1st Gen Cruisebass Bridge Question

[velorush]

A recent eBay auction made available a 1st Gen Cruisebass bridge and in that auction was the following photo:

The action on my '82 Cruise is fine, but I noticed that the retainer on the E-string is adjusted all the way to the bottom of its range. Looking at the bridge, it appeared the bottom part was a separate piece, but until I saw this photo I didn't know for sure.

Anyone ever remove the shim plate and mount the bridge directly to give themselves more range of adjustment? Might be a good idea to put a piece of veneer between the bridge and top of the guitar to prevent "Made in Germany" from being pressed into the wood, but otherwise, would there be any drawbacks?

[Andrew]

Yes, I have removed the shim to get a lower action. No problems or drawbacks.

And why worry about the impression? You will never see it.

[crunchee]

Do those shim plates come standard with these Schaller bass bridges, or were they specifically for Hamers only? If they weren't standard equipment on these bridges, or any other bass manufacturers, but just for Hamer basses, I DEFINITELY wouldn't recommend losing the shim!

[cmatthes]

Standard issue with the Schaller part.

[velorush]

Do those shim plates come standard with these Schaller bass bridges, or were they specifically for Hamers only? If they weren't standard equipment on these bridges, or any other bass manufacturers, but just for Hamer basses, I DEFINITELY wouldn't recommend losing the shim!

Standard issue with the Schaller part.

Nevertheless, I am ridiculously anal about such things. Every guitar I buy gets a (clearly labeled) box. In that box goes anything that comes off of the guitar and any boxes for anything put on the guitar. If I ever want to put something back to stock I have all the parts.

Punkavenger received the contents of one such box when he traded for my '97 Roadhouse Strat. He got the mildly but effectively modified Strat, the original non-Callaham bridge parts, the original non-locking tuners and a few other original parts.

[Toadroller]

Does this clearly-labeled box resemble a guitar case?

As I get older, I'll admit that I throw things into a baggie in said guitar case with a scrap of paper identifying what it is and where it came from. This does pay dividends.

Years ago I had to replace the heater core in my car. Six hours of dashboard removal in, One minute of heater-core removal. Four hours of re-assembly. Despite detailed notes, many plastic baggies, and a notebook full of, well, notes, I still had six leftover screws. Go figure.

And then I traded the car in two months later because I got a new job with a significant pay raise.

[velorush]

I don't put stuff in the case (usually, but I do have to admit the original tone pot for the Kiz' Senior is currently in the case) as I don't want it to get lost or damaged and I like to leave room for stuff like tuners, etc. and don't want to have to wade through a bunch of parts to find what I need.

I became this warped individual from a couple of similar experiences as your heater core replacement. When I was around 13, everyone in the neighborhood had a motorcycle. My dad finally gave in and brought my CB100 home in a bunch of random boxes where some kid had taken it apart and couldn't get it back together. We spent the summer figuring it out and getting the thing back together.

I spent the next couple of years helping him with various project cars. When I was 15, my dad and I pulled my first car, an original-owner 1957 Chevrolet 210 sedan, out of a bean field. After seeing the mess the kid had made with the CB100, I took note and started organizing as we pulled the entire car apart - only the body hull remained attached to the frame. After reconditioning and repainting, going back together (a year and a half later!) was a snap. I've been warped ever since.

[velorush]

Yes, I have removed the shim to get a lower action. No problems or drawbacks.

And why worry about the impression? You will never see it.

Andrew (and everyone), just a quick note of thanks.

I finally (was it really January when I asked about this?) got around to removing the plate and the action is incredible! I need now to shim the nut, but the bass plays like the proverbial buttah.

It definitely needs a set of strings, but it is too much fun to put down to order them. I've got a really old set of round wounds on there now. I have ground wounds on my P Bass. I'm thinking either another (better) set of rounds or going in the opposite direction and trying a set of flats...