Build #5 - TB-4

**Trevor Davies** · 10-04-2021, 03:25 PM

Fitted the tuners. Soldered the electronics ready to go in. Just needing a few more sands with higher grit and some final coats of tru-oil.

A question about the 3 pin bridge - is it meant to sit flush to the body, or above the body to get the best intonation?

**Rabbit** · 10-04-2021, 04:34 PM

Originally Posted by Trevor Davies

A question about the 3 pin bridge - is it meant to sit flush to the body, or above the body to get the best intonation?

The three point bridge, the inserts don't sit flush to the body but kinda sit proud because there is no counter bore for the rim of the inserts. the bridge kinda floats off the surface, which is kinda dubious. I think Just about every one who has used the three point bridge who has posted here has complained about very high action. You could counter bore the holes and replace the bridge with a three point full contact. Can be a bit spendy. The Babicz bridge is a realy nicely engineered piece of kit, but I had to reduce the diameter of the attachment screws that came with it because the two holes at the back were just that tiny bit closer together than the bridge would like.

BTW the orange on the bevel of the headstock looks very tastefull

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**Simon Barden** · 10-04-2021, 04:54 PM

I bought a Hipshot replacement bridge for my ES-4B bass (that JimC eventually took over and finished) as the kit bridge was so poor that it was never going to work on that bass (especially with the archtop body shape). That is designed to sit flat on to the body. https://hipshotproducts.com/collecti...acement-bridge They aren't cheap, but they are good. Similar price to the Babicz bridge. If it wasn't for the wide spacing of the two rear mounting holes, it would be an easy job to just fit a more standard replacement chunky bass bridge.

**Trevor Davies** · 13-04-2021, 05:21 PM

I did the final assembly yesterday.

To be proactive about the high action issue with the three point bridge I put 2 layers of plastic shims at the base of the neck before screwing it on. All went well. I can get a good preliminary string height with the bridge raised about 5 mm from its lowest position. So no problems with the bridge.

I also assembled all the electronics. I had NO sound for a while and when I touched the strings an increase in static noise was heard from the amp. Finally I realised I had trimmed the PUP shielding/green wire too much and the green wire was not bare and was not being grounded. LOL! I realised this after checking the ground circuit with a multimeter, and checking the hot circuit, and then checked the PUP resistance to find it was to large to measure. Anyway, no damage done.

Rough tuned the strings and adjusted the truss rod the get a slight concave shape.

Today I adjusted the neck, set string height and did an initial intonation. I will recheck it tomorrow.