The Alembic Bridge

Started by rogertvr, January 18, 2005, 11:03:24 AM

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rogertvr

What happens when you have about 1mm of relief in the neck, the bridge is flat on the baseplate, you have no squeaks or rattles when playing the instrument, but you feel that the strings could be even lower?  What then?  Any suggestions?

adriaan

Easy, you make the bridge slots deeper.

rogertvr

A little hit and miss isn't it?

adriaan


rogertvr

How does one make the bridge slots deeper?

serialnumber12

A 'very' thin (round) file,one that fits into the slot precisely.
keavin barnes @ facebook.com

dela217

I wouldn't mess with the slots.  I had the same sort of problem with one of my Alembics.  What I did was have the bottom of the brass sustain block machined down.  That way the whole thing sits deeper in the body.

knight

I was wondering about this too... I want to convert my Europa to fretless but I need to get the strings lower than they are now.  
 
IS THIS A SAFE PROCEDURE, DOCTOR???
 
I don't want to hurt my beautiful bass...

dgcarbu

Please ensure you do not take too much off, a replacement bridge is not cheap.

apdavis

I would agree with dela,  You can aways contract for parts, and if your mechanical operations are good, changing your sustain block is the way to go.

mica

A skilled repair person can certainly file the slots down. I would not recommend saddle filing on your Alembic as a first-time project unless you have metal experience.
 
Another option is to order a set of replacement saddles. You can remove and save the originals, install the unslotted ones, and have your repair person work on those. That way, it's completely reversable.  
 
Dela's suggestion of sanding down the back of the block seems more appropriate for a do-it-yourself modification.

fredguy

Doesn't 1 mm (0.040) of relief seem high? I'd try to get it to 0.375 to 0.5mm (0.015 to 0.020) and see if the bridge was too still too low.
 
dave

bob

Take a close look: is the bottom of the bridge itself really sitting on the block, or is it the small nut on the height adjusting screw?
 
I'm not sure all are like this, but if I needed to go lower I could simply countersink the holes in the block - maybe not with a real countersink, but a drill large enough to let that nut 'sink in' a bit. Pretty simple, you don't lose much mass, won't hurt anything else.
 
Though I agree with dave/fredguy that 1 mm relief seems pretty excessive, and would try working on that first.
-Bob

adriaan

Just out of curiosity: where did the 1 mm relief bit come from?
 
And does that refer to neck relief, as in how much space there is between the strings and the 12th fret?
 
Fredguy, if you're talking bass then .040 corresponds to a medium light G string. I think that's about the relief that I have. I'm not sure I'd be comfortable playing having it lower.

rogertvr

Adriaan, yes, the 1mm relief is the space between the bottom of the strings and the 12th fret, when the string is fretted simultaneously at the 1st and 24th fret.  I didn't think 1mm was particularly large, quite the opposite in fact - I thought it was quite small.