Hipshot Drop in Bridge

[woodyng]

also VERY happy with the aluminum hipshot on my 74 4000-it cured an intonation issue,has a very low action,tons of sustain,and a more balanced tone string to string....plus it cured my gout!

[cassius987]

My sustain improved a little with it. Not much. What are these "intonation issues" you all had??

[woodyng]

mine was a g string that i could not get right-really a rather minor annoyance,but several fixes were tried,and were unsuccessful,with the old bridge,which was starting to curl up as well. i tried the new one out and was delighted in general with it,esp with not having the mute thingy and its big buttons being in my way. i do have a v63 with the original bridge,which feels great,sounds great and appears to be 99% flush to the body,so it will probably remain as is.

[cassius987]

I went into the studio with a G-string intonation issue once that I didn't know about! Horrible! It was my 4003, having had it in my possession for 1 month, and having broken strings I had to switch a new set that threw the action off a bit and I didn't know quite what to do. I hated having to autotune everything. Turned out fine but... it was a big dishonor to my craftsmanship.

[thx1955]

John,
Nice to talk to you last night, as the old saying goes, The Cheque is in the mail.

Rgds,
JImG

[johnallg]

John,
Nice to talk to you last night, as the old saying goes, The Cheque is in the mail.

Rgds,
JImG

Same here, Jim! Hard to understand you - NO, not the accent, all the bar noise!!

I will get it out in the mail tomorrow as I found your address too late for today.

[gearhed289]

mine was a g string that i could not get right-really a rather minor annoyance,but several fixes were tried,and were unsuccessful,with the old bridge,which was starting to curl up as well. i tried the new one out and was delighted in general with it,esp with not having the mute thingy and its big buttons being in my way. i do have a v63 with the original bridge,which feels great,sounds great and appears to be 99% flush to the body,so it will probably remain as is.

Your post just reminded of something I did with my 4003S/8 - I removed the mute pad and adjustment screws. Not having the screws there made a big difference. Just remember to relocate the ground wire properly. I'd still like to get a proper 8 saddle bridge, but I've got it set at a pretty happy medium with the 4 saddles.

[woodyng]

hey tom that sounds like a good idea-i take it you have to remove the bridge completely in order to get the rubber pad out.....hmmm if the bridge comes off,that would be a good time to put another one on.....temptation rears its head again!

[Starless]

I went into the studio with a G-string intonation issue once that I didn't know about! Horrible! It was my 4003, having had it in my possession for 1 month, and having broken strings I had to switch a new set that threw the action off a bit and I didn't know quite what to do. I hated having to autotune everything. Turned out fine but... it was a big dishonor to my craftsmanship.

I can only presume you still had the factory bridge in place.

A ringing endorsement for the Hipshot if ever there was one. With the stock bridge fitted the 'craftmanship' would have been 'dishonor'ed, even ridiculed, as everyone waited for the strings to be loosened, clank-clank saddles removed, tweak, tune-up, check, loosen strings, remove saddle, tweak, check again.....

With the Hipshot...'Hang on guys, just give me 30 seconds here....'. Sorted.

[cassius987]

I went into the studio with a G-string intonation issue once that I didn't know about! Horrible! It was my 4003, having had it in my possession for 1 month, and having broken strings I had to switch a new set that threw the action off a bit and I didn't know quite what to do. I hated having to autotune everything. Turned out fine but... it was a big dishonor to my craftsmanship.

I can only presume you still had the factory bridge in place.

A ringing endorsement for the Hipshot if ever there was one. With the stock bridge fitted the 'craftmanship' would have been 'dishonor'ed, even ridiculed, as everyone waited for the strings to be loosened, clank-clank saddles removed, tweak, tune-up, check, loosen strings, remove saddle, tweak, check again.....

With the Hipshot...'Hang on guys, just give me 30 seconds here....'. Sorted.

A little zealous are we? Yes, I had the factory bridge on.

[rickenbrother]

I can only presume you still had the factory bridge in place.

A ringing endorsement for the Hipshot if ever there was one. With the stock bridge fitted the 'craftmanship' would have been 'dishonor'ed, even ridiculed, as everyone waited for the strings to be loosened, clank-clank saddles removed, tweak, tune-up, check, loosen strings, remove saddle, tweak, check again.....

With the Hipshot...'Hang on guys, just give me 30 seconds here....'. Sorted.

A little zealous are we? Yes, I had the factory bridge on.

Yes, I'd say so.

[ken_j]

I can't comment on brass vs. aluminum but the ABM bridges on the 4004 are made of brass. I would assume the the ABM is made from a billet and the Hipshot from a casting. Here is a quote in part from JH:

... ABM's also machined from solid bell brass...

Link:viewtopic.php?f=1&t=383645

[cassius987]

I can't comment on brass vs. aluminum but the ABM bridges on the 4004 are made of brass. I would assume the the ABM is made from a billet and the Hipshot from a casting. Here is a quote in part from JH:

... ABM's also machined from solid bell brass...

Link:viewtopic.php?f=1&t=383645

I don't know anything about a "billet" as you say but I do know the Hipshot bridges go through a tumbler at some point if that reveals anything about them. It's to modify their footprint, I'm told.

The Hipshot bridge is a VERY good bridge, but for those of you who want to stay stock, here are two great things you can do to enhance it:

*Dane's hex screw trick makes intonation without bridge removal possible--huge plus and addresses the issue previously brought up.

*What if the saddles aren't sitting tight and click every time you move the string? That's been my problem. Well, I finally found a 100% inconspicuous way to fix it and it's ridiculously simple--no MacGuyver skill needed. Just take wax paper, and, rather than stick it under the saddles (that was my old fix and it was ineffective over time), take the bridge out and shove it between the saddles and the bridge housing. Test this out by pushing back and forth on the saddle, topside. With just one piece of wax paper on each side, I now have it 100% functional and hassle-free. And there is no trace of the paper topside.

Again, I have no beef with using a Hipshot bridge--presently I do and it sounds and works superbly. But the stock bridge is great already so for a lot of us there's no need to spend another $100. I think the main impetus for moving to Hipshot is if your technique demands it or you don't have a working stock bridge. If it's about intonation, just do Dane's fix and you're set for a measly couple of bucks--if that.

[Starless]

I can only presume you still had the factory bridge in place.

A ringing endorsement for the Hipshot if ever there was one. With the stock bridge fitted the 'craftmanship' would have been 'dishonor'ed, even ridiculed, as everyone waited for the strings to be loosened, clank-clank saddles removed, tweak, tune-up, check, loosen strings, remove saddle, tweak, check again.....

With the Hipshot...'Hang on guys, just give me 30 seconds here....'. Sorted.

A little zealous are we? Yes, I had the factory bridge on.

Yes, I'd say so.

Please explain why an accurate description of the tortuous intonation procedure on a stock Rickenbacker bridge is 'zealous'.

[cassius987]

Please explain why an accurate description of the tortuous intonation procedure on a stock Rickenbacker bridge is 'zealous'.

Not trying to zing you, your text just had a pretty ******-off tone to it, so it came off (to me) as zealous. Sorry if I offended you though, or misinterpreted what you meant to be saying. I like the Hipshot bridge and if you prefer it 100% over the RIC version that's your right to do so. However, nothing about the process has to be torturous. Apparently you never learned the untorturous way to do it--there are a couple of ways that are pretty simple, and if you switch the screws out, it's extra-simplified.

I'm not trying to assail you though, if you want to maintain that the RIC stock bridge is "torturous", then cool. My response is, "Be that way, that's fine, just know that some have figured out that it doesn't have to be torturous." As with most things RIC, you have to invest a little more homework into the procedure before you figure out 'the RIC Way' to do it and then it makes sense and is quite easy. Trust me, your description of the bridge, even from when mine had spring issues, is excessively negative compared to my experiences.