fine tuning the bridge crown

[Matthew Tucker]

A thinner bridge crown is generally brighter than a thicker one ... so does anyone ever cut a bridge crown with variable thickness?

ie: if my E and A are too dark relative to the other strings, I thought maybe I could thin the crown a bit under the E and A to balance them out.

But I hesitate to try it on a new bridge, might end up a waste of a good blank! Does anyone do this with success?

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

A thinner bridge crown is generally brighter than a thicker one ... so does anyone ever cut a bridge crown with variable thickness?

ie: if my E and A are too dark relative to the other strings, I thought maybe I could thin the crown a bit under the E and A to balance them out.

But I hesitate to try it on a new bridge, might end up a waste of a good blank! Does anyone do this with success?

A thinner bridge crown is generally brighter than a thicker one?

I never noticed. How much difference can you hear? Do you need a bright bass to hear the difference or will a dark sounding bass show the change as well?

[Matthew Tucker]

On my basses I can hear the difference that thinning the crown (the part above the heart, and the ridge over which the strings pass) makes. There must be a difference, otherwise why bother thinning the bridge blank at all?

But I don't have experience with a huge range of basses and bridges, as you (and others) do, that is why I am asking here, rather than risk spoiling more bridge blanks un-necessarily.

It surprises me that you never noticed any difference. Are all the bridges you cut the same thickness at the top?

Perhaps its a stupid idea.

[Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Matthew Tucker

On my basses I can hear the difference that thinning the crown (the part above the heart, and the ridge over which the strings pass) makes. There must be a difference, otherwise why bother thinning the bridge blank at all?

But I don't have experience with a huge range of basses and bridges, as you (and others) do, that is why I am asking here, rather than risk spoiling more bridge blanks un-necessarily.

It surprises me that you never noticed any difference. Are all the bridges you cut the same thickness at the top?

Perhaps its a stupid idea.

Let's put it this way Matt. I do not recall ever changing an existing Bridge once installed on a Bass in that way or for that reason. I have had new Bridges made for basses on occasion but there are too many factors involved to point to just the 'crown' as you refer to it. I think for the most part the Bridge is just trimmed to get the excess bulk off so as not to 'choke' the sound where the string passes.

For me, the deeper the better. I think a bass should be as deep as it can be. For playing Pop of Jazz music and using an Amp in many cases I can see how players might shoot for a slightly brighter sound but I still prefer the Thunder over the Lightening....

Here's something I've heard. A wider bridge at the feet will be deeper sounding than a narrower size. For instance, to have the bridge leg over a particular bass that needs to be 155mm wide outer-to-outer, using a 145-150mm size would be brighter pushing the inner edge of the bar and using a 160-165mm size. I have noticed with basses of mine that when a wider bridge was installed to reach over the bar center from one that was not wide enough, the sound got deeper and with more low end spread.

On the other hand, I recently re-visited an old English Bass I tried a couple of years ago that had what I thought back then a bridge too wide. I was told it's deeper like that (but also, can sink the top in.) A few months ago trying that same bass again I noticed that it had a new bridge, not as wide and the sound was not as deep as before.

[William Hoffman]

don't mean to digress, but it's related.

next to crown thickness (i read in Traeger's book that a thinner "crown" of the bridge will produce a brighter sound, but i don't have the experience to confirm that myself) and width of the spread, i noticed also that some bridges are thinned on the feet.

why is that? does it have an effect on the sound?