Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a 2011 MIM jazz bass, I switched out the stock bridge for a bad *** 2 and had to shim it to adjust and set intonation. I don't like the action on it now. I'm considering a different bridge like a hipshot...any suggestions?

Grabicz (sp) makes a really nice replacement bridge. I played a Gibson bass with one installed,seemed very solid and well designed.
I imagine Hipshot has one,too.

woodyng wrote:Grabicz (sp) makes a really nice replacement bridge.

That would be Babicz; I think Grabicz is something else entirely.

Being thrifty (or cheap, depending on your perspective), I'd go with the original Fender bridge again, though I know they're ugly and lack the mass of custom bridges. They're dirt simple, reliable and easy to use.

Hipshot make their type A bass bridge to mount on Fenders - the sku is 5A4FM. they pop up on ebay for way under the RRP. Downside: the footprint is substantially smaller than the Leo Quan number you have currently, so there may be a minor cosmetic issue due to the indentation left by the old bridge. I'm not sure if any bridge for Fender basses has a footprint quite as large as the Leo Quan.....

+1 on a stock bridge. Thousands of basses have them. Thousands of basses sound good with them. Inexpensive. Reliable. Sturdy. Precise. Easy to maintain.

Back in the late '70's, before Bass Player Magazine spun off from Guitar Player Magazine, one article was a bass bridge "shoot-out" with all the available bridges of the day, including stock 70's, stock 60's "bolt stock" saddles, brass, Badass, etc. The conclusion: the stock bridge provided the best intonation, tone and sustain. There is nothing new except the history a person doesn't know, as obscured by all the marketing hype.

jps wrote:

woodyng wrote:Grabicz (sp) makes a really nice replacement bridge.

That would be Babicz; I think Grabicz is something else entirely.

Senior moment!

The simplicity and straight-forward design of the stock F****r bridge is hard to beat.
Just make sure that you don't run into a "lemon" like I did on an early 90's MIJ '75 reissue. All I could get out of that bass was a hollow resonance that I could not for the life of me figure out UNTIL... one day, completely by accident, a very thin piece of plastic slipped between the top of the body and the front of the bridge's baseplate on the E side. Turned out that the baseplate was bent in such a way that the height adjustment screws ended up making contact on a part of the baseplate that was 'floating' off of the body of the bass, hence that resulting 'metallic hollowness'. Replaced with a brand new stock assembly, and all was good!

So I took it to my guy Barry at my local shop for him to swap the bridge out. Instead, he put a better shim in the neck than what I did and wow…I think I'll just leave the Leo Quan on. We compared it to a MIM Jazz they had in the shop and an American Standard and the action and playability was better than both. Now, all I have to do is drop my new Duncans in...

bassman4001 wrote: Now, all I have to do is drop my new Duncans in...

What Duncans? I put a set of STK-J2's in my old J bass, and they are now in my custom fretless. I was warned that I'd "lose the J bass vibe" putting in the humbuckers, but it still sounded like J bass afterwards. Just a clearer, louder sound, with no buzzing, and no microphonic tap that the original stock PUP's had (it was a MIJ, early 90's model).

When I decided to get the custom done and re-use the Duncans I put the original PUP's back in the J. Yup, aside from the output, buzz and tapping sound when I touched the covers, the bass sounded the same...

I put in quarter pound SJB-3's. This bass has turned into a beast. Cleaner, clearer louder and still sounds like a Jazz Bass

An old thread that started with bridges and pretty seamlessly modulated into pickups. I dropped some of the Bill Lawrence designed Fender SCNs into my JB fiver. Totally passive and tonally cool. They stopped the hum too. You can still find them out there. I got mine from Buzzard's bass shop. Anybody else shop there? That guy is/was a trip! Just about took my head off for doing business with him, but in the end it all worked out. The bridge on my '75 is crusty as all get out, chrome flaking off, etc., but works fine. The fiver's is of the same design but of a slightly better quality.

Put the stock bridge back on it and be done with it. The differences are minimal at best. I actually use the old "bolt stock" bridge on my Fender-derived instruments because there just simply is not anything better for the balance of cost, tone, sustain and playability.

In the late '70's, before Bass Player magazine spun off from Guitar Player, there was a "shootout" of all the bridges of the day, including bolt stock, single-groove barrel channel, BadAss, other heavy brass bridges, zinc, aluminum etc. At the end of the day, everyone still liked the old "bolt stock" bridge better on a properly set up bass.

It's still the same today.