Wazkelly's EX-5

[OldManNick]

I had an Epiphone explorer bass back in the day. I ended up having to store it in a keyboard gigbag. It was an unweildy thing, but did the job.

[wazkelly]

I had an Epiphone explorer bass back in the day. I ended up having to store it in a keyboard gigbag. It was an unweildy thing, but did the job.

Yeah, know what you mean as i ended up finding an explorer bass gig bag in USA and was very close to buying a keyboard one or custom building a case.

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[michnet76]

Have not been able to get the action nice and even all along the neck with this build and part of the problem seemed to rest with how high string saddles are on the bridge, even when fully lowered and also the ridiculous break angle from saddles to base where the strings are fed through. I reckon the cylindrical shaped saddles are about 10 mm or more in diameter which looks bigger than on a traditional F style Bass bridge?

Spotted one of these on Real Parts website when shopping for other bits and pieces and thought why not? It can only help lower action at bridge end a bit more than at present but also help to reduce sharp break angle, particularly on the low B & E strings...

That's looking great wazkelly!

Have you got it back up and running yet? How's the Allparts bridge?

I think I have the same issue with my IB-5 as you did with the stock bridge - can't get the saddles low enough on the treble side and the string break angle on the bass side is quite steep. I initially thought it was a warped neck (and may still be) but looking at those pics of your original bridge it looks very similar - the treble side saddles are bottomed and out and still not low enough. I've been looking around for a suitable replacement bridge but not sure if I wanted to spring for a brand name bridge or take the risk with a cheaper Chinese one but that Quick Release Allparts bridge looks like a nice compromise.

[wazkelly]

That's looking great wazkelly!

Have you got it back up and running yet? How's the Allparts bridge?

I think I have the same issue with my IB-5 as you did with the stock bridge - can't get the saddles low enough on the treble side and the string break angle on the bass side is quite steep. I initially thought it was a warped neck (and may still be) but looking at those pics of your original bridge it looks very similar - the treble side saddles are bottomed and out and still not low enough. I've been looking around for a suitable replacement bridge but not sure if I wanted to spring for a brand name bridge or take the risk with a cheaper Chinese one but that Quick Release Allparts bridge looks like a nice compromise.

Hi Michnet, have had a few jobs on the go at once and need to get back onto this one. The bridge has a lot of micro adjustable parameters and reckon it might take a couple of hours to set it up properly. Hopefully I can get that done before end of next week.

Suggest holding off ordering one until I report back as I was very close to opting for something else as unsure how much lower it will go compared to the stock bridge. Main win is a better string break angle over rear of the bridge plus easier top loading. The low B was so far back and wound really high which caused a very steep angle back to the retaining hole, made things difficult trying to feed a string on, plus the gravel rash caused each time you take it off for replacement.

[michnet76]

Thanks for the reply - I was on the Realparts website site last night and had it in the cart along with some new Gotoh tuners and pots ready to pull the trigger... Then I noticed the string spacing is 16.5mm (66mm total) so thought I'd check the original supplied bridge (I presume it's the same one that came with the EX-5) which is 18mm (72mm total) spacing. Cosmetically I think it will look okay with the allparts bridge - I squeezed in the strings on the bridge side to emulate the 66mm width and it gave equal spacing all the way along the neck between edge of the fretboard and the B and G strings. With the stock bridge, the gap on the edge gets narrower going from the nut down to the 24 fret. I t prefer the 18mm spacing though, having fat stubby fingers it suits me better!

The only bridge I've come across with 18mm spacing, apart from the higher end '3D' ones which offer adjustable spacing, is the Gotoh J510B0-5CK (http://luthierssupplies.com.au/produ...roducts_id=447) which is a bit more pricey. The minimum saddle height from top of guitar body is 12mm looking at the specs diagram so may not be much lower than the stock bridge height anyway. Another thought I had to make the stock bridge saddles lower is to take the saddles off and grind a mm or so off the bottom of the saddles on the G/D strings. I haven't had a good look to see how much meat is between the bottom and the adjustment screw hole but it could be another option.

My original thought to solve the uneven string height issue is to reprofile the base of the neck at the joint (the tongue?) to change the neck angle. I might try shimming to start with to see what kind of angles I'll need to achieve it before attacking the neck with a belt sander!

[wazkelly]

I will measure it tonight, re-string and see how things line up and report back.

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[wazkelly]

Only got around to re-stringing tonight to take some measurement shots....

String spacing is about 16 mm centre to centre of the saddles which is the same as on the old bridge replaced


End of fret board is around 70 mm wide and clearly plenty of room with the 16 mm string spacing however not sure how 18 mm might work as that would push the outer strings a further 4 mm outbound?


Slight forward bow in the neck and haven't touched the bridge saddles yet....they are all fully wound down which has the string height about 12 mm above the face of the body and in this shot shows things sitting about 2 mm - 2.5 mm above 21st & 22nd frets.

A quick play for a few minutes felt good but will need to spend more time to see if any there are any frets buzzing before starting on the intonation. Would like to take a bit more out of the front bow but truss rod is wound fully tight, only needs a fraction more but with a flappy low B you cannot afford to drop string height too much on that side.

[wazkelly]

The only bridge I've come across with 18mm spacing, apart from the higher end '3D' ones which offer adjustable spacing, is the Gotoh J510B0-5CK (http://luthierssupplies.com.au/produ...roducts_id=447) which is a bit more pricey. The minimum saddle height from top of guitar body is 12mm looking at the specs diagram so may not be much lower than the stock bridge height anyway. Another thought I had to make the stock bridge saddles lower is to take the saddles off and grind a mm or so off the bottom of the saddles on the G/D strings. I haven't had a good look to see how much meat is between the bottom and the adjustment screw hole but it could be another option.

Fairly pricey bridge and not sure you would achieve much as the diagram showed string saddles were a combined 14 mm high? On the stock bridge I was 15 mm and found the action too high.

Grinding down the saddles solves part of the problem but the bigger one is the ridiculously high point the adjustment screws come in at, and as you lower the saddles that angle increases. The massive diameter of the saddles is also part of the problem too and had me looking at Fender style 5 string bridges to see if there was anything better. Unfortunately not much out there in black hardware.

At first glance and quick play the one just fitted looks like it might do the job. Hope to do intonation and tweak the action tomorrow night to get a better indication.

[wazkelly]

Checked string spacing on current MMB4 build this morning and it is about 20 mm, no wonder that I thought there was a huge gap between strings.
Presume fivers need to be a bit tighter otherwise fretboard would be too wide.
I will check the Yammy fiver and my J Bass tonight as these measurements now have me intrigued.

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[wazkelly]

Well i had never stopped and measured string spacing on any of my basses until last night. Interesting results.
EX5 = 16.5 mm
Yammy 5 string = 18 mm
MMB4 = 19 mm
J Bass = 19 mm
P Bass = 20 mm

Now I understand why the EX5 feels easier to play as the strings are just that little bit closer which is good for me having rather short fingers which are better suited to playing 6 string guitar.


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