Sung Il bass bridges and hardware

[Simon Barden]

It's never going to be a great amount of movement. You can worry too much about small things that really don't have that much effect. ever changed a saddle position by quite a lot with no appreciable change in intonation? When you're fighting against weird stuff like that happening, maybe a 0.3 mm shift in height/intonation position isn't that important. It would be lovely if the 12th fret pitch of a string smoothly went up or down proportionally as the saddle moves, but empirical testing shows that it doesn't.

[fender3x]

It's never going to be a great amount of movement. You can worry too much about small things that really don't have that much effect. ever changed a saddle position by quite a lot with no appreciable change in intonation? When you're fighting against weird stuff like that happening, maybe a 0.3 mm shift in height/intonation position isn't that important. It would be lovely if the 12th fret pitch of a string smoothly went up or down proportionally as the saddle moves, but empirical testing shows that it doesn't.

That pretty well jibes with my experience. I have seen some pretty funny string length settings, especially on used bases.

It's probably worth doing a little comparison here... The Sung Il is WAY better than the stock three point bridge that came with my kit. Also better than an actual Gibson three point.

I found it just plain easier to drill two holes than three on a curved surface. Also since easier to adjust hight with two screws rather than three.

Intonation has more travel on a Babicz or Hipshot, but the Sung Il has a lot of travel for a two point T-O-M. there is, however no height adjustment on the individual saddles. That's also true of the Gibson and Babicz. The does have adjustment at the individual saddles. The Sung Il radius appears to be 9.5, which is the same as the neck I am using, so not really an issue for me but something to consider if you are using a different radius.

The biggest problem for a curved surface bass like an ES with the Hipshot or Babicz is one that JimC and Simon know well...they were designed for installation on a flat surface...so you have to find a solution for that. I wrote to Babcz and Hipshot to find out if they have any suggestions for how to install on a curved surface. Let me summarized their response: they said "no." The good part is the Babicz and Hipshot should fit the pre-drilled holes on an ES...or at least fit the center block. It's hard to find a two point that fits the kit centerblock...but my travails on that topic are elsewhere on the forum ;-)