Fender Jazz Bass – Replacement Bridge
For the past few years I’ve been playing bass for several of the bands that I’m affiliated with and I’ve been using a fairly decent Fender Deluxe Jazz Bass. Throughout that time period I was pretty rough on the old girl and the bridge in particular had sustained a lot of wear. Most of the chrome had flaked off and the exposed metal had rusted significantly (probably due to the fact that I get really ridiculously sweaty when I play bass).
Besides looking really awful, the worn-out bridge was killing my tone. I noticed this especially when I loaned my bass to another musician who had broken a string. With the exact same amp, cables, and petals, his tone just died when he switched from his bass to mine.
So, I finally decided to fix the problem, and it was really easy and inexpensive. I did a google search for ‘fender jazz bass replacement bridge’ and came across a company called Stewart-MacDonald who sells lots of replacement parts for stringed instruments.
They had a Gotoh Standard Bass Bridge that seemed to be essentially a direct replacement for the worn-out bridge that I already had. Plus it was only $23.46 plus shipping (which put it just over 30 bucks), so I went ahead and placed the order.
3 days later, the package arrived. Installation could not have been easier. I simply removed the strings and the screws that secured the old bridge and cleaned off all the residual rust that was stuck to the body of my bass. Then I matched up the new bridge to find that the screw holes matched up perfectly (the new bridge even came with screws that fit the existing holes). There were also 2 additional screws at the front of the bridge which my old bridge didn’t have, so I drilled a few pilot holes and inserted the included screws. I feel that these additional anchors add great stability and maybe even some sustain.
After I restrung the bass, I noticed that the strings were pretty high on the fingerboard (probably because the old bridge had had bent up over time), so I adjusted the tension rod until the action was just right. My bass plays and sounds SO much better. And the best part is that whenever this bridge gets all worn out I can just replace it again. Here’s a picture of the new bridge with the old bridge next to it to give you an idea of what I was dealing with.
