#hipshot bridge

[velmas-guitar-shop]

Doing some refurbs on the new-to-me Ibanez bass.

Removed the old hardware and corroded electronics

Lined the pickup cavity and control cavity with adhesive copper foil shielding

Also added shielding to the back of the pickguard and control cavity cover to complete the Faraday cage

Installed new pickup height adjustment foam blocks, nice self-adhesive ones from Musiclily

Installed a couple of grounding lugs to run a wire from the pickup cavity to the control cavity to link both to ground

Removed the generic 5-screw Fender-style bridge and swapped in a Hipshot MassKicker, which uses the same screw holes, so no additional drilling needed

I got a secondhand Bartolini 8S Precision pickup (passive), new CTS pots, a PureTone output jack, and some decent Gotoh-style tuners from Guyker to replace the truly terrible ones that were factory installed.

I have some 0.047μf Orange Drop caps lying around so I’ll use one for the tone control.

Finally, a pair of cool “Cosmonaut” knobs I got from LoveMySwitches.com - black, minimalist metal skirted ones.

I need to enlarge the tuner holes as the original “vintage” types were a bit smaller. I tried using a cheap hand reamer off Amazon and ended up with a reamed hand, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Ordered a new one that has a standard ¼” shank so I can use it in my cordless drill, being sure to go slowly and gradually to avoid splitting the wood or getting chip-outs.

I originally thought I could find a step bit like the one I used to enlarge the switch hole on my Gretsch, but most step bits are for enlarging holes in thin material, so you can’t drill through a headstock without hitting the next size up.

[chubbuckguitars]

Hipshot to fix a 2 point leaner :: 1970s Gibson EB-3 Ah, more on the heavily modified 1970s Gibson EB-3.  A combination of a low neck angle and poor design of the original 2 point bridge made it the ideal candidate for a modern upgrade.  As you can see from the photo above, the two maple wedges were an attempt to keep the bridge from leaning forward.  But leaning issues aside, the action could not be lowered any further.  In comes a Hipshot 2 point Supertone bridge to help out.  It has a lower profile and it's machined with far greater tolerances to maximize sustain and allow for proper action and intonation.  I agree that it does change the vintage vibe of the bass, but if you value playabilty over vintage-correctness, this is the way to go.