Wooden Bridge Blocks

[mica]

We've been making wooden bridge blocks on custom request for people that want to reduce the weight of their bass or explore different tones. This batch of Walnut bridge blocks will fit any Stanley Clarke bass with the narrow neck width (1.5 x 2.15). If you'd like to pick one of these up, let me know. Call dibs on this thread for higher priority, or email me and tell me which one you'd like. Price is $195, shipping by Priority Mail is ~$10 in USA. I'm posting here on the Alembic Club before I put them in the store.

[David Houck]

They look nice!

[edwardofhuncote]

I'm not in a particular hurry for one Mica, but wondering if at some point in the future it might be possible to order a purpleheart sustain block to fit my Custom fretless. There was a time I had toyed with the idea of making one. Now that I know it's a product at least in the pipeline, I'd like to have one as an alternate to keep with the bass, if not a regular fixture.


[memory refresher below... classictaperfive... my mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts] 

[mica]

Sounds good, Greg. When we make the next batch, I'll put yours in the queue. A custom one-off with special setup would cost more.

[edwardofhuncote]

Cool... I'll get with you on it.    I didn't figure you'd get too many calls for these in my spec... 

[Spoilers!]

Mica - when we spoke last, I was going to ask about a wooden sustain block for the custom fretless.  These seem to be the right neck profile, but would the small Spoiler body be a factor in whether it fits?

Any thoughts on how different woods might influence tone and sustain, or is the wood species strictly an aesthetic choice?

Thanks,

Ken

[mica]

We can certainly get a wooden block for your fretless bass - let's chat this week.

Surely different woods will influence the sound differently. I haven't really done much of a study on it, but my expectation is for it to at least loosely map to how the neck woods impact the tone. How much influence I'm not sure but I do hope to hear more of these and have some observations to share.

[edwardofhuncote]

I am hoping the wood block will cause notes to decay *just a little* faster than the brass block allows them to. Slightly less sustain with really killing it, if that makes sense? I suspect it will also have some effect on how quickly the notes bloom, but the more you play, the more your brain will simply adjust to knowing where/when that is.


I dunno... the whole thing sounds like a worthwhile experiment.

[FC Bass]

I guess I have the prototype?    (with the secret stash option)

[jazzyvee]

  Bit of an inconvenience hiding your stash of plectrums in there if you drop one at a gig and need to grab a spare between beats. 🧐🤔🫣😉

[FC Bass]

 

[edwardofhuncote]

(Just putting this one where I can find it again...)