1970's Shaftesbury Bass Modification

his cool 1970's Shaftesbury bass was brought into the workshop as the customer had fitted a new bridge, which threw out the geometry of the strings, making the bass unplayable!

A new bridge had to be fitted which would match the narrow neck plus allow for a correct string angle and action. As it turned out there wasn’t a bridge unit which would fit this bass, so we came up with the idea of using individual bridge units, which were mounted joining each other, allowing the bass to be setup!

The aftermarket bridge the customer fitted was far too wide for the narrow neck, throwing the strings off the sides of the fingerboard. The bridge also completely threw the geometry of the strings off, making the action unplayable!

Above shows the size difference between the original bridge and the replacement bridge the customer fitted!
Below shows the marking out the new individual bridge units and drilling the mounting holes. The new units fitted and the old holes had a quick fill to reduce the visual impact of them even though they would be covered by the bridge plate.

The bridge cover was refitted hiding the bridge unit and the holes. The string spacing was brought back inline with the neck once the new individual bridge units had been fitted, and with a small shim fitted to the neck, the geometry was also reset to a playable action.

With all the work done, the bass was serviced, restrung and setup ready for the customer to enjoy!