It may be you are onto something. I never noticed this problem before though with the old bridge which makes me so confused. it won't harm to look at the nut though. I only have swiss files or drill bits with a bit of sandpaper wrapped round them as hosco's are £75 a set 3/4's of the price of the bass when I bought it. I'll have to bite the bullet at some stage.
Unfortunately I can't do that as I sold the bridge last week. I remember measuring it before I took it off, and the measurement was 30" but the A&G saddle was retracted about 1/4", so I don't think I'm a million miles out.Was the intonation good before you changed the bridge? If so, put the old bridge back on, put a piece of masking tape beside it and mark (or measure) where the string leaves the G string saddle. Then install the new bridge so with the saddle almost all the way forward, the string leaves the saddle in the same place.
All this other stuff people are telling you is fine tuning. It's not going to fix the problem if the bridge is placed where the bass is a semitone out at the 5th fret
And that's the rub, I hadn't noticed anything like this with the last bridge - that's all I can say, but I definitely can't be sure whether it was always there in one form or another. It was my son's bass years ago, but he never really took it up. It had been lying forgotten for years in our garage before I liberated it in September.
Hi Riis,
The bridge will have to move.Unfortunately I can't do that as I sold the bridge last week. I remember measuring it before I took it off, and the measurement was 30" but the A&G saddle was retracted about 1/4", so I don't think I'm a million miles out.
I'm going to give it a full set up today so I can eliminate that from the equation, as I've said I noticed this before I set it up so the advice everyone has given me has been valuable so far and will help me in the set up. If the bridge placement is out for some strange reason, I'm not averse to filling the new holes and re-drilling
You can do it on the 19th fret too.
Riiiight.
Well this has been an informative and practical hands on experience for me.
What I've found out is that I cannot set the intonation correctly. On the E string even at its intonation maximum travel each way I cannot get out of E# territory. In this Sung Il bridge you can only adjust intonation by about 10mm so I have a sinking feeling I may have placed the bridge too far toward to the neck which is what other people on here have alluded to.
I have been following this fella's method of installing a bridge;
And the distance from nut to 12th fret is exactly 14 7/8" on my neck bang on, as you can see from my previous photos, I thought I'd got it smack on. but maybe I should have just measured from front of nut 30" and set it at where the G saddle extends fully toward the neck, so mystery solved. I'll have to re-drill and mount the bridge 1/4 inch further back but that's something for tomorrow or later. I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks all, and I've learned a lot from yoiu all, especially @Zooberwerx
I could be reading this wrong but it sounds like you're doing it backwards.
I think, I'm doing it right? When people say 'harmonic' I'm assuming it's the quick gentle touch on the string that makes it ring an octave higher? If I haven't misunderstood then that harmonic is in perfect tune with the open string. When I fret at the 12th fret though, it's that that's sharp. I was puzzled why you get that disparity so far down the neck at the fifth fret. I've put new bridges of different types and mounting holes before, but maybe I've been lucky in the past? I can't say I understand it still, but at least I've now established what the problem is!
You have it correct. Pity the answer to your problem wasn't that simple, though.I think, I'm doing it right? When people say 'harmonic' I'm assuming it's the quick gentle touch on the string that makes it ring an octave higher? If I haven't misunderstood then that harmonic is in perfect tune with the open string. When I fret at the 12th fret though, it's that that's sharp. I was puzzled why you get that disparity so far down the neck at the fifth fret. I've put new bridges of different types and mounting holes before, but maybe I've been lucky in the past? I can't say I understand it still, but at least I've now established what the problem is!
Splitting hairs I know, but call it the 2nd harmonic or the 1st overtone 'at the 12th fret'. Half the wavelength and twice the frequency of the open string Fundamental. The actual '12th harmonic' is a P5TH not an octave.
That sounds correct even though we know something is wrong.
I haven't got round to moving it yet, probably a job for the weekend as got a busy week this week. However, I'll be measuring 30" from nut to G saddle fully extended in action. If that doesn't work then it appears I have small black hole in the vicinity!
A happy ending!!
Isn't this backwards? Tune the open string to the standard you normally use. As a sanity check, verify the 12th fret harmonic is also in tune (if it's not, it's a string problem). Then fret at the 12th fret and check whether that's in tune; adjust intonation accordingly.
