What difference can a bridge make?

ayers1963

All right, folks, too many of you I'm sure that's an inane question. Basically I'm going to overhaul my mid-seventies P-Bass and have already posted a question about the pickups. Now I see people talking about bridges. I know that pickups are inportand, as are strings, truing the neck, etc., but I thought that the bridge was just the mechanism which holds the strings at a certain height over the fingerboard and pickups. What other functions does it perform? How can one be better than another except in terms of its durability?
I appreciate your comments.

giantjerk

The answer, in part, is sustain. I have a late 70's precision to which I added a Leo Quan badass II bridge. This model does not require any modification to the body of the guitar. I believe that it was a good addition to an already great bass.

ayers1963

Thanks for the advice. I've since looked into the matter and have decided to get the Badass II since, as you say, it requires no new holes to be drilled into the body. I like the fact that you can adjust the string spacing with that bridge; also, it looks a lot more durable than the stock bridge. I'm curious to see how it effects sustain.
I'm also having a cavity routed for the addition of a J-bass pickup in the bridge position; I picked up a Fender Lace Sensor for this purpose. The replacement P-bass pickups will be Dimarzio Model P's. After all these modifications have been made, this old bass should play pretty well!

giantjerk

Both the Dimarzio & Lace are good pickup choices. I prefer the split P over the Jazz style though. I have mixed opinions on routing any good body to add an additional pickup. I made that mistake once and did not achieve the sound I was looking for.

ayers1963

Well, here's my thinking on the routing subject:
1)Found a good luthier (not just some guy in a guitar shop, although I'm sure most of them do excellent work as well) nearby and feel confident in his abilities. Takes a big load off my mind.
2)Love the sound of J-Bass pickups.
3)Heard the Lace Sensors are great pickups and picked one up a brand new one at a closeout sale for twenty bucks.
4)Most important-- I have a Jazz bass also which I almost always play with my thumb anchored on the bridge pickup. In fact, one of the things I didn't like about the P-bass was that I didn't have that anchor for my thumb. Anchoring on a P-bass pickup doesn't do it for me since I don't care for the tone produced that close to the neck, also there's not enough string tension at that position to play the more nimble passages.

I really hope this modification works out the way I want it too, and I'll be sure to post my comments as soon as the work is completed (later this week).

Thanks again for the reply!