Help with my String/Bridge Height

[Calvin Marks]

Originally Posted by Pino Cazzaniga

Calvin,
your fingerboard is too flat for the string spacing / bridge curvature you like, as Arnold said.

If you will make it planed with the same curvature of your present bridge, you will not lower as now the A and the d strings when you press them to the fingerboard in high positions.

The more the fingerboard is concave, the more this effect is noticeable

So, probably you will need less bridge curvature for the same bowing.

A way is to plane the fingerboard with a bit less arch than the one of your present bridge, and then to set up the bridge again.

Find a good luthier to do this.
A good luthier is someone who can listen you, realize what you really need, share with you his opinions and make the work.

Is the fingerboard thick enough to plane it?
Have you adjusters on your bridge?
Are you going to play soon for auditions?

Thanks for the great info. I was just on the phone with the bass maker, he suggested the ideal height for the G string to be 5mm and that I should do the following:

Raise both adjusters so the E string has 8mm clearance, then file down the bridge notches until the strings are: G-5,D-6,A-7...After that he told me to use 120 grit sandpaper and gently file down the bridge until the strings are 50-75% in the grooves.