Bridge adjusters and sound for Arco

[Eduardo Barbosa]

Hi Guys,
I was wondering if anyone have ever noticed any difference in sound when installing aluminum bridge adjusters for arco playing only.
I am the only one that has adjusters in the section. The other 4 basses have solid bridges. One of my basses has the Kolstein bridge with the wooden adjusters. And it seems fine. My other bass has aluminum adjusters. I never cared because that is my "jazz" bass. But occasionally I'll take it to an Orchestra rehearsal and I've been wondering if the brightness that I am hearing is just more noticeable when playing arco.
Thank you.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Eduardo Barbosa

Hi Guys,
I was wondering if anyone have ever noticed any difference in sound when installing aluminum bridge adjusters for arco playing only.
I am the only one that has adjusters in the section. The other 4 basses have solid bridges. One of my basses has the Kolstein bridge with the wooden adjusters. And it seems fine. My other bass has aluminum adjusters. I never cared because that is my "jazz" bass. But occasionally I'll take it to an Orchestra rehearsal and I've been wondering if the brightness that I am hearing is just more noticeable when playing arco.
Thank you.

Bowing on your Jazz bass in an Orchestra? What kind of bass and how different is it from Your Orchestra bass? Also, and very important, what strings are on the Jazz bass and Orchestra bass?

I will bet you that the difference is the bass first and the Strings second that makes the difference. The Adjusters are way down the list in my book. For me, I like the adjusters that are the easiest to turn. I am not going to try various types in the same bridge and bass to see how the sound changes. You can't compare adjusters from one bass to another. It can only be compared with the exact same bass and bridge.

[Eduardo Barbosa]

The bass has no label, but I've had it for a long time and tried many different strings on it. Right now I have a set of Obligatos, and after a good warm up I feel that I can get a good sound out of it.
I guess I was wondering if someone who had installed aluminum adjusters on their bridge had noticed any differences.
I also would think that adjusters would be way down the list, but I thought I'd ask anyway, in case anyone had any other thoughts on it.
thank you.

[Thomas Erickson]

I've played a couple of basses with the same bridge before/after adjusters were added, but only briefly on either side. IMO, yes, it changes the sound, a little, but not for the better or worse - just different. And not enough to convince me it isn't just in my head, either. Like Ken, I think if you're going to put adjusters in a bridge, get the biggest easiest-to-grab ones you can find - they all mess up the look of a nice bridge anyway.

Personally, I don't get enough use out of adjusters to make them worthwhile. I think they look funny, and I'd rather just keep two bridges (if needed) - if the climate in a particular area changes enough over the seasons to really need adjusters, you probably need two soundposts anyway - might as well swap them both and clean your fingerboard at the same time...

[Ruben E garcia]

Hi Eduardo:
I don’t know if this article helps to answer exactly your question, they compared different types of adjusters and the results are very interesting
http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/english/dbb/dbb.htm

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Ruben E garcia

Hi Eduardo:
I don’t know if this article helps to answer exactly your question, they compared different types of adjusters and the results are very interesting
http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/english/dbb/dbb.htm

Unless they kept changing adjusters on the same exact bridge going from smallest to biggest and the exact bass, strings, player etc, there is no way to compare this.

[Eduardo Barbosa]

Originally Posted by Ruben E garcia

Hi Eduardo:
I don’t know if this article helps to answer exactly your question, they compared different types of adjusters and the results are very interesting
http://iwk.mdw.ac.at/Forschung/english/dbb/dbb.htm

That is a great article. Thank you!

I live in Colorado, and I think I am going to pay very close attention to how my bass behave when summer comes. I might wanna go for a solid bridge on my Orchestral bass.
Thank you.