Old to new bridge conversion

[cassius987]

I have a 4003S (fretless conversion) that I really love, but it has the old bridge/tailpiece which I like much less than the new design. Has anyone converted their old Ric to the new bridge/tailpiece? How was the outcome?

[ram]

I did it to my '74 4001. Take the old one off, clean the area. pace the template with existing screws/screw holes and drill the three little new holes. Mount the new hardware and ground wire and restring. Pretty much that easy. There is no tonal or sound difference I could hear. Intonation and string adjustments are far easier with the new one. It looks Ric, sounds Ric and is Ric. I lile it!

[cassius987]

Great, thanks!

[cassius987]

Do others who made the conversion note a difference in tail lift?

On my 4003AC, with the new design, there is no tail lift whatsoever. Now that I can see the difference, it's hard not to notice tail lift with the old design.

[ram]

Yes, that is why I replaced mine. It had developed a little lift a couple of decades ago. It seemed to stabilize for a while then seemed to get active again, showing tiny signs of movement. I was thinking of adding two holes to the tailpiece (like my 4003S5 has but then figured I'd try the new version. No lift at all.

[cassius987]

Awesome! Thanks.

[nov_1981]

I tried the new bridge on my 4003SW converted to fretless and found that I couldn’t get the action as low as the with old bridge. Ended up putting the old one back on.

[bluewhale]

Sorry for the slow reply.

I replaced the three-screw bridge/tailpiece on a 4001 C64 with the new V2. I had to make a change because the break angle for the G string passing over the bridge saddle was approaching zero over time. That was three years ago. I posted some pics here:

viewtopic.php?p=874366#p874366

OP asked whether there is a difference in tail-lift. If you look at the design, you'll see that the new tailpiece cannot lift.


bluewhale

[cassius987]

I tried the new bridge on my 4003SW converted to fretless and found that I couldn’t get the action as low as the with old bridge. Ended up putting the old one back on.

That's a gorgeous bass!

[nov_1981]

Thanks! Larry Davis does excellent work