do well too. The important thing is too get one that will satisfy your requirements. The Bartolini web site has good information on size, but not much about the tonal differences. http://www.bartolini.net/

This site has good selection and information. http://www.bestbassgear.com/

I find in stage usage the neck pick-up is usually blended with the bridge P/U to get the modern sound, so a humbucking P/U is really not important unless you plan on soloing that P/U. This being that when both P/Us are in use, it is a humbucking configuration if wired normally.