Can I mount this bridge on an acoustic?

[Claymore]

I have a crappy Dean acoustic bass and I enjoy noodling around on it but it has major intonation problems. With the neck relief within spec, I have notched the bridge saddles back to the point where there is no more room for adjustment and I need more real estate to get it right.
My trusty Danelectro here has what might be the lightest bridge I've ever come across. I mean ridiculously light to the point where I doubt it would mess too much with the vibration of the soundboard. The adjustable saddles would solve my intonation problem if I can somehow mount the bridge farther back.
Has anyone ever tried anything like this? Are there any roadblocks to doing this that I'm not seeing? Thanks in advance for your feedback.

 

[basshack]

How would you secure it? is there a block below to take the screws and if not would putting one in then dampen the sound too much?

I have seen an acoustic guitar bridge that was shaped so that it fitted the original slot in the bridge but was thicker above so that it could be compensated for better intonation.

 

[Jeff Scott]

We need to see the guitar under investigation and the bridge from the appropriate angles to determine what's going on.

This is the bridge of my Yamamoto Talus VS-12. The saddle is about twice the thickness/width of a standard acoustic guitar saddle to allow for greater range of intonation adjustment. Why not try something like that first, which would require widening the saddle slot in the bridge and making a wider saddle to give you more range (all very easy to do), instead of that weird kluge you showed us you were considering, which wouldn't work well anyway. Apparently, you have no idea how the bridge and saddle work on an acoustic guitar; there's a reason acoustic guitar bridges are designed the way they are so they can work properly on an acoustic guitar.

 

[Lownote38]

Unless there's a center block, no, and even if there is, having a bridge where the strings mount behind the bridge will dish the soundboard eventually, if not immediately.

 

[Matt Liebenau]

I don’t think there’s enough support there for a screw down bridge like the Dano one. The typical repair would be to either make the slot wider so there’s more bridge saddle to intonate with as @Jeff Scott said or to plug the saddle slot with matching wood, figure out where the strings intonate correctly and route for a new saddle slot.

 

[Turnaround]

The first question with intonation issues is whether you have set the witness points of the strings at the nut and bridge. If you have and there still are intonation issues, you might try a lighter gauge of string - they intonate further forward than heavier gauges.

 

[drwv]

The saddle on an acoustic (bass) guitar converts plucked string vibration into up-and-down vibration on the soundboard. Think of the soundboard like the cone of a speaker, and the saddle is the speaker coil. You can see this even more dramatically on an archtop or an upright bass.

An electric (bass) guitar's strings vibrate in any direction within the magnetic field of its pickup, creating the electric signal. Its saddle is only responsible for intonation/height.

Why don't you see electric-style bridges mounted on acoustics? Because they have different requirements.

It seems to me that you're likely to ruin your acoustic if you mount an electric-style bridge on it, regardless of its weight.

 

[BlueRock]

No. Look inside and see if there's a giant tail block twice the depth of the one below to mount it to. There won't be.

 

[Claymore]

The first question with intonation issues is whether you have set the witness points of the strings at the nut and bridge. If you have and there still are intonation issues, you might try a lighter gauge of string - they intonate further forward than heavier gauges.

Thank you for that tip. I must admit that string guage never even entered into the equation but that does make perfect sense. I may just go that route and see what happens.

 

[Claymore]

The saddle on an acoustic (bass) guitar converts plucked string vibration into up-and-down vibration on the soundboard. Think of the soundboard like the cone of a speaker, and the saddle is the speaker coil. You can see this even more dramatically on an archtop or an upright bass.

An electric (bass) guitar's strings vibrate in any direction within the magnetic field of its pickup, creating the electric signal. Its saddle is only responsible for intonation/height.

Why don't you see electric-style bridges mounted on acoustics? Because they have different requirements.

It seems to me that you're likely to ruin your acoustic if you mount an electric-style bridge on it, regardless of its weight.

Duly noted. Thank you for explaining this to me without being condescending, disrespectful or arrogant. You are tactful and patient with those who understand less than you. It's responses like yours that keep me involved in TalkBass and determined to ignore the douc*ebags.