Angle From Saddle to Bridge

[jelwood]

So I tried a search here, could not find anything, if someone knows of a thread that answers my question, link me

I have noticed that on some stingrays, from where the string makes contact with the bridge saddle, to the butt of the bridge, there is an angle. Yes, that is confusing so here is a link to a picture that describes what I'm talking about. Trans White :: 92SR4front2.jpg picture by EBMMColour - Photobucket
That is actually one of the pictures of the "trans white" finish you'll find in the finish sticky thread. Now this would be fine if it weren't for the fact that plenty of stingrays don't have that, the strings run from the saddle to the bridge in a perfectly straight line. I have been told that they were made that way on purpose, and that it supposedly increases sustain, but makes the bass harder to restring. Anyone care to enlighten me?

 

[strummer]

Here you'll find the lowdown on the brodges, thanks to Rod Trussbroken: BRIDGES - Musicmanbass.org, Music Man, Musicman, Music Man Bass, Musicman Bass, Music Man Guitar

 

[fly]

not sure if this is what you're after but.......half way down in strummer's link........

Circa 2nd half of 1988 (or early 1989) to circa 1992

During the circa 1988 to circa 1992 period, it was common to see re-assembled bridges as in the above pic. This perhaps was partly due to the ability for saddle screws to be extracted and re-inserted from either above or beneath the saddle.
Due to the top-load bridge design, the strings formed an acute angle from their anchor point to the saddles. Consequently, the above bridge appears to have been reassembled by the owner (?) in an apparent attempt to perhaps give the bridge a more symmetrical (to use a term) look. This appears to have been done by swapping the string anchor holes with intonation screw holes, on both the E and A strings. The two respective saddles were then, either replaced upside down with the adjustment screws fed from the other side or, rotated 180 degrees on a horizontal plane.

Similar modifications have been observed where the D and G saddles have been reassembled (as opposed to the E and A); resulting in the E and A strings AND the D and G sweeping out towards the ends of the bridge (as opposed towards the centre of the bridge as in the above example).

 

[jelwood]

Thanks! I read most of what was in that link. According to Rod, then, the angle was in fact completely normal, it was just how the bridges were designed, which is what I was originally told. Some people I guess were annoyed by it and tried to mod their bridges either by using string anchor holes as saddle adjustment screw feeds and vice-versa. There's also a picture of someone who decided to just get different saddles, but the article nicely points out that it would lead to the strings not being directly centered over the pup's pole pieces. Interesting stuff.

 

[stingrayPete77]

I have seen comments about how the angle could make the saddles pull upwards because of the angle but all of my Rays have the E (or B) string saddle pressed firmly against the bridge anchor bolt anyway then each saddle pusshing up against the next, solid as a rock both of my 5's are straight anyway.