Installing new bridge, help!

[jrcorp]

 

I'm in the long-term process of upgrading my '02 SR300DX. I bought a set of used Gotoh GB7's off a forumite as one of the stockers was acting up, and I just paid for a used 201 bridge. I know I'll have to dowel and drill, which though a new job to me doesn't seem too challenging. What I'm afraid of, and I'm probably stupid for buying the bridge, is that I think the string spacing is going to be wrong.

 

When I did my research, everything pointed to 19 mm spacing on Ibbies and I know it's 19 mm on the Gotoh. But with a ruler, the string spacing on my bass comes out to a hair over 20 mm. Going by each string, it's a tough call around 19-20, but measuring across the strings, it looks to be about 61 mm total.

 

Should I even try going through with it? My top concern is making sure the strings are over the pickups correctly. I know nearly all aftermarket bridges are built for Fenders. I mean to replace the pickups, hopefully with something like the SD vintage types. Apart from that, there is "playability," and maybe other issues I don't know about... break angles?!

 

I just thought of maybe filing new slots in the saddles as an option, but I would go to a tech/luthier for that. I won't do any not-easily-reversible work until I've measured everything 3 times. Worst case scenario, I'll hold onto the bridge for if/when I buy a Fender-type.

 

Thanks, all.

[lug]

I'm in the long-term process of upgrading my '02 SR300DX . I bought a set of used Gotoh GB7's off a forumite as one of the stockers was acting up, and I just paid for a used 201 bridge. I know I'll have to dowel and drill, which though a new job to me doesn't seem too challenging. What I'm afraid of, and I'm probably stupid for buying the bridge, is that I think the string spacing is going to be wrong. When I did my research, everything pointed to 19 mm spacing on Ibbies and I know it's 19 mm on the Gotoh. But with a ruler, the string spacing on my bass comes out to a hair over 20 mm. Going by each string, it's a tough call around 19-20, but measuring across the strings, it looks to be about 61 mm total. Should I even try going through with it? My top concern is making sure the strings are over the pickups correctly. I know nearly all aftermarket bridges are built for Fenders. I mean to replace the pickups, hopefully with something like the SD vintage types. Apart from that, there is "playability," and maybe other issues I don't know about... break angles?! I just thought of maybe filing new slots in the saddles as an option, but I would go to a tech/luthier for that. I won't do any not-easily-reversible work until I've measured everything 3 times. Worst case scenario, I'll hold onto the bridge for if/when I buy a Fender-type. Thanks, all.

 

Are you sure you measuring from midstring to midstring? Everything I've read says you should have a B100 bridge which should be 19 mm spacing.

[jrcorp]

 

Are you sure you measuring from midstring to midstring? Everything I've read says you should have a B100 bridge which should be 19 mm spacing.

 

 

I may buy a caliper, but in the meantime yeah... measuring that way gets me about 19-20, and across all 4 it comes to about 61 mm. I'll keep at it; maybe with the bridge off the bass and no string tension it'll come out differently?! Thanks.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

I may buy a caliper, but in the meantime yeah... measuring that way gets me about 19-20, and across all 4 it comes to about 61 mm. I'll keep at it; maybe with the bridge off the bass and no string tension it'll come out differently?! Thanks.

 

 

It would probably read even wider spacing without string tension pulling them towards the center. Having said that, I don't think a 1mm difference back at the bridge would make a significant enough deviation over the pickups to matter, or even be noticable. Your biggest concern will probably be accurately locating the bridge on the extended centerline of the neck.

[guitargod0dmw]

I'd be surprised if the Ibby had 20mm spacing, that's pretty wide.

[Jazzneck]

Those have covered poles anyway, don't they? You should be fine either way.

 

I love 201's and even more the less expensive copies. That bridge is a great balance of improvement but not going overboard IMO and you can use lots of different saddles to boot.

[jrcorp]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I am pretty confident the spacing is 20 mm, but even so as Craigv stated I doubt it would matter much. I read great things about the 201, and going by a Youtube video comparing it with the Badass II, I like the tone better - it has a rounder, warmer, maybe deeper, bassier sound to my ears than the Badass' trebly, maybe mid-boosted kind of tone. So for spending $60-80 less, I doubt I'll be disappointed... unless I botch the install.

 

I'll probably measure everything 3 times anyway. I haven't installed a bridge this way before, so I'm going to make a few educated guesses or do a lot of research before I go ahead. Extending the centerline of the neck is important - I hadn't thought about specifically that but I assume by measuring I'll do fine. As for the pickups, I don't know if the Ibanez stockers are rail or pole style as they are covered, but I want to upgrade to some vintage-style (SCJB1/SPB1) pups so being sure that the strings are relatively aligned is somewhat important. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but being sure the string is at least kind of aligned with the pole pieces is important in that type of pickup!?

[Craig Vecchione]

 

I haven't installed a bridge this way before, so I'm going to make a few educated guesses or do a lot of research before I go ahead. Extending the centerline of the neck is important - I hadn't thought about specifically that but I assume by measuring I'll do fine.

 

 

One easy method: Cover the entire bridge area with masking tape, to protect it and allow you to mark lines. Hold a straightedge against the top and bottom of the neck, extending down the body. Mark the edges on the tape down where the bridge will be. Measure and halve the distance between the marked edges at several points. Draw your centerline over those marked points. Center your bridge over the line, determine your scale length distance, mark the drill points, and drill carefully. Test fit the bridge, then remove it, and then remove the tape last, again to protect the body fiinish from rub rash while fitting the part. Reinstall the bridge. Done.

[jrcorp]

 

One easy method: Cover the entire bridge area with masking tape, to protect it and allow you to mark lines. Hold a straightedge against the top and bottom of the neck, extending down the body. Mark the edges on the tape down where the bridge will be. Measure and halve the distance between the marked edges at several points. Draw your centerline over those marked points. Center your bridge over the line, determine your scale length distance, mark the drill points, and drill carefully. Test fit the bridge, then remove it, and then remove the tape last, again to protect the body fiinish from rub rash while fitting the part. Reinstall the bridge. Done.

 

 

Awesome writeup, should make it easy. I imagined I would have to do something similar to get my measurements right, and someone from another forum suggested about the same thing. Any tips on drilling or even better, how to dowel/fill in the old bridge holes? Thanks a million.

[Craig Vecchione]

 

Awesome writeup, should make it easy. I imagined I would have to do something similar to get my measurements right, and someone from another forum suggested about the same thing. Any tips on drilling or even better, how to dowel/fill in the old bridge holes? Thanks a million.

 

 

First, obviously, use dowels that reasonably match the hardness of the body wood. Don't sweat this. It's only important if you wind up drilling new pilot holes partially over a dowel and partially into the adjoining body. If that is the case, I strongly advise using a drill press, and secure the bass to keep the bit from wandering off your mark into softer wood.

 

I use 1/4" dowels, drill 1/4" holes, and use Titebond, though any wood glue is just fine. To avoid having to shave or sand the dowel flush, which will ruin the finish, be sure to cut the dowel shorter than the depth of the hole, and press or tap the dowel flush. The glue will lube the fit, but dries really fast, so don't forget this step.

 

If the paint finish is hard and brittle, masking tape is a must, and sneaking up to final size one bit size at a time will minimize chipping. It shouldn't matter much since the bridge will cover flaws, but every once in a while I've seen a chipout result in visible damage.

[jrcorp]

Thanks again, this is all very helpful information. A few questions - I'm pretty confident the bass is made of basswood or something similar, so I would be looking for some kind of softwood dowel? I'm not sure what you mean about dowel size - you buy 1/4" regardless of the original size of the holes, and then drill them out to fit? Beyond that, I'm confident I could manage this. I don't have a drill press, so if I end up having to drill into a dowel, maybe I'll wait or try to get help. As far as the finish goes, it's a weird color and a cheap bass that already has some dings, so I'm not too worried about a few chips... but I'll use masking tape anyhow.

[jrcorp]

So I'm having a few issues... I've measured a lot, but I'm worried that my lines may not be perfect. Measuring 17" from the nut puts me at a point towards the headstock on the 12th fret. Measuring from there, I get a 34" line that's not close to where the old bridge or saddles were. I'm hoping that's partly to blame on the bridge bending upward in back, but afraid it's a lot of my fault for setting the bass up entirely wrong. Attaching the old bridge and measuring from the saddles, I got scale lengths of about 34 1/2" on the E string to 34 1/8" or so on the G.

 

The lines I drew extending from the edges of the neck lead me to believe the old bridge was well off-center. I'm not sure if I should trust this and go forward, as it makes drilling for the new bridge confusing. Could the bass have been manufactured that poorly? The mounting holes look all about 3-5 mm off, and the bridge does look like it angles towards the upper bout or the E string.

 

I would love to get this done ASAP, as I've already been without bass for a day or two. Thanks for any help.

[misterhinkydink]

The bolt-on neck is obviously out of alignment.

[jrcorp]

 

The bolt-on neck is obviously out of alignment.

 

 

Out of alignment sounds like a car issue, but I think I can understand what you mean. The way the neck was in the pocket left a slight gap on one side, but if the neck had been angled more that way, the stock bridge would've been off even more. I drew straight lines from the sides of the neck at the pocket as had been suggested to me, and spent loads of time measuring, drawing lines, measuring again, etc. If you mean the neck was otherwise messed up, I think it has a bit too much relief but otherwise looks good.

 

I drilled out the old holes and filled them with dowels, then drilled out the center 3 holes on the Gotoh as the outer 2 were close enough to a dowel. My drilling wasn't perfect, but this being my first project involving this kind of work I think I did pretty well. The bass was cheap enough that I don't think it was worth paying a shop to do the work. I appreciate the response though.

[jrcorp]

So I tried setting the bass up, and everything is for the most part fine. The D and G strings are a little off of where they were over the P pickup, but I'm not concerned about that. I broke two strings at the tuners because when I first strung the bass up I didn't know what I was doing and didn't leave enough string wrapped around the tuners. So I'll buy a new set tomorrow after work, but I have another issue.

 

With the Gotoh bridge installed, I couldn't get the action low enough. I measured around around 2.5-3 mm on the G string and around 3.5-4 mm on the E string at the 12th fret, which is about 1-1.5 mm higher than suggested by Ibanez in their manual. That was with the saddles lowered flat against the bridge plate. Manufacturers seem to have different methods of measuring relief and action, so I'm not sure how bad that action is. I'm also trying to get the relief just right, but either way I think that action is a little higher than I would like.

 

I've read that people have swapped the saddles out for stock as it's a difference of 2 mm, but the string spacing on the stock saddles is a little wider and the adjustment screws don't quite sit in the tracks the same. The only other solution I can think of is shimming the neck; I took some time making templates on card and foam but I don't know if the results would be worth all the time and effort.

 

I'll go pick up strings and give the bass another shot tomorrow, but I'm worried I'll get stuck with this.

[mrcrow]

string spacing is really a result of the nut spacing and the neck width at the neck...

so a few teensy bits wider wont be a big problem so long as your strings dont fall off the neck

the pups have a quite a bit of latitude...and if mass produced basses are anything to go by most of the strings arent dead in the middle of the pup pole/poles...thats where covered pole pups score for cosmetics...and lack of finger hum

yours in anticipation

geof

[jrcorp]

I've been working at the bass in between work and other things, and I think I almost have it done to the best of my abilities. I made 3 shims that angled out from the back of the neck pocket, but between that and adjusting the truss rod to get the relief right the fretboard was curving back up towards the strings around the 17th fret up. So I started over and made up a few full-pocket shims, which seem to work slightly better.

 

I feel the relief is just about right, with maybe some tightening to do but I'm afraid of hitting another snag. With fiddling around with the action, I was adjusting for intonation so many times. Finally I have that right too, but the action is a bit high. I'm still around 2.5-3 mm on the G, and 3.5-4 on the E at the 12th fret. I got the pickup heights down and all, and I want to make witness points but am afraid of tweaking again and having it off.

 

If and when I get the tools and courage, I might try leveling the frets as I've seen a few walkthroughs and it doesn't look too bad with some caution and patience. I'm pretty sure that's the next step to getting this right; though the upper frets would get ground down more with the neck being off, it would help. Apart from that, I'm not sure how else to improve as there's no heel truss rod adjustment and I'm not paying much to get this worked on. The action is comfortable for me, I know it's high but any lower and I get fret buzz around the 15th fret. Thanks for all the help, and I'd appreciate any more ideas. I should get some pictures up...